Burial

pretty good album, sounds like it should soundtrack Blade Runner or something

it has a similar vibe to classic Tricky albums too

As I said before the only thing I don't like is the track with the rap on - the only thing I've really liked that Spaceape has done was the cover (of sorts) of Sign 'O' The Times he did on an earlier Hyperdub EP.

If I was running any kind of electronic label right now I would be commissioning remixes from this guy. In fact... why not Relevee (Burial Mix)? :)

The production is awesome yeah. Although again there's a distinction b/w the tracks with great, fluid rhythms and those with more run-o'-the-millish dubstep and halfstep beats. And the Spaceape track is definitely the weakest.

Tried this Sunday night, awoke deeply disturbed, switched to the radio and it was "Gotta See Jane" by R Dean Taylor. "Windscreen wipers splishing, splashing..." It seemed strangely apt.

ANYWAY: Have you heard the "Original Garage" mix of "U Hurt Me"? Its only on one mix (available here...http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_blackdownsoundboy_archive.html#114529091176863831) dunno if it'll be released later, but its basically a Balearic-pop version...

IMHO: Spaceape track works well (it IS distinct to the rest as it has a live vocalist rather than distressed samples)but it has a tightly wound minimalist funk in its slightly out-of-time beats (especially when the hi hats come in) which is really compelling...

It was nice, and unexpected, to read your thoughts on The Kiki mix Marcello.

Glad you liked the Boogybites piece...I also have things to say about the Luciano mix (Sci Fi Hi Fi Vol 2) when time allows.

i needed to get one listen through my system to forget all the garbage written for it (hauntology = another excuse for nonsensical flowery prose). after that, this is brilliant. the space ape track is noticeably weaker than everything else he has released.

It's the whole "elegy for Omni Trio" bizniz that I don't get - if anything this is (at its best) a cross b/w early dubstep and the more musical/emotional techstep a la the first Dom & Roland album.

pot, kettle

Hooray! ;-)

I think Paul Autonomic's (great) mix might be all the Dubstep I really need this month to listen to at home. Also, I just don't think I'm in the mood for any more gloom & despair at this precise moment.

I think this is the cruellest comment I've seen Ned make yet.

It was ok, but not much melody or anything else gripping for me, I couldn't make it through the whole thing.

First thing that has to be stated is that this isn't a straight up dubstep album. It can't be, there's far too many clever rhythmic and

melodic twists and turns to keep it held down by something as trivial as genre or style. He takes dubstep's distinctive motif's (warping b-lines, downward drums, silent gaps) and furnishes incredibly layered pieces of futurist funk.

The eastern sunrise opener of 'Tauhid' might be weighted down with swathes of sub. But, like the rest of the album, there's a light footprint to it all. Even the murky, out-of-focus echo of 'Skuff'd' seems to have a spring in its step. Whilst bass-heads will find solace in darker moments like the magnificent 'Brood'. The rest of us will find this a seasonally apt piece of accomplished electronic music.

I agree that the album ain't straight-up dubstep (although it basically is in parts - the weakest parts ha) but the second half of this statement is ridiculoid.

The beats at their best are better than most current dubstep but not all (and generally not as good as first-wave Horspower/El-B etc. for the sake of an easy comparison) - the focus here is really the texturological side of tings, the heaviness of the synths and samples which gives the music a physicality not in the sense of groove, but in the sense of it feeling physically tangible, like you're gonna get damp if you listen to the tracks with rain sounds.

Still think it's an amazing EP masquerading as a decent album.

that comment pretty much makes me want to avoid this album even though i am intrigued. i am very resistant to this premature canonization stuff. was "timeless" critically reviled on it's release? i recall reading a few recent posts here that tear it apart pretty well, but "ought to have been"?

Once Blogger is back up and running, I will deliver a more persuasive argument for you purchasing the Burial album.

i don't understand why he would even mention tricky.
i don't understand why he would even mention Goldie.

In any event I have divided the passage up into digestible lines, and the Burial piece is now up for lovers of "nonsensical flowery prose."

Good job on the Burial, Marcello. And I might buy that Ishiguro on the way home from work.

three paragraphs of deeply gross classist handwringing about the "working class" - do you really only see "wretchedness" every time you see someone in the lowest tax bracket? and i like this one: "they are given the illusion of education and enlightenment" - aren't you also culpable? why are you so willing to see the education of "people who work in call-centre servitude" as illusion?

followed by five paragraphs of blogging about blogging.

followed by several paragraphs of vaguely musicological nonsense:

"record looks and feels like something unofficial, unauthorised; an urgent samizdat, a desperate plea from an ending world, an artefact whose emotions are so necessary to communicate that packaging would constitute both delay and distraction."

dude, it looks like any techstep album from the early 2000s!!

"The beats are too shadowed and distant for dancing; this music is to be felt in other parts of the soul as well as listened to"

yuck, stale IDM rhetoric pt 9,000,000

"

anyway you should be apologizing to ME, i've worked in a call center and i don't think you should be calling me "wretched".

I'm wondering if the relative unoriginality of the cover makes it any less powerful if you're coming to it with a fresh mind? In isolation I think it's a great cover.

I think Marcello was just trying to avoid the pat, idiotic "this is more of a listening album y'know" staple than reinforce IDM cliches. Though they are annoying, I'll take the anything over the former, and I think the latter is almost dead for anyone but sheltered "alternative music" fans by 2006.

who doesn't use stale IDM rhetoric these days, vahid?

i second the faux-dubstep album - but isn't that what Various Productions is trying to do?

marcello you made the ishiguro sound worth checking out. it sounds like a zenned out cross between houellebecq and murakami.

Techstep did this too (this is part of the similarity) but the speed and the shameless use of breakdowns and climaxes gave it a sense of a broken machine spiralling out of control. With dubstep - slower and seemingly suspicious of the notion of song dynamic - that never happens.

The Dom & Roland Industry comparison makes a lot of sense for me, above and beyond the fact that Industry is definitely my favourite techstep album. I think Burial beats out Dom & Roland on the texture front, the warp and weave of the samples etc. But D&R beats out Burial on the beats/grooves front because, even when it's basically a straightforward 2-step groove (maybe 4 tracks or so), there's a real energy and intensity to the groove, a friction between the physicality of the beats and the lush mournfulness of the textures and melodies - when this is combined with an excitingly syncopated rhythm (on tracks like "Thunder", "Chained On Both Sides" and especially the peerless "Elektra") it's unstoppable.

It's clear that Burial can construct excitingly syncopated rhythms and on the best tracks that's what he does, but frequently he still sounds caught within dubstep's horizon of wounded undynamic grooves, like a post-Timbaland version of the leaden, lumpen boom-bap which drags down so much comparable downtempo.

OTM. i just cannot get as excited about this as other things going on.

