APTBS have been called “the loudest band in New York” and take their ear shattering sound to a more melodic level on their most recent album Exploding Head.

The Big Pink burst onto the scene last fall with their excellent debut album A Brief History Of Love and combined with APTBS, this show might be the best thing to hit Southgate House on a Monday night ever. (the show is next Monday, March 22)

To win tickets, you know the drill, just send an email to enscontests at gmail dot com with the subject line reading “Big Pink/ APTBS.” We will draw a winner at the end of the week, good luck!

In the meantime, check out our interview with Oliver from A Place To Bury Strangers here.

In 2007, after years of toiling in the psychedelic noisy rock underbelly, A Place to Bury Strangers’ self-titled debut album earned the band an avalanche of press, acclaim, and tour dates with the likes of Nine Inch Nails. Three years later, the band is touring on their sophomore release, Exploding Head, which features infectious hooks and choruses that mold the group’s electric cacophony into something even more memorable.

In conversation, Ackermann; who also runs his own guitar effect pedal company, performance space, and record label under the name Death by Audio; is so full of genial wonderment at his current good fortune and bite-sized advice to follow one’s heart and stick with dreams that it’s easy to forget he’s the mad scientist behind brutally intense music about heads with gashes, heads exploding, and everything going wrong. This combination of sweetness and ferociousness mirrors A Place to Bury Strangers’ method of songwriting; laying vast oceans of squalling noise over deep undercurrents of melody, rhythm, and pop hooks.

Oliver Ackermann recently took some time out of preparing for A Place to Bury Strangers’ upcoming tour with the Big Pink to answer some questions for Each Note Secure.

[Each Note Secure] Your new album, Exploding Head, sounds a little bit like a stylistic shift. It contains fewer harsh or noisy moments than your first one, and more hooks. Is that a direction you’re moving in consciously?

[Oliver Ackermann] It was for this record. I don’t think it’s any kind of overall thing going on with the sound or anything. For this record I tried to focus on recording some feedback a lot more minimally. We tried to make the most of a lot fewer instruments and a lot fewer elements. That was to goal for this record. In the future, I’m sure there will be some things which will be even harsher than the first record. I think as a record, Exploding Head came out great – perfectly for what it is. But they’ll be different stuff to come.

[ENS] Exploding Head sounds like it has more deliberately structured songs than your self-titled debut. There are quite a few catchy choruses and even “hooks.” Was that intentional? When people call you “noise” do you feel like pointing at the song and saying, “Noise?! Look at these choruses and hooks!”

[OA] I’m a sucker for 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s pop music, and even pop music today. I like songs with structure, songs that go places, and that you can hang on to. For some people, I’m sure [my music] is too noisy, so much so that they might not be able to handle it. I like things with contrast; I think it can make things sort of creepy and scary when there’s not something to constantly latch on to. When it’s harsh, and some of the sounds are a little unrecognizable, I think it can be really interesting.

[ENS] A Place to Bury Strangers has also earned the nickname “the loudest band in New York.” Does volume serve a function for your songwriting, in the way it does for groups like Sunn O))) and Lightning Bolt, as an integral part of your musical dynamic?

[OA] I don’t think it’s impressive to be called the “loudest band” anywhere. It doesn’t really sound appealing to be loud just for the sake of being loud. I actually think it sounds kind of stupid. That being said, we’re definitely [playing loud] on purpose, because these volumes are what sound best for the listener. It makes the music more than just sound; the listener can actually feel what’s going on. Being there, you have no option to do anything else than to listen; it almost takes over your mind and your body. We want to make it as crazy as possible.

[ENS] Have you ever had any problems with performing at such a high decibel level?

[OA] Sure. Cops come to shows, we’ve broken tons of stuff, tons of sound guys have screamed at us, we’ve had the power shut off… that kind of stuff just happens. I guess it’s a little funny. You just sort of learn what to say to sound guys so they let us have [the volume] at a level it’s not supposed to be at.

[ENS] Your albums have a lot of piercing drum machines and loud synthesizers. How do you recreate those instruments live with only three band members?

[OA] There’s a whole different thing with a live show than with a recording. It depends on the environment and what you have to work with. All of our shows end up being a little different based on what we have and what’s not broken. But you often have the opportunity to do a little more in a live environment. It’s like suddenly being able to use Dolby 5.1 sound as opposed to just having a two speaker stereo. You can do a lot of things you might not be able to do on recording. You may not have as many instruments, and there are only three people playing, but everyone can be in control of a whole range. It’s nice to have three people who can take the songs and bring them back to a place where [the listener] can grab on to it more, or take songs in new directions. If there are too many [musicians], things might have to get a bit too orchestrated. Some the songs parts [in our live set] will be almost completely improvised.

