Music, musings and miscellanea

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

Diversification, that’s the ticket — at least it is in the music biz.

Take Robbie Furze — the guy was an axe-man for hire and record label head before forming The Big Pink with Merok Records owner Milo Cordell. Oliver Ackermann owned a custom effects pedals company when he helped found A Place To Bury Strangers.

And so we find these multi-faceted entrepreneurs on a tour that brought them to Toronto Wednesday night, united in their efforts to expand their personal brands. That and to make awesome, caustic noise.

Lots of it.

Brooklyn, N.Y.’s A Place To Bury Strangers took the stage without a word and spent the first third of their set completely back-lit by video montages projected on the venue’s ceiling.

I have to plead ignorance when it comes to this band, as I just heard their most recent record Exploding Head a few hours before the gig. But like their album, the band blaze bold trail with their very noisy post-punk — think Joy Division-meets-Nine Inch Nails with all the good parts of Orgy’s version of “Blue Monday” thrown in for kicks.

Speaking of which, I did recognize “Keep Slipping Away” with its “Blue Monday”-esque groove. Ackermann and the band’s other two members, bassist Jono MOFO and Jason “Jay Space” Wellmeister, made no effort to engage the crowd, choosing to let their music do the talking. For once it really did — no doubt helped by the volume at which it was played. The band left the stage with a guitar trashing and then a simple wave goodbye.

A Place to Bury Strangers – “Keep Slipping Away”

I don’t know what it is, but ever since The Beatles took the piss out of the U.S. press upon their arrival in America, British bands always come across as cocksure punks, like they’re the cure to all our worries. The Big Pink were no different, taking to the stage, drinks in hand, as singer/guitarist Furze struck a Jesus Christ pose amid the smoke and lights.

Thankfully, the quartet quickly proved themselves worthy of their own rock god posturing, despite some technical difficulties that threw off the momentum created by “Too Young To Love” and “At War With The Sun.”

The Big Pink proved fantastic performers, recreating the songs from their debut, A Brief History Of Love, as well as one new track with visceral force. Furze’s vocals were pitch perfect, augmented by some great harmonies from bass player Leopold Ross.

The Big Pink – “Velvet”

But the crowd seemed uninterested in his efforts to coax them out of their hump-day doldrums. Certainly, the longish bouts of instrumental noise the group used to segue between songs didn’t help those there just to see what all the fuss was about.

Despite some vague indifference, Furze and co still delivered excellent versions of “Velvet” and “Crystal Visions.” The crowd finally came around for “Dominos” and sang along with the line “And I really love breaking your heart.”

That song ended the encore-less set and proved both bands are indeed worthy of all the bits and bytes that have been spilled singing their praises.