Finney's comments are akin to criticising Saint Etienne for not being Menswear.

NB 1. I don't have an issue with rhythms sounding like broken machines. It's just that ideally a broken machine should sound, well, dangerous, rather than merely, well mildly impaired.

NB 2. I'm not saying that the entire album suffers from this, only about half.

can someone finish this? industry is to blade runner as burial is to ... ? artificial intelligence??

I suspect I am not being particularly clear here:

I think (and it appears that I agree with you on this perhaps) the beats on Burial's album are best when they're not trying to be obviously dangerous, when they're at their loosest and prettiest, e.g. the first proper track and the track with the sampled reggae vocals towards the end (sorry I'm not totally on top of tracknames much yet). These tracks are still pretty dark sounding, but part of that is due to the thickness of the arrangements and the slightly foreboding use of spatialisation - the way the sounds emerge and recede so boldly. It's also partly due to what Simon R called the "murderous panache" (or something to that effect) of proper 2-step a la Artful Dodger - beats don't have to be obviously doom and gloom to feel threatening.

The weakest beats are the ones which cleave closest to the current dubstep norm of a sort of self-contained hard-brokenness. These ones seem to fall between two stools: they have that wounded, muscly quality of techstep, but none of the sense of release you get with the best techstep. It's most obvious on the Spaceape track but even with some of the better tracks like "Southern Comfort" I'm left thinking "the beat is the weakest part of this track."

Actually the Dom & Roland album shares this affliction to the extent that all techstep did - there's a track on it co-produced with Optical which is very hard and very carefully arranged, but so constipated in feel that it never generates any interesting tension. I guess if there's one word I'd use to describe bad dubstep beats it'd be constipated.

(or, trying to listen to this stuff on an iPod is frustratingly incomplete)

Tim, you said that you found the beat in "Southern Comfort" to be the weakest part of the track. Do you also consider it "constipated," i.e., do you include it among the dubstep tunes that don't "generate any tension"?

(albeit shitty real audio may not be worth the effort)

I guess I wouldn't go quite so far w/r/t "Southern Comfort", although there's something about the way it loops into itself which bugs me - the variation on every 8th bar is better than the usual beat. "You Hurt Me" has a v. similar beat structure but I like the beat more (also it has those awesome, albeit too sparing "DROP!" samples).

I love the rhythm programming on "Gutted" though - even though it's barely there!

In retrospect it's only "Spaceape" that is actively bad in this sense. Though i could take or leave "Prayer", and while "Wounder" works it's not for the beats.

If it was an EP along the lines of:

Distant Lights
Night Bus
You Hurt Me
Gutted
Broken Home
Forgive

... It would be unimpeachable.

because his presence on vol 3 IS "actively bad", in fact it's terrible, and i can't believe people aren't calling kode 9 out on it!

not only is it sort of embarassing - would any of these dudes rep for "dj kicks: rockers hi-fi"? - but in this case it's just ... yuck.

"Victims themselves of a close encounter / Desperate abductors, constructors / Become an infected vex / By an alien virus"?

dude ... shut the fuck up.

Anyone that has heard Spaceape live recently in the UK will know that the line of argument on this thread, from carlin to finney is somewhat off the mark regarding that track. And I really wish people would stop constantly referring dubstep back to techstep. There is some substance to that contrast, but its actually such a lazy critical move to make the kind of comparisons, especially with the Burial album, which doesnt seem aimed at the dancefloor in the slightest.

A lot of early album "techstep" wasn't either! It's not like we're talking about Bad Company!

I also think it is ridiculous to suggest that its rhythmically better or worse than early dubstep. If anything it will help attract attention back to those guys, but its clearly taken that influence in another direction altogether. El-B & Horsepower's production was always clinically clean.

http://search.insound.com/search/showrelease.jsp?p=INS29940

I passed this up in Hard Wax (they're loving the Dubstep btw!) for an old Carl Craig album & other stuff. If that Breezeblock mix is better... then maybe I'm not as excited about this as say a Skream or Digital Mystikz album after all.

1. Nu-Birth - Anytime (Dem 2's Nice & Sleazy Mix)
2. Horsepower Productions - Fist of Fury
3. Skream - Midnite Request Line
4. Wiley - Pick Yourself Up (Target Instrumental Mix)
5. Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
6. Tricky ft. PJ Harvey - Broken Homes
7. Donnacha Costello - Dry Retch
8. Pole - Tanzen
9. Rhythm & Sound - Truly (Vladislav Delay Remix)
10. Dillinja - The Angels Fell
11. Hidden Agenda - Dispatch #2
12. DJ Shadow - You Can't Go Home Again
13. Johnny Dark - HCD 2

excellent rec, gets stronger as it goes along, def. hanging round some of the same old haunts as maurizio/rhythm + sound, which can never ever be a bad thing

Tim F is v.much OTM calling it a padded ep because there are (frustratingly) brilliant _bits_ on it. But the whole seems to fail somehow where it shouldn't have.

And it really would have helped to have had ALL of South London Boroughs on it because the title track would have been far & away the best cut on it (then Southern Comfort, then others) on a sound design level. The less Dubstep-y this gets the weaker, less atmospheric and menacing and emotional it feels. Yet the gauzy more ambient stuff seems to be getting the unfair share of the praise.

I'd have a hard time rating it below a 7, yet vast chunks of this lag far, far behind the truly effective parts in real musical power. Whilst never ever being hard to digest or bland or anything at any time it still ends up not feeling _really great_ either.

Doesn't compare even remotely in imagination to darker Tricky, Massive Attack or FSOL (circa "Dead Cities") or acres of other dread Jungle... If Hyperdub didn't exist and seem fresh & untested for it I'd expect this to have been released on Lux Nigra.

Fair enough to the 'burial' concept but it feels for the most part TOO hermetic and sealed around it's own foggy dreamscape to sound truly dangerous or threatening or unsettling. It needs more breaking glass and interruptions to "normality" in it I think.

(i dont like this much at all btw. tim's pitchfork review had me thinking it was the second coming of horsepower.)

Wow, I couldn't disagree more with these claims. Listen to Skream or DMZ if you want more fractured dubstep, that really isn't the point.

btw just to pre-empt dubstep (feeeel the bass man) purist

This there anyone seriously going to claim this? This is not a 'feel the bass' record, it's a shade away from a dubstep soundsystem track. It sounds perfectly fine on my home stereo.

But yes: Burial is in no way a bass-head record, whilst the sub-bass is present it is mixed well back, as there is quite a lot else going on. Check out Pinch for some real "holy shit that's a lot of sub down there" action...

I wasn't really thinking about it in that way but maybe I'd now say it is the second coming of horsepower and that's part of what undermines it slightly. I still love many tracks on In Fine Style but it's hard to listen to in full. HP were better rhythmic programmers than Burial I think (nothing here is as startling rhythmically as, say, "Pimp Flavours") but overall Burial has a broader sonic palette.