[ENS] So are there many parts of your songs that were always intended to be improvised live? Are the songs as they exist on your records only one version of how they could potentially take shape?

[OA] Well, when you’re playing around live with high volumes, feedback, and this crazy noise, you can’t really predict exactly what will happen. It’s sort of a beautiful thing how these noises come about, but if you were to try to make it exactly one thing in particular, I think you would lose some of this amazing beauty of sound. So we’re almost playing with chaos.

[ENS] A Place to Bury Strangers seems to have gotten a lot of attention fairly quickly after the release of the first album. What’s it like to suddenly go from “just another band” in New York City to getting a lot of press and touring the world?

[OA] I can’t believe it, really. I’m just used to playing music and having almost no one pay attention at all. I can’t even really believe it. It’s all grown past what I ever expected. This band started around 2003, and, before our first record came out, I had almost given up. I used to really try to plan tours, spend all night making posters, try to get into some sort of magazine or something, and after a while it all seemed completely useless. Eventually, I came to the point where I was just going to make music for myself and enjoy it, and get together with the rest of the band because we like to play. To have this stuff happen … I don’t think I’ve even acknowledged what’s going on yet.

It’s all an example of how if you follow your heart and do what you really want to do, things can work out. So you should always follow your dreams. [Laughs] Right on!

A Place to Bury Strangers will perform at the Southgate House on Monday, March 22nd with the Big Pink and Eat Sugar.

~interview by John Crowell

They recently released their debut album on vinyl for the first time, and now, have some more exciting news. The band has a new label home and a new album on the way as well. The new label is Afternoon Records out of Minneapolis and has released albums from artists like Haley Bonar, Now Now Every Children, One For The Team, We All Have Hooks For Hands, and Mouthful of Bees.

And the boys new record is slated for release sometime this fall, so get excited!

Check out a quick video of the guys getting ready for their current tour.

If you come to ENS on a regular basis, you know that one of our favorite live acts in town is The Lions Rampant. In the past couple of years, the guys have made a name for themselves as the band to see if you wanna party in Cincinnati. The missing piece of the puzzle though through all this, was the lack of a full length album. It was not for lack of effort though. After two EP’s, TLR were more than ready to put their first album together, and actually, have had it ready to go for some time now.

However, as it goes sometimes in the music industry, the right fit just isn’t out there, and their album, It’s Fun To Do Bad Things, seemed like it might never come out. Well, the band found the right fit earlier this year when Deep Elm Records offered to put it out. The album of course, is still “the kind of rock n’ roll you wanna raise your PBR to” like we told you last July. But now, it will get into the hands of fans who have been waiting, as well as folks that have yet to experience The Lions Rampant.

Congratulations to the guys, I know they have worked hard for this. The record gets an official release on April 4th, but until then, I invite you to download some of the new songs below. These were recorded in the WOXY studios last summer.

The Lions Rampant – Give Me (Live On WOXY.com)
The Lions Rampant – Lights On (Live On WOXY.com)
The Lions Rampant – It’s Fun To Do Bad Things (Live On WOXY.com)
The Lions Rampant – Shake (Live On WOXY.com)
The Lions Rampant – Do You Feel It?
The Lions Rampant – Cigs & Gin (Live On WOXY.com

Bazan is best known for his Pedro The Lion persona, but his album released last year under his given name, might be his best work to date. Curse Your Branches is a honest and revealing look at Bazan and his life over the past couple years and regardless of what you think about his previous work, it’s worth your attention. And Headlights will be in town as well, touring off of their third album Wildlife. The band have been touring the country and already have drawn here in Cincinnati really well several times.

It’s a great show, and we not only want to recommend it, but also want to give you a chance to go to it. The show is next Monday night at the best music venue in town, the historic Southgate House. So, if you would like to hit up this excellent show next week, send an email to enscontests at gmail dot com with the title reading “Bazan / Headlights.” We will pick a winner at the end of the week, good luck!

