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1 luus(la\. ()(loIxT I, 2007
Arts. Etc.
Review
A Place to Bury Strangers
compose a noisy gem
Coi.RTHSY or Kru.rR Pimp Rkcords
OliuT AckiM'iiuinn on jiiiitar, JSpacc on dninis and John MOK) on bass, pour voluminous passion into music
1 Place lo Bury Strangers peddles ample noise
minus thoughtless drone
By Kevin Horan
Mcing called "ihc k)udcst band in
New York" is bound lo create
some weirtl expectations and
alienate listeners. A I’lace to liiiry
Strangers certainly are loud, and
despite whiit their unfortunate
name may imply, they're more My
Ifloody Valentine, less My
Chemical Romance.
I heir debut self-titled album is
one ol the better releases to come
along this year. Better, however,
should by no means imply original
as ,-\ I’lace to Bury Strangers'
innuences are as numerous as they
are obvious.
The song. ' Don't Think Lover"
would hiive lit nicely on any "Isn't
Anything"-era .My Bloody
Valentine release. “The Falling
Sun" sounds kind of like a
Slowdive demo. "Another Step
Away" is pure .lason Fierce minus
the explicit drug use and the whole
album is shot through w ith a heavy
dose ol Jesus & Mary Chain.
Maybe "the most Anglophilic band
in New York " wxruld be a better
pithy sound bite.
The production on the album
gives it a super gritty feel w ith dis
torted percussirrn. wildly overdriv
en guitars, scathing feedback and
reverb-drenched vocals that sound
like they are drifting in from some
where down the street (or prrssibly.
outer space).
■Attd it's loud. Really loud. Not
the bowel-releasing, tnega low-
end loud of Sunn OB)/Earth/Boris.
but "the principal dropped the
microphone on the assemblv tltxtr
and now my ears are bleeding"
loud.
A song like "To Fix the Gash in
Your Head," with pummeling
jackhammer drum machines, dis
torted bass and screaming guitars,
.sounds like it is meant to liquify
gray matter and cause heart failure.
It is also infectiously listenable
and dance lloor-friendly. Plus,
with lyrics like "I'll just wait for
you to turn around/And kick your
head in." A Place to Bury
Strangers definitely distance them
selves trom the more sensitive,
touchy-feely shoegazer bands
to
whom they owe much of their
sound.
Speaking of “shoegaze " which
is probably the most insulting term
for a genre of music other than the
related "nu-gaze." A Place to Bury
Strangers share more with
short-lived, much-maligned
sadly mis.sed U.K. music scene
than an attinity for CiK'teau Twins
and Je.sus& Marv Chain.
the
.ind
Not
only is there an obvious slavish
devotion to
guitar effects unit
going on here and, subsequently, a
lot of gazing at one’s shoes, but
Oliver Ackermann, guitarist,
singer and frontman, is also the
owner of Death by Audio, a com
pany that makes a handful of col
orfully-named stompboxes for
those with an inclination toward
noise. If the idea was to advertise
his wares w'ith A Place to Bury
Strangers, the trick works.
This isn't to say only nerdy,
amp-worshipping guitar-tech
freaks will enjoy "A Place to Bury
Strangers." There's as much care
ful attention to song craft as there
is to trippy atmospherics. All the
10 songs arc solid, and at just over
40 minutes, it never wears out its
welcome.
The album is one of those little
gems that manages to balance its
experimental edge with just
enough noise to keep it interesting,
a strong sense of song structure
and enough post-punk/new-new
wave bouncy fun that no parties
are going to be ruined if any songs
trom this disc slip into the rotation.
Just try to keep the volume reason
able. ok'.’ Hearing loss is no joke.
A Place to Bury Strangers is a
band to keep an eye on and not just
tor those out there worshipping at
the altar of the brothers Reid and
rolling their pennies to buy
Jazzmasters. Provided they can
forge a truly distinct sound for
themselves, and do not break up,
their future albums should prove to
be even more exciting.
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Ashexrille, NC 28804
828-253-0853
Indie video stores survive,
thrive in Asheville
By Brian Gallagher
ARTS, Etc. Assistant Editor
Despite the rampant disappearance of independent
ly-owned video stores across America, two Asheville
businesses still provide a diverse collection of rentals.
TVEYE Video
After Broadway Video closed on Lexington, Joel
Hutchenson, owner of Static Age Records, bought the
video store in an effort to save an important part of
downtown and revive an independent voice in a sea
of Blockbusters. Hutchenson reopened the store as
TVEYE Video.
“I didn’t want to see that kind of thing leave down
town because it is nice to have an independent store
where you can rent not-the-Hollywood-blockbusters
and get the hard to find stuff," Hutchenson said.
“That's one of the reasons why I stayed here in
Asheville for so long, places like Broadway Video
and the record store I worked in before I bought it. I d
rather not see it become conglomerative crap.”