This is definitely the first time I've received e-mails about a review with half complaining that I was too enthusiastic and the other half that I was too negative.

All dubstep sounds fractured to me to a certain extent. Always tripping over itself and creating angular grooves. Skream falls into this paradigm for me - while he might sound non-jittery and so on, I think even 'Monsoon' or 'Request Line' would sound less so mixed into a different genre...

I agree, 'Boys Love Girls' is a 'fractured' sounding track. But it's such an exceptional record!

In any case, Burial is much more melodic and non-jittery than anything in dubstep or grime. The Germanic Basic Channel/Pole axis on the sound is an innovative approach I think. The point is to find a new synthesis, which requires reducing certain aspects associated with the London underground.

this shit sounds like enigma w/o the hot beats and tight samples. at least enigma is catchy and gets heads nodding. i forgot what this sounded like two seconds after i took it off. all i could remember was the afterimage of a train whistle, ghostly fragments of bad ethnic samples and the overwhelming aftertaste of rainswept windshields and sodium lights. fuck that, this is what you get when you combine corny dead poets gothisms + the sound of a deep forest album at 33 rpm.

Hmm... these are exactly the reasons why I love the record.

and STFU about basic channel, people. teh fact that a dubstep album spends time aiming for something that shits on it from a great height doesn't make it worth listening to.

burial is worthwhile because he namechecks basic channel? what's next, i listen to matisyahu because he's got good taste in reggae?

You can't be serious.

Perhaps Pole is a more significant reference point from Burial.

there, i said it. i feel better now. i'll get me hat.

So does anyone know if there's going to be any sound systems playing Dubstep at notting hill carnival this year?

Skream
Appleblim & Shackleton
Digital Mystikz & Sgt Pokes
Kode 9
Various Production

Yeah that break is fine, but that's about it. I don't dis-like the rest of it, it's just kind of there.

Aye.

but compare burial's album to something like phoenicia's "brownout" and you'll see that burial is very, very subpar.

-- Tim Finney, July 21st, 2006.

eh, crackle!

Fandango, regardless of your opinion on Burial, I really think you should hear SAW II. I'm tempted to say everyone should hear SAW II, but I do realize that's probably stretching it.

I would put all the vocal tracks ahead of it.

Oris Jay's "Brand Nu Flava" had a similar sick-with-love vibe. (sigh) so many of those producers went crap!

Also: check this out: Burial's remix of Jamie Woon's Wayfaring Stranger (fourth track here: http://www.myspace.com/jamiewoon ) - out at the end of this month on Live Recordings (has been played by Mary Anne Hobbs on Radio 1 a couple of times already, it seems).

Hype hype hype and then it turns out to be fantastic!

I had no idea. I could play Broken Home on repeat for hours... I really should have been paying more attention to this whole dubstep thing, but then there's only so much hours in the day and essays have to be handed in and I only get so much time off work and...

Still despite the fact that Death In June have nothing at all to do with the Burial this thread is dedicated to, I still stand by the album and look forward to the rumoured next Burial album due this year.

this track is up on Hype Machine now. it's been on repeat for hours. get it asap.

Burial sounds like an instrumental version of Tricky's 3rd album.

-- jed_

although I have, jed is closet to my feelings about 'Burial' overall.

Could someone please point me to that obscured or whatever photo of Burial?

There are some in this month's issue of the Wire.

http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/347/

There's another picture in the magazine, he's all shadowy and you can make out that he's wearing a beanie and has long curly hair (somewhat unsurprisingly).

"I've only listened to it twice in full, but I think the album as a whole doesn't quite live up to its best tracks - i wish the whole thing had abandoned virtual-reality-divas moaning in anguish all over it, but it's only a couple of times and very fleeting!

-- Tim Finney (Tim Finney)"

so i'm guessing you loved the new one? i cant remember if you were posting in that thread or not.

New Burial album. More info?

so yes, is he the same as "Tim F"? that's what i was confused about. and since "Tim F" seemed to not like the new one, yet it is almost exactly what "Tim Finney" said he wanted the first Burial album to be, it isnt immediately obvious. one thing i dont like about ILM is that there is no real user profile, people can change their names and whatnot too easily. very annoying.

Thanks!

one thing i dont like about ILM is that there is no real user profile, people can change their names and whatnot too easily. very annoying.

You can't change your name.

Go ahead and try.

Without starting a new account.

Yeah, but you used to be able to and people did all the time (although Tim's names are pretty easy to decode.) I do find it hard to keep track of who someone is now in nu-ILX world.

I was trying to be all superpedantic like pipecock with his "Tim Finney used to say he would like something like the new Burial album but he doesn't like the new Burial album! OMG!!!11!1!" but I suppose it didn't translate.

Notice myself saying that this was utter shit upthread and I ended up buying it and thinking it was one of the best albums of last year. Things change.

(xpost)Haha well I won't dispute that pipecock is a moron whatever his user name is.

The Burial remix of Thom Yorke's "And It Rained All Night" is lazier than most Burial things I've heard. I'll probably end up praising it in a few days, knowing how I warm to things, but it really seems more like existing beats grafted under a vocal. Not nearly as good as the Bloc Party mix.

no it's definitely rubbish. every burial staple sound thrown underneath yorke's vocal. horrible.

and what an awkward beat, even for him

I like the new Burial album quite a lot. If you have a look at the other Burial thread I actually don't really talk about the album quality so much as the dodgy rhetoric people feel compelled to use when discussing him.

Burial seems to be one of those artists for whom one is not allowed to express even a vaguely equivocal position. I gave the first Burial album an 8.1 or something like that for Pitchfork and got more hatemail than for any other review complaining that I was too stupid to recognise a good record when I heard it.

Having said all this Pipecock is correct that in theory I should absolutely adore the second album given he effectively (if unwittingly) followed the advice I gave in my review. Instead I only like it quite a lot, about as much as the first album. I've wondered about this myself.

I suspect that the familiarity with his approach has meant that it's been less precious to me than it would have been had it been released as his first album. My gut reaction is that nothing on Untrue is as good as "You Hurt Me", which provides its blueprint, but it might be more correct to say that after "You Hurt Me" it's harder to be surprised. If anything I've not even given the album the chance to grow on me properly - I've just not been compelled to pull it out that much.

I think both albums have the same flaw actually which is that they have four or so amazing tracks and a bunch of pretty forgettable ones.

I disagree with Tim though. I think the best tracks on Untrue ("Etched Headplate", "Archangel", "Raver") are better than anything on the first record.

Yeah, I think Untrue is a major step up, in almost every way, for Burial. Still, my favorite of his songs is Unite, from the Soul Jazz comp Box of Dub, Vol. I.

U Hurt Me is v. good, tho.