Headlights – Secrets

Bad Veins –

THURSDAY 3/18

11:00pm – Official SXSW Showcase @ Red 7 611 East 7th Street -badge or wristband only

FRIDAY 3/19

12:30pm – Sonicbids Day Party @ Maggie Mae’s (upstairs) 323 E 6th St -free food and drinks
-RSVP here

5:00pm – Dominican Joe’s Day Party @ Dominican Joe’s 515 South Congress -Free to attend : no RSVP required

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SATURDAY 3/20

3:15pm – Swing House & Hell Ya! Day Party @The Roxy (Rusty Spurs) Outdoor Stage 405 E. 7th St (@corner of Trinity) -free food and drinks -Free to attend : no RSVP required

8:00pm – Dangerbird Records Showcase @ Mellow Johnny’s 400 Nueces St. -Free to attend : no RSVP required

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The Seedy Seeds –
Mar 17 2010 8:00P
SXSW 2010 Austin, Texas
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Mar 18 2010 ***Official SXSW Showcase 7 PM @ BD Riley’s***
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Mar 19 2010 2:00P ***Buzzgrinder / Buddyhead Showcase***

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Pomegranates –
Mar 16 2010 8:00P Beauty Bar – Art Damage SXSW Preparty
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Mar 18 2010 8:00P Maggie Mae’s – SXSW Showcase Austin, Texas
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Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore –
Thursday, March 18, 2010 Central Presbyterian Church (TX), Austin TX
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Thursday, March 18, 2010 Waterloo Records, Austin TX In store @ 3PM!
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Friday, March 19, 2010 WOXY Live Radio Session

You, You’re Awesome –
Mar 16 2010 1:00P WOXY’s SXSW Lounge Act
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Mar 20 2010 1:00P L4M Showcase @ Aces Lounge (w/ The Cool Kids & Rakaa of Dilated Peoples)
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Mar 21 2010 12:00P Obscure Magpie/Old Flame Party @ Encore Austin, Texas
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The Harlequins –

Mar 18 2010 NOON-4:00A House of Commons Unofficial SXSW Showcase 2610 Rio Grande St
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Mar 20 2010 2:00P La Boîte Café 1700 South Lamar Blvd
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Eat Sugar

Friday & Saturday Shows TBA

Chronically overlooked and criminally underrated, Fishbone explodes onstage with an untamed visceral energy that makes them one of the greatest live acts in the world. Frenetic Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore’s insane stage antics are so wildly out of control it’s like watching a madman come unglued. The rest of the band matches him bounce for bounce, scream for blood-curdling soulful scream, all while pulling off some pretty tricky changes in their swirling cacophony of high energy punk funk ska grooves.

Fishbone’s red hot renditions of “Ma And Pa” and “Cholly” drew a ravenous reaction from the crowd and the effect was like throwing gas on a fire. Angelo repeatedly leapt into the crowd to join the skanking, slam-dancing masses. Keyboard player Dre Gipson took center stage to deliver a brief dancehall rap over a “Rub A Dub Soldier” reggae groove that segued smoothly right into “The Suffering”. Soon thereafter Gipson hurled himself up, over, and into the audience. Crowd surfing and twirling over a sea of supporting hands, Gipson’s flailing boots dislodged a number of ceiling tiles. This is exactly the kind of happy violent energy I had hoped for from this show. Seems like you don’t see much of it these days and I found it extremely gratifying to witness the crowd’s infectious energy and spontaneous participation. The Fishbone faithful were bouncing up and down like crazy for the duration of the band’s set.

Dirty Walt shares vocal duties with Moore, creating a hilarious call-and-response effect. In addition to Dirty Walt’s trumpet and Moore’s array of saxaphones, guitarist John McKnight occasionally picks up a trombone and adds yet another dimension to the band’s wicked horn charts. Special attention must be given to Fishbone bass player Norwood, whose mastery of funk grooves is unparalleled. His bass work-out during “Bonin’ In The Boneyard” is controlled chaos, frantic funk executed with hardcore punk energy and a clear stand-out in a set that was rife with insane moments and riotous highlights.

I wondered if The English Beat would be able to follow Fishbone’s manic display. I needn’t have been concerned. Dave Wakeling and crew took the stage with cool, calm professionalism and proceeded to please the crowd with a stream of warm ska grooves and familiar favorites like “Tenderness”, “Ranking Full Stop” and their version of “Tears Of A Clown”. Fishbone is raw, primal energy where The English Beat is slick and refined, like two sides of the same coin. There seemed to be more people there to see The English Beat, but Fishbone’s slightly smaller contingent made much more noise. And while both bands managed to keep the whole crowd dancing for the entire evening, Fishbone might have generated a little more sweat in the crowd.

