A Place to Bury Strangers

When I first heard "To Fix the Gash in Your Head"—an ode to ultraviolence that sounds like the Jesus and Mary Chain playing speedcore while strapped to a missile—on the radio one Sunday, my immediate thought was: Risky! Good on you, DJ! The critical popularity of Brooklyn trio A Place to Bury Strangers is happily perplexing—since when did unvarnished aggression like "I want to beat you in/I'll make you feel my sorrow" become KEXP-approved? Which leads me to my second question: What's the crowd going to be like at this show? Hopefully, something like the mix of Motorhead fans, Goths, dance-music aficionados, LSD enthusiasts, and gear geeks who rocked out together at Mouse on Mars' last Chop Suey gig. Musicians who bridge the gap like they and APTBS do are few and far between, but they're rightfully banking that most everyone's got a dark side. With the Purrs. RACHEL SHIMP

Listen to a sample of A Place to Bury Stranger's "Ocean."