Tim's point about the rhetoric around Burial ties in with my belief that Burial is the kind of goth it's 'okay' to like. "It's dark and spooky and I don't have to admit to liking somebody in bondage gear and ambisexual makeup!"

controversial!

"Tim's point about the rhetoric around Burial ties in with my belief that Burial is the kind of goth it's 'okay' to like. "It's dark and spooky and I don't have to admit to liking somebody in bondage gear and ambisexual makeup!""

Uh what?

it's funny to hear some of my friends talk about this record, like one dj dude for whom it's a totally out-of-nowhere sound. like he has no reference points for it at all.

archangel is the archetypal burial song. everything else is just a clone or a prototype for it...

...i love the way it doesn't sound like anything else out there but his own works so when you campare the rest of the album or other tunes of his to it, they're found wanting

As I said, i think that it's likely that my sense that nothing on the new album is better than "You Hurt Me" is actually reflective of something else, like a drop in interest in Burial generally, rather than the actual quality per se.

Ned I know what you mean but it's no more true for Burial than it was for DJ Shadow - and I think there's a great deal that the two have in common.

"I like the new Burial album quite a lot. If you have a look at the other Burial thread I actually don't really talk about the album quality so much as the dodgy rhetoric people feel compelled to use when discussing him."

which is another reason why i was kinda confused, because even though we discussed many things about it, i dont remember you specifically saying whether you liked it or not!

"Having said all this Pipecock is correct that in theory I should absolutely adore the second album given he effectively (if unwittingly) followed the advice I gave in my review. Instead I only like it quite a lot, about as much as the first album. I've wondered about this myself."

when i read that older post, i couldnt even believe it. you totally nailed his direction over a year before the album came out. i had to do a double take on the date to make sure i wasn't imagining things!

"I suspect that the familiarity with his approach has meant that it's been less precious to me than it would have been had it been released as his first album. My gut reaction is that nothing on Untrue is as good as "You Hurt Me", which provides its blueprint, but it might be more correct to say that after "You Hurt Me" it's harder to be surprised. If anything I've not even given the album the chance to grow on me properly - I've just not been compelled to pull it out that much.

-- Tim F"

for me nothing was ever really "surprising" about his music, but that is also not one of the things i look for in any music. but for me "untrue" album definitely seems like an expansion and a contraction at the same time: he expanded on the ideas in the first album, though mainly in the ideas present in just a few of the tracks. i think it works better because of this (i am one of the people who thinks the space ape jam was the weakest on the first one, simply because it was too "different" and kind of lost the flow of the album) and the tracks that he came up with for the new one are definitely superior to the first album. if anything, i am now more doubtful of the first album simply because of how much more i like the new one!

and I think there's a great deal that the two have in common

I know Mackro was thinking more DJ Spooky but I'll buy both as comparison points, and I think we're seeing rhetorical redux bigtime in the vein of the critical response around both ten years back in Burial's case.

So now DJ Spooky was the goth it was s'okay to like?!?! Huh.

The more you act surprised the funnier it gets, trust me.

If funny = makes no sense, I guess. The Shadow comp seems spot on though.

Although I guess there is/was racial baggage with Shadow than there is/was with Burial.

ahem, "more".

"Although I guess there is/was racial baggage with Shadow than there is/was with Burial.

-- Alex in SF"

i think comparing burial to shadow is pretty close in terms of mood and atmosphere, at least as close any i can think of. not sure why there should be racial baggage with shadow though, he did shit with Paris and his crew included Blackalicious amongst many others, he was no isolated white guy. do you mean in getting crazy hype just because he was a white guy? even still, im not sure that was the exact reason, how many people really knew he was a white guy just from hearing his music? i wouldn't have guessed it and he wasnt even pictured on Endtroducing.....

Just breath, pipecock. There is always racial baggage when white american guy's make hip-hop and I doubt you can find too many pieces from 95-6 on Shadow that didn't mention his race or the fact that his music was out of place in the present world of hip hop.

Anyway I wasn't thinking so much sonically in terms of the Shadow-Burial connection (although there are some similarities, yeah) more just two guys obsessed with a particular strand of a genre that was largely out of vogue at the point where they were making music (Steinski-style cut-n-mix instrumentals for Shadow, El-B-style 2-step) and who achieved as much if not more success from fans who normally wouldn't care about the music scene they were ostensibly and rather distantly a part of (in Burial's case, seemingly by choice, in Shadow's . . . well.)

The big difference being that half if not more of the 2-step producers were white anyway.

is the thom yorke remix any good? (available from boomkat, nicely)

So is Burial definitely white?

Everything I've read indicates it's really lazy.

Yes. Definitely. Positively.

I have a photo of Burial and his girlfriend - I've even come up with the perfect lolcat caption with which to leak it to the internet. Unfortunately he doesn't have long curly hair so I think I've been played.

the thom yorke remix is easily burial's worst remix/track yet. the excellent modeselektor and various remixes more than make up for the weak burial effort.

to be honest i havent felt his remixes at all and im a huge fan of his original productions.

are the soul jazz compilations (featuring burial) any good?

They're okay. The Burial track on the first one is quite good and there are a few other good tracks on each one. A lot of it tends more towards digi-dub than dubstep (which can be good depending on your POV), but either way is sadly rather boring.

suugestions wanted: if you like burial you might also like ...

...walking through London late at night in the rain?

Adele

see, i was expecting the first reply to be "enya".

I'm still wrapping my brain around "Untrue" - and I mean that in the best way possible. It's like someone murdered a 2-step mix disc: here is its ghost back to haunt you with its unsettling familiarity.

I love listening to individual tracks, but I find the whole thing way too
melancholy to process in one sitting.

Yeah, I feel the same way. If I try to listen to it through, by like track five I'm thinking "Oh christ, more dirty bass noises and minimal shuffling beats. Oh, and here come the spectral vocals". Then when a track from the second half of the album comes up on shuffle and I really enjoy it. I'm still not feeling the beat-less tunes though, don't know under what circumstances I'd be in the mood to listen to one.

"suugestions wanted: if you like burial you might also like ..."

You could start with his obv influences: Omni Trio, Foul Play, Todd Edwards, El-B/Ghost, etc. . .

"sugestions wanted: if you like burial you might also like ..."

...cyrus and moving ninja

rhythm and sound

If you like any music produced anywhere I recommend Rhythm & Sound.

true. they are some of the greatest musicians of this generation.

muslimgauze mixes well with burial as does akira rabelais

This is one of the strangest records I have heard in quite awhile. I am unsure at who this is aimed at. The dancefloor?

The nearest I can come up with is that it works quite nicely as a soundtrack to the late night stoner set.

Yeah, it's late night bedroom music. Definately a cerebral album. Also if you listen to it on headphones walking the streets after dark you feel like you're in a film.