-Ric Hickey

Pop Empire at the Southgate House on Saturday (Photo credit: Robert Cate)

Pop Empire had never performed before Saturday night.  Yet by 9:30, only halfway into the opening band’s set,  their debut show had sold out.   Early internet buzz, word of mouth and a flawless lineup were all elements that drew dozens out to see what Pop Empire was all about.  The newest edition to Cincinnati’s ever-growing music scene was joined by The Lions Rampant and The Seedy Seeds to celebrate the release of their EP, Rainy Child.

I fought my way to the stage only to find that the Lions Rampant had just ended their set.  I headed upstairs to the Gallery where several pieces were displayed  from local artists who were asked to create pieces inspired by the Rainy Child EP (more on that in their interview).   The photos, drawings and mixed media pieces were all pretty interesting, even if some of their meanings escaped me.   Nevertheless, you better believe when I picked up my copy of Rainy Child, I grabbed a print of one of the pieces.

The Seedy Seeds took the stage for one of their last shows before they head to Austin for SXSW.  The set was mostly  from Count The Days with a handful of new songs thrown in.  My heart broke a little when they failed to play “The Little Patton”, but I had forgotten my kazoo that night anyway.

Still, everyone was there to see Pop Empire and by the time the band hit the stage, the audience was anxious with anticipation.  A few people may have been surprised that the band, made up of Henrie Wilson and Cameron Cochran,  lacked a drummer; one song in, however, and I’m sure no one even noticed.   Though it was only Cameron on guitar and Henrie behind the laptop and on keyboard, the sound filled the entire space in a big way.  Granted, I was standing next to a 3-foot speaker, but at one point I felt my ribcage rattle and was convinced the drum beats were going to give me heart palpitations.

The band played a short and dirty set comprised mostly of songs from the EP along with a few new tunes.  It was obvious the guys put a lot of work into the show, though the songs were a different beast when performed live.  Songs like “Play the Blues” were stripped of their vocal effects and filled out with screeching synth and fuzzed out guitar, leaving them dirty and raw.  Meanwhile, “City Girl + City Boy” seemed less polished than the album’s version but was equally beautiful in its simplicity.  The band ended with “Woman Be Kind”, one of my favorite tracks off the album and performed so flawlessly that the audience begged for more.  Cameron, however, regretfully apologized since they didn’t have any more songs to play.

Thanks to the EP’s free digital streaming and a supportive music scene, the  CD release show was a major success, selling out in almost an hour.   It was Pop Empire’s awesome performance, however, that proved the band had earned the hype.  Locals that missed the show will have a few opportunities to see the band before they hit the road in April.  Check out their Myspace for the full list of shows.

In this episode:

In the first five minutes of Episode 7, you’ll realize that, no matter how much you hate your job, it could always be worse (unless you also have a job at the zoo, and in which case, sorry, man). But there are more important things to discuss, like the great and awful movies Mandy and the peanut gallery (Ben, Yusef and Melinda) have seen since the last podcast. Mandy reviews Shutter Island, someone’s already lived through (500) Days of Summer, and they deconstruct The Wolfman so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.

There’s a fantastic crop of music this time around, including some new Apples in Stereo. Rock out to We Were Promised Jetpacks, dance to Freelance Whales, and check out a new track from Dawn Landes.

But hey, they’ve got sports too! Kind of! Ben shares his medium-extensive knowledge of curling and no one knows if they know they Olympic theme song. On that note, better listen to this episode quick before the IOC sues the Milling About crew for copyright infringement.

All that, plus, Mandy harbors a crush on NBC’s stable of male news correspondents, and Ben talks about paparazzi karma on the streets of New York.

And Ken might be missing from this podcast, he’s definitely there in spirit!

The Apples In Stereo – Dancefloor
We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices
Dawn Landes – Young Girl
Freelance Whales – Starring (WOXY Lounge Act)

An easy way to sum up this new outfit is that it is a new project of Cincinnati singer Molly Sullivan and features members of Peter Adams band, The Nocturnal Collective and The Happy Maladies. But the way I prefer to describe this effort is in a simple phrase, “untapped potential.” I say that before hearing a single note or lyric from No No Knots, and base it solely on the collective talent that is assembled here. As great at Peter Adams is as a songwriter and artist in general, I was always equally impressed by the company he kept. In addition, Molly Sullivan seems like an artist that is easy to enjoy in a solo format, but becomes a star backed by a band like this.

Some of these thoughts were confirmed after watching a few video clips of the band performing during a recent Southgate House show, but I am still calling this effort “untapped potential” until I hear some studio recordings. That said, you should certainly check out a those video clips right here, and let us know what you think of No No Knots. Here is one of my early favorites.