Hutchenson is an 11 -year resident of Asheville who
stayed in town after he graduated from UNC
Asheville’s Multimedia Arts and Sciences depart
ment.
Hutchenson’s originally vision combined his
downtown record shop. Static Age with the inde
pendent video store.
"It just sort of worked out better this way,”
Hutchenson said.
The store’s collection differs in a few major ways
from traditional chains like Blockbuster or Netflix,
according to Hutchenson.
“Every now and then we’ll have someone that’s a
little disgruntled that we don’t have something in, but
most of the people that come in here are not really
looking for things that Blockbuster would have,”
Hutchenson said. “We’ve actually had so many peo
ple come and say ‘Well. I can’t find this at
Blockbuster but here it is’ and been totally stoked and
we’ve had new customers ever since."
The small store’s customer base has grown dramat
ically, according to Hutchenson.
“More and more people are finding out about us
every single day and we’ve had little to no advertis
ing other than Mountain Xpress,” Hutchenson said,
“It’s mostly word of mouth and we are very apprecia
tive of that."
In the seven months since opening. TVEYE's cata
log has almost tripled to 6,(X)0 titles. The store’s spe
cial collections have increased the greatest, according
to Hutchenson.
“We have the Essential Arthouse Collection and we
are trying to get all of the Criterion Collection,"
Hutchenson said. “We are getting pretty clo.se for the
ones that are in print.”
TVEYE’s foreign section includes movies from
Korea, China, Japan, France and Sweden, which
includes a special section devoted to Ingmar
Bergman.
“The foreign section is growing exponentially. All
the cult films are growing,” Hutchenson said. “A lot
of people are getting turned on to really bad B-
movies lately too, which might be my fault."
The store also devotes space for local talent. The
“Shot in Western North Carolina” section includes
work by local filmmakers, TV shows from URTV
and local musicians’ DVDs.
“We try to rent them for free unless the person
needs to make money or whatever.” Hutchenson said.
“There are a lot of artists here and 1 don't think many
people know how many talented video artists there
are and hopefully more and more people will put stuff
together and bring it in.”
Hutchenson plans to compete with corporate video
stores by implementing a new subscription plan.
“You pay a flat fee and you can rent ‘X’ amount of
DVDs per month and you don’t have to worry about
Oksana Kukiiari;ts - .Star- I’hoi'ografb
Joel Hutchenson, owner of I V EV E and Static Age
helps a eiislonier find a movie.
late fees," Hutchenson said.
Rosebud Video
Alan Berger and Leslie Armstrong own and oper
ate Rosebud Video, which they boast, ha.s tk
"largest and most diverse collection of films in
Western North Carolina.”
One half of the store is consumed by a massive
collection of staff favorites, a directors section, and
foreign films from British television to Iraqi and
Iranian films.
The pair took over the store three years ago froni
Segrof Video and renamed it Rosebud Video, w
homage to Orson Welles’ classic. “Citizen Kane.”
"We thought it was a great store and we could
make it a better store,” Armstrong said,
Armstrong and Berger made a number of changes
to Rosebud in recent years to better serve customers.
In respect to customer feedback. Rosebud is always
listening. The store keeps a notebook of customer
feedback, which Berger regularly reads and uses to
make decisions about additions to the catalog.
“The major changes were advertising, and just
visually, we cleaned up the store and repainted it,"
Berger said. “Wc went through our store to see
where we needed something and we purchased a lot
of films we thought were important. We also low
ered our DVD prices and late fees.”
Rosebud’s wall of new arrivals, including “300
and “Blades of Glory,” sits squarely between com
prehensive collections of festival and award winners.
“We have every Academy Award Winner (for best
film) since 1927," Berger said. “We have close to
200 of 350 titles from the Criterion Collection,
which is the mercedes of the DVD marketplace.
The store also has a section of approximately®
titles devoted to directors and a large section devot
ed to the gay and lesbian community.
Rosebud’s catalog numbers clo.se to 11,000 whicli
Berger points out, does not include repeated titles.
"We have films no one else has,” Berger said.
have a niche marketplace that Blockbuster doesnl
have.”
www.sassys.com
M-F 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sat 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
TVEYE Video
/OS N. Lexington Avenue
ww w.tveyevideo .com
6,000 titles
New releases: $4 for two days
Other titles: two for $5. three
for $6, four for $7, five for
six for $9.
Special Collections: Foreign.
Art House, Shot in WNC.
Criterion Collection.
Rosebud Video
197 Charlotte St.
www.rosebud videostore .com
TIKSANA kuKHARn^^STAFF'PH'5'f.
iziiiitny Kuhn scans the new arrivals at TVFYF i •
which are offered for $4 for two days ^ ^ Eexingon Avenue
11.000 titles
New Arrivals: $3.75 for 2 da,-
Other Titles: $3.75 for 5 day ■
$1.50 for 7 days select titles
Special Collections: Academy
Award Winners, American
Film Institute’s Top 100.
Directors section