Also if you listen to it on headphones walking the streets after dark you feel like you're in a film.

in fact, this is the only way I ever listen to this...

I am unsure at who this is aimed at.

Well, it's certainly not aimed at trip-hop fans because it's, um, not trip-hop.

There are still trip-hop fans?

Also if you listen to it on headphones walking the streets after dark you feel like you're in a film.

Yeah, but for me, it works best when you're walking the streets after dark and -- this is the key -- it's cold. I love the new Burial disc, but I can't listen to it unless the nighttime temperature dips into the 60s (remember, I live in balmy, humid South Florida).

There are still trip-hop fans?

Anyone who likes Burial apparently because according to deej, Burial is trip-hop.

Heh, I live in North London, pretty different. Helps if you've got a bit of run down Victorian architecture about as well.

xpost

this seems like a lot of work

Well I liked it pretty much straight away, but I fulfil all the criteria for liking it - it's basically partially about my city, and partially about recontextualising UK dance music, which I'm very interested in.

Anyone who likes Burial apparently because according to deej, Burial is trip-hop.

I can see the resemblance.

Yeah I don't think that's a controversial comparison at all. But I wouldn't call most fans of Burial trip-hop "fans" unless they are suddenly busting out Headz II or something.

I like the new one in small doses, but it annoys me as a whole. Should have been an EP.

sweet

http://www.dj-kicks.com/burial/

I was hoping for another fake tracklist.

oh i didn't see we'd already covered it

It's on another of the million Burial threads, yeah.

I hope Burial comes out as Moby

It's just some guy. It's on his wikipedia page, I think.

"William Bevan"

so much for the mystery

why does nobody believe my 'Burial was the white guy in Babycakes' rumour?

woop i mean 3 Of A Kind (Babycakes was the song)

erk, finally listened to this (Untrue). Its horrible, like Akon on mogadon.

One Trick Pony?

Oh come ON. It's great, it really does sound like human burial. In frozen ground. It scares the piss out of people I don't like.

Burial is good but it's really not that awesome next-level thing that you have been hungering for.

^^^how I break it down to an extent

it's really not that awesome next-level thing that you have been hungering for.

But really, what is?

I downloaded the last one. Listened to it a couple of times. His DJ Kicks could be interesting though...

still dont really like the 2nd one anywhere near as the debut. the vocals on there dont really reach the 'deep' vibe theyre going for. they just sound a bit ropey.

i still have a lot of love for both albums, tbh. and while it's not the future of music or anything that second album is catchy as hell

Oh come ON. It's great, it really does sound like human burial. In frozen ground. It scares the piss out of people I don't like.

― u s steel, Friday, 30 January 2009 03:55 (5 hours ago) Bookmark

If it sounded like The Marble Index with added bass, this'd be an A1 description. sadly not.

why are people still talking about his DJ kicks? why the hell would i want to listen to the musical tastes of someone who gets 90% of his samples form cutscenes in in metal gear solid?

i love his music though.

The Marble Index is boring! Stop trying to be cool.

word on that

yes, everyone knows desertshores is the cool choice

ah cobblers to ya. Nico would beat Burial in a scrap any day.

this is lovely, even though its from her manchester skaghead period.

why are people still talking about his DJ kicks? why the hell would i want to listen to the musical tastes of someone who gets 90% of his samples form cutscenes in in metal gear solid?

because he doesn't get 90% of his samples from mgs and it would seem from interviews he has a good grounding in 'ardkore, jungle and 2step.

Reason I'm not in any way anticipating his dj kicks is because he isn't a dj.

He also samples unlistenable Ray J ballads.

2 new tracks, last Wednesday! And nobody posted this here! Shame on y'all! ;-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/benjib/

:) Thanks!

Hmmm...

fourtet sucks anyway, i'm not particularly sad that i won't be getting this. anything that is that scarce is just taking the piss anyway.

why do you think four tet sucks?

wrong pedigree sherbs.

Bleep has a limited number of copies != limited edition

I thought it was only through Bleep though?

http://www.normanrecords.com/records/107118
http://www.redeyerecords.co.uk/asp/search.asp?searchfor=exact&keywords=text007&searchType=TITLE&Go+%3E%3E%3E.x=0&Go+%3E%3E%3E.y=0&Go+%3E%3E%3E=Go&recor=1
http://www.groovedis.com/shop/Burial-Four-Tet-MOTH-WOLF-CLUB-12-p-144323.html
http://www.southern.com/southern/label/SRD/newreleases.html

(etc)

OK.

samples @ juno

http://www.juno.co.uk/ppps/products/352434-01.htm

hmmm, b side sounds alright but not mindblowing. i would buy it if i didnt have to go out of my way to do so.

[link removed]

i don't really like four tet, but burial does it all. two great tracks. more house than dubstep.

Um

We don't really do that here.

we should start imo

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/cryingeagle8oq.jpg

this is bliss

Is it out on download or just vinyl?

[link removed]

Just vinyl. xpost

WANT! but don't would like to be able to get not online, and to avoid the inevitable large shipping costs to Canada.

I think I prefer Moth to Wolf Cub but they both sound like collaborations to me. Does anyone know who's responsible for what? I would assume both sides are credited to both artists.

The same goes for me, I prefer Moth, but it seems they both worked on both tracks. I can't say I'm blown off my feet, even though Moth is pretty good.

where the hell is the dj kicks?

It's not happening. It was all a big lie.

I've just done a very scientific poll and 4 out of 4 people who have heard the single prefer Moth to Wolf Cub.

i think "moth" is a bit slight in comparison, really. it's certainly prettier but it seems a little easier, as well.

Well, to be honest, neither of the tracks are worthy of the hype attached to a Four Tet/Burial project.

I like Wolf Cub a lot...I don't think Burial has any other drum samples at this point, but the last 3 minutes or so are great

Well, to be honest, neither of the tracks are worthy of the hype attached to a Four Tet/Burial project.

OTM

i sort of expected a four tet/burial project to go wrong, so i was pleasantly surprised

moonship ruined burials dj kicks w/ his fake tracklist :((

tracklisting leaked for burial!!!

