BUZZ BANDS

Bring earplugs: A Place to Bury Strangers plays L.A. for the first time next week, and if the trio’s name or its reputation as “the loudest band in New York” doesn’t set off alarms, know this: Frontman Oliver Ackermann (pictured at left with Jay Space and Jono Mofo) started a guitar-pedal effects company called Death by Audio six years ago when he came up with a device called Total Sonic Annihilation. “That about says it all,” Ackermann says with a laugh, remembering how an idea to earn money for a vacation trip blossomed into a career making custom effects for guitars. In the ensuing years, he founded the band with bassist Mofo and drummer Space, wrapping his truculence in menacing sheets of distortion that color his songs like thunderheads and appeal to fans of shoegazer and experimental rock alike. “We’re just writing pop songs, but what we do seems to fit the whole experimental music thing that’s going on,” Ackermann says, noting that the darkness in his music doesn’t necessarily reflect his anger as a person. “It’s just when a feeling brings you to that creative place, it adds fuel to the intensity of the song. I think it’s what keeps me happy, really -- it’s my form of therapy.” It struck a chord too with Boston blogger Jon Whitney (brainwashed.com), who talked the band into letting him release its album on his Killer Pimp imprint, although “I still felt like some of the songs were in the demo stages,” Ackermann says. “Thank goodness for Jon.” Live: Monday at the Viper Room and Tuesday at the Silverlake Lounge. ALSO CHECK: Buddy celebrates the release of his debut, “Alterations and Repairs,” on Friday at the Hotel Cafe. . . . On Sunday, Voxtrot (with locals Division Day) visits the Music Box @ Fonda, and VHS or Beta (with Foreign Born) plays the El Rey. . . . And Spoon and Sea Wolf are among the bands playing Indie 103.1’s Bands in Toyland on Wednesday at the Avalon. More on the blog: www.latimes.com/buzzbands.

-- Kevin.Bronson@latimes.com