New Music – Plattenbau ‘Hollywood’

From the very first pulse of its dark drone ‘Hollywood‘ paints a picture of dingy lit dancefloors and callous unfriendly faces. It has a prowling menace in the sound that prickles at the psyche and creates an exciting and terrifying sense of dread. The song is a sonic storm, an assault on the senses that leaves the skin tingling.

Lyrically the track doesn’t have much of a sunny side, it languishes as it takes sharp and cutting pot shots at the greed and apathy of the modern world. The vocal performance is perfectly matched with the lyrical content with this anguished cry that builds and morphs with an impressive power and pressure.

Plattenbau are signed to A Place To Bury Strangers label, a marriage that makes perfect sense. APTBS were often labelled the loudest band in New York and Plattenbau may just be the loudest band in Berlin. But it isn’t an obnoxious kind of obvious volume, it isn’t dialling your amp to 11 or screaming into the mic, it’s more about building this chaotic soundscape that spikes in every frequency tickling every part of the inner ear at once.

This isn’t just post-punk, or art-punk, it’s an orchestral-punk, a raw and pure middle finger both to the mainstream it despises and the labels that don’t know what to do with it. It isn’t wearing patches and spiky jackets for the clout, it’s too busy making beautiful noise.

The music audibly hums at the very edge of what the average speaker can handle, it’s pushing boundaries and then writing poetry about the pristine earth it has found underneath. Stay tuned, because even in the cackling static you can pick out the most gorgeous of melodies.

Words by Matt Miles.

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