"stir it up" - bob marley
"i can see clearly now" - johnny nash
"don't turn around" - ace of base
"six underground" - sneaker pimps
"love theme from 'last temptation of christ'" - peter gabriel
"mutant jazz" - t power
"we tryin to stay alive" - wyclef
"here i come baby" - ub40
"emergency on planet earth" - jamiroquai
"alphabet aerobics" - blackalicious
"high hopes" - tali
"digital" - goldie ft krs-one
"tomorrow people" - ziggy marley
"i can see clearly now" - johnny nash

-- moonship journey to baja, Thursday, April 24, 2008

Vahid psyched him with his awesome hypothetical tracklist - Burial knew he couldn't top it.

the funny thing was that at the time i was trying to come up with the WORST tracklisting i could imagine stuffed with the tackiest shit possible ... but looking at it now it actually sounds like a rad mix to me ... sort of, anyway

"i can see clearly now" - johnny nash

so nice fake burial fake picked it fake twice

mmmmothhhhh

some bright spark on the dubstepforum spotted this in the st holdings release list:

"dBridge ‘Wonder Where’:
... Wonder Where is quite unique in the way it is regularly getting played in the sets of DJs from many genres. Drum n bass dj’s such as
Marcus Intalex, to soulfull house Dj’s like Benji B, and also Dubstep pioneer DJ Skream has regularly been finishing his sets with it.
Dubstep legend Burial has also seen fit to include it in his upcoming DJ Kicks mix."

so, hmm.

Hmm, indeed. Burial's DJ Kicks album is the new Chinese Democracy.

Just heard the new Burial track, "Fostercare", on Hyperdub's 5: Five Years of Hyperdub comp ...

MASSIVE tune.

I'm close to saying this guy steps up his game with each subsequent release.

That comp just hit eMusic today. Yeah, the Burial track sounds amazing.

burial track sounds like a chill lounge comp joint

why is this so amazingly great 2 u

barely sounds like there's a song there at all

this is not his best, don't even think it sounds as good as the two unreleased ones that were aired on the radio

Admittedly, it's a subtle track; requires a longer attention span than a lot of music these days. But there's some pretty stunning work going on in there. This isn't a giant leap forward, but a refinement of his sound.

A lot of dubstep (even a lot of the good stuff) tries to grab your attention from the start with some insane new beat. I think one of the reasons Burial will be remembered as one of the genre's greats is because of his sense of restraint. He can hold back on the novelty on one track and then just kill it with a massive beat on the next.

are you serious

surprised no one's posted this today:

'In a forthcoming interview with Clash, Daddy G of Bristol legends Massive Attack reveals that Burial is planning to make a remix album of Massive Attack material, in a modern equivalent of 1995's Massive Attack and No (sic) Professor's No Protection.

"I don't know if I should really say this … What the plan is... you know that Mad Professor record that we did? (1995's No Protection). Essentially trying to get that together, where Burial essentially remixes quite a lot of the new tracks. Brings out a different version of quite a lot of the tracks that we've done".'

http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3599&Itemid=26

Thought about posting that, but it smelled a little too much like the DJ Kicks announcement from last year. Still waiting for that one! (http://www.amazon.co.uk/DJ-Kicks-Burial/dp/B00195HVBQ)

I don't even trust that Daddy G really knows what's going on with that project. But, hey ... hoping to be surprised.

I can't say that Fostercare is among Burial's best tracks, but I like it. It is slight, but that's part of the appeal. I love how you can hear the footsteps falling through the song, like you're following someone wandering the streets alone at night. And the vocal bits are a bit more varied than on Untrue, in pitch, texture and the distortion applied to them.

So not his best song, by any means. But an interesting piece of noir.

Some of the other tracks on Disc One of this Hyperdub comp are slammin', e.g., the Darkstar and Flying Lotus tracks.

maybe i just dont get the point of his shit altogether

No worries. I don't get Vampire Weekend.

"maybe i just dont get the point of his shit altogether"

That sort of defeats the purpose of listening to him then.

No worries. I don't get Vampire Weekend.

― Daniel, Esq., Monday, October 5, 2009 10:29 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i dont like VW shit but i 'get it,' like it has an internal logic & i see where the appeal lies. every defense of this ive read feels reducible to folks being really really glad someone could turn 2step into idm a decade late (give a facile but pretend-intellectualized 'justification' for pop music that doesn't obviously appeal to ppl's populist impulses, just their anti-populist ones)

like, its the kind of thing i dig for a song but i cant really get on board with this 'the artist is a genius & his albums are near perfect' kind of stuff ... it just seems like compared to the endless variety & quality in the genres as a whole that he's inspired by there's a lot more going on, many more strands to follow

every defense of this ive read feels reducible to folks being really really glad someone could turn 2step into idm a decade late (give a facile but pretend-intellectualized 'justification' for pop music that doesn't obviously appeal to ppl's populist impulses, just their anti-populist ones)

― xhuxk mangione (deej)

Pop music that only appeals to people's anti-populist impulses? Huh?? Are you discussing Burial or Paris Hilton's musical output? ...

Kidding aside, I'm curious what Burial song does work for you then (?)

i liked 'archangel' for awhile. i thought it made sense w/ the narrative that kinda came up around his music. its just that this narrative works for a song but doesnt really feel like it deserves to define an artist's career, or something -- there's not enough there to maintain my interest over more than a track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRWSvzbFRLU

this new burial track is way more groundbreaking imho

legend of a tune

I thought Burial was a nerdier Massive Attack for the 2000s, with a little bit of the idm baggage along for the ride. Which is fine, because I really like his stuff.

Almost posted that Daddy G quote, but if you read the original interview, it sounds more like the idea of approaching him's there, not necessarily that he's been approached. Anyone from MA saying they're going to do something is best approached with an "oh, that's a neat idea" if you like it, or dismissive eye-rolling...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/nov/23/burial-untrue

wrong fucking album.

Untrue is so much better though.

it isnt, hence why it is the wrong album ;)

I think they both have things to recommend them. Like the vocals on the second one a lot. The first is more 'tracky' - which also is also a good thing.

yea i like the first one a lot more

2nd one was like him trying to get a bit more commercial and song-y except he didnt realise he couldnt actually write songs

plus he got some really average vocalists

i suppose he thought he could write a few new 'gabriel's for the dubstep era

I didn't really see it that way. I just saw it as more vocal heavy, not more song structured. To this day I still listen to both. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

i should give it another go really.

http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=337699

BURIAL / FOUR TET AND THOM YORKE
ego / mirror

Release Date: Pre-Release (Expected on 21/03/2011)
plain black house bag and black label. limited two track collaborative twelve inch from burial / four tet and thom yorke. this limited surprise-release is in keeping with all things thom yorke: always searching for new ways to sound and to catch his audience unawares. thom yorke has been a champion of the cutting edge electronica and dubstep scenes from the start and here we see the fruits of three of the most important minds on the contemporary music scene locked together in electronic matrimony. be quick on this one...

Bleep say: 'The tracks will get their first airing tonight (Tuesday 15th) on Rinse FM during the Four Tet vs Floating Points 2hr back-to-back 2300-0100 GMT'

Surely the most inevitable collab ever but if it's as good as Moth with added Thom it could be amazing.

Sorry, the item you have selected is either Sold Out or Temporarily Unavailable

go back

*in American tour agent's office*

"We hear you're into dubstep now, Thom, and we wanted to see about this great coheadlining spot with Skrillex we've got lined up...hello?"

yeah moth is poss the best thing either of those guys did so as long as yorke is like a minor sample im down w/ this. it might be like the flying lotus reckoner

How long did this take to sell out?

sounds like you werent quick on this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ_Yu_4zeo0

lol @ "look forward to hearing this on youtube tomorrow" this debuted like an hour ago right?

also lol this is exactly what i wanted it to be i guess

Don't think Burial is actually involved with this track but I can't find the link to his side of the 12 inch.

hebdens dubstep toe dipping is way more interesting to me than anything he had done pre-ringer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOwD67BIPMA

Here's the other one.

I'm into this!

Both solid tracks, though I wouldn't say they're pushing any boundaries. Feels like the first one has little Burial input - it's more deep house or something than any kind of dubstep - the second makes a lot of sense as a meeting of soundworlds.

they're just like really good gold panda tracks

Yeah they don't sound anything like Gold Panda though,

lol "ok" i actually checked gold panda in my itunes in case i got the name wrong there i didnt btw

Gold Panda is basically biting Four Tet/The Field anyway from what i've heard but i don't think either of these sound particularly like him. Certainly not Mirror, which sounds like Burial surprisingly enough.

"Mirror" is great. looking forward to rips with some real low-end action.

These are amazing. Yorke should have thrown Feral into the garbage can and buy the rights to any of these for King of Limbs instead. Imagine how sweet it'd be if Four Tet or Burial joined the rest of Radiohead for an album/tour. I'd definitely be interested in hearing how Johnny Greenwood could contribute to their sound.

Also this might just be me but Four Tet seems to be the real genius behind these burial/four tet collabs. Burial has been a one trick pony for a while now and seriously needs to consider a change of palette in his samples.

moka otm about burial. he should have quit after the first album cos he cant seem to go anywhere else after that other than not quite as good tweaks on what he already did perfectly first time round. though i didnt think the tracks with yorke were that amazing.

Ego sounds like a remix of Robin S's Show Me Love!

yeah i mean the best tricks on this are the four tet tricks i think, but idk i was a little let down by the last four tet album bc after moth/ringer/love cry i thought he was going down the post-ds path farther than he did, so like I appreciate any excuse he has for making this kind of record.

that is to say i wish he would dump the folktronica remnants bc he does blurry house music so well

thought the same thing about the four tet album — too many past-expiry trip-hop drum samples

the last Four Tet was way more 'blurry house' than 'folktronica'. maybe i should play it again. actually, i'm going to put it on right now.

idk maybe ur right, one two many harp samples tho

that is to say i wish he would dump the folktronica remnants bc he does blurry house music so well

― plax (ico), Wednesday, March 16, 2011 9:23 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

thought the same thing about the four tet album — too many past-expiry trip-hop drum samples

― corey, Wednesday, March 16, 2011 11:47 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

agree with this sentiment

I'd definitely be interested in hearing how Johnny Greenwood could contribute to their sound.

I could do with some Xenakis glissandoes behind these

Like both tracks a lot!

Vinyl rips are amazing.

Burial
Street Halo
(Hyperdub)
After last week's shock release from Four Tet, Thom Yorke and Burial, we are again very excited to bring you news from one of the most mysterious figures in electronic music...

This Monday, Burial will release his first full solo release in over 4 years. A three track 12" to be released on Hyperdub, the A-side is titled "Street Halo", with two supporting tracks "NYC" and "Stolen Dog".

http://bleep.com/index.php?page=release_details&releaseid=29025

ill wait until i hear it.

"one of the most mysterious figures in electronic music"

C'mon, this is getting a bit old now isn't it? We know who Burial is iirc

OR DO WE?!

It's press, what do you expect?

but he still doesn't play live or do much press, right?

http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/products/Burial-StreetHalo-Hyperdub-75467.html

the first taster of his upcoming album.

twitter.com/hyperdub:

Tonight I'll be on Benji B's show on BBC Radio 1.
I'll be previewing some Hyperdub releases, including some tracks from my new album with Spaceape.
and forthcoming music on the label from Hype Williams, DOK and Ossie.
I'll also be giving you a taster of new solo material from Burial that we will place in your shops in the next few days.

about 9 hours ago via web

Radio ripz
http://soundcloud.com/listenbeforeyoubuy/burial-street-halo
http://soundcloud.com/listenbeforeyoubuy/burial-stolen-dog

^ both vv promising imo

Yeah, impressed with Street Halo first time round - it's sounding really danceable!

yeah it seems like "raver" is the template for the new stuff

It's a little bit 2stepy.

yeah it seems like "raver" is the template for the new stuff

Smart move imo.

other tantalising bits are online @ bleep now: http://bleep.com/index.php?page=release_details&releaseid=29025

here too http://www.juno.co.uk/products/421730-01.htm

Full versions of all three tracks
Stolen Dog - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72wv9_fYjdU&feature=player_embedded
NYC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQDQm8PJ8I&feature=player_embedded
Street Halo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCKHjmfaeTg&feature=player_embedded

Damn those were supposed to be just links. Anyway.

It's a little bit 2stepy.
― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Thursday, March 24, 2011 5:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Like everything else he's done?

This is deeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Like the idea of him playing live - copying & pasting samples into Soundforge!

this is excellent

Burial vs. Corey Hart <<< important connection imo

Sure he's a one trick pony, but I still really like that trick.

brotherlovesdubstep OTM

Pure solo Burial >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Colabs

Its so good to have him back.

Not that the colabs/remixes have been bad or owt...

"okie dokie"

lol burial collabs are usually better than orig. still think moth/wolfcub is the best release w/ his name on it.

my full thoughts on Street Halo here

I'm glad he's dropped that (excuse my terminological illiteracy) "echo beat" that you kept reappearing on Untrue in at least the first 3 songs and a couple later.

The only way I can describe it is that it goes "boomph-ba-da-da-boomph-ba-da - COONK"... "boompha-ba-da-daboomph-ba-da - COONK"

^ otm

but I mean it really was weird and I was fairly surprised that critics seemed to generally ignore it. It took a couple listenings to realize that he just wasn't transferring the same beat from song to song and only differentiating between them by song titles and atmospherics/samples.

Well, I would argue that the beat you are describing, and variations of it, are his signature. You know it's him instantly. He owns it. And for me personally, it still works at album length.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hyperdub-Records/52054255148

Hyperdub Records
Digital of the Burial will be available this week, not today, but this week.
We will let you know via the Mailing list for your convenience.
3 hours ago

Hyperdub Records
This is the Burial single - there is no new album.
3 hours ago

not sure why anyone would mistake 3 songs / 19 mins for an album??

There were rumors that this could be the first taster of an album later this year.

mp3 & wav @ hyperdub.net , y'all

error messages galore.

Paid, but then hyperdub.net threw up a load of "your order is incomplete" and "error processing your transaction" messages and now I don't even see a way to login there anymore. :-(

You got Buriolled!

"web design by FAIL"

indeed.

Duh. If you sign up with upper case letters in your password, you have to log in with lowercase because the site apparently converts your password into lowercase.
Got the files now.

The guy who ripped the vinyl had one of the bad pressings, clearly. The title track sounds a lot less distorted.

<3

New Burial EP: Kindred

http://www.hyperdub.net/releases/view/149/HDB059

All the tracks are really long

You can always pause them if you need a toilet break halfway through.

What I meant is, I don't think they justify their length. "Loner" is the shortest and the most interesting I think

Pretty much loving the shit out of this imho.

this is OTM http://thequietus.com/articles/07997-burial-pseud-quotes

new stuff, cool

is there bass in these tracks i'm not hearing?

this is the most boring new music i have heard this week

classic lex

"Street Halo" left me cold, and I was beginning to think that "Moth" was the last thing about this guy that I would ever like but I'm really digging this EP.

i was hoping for a drop..

tracks are way too long but so good

i too was hoping for a drop ... i'm not going to say these are the worst or most boring tracks i've heard all week but they're certainly the most disappointing in a while (in general, not specific to burial).

i really like where "loner" goes at the 3-minute mark but i can't help thinking it would have been so much better in the hands of, say, magnetic man

also was thinking he's starting to get very close to the sound of cosmin trg, maybe we can get a remix

i really like where "loner" goes at the 3-minute mark but i can't help thinking it would have been so much better in the hands of, say, magnetic man

not overwhelmed by this but still hoping this is a joke.

also is there discernible bass on any burial track ever?

there was discernable and quite thuggish bass on "street halo" which is why i was so excited for this EP

not a joke, sir, "i need air" better than all this burial tracks, proven by science

i don't really like any other magnetic man tracks though so i don't know why i said that, i just wish he'd GONE FOR IT or something

cliched Burial listening: this was lovely in the London rain the other night.

Best spot in London to listen to Burial is under the bridge near Finsbury Park station, I've found. Particularly when waiting for a heavily-delayed night bus.

I know the place - used to be a spot I frequented often when I first moved to London.

"The other night" I was on the DLR from Canning Town to Woolwich. Pretty perfect also.

I can't wait to get the vinyl of this to see how it is HMMsupposedHMM to sound. I like it enough at the moment but the bass on my earphones is lacking - esp. in the first minutes of the first track.

Kindred the track is kind of catchy for an 11 minute ambient opus with no more than fragmented melodies.

this is the most boring new music i have heard this week

― if u leave imma crank wu-tang in my black matte truck (lex pretend), Friday, February 17, 2012 3:33 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

I like "Loner" best.

it's the danciest one

Burial listeners all seem to spend their entire lives waiting in the rain for a night bus that never comes.

Yeah, it's kind of like hearing a big trance anthem coming from a distant room in a haunted house you're lost in.

xpost

xp this is also what living in london is like

otm

Yeah, it's kind of like hearing a big trance anthem coming from a distant room in a haunted house you're lost in.

xpost

― Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Monday, February 20, 2012 1:12 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the trouble is people who think that the distant room/haunted house stuff is necessary for big trance anthems to be interesting

Burial listeners all seem to spend their entire lives waiting in the rain for a night bus that never comes.

In fairness if you go clubbing in London regularly you end up doing this A LOT.

the trouble is people who think that the distant room/haunted house stuff is necessary for big trance anthems to be interesting

I haven't heard this record yet and don't have much interest in doing so but pretty sure there are better battle lines to pick than Campaign For Real Trance.

the trouble is people who think that the distant room/haunted house stuff is necessary for big trance anthems to be interesting

― lex pretend, Monday, February 20, 2012 9:29 AM (2 hours ago)

Trance is a genre I generally find quite uninteresting without some kind of twist. Sorry about that.

The skips and cut outs on the track 'Ashtray Wasp' are intentional.

Is that a sample of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" in Ashtray Wasp?

New track with Four Tet: http://soundcloud.com/four-tet/burial-four-tet-nova

Thanks! How did you know so quickly after it was uploaded?

I've only heard Kindred off of this so far. Personally find it incredible, especially turned right up on decent cans. Especially, yes, walking under overcast skies as I did on Sunday. It's long, but it's definitely set into three distinct movements. The most effective trick is that "lightning crash" that sounds like it's made up of several sounds clustered together, and the way the vocal samples seem to form around these - there's an awful lot of tension - pressure in the meteorological sense of the word.

StanM: I am Burial obv. Actually I saw it on a friend's Facebook feed...

:-)

http://pitchfork.com/news/45633-listen-burial-four-tet-nova/

Well that's a surprise: Four Tet has tweeted a Soundcloud link to a collaboration he did with Burial titled "Nova". The tweet also included "TEXT013," implying the song will be the 13th release on Four Tet's Text Records imprint.

Ah, that's what Kindred reminds me of - Dwr Budr by Orbital.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/03/07/hyperdub-to-release-burial-eps-on-cd/

I noticed this was available in Japan already. Was hoping it would get a full release.

This comp will actually be the best Burial album, I think.

Loner!

Wow, thanks for the heads up on this, pre-ordered it straight away.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/06/26/stream-samples-of-dusk-blackdowns-next-single-on-keysound-remind-you-of-anyone/
http://thequietus.com/articles/09170-listen-new-burial-dusk-blackdown-keysound

Idgi. Are they suggesting Blackdown is Burial? I thought we already knew who Burial was?

It's credited as Dusk + Blackdown +

the second + being Burial

ahhh

There's a new single

Please please please be a Christmas single

Or at least get the xmas number 1 spot via a Facebook campaign.

60-second clips (can't listen at work). Probably hard to judge based on these, I imagine.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/12/12/stream-clips-of-burials-new-ep-truant-rough-sleeper-a-k-a-one-two/

I'm enjoying just letting the two clips loop endlessly

IT'S HERE:
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/burial-just-dropped-a-new-ep-and-hot-damn-is-it-good

Or more importantly, here's where you can actually buy it:
http://www.hyperdub.net/releases/view/207/HDB069

GOOD TRY MR. VICE STREET TEAM

Bought it last night, listened to it a few times with errrr 'suitable' accompaniment...not sure what to make of it yet, feels/is more framgented than we're used to from him. Some of those fragments are lush, almost-housey in their bounce, others are Burial-by-numbers spectral washes with that chain on metal sound he loves. One of the sections samples some late 90s/early00s dance track that's super obvious but I can't quite place it for some reason.

We put on the Kindred EP straight after and I've got to admit that it made this new one sound a bit slight.

rough sleeper is fantastic!

They're both fantastic. There's very few producers who can come with a similar sound every time and not get boring

I find "Truant" to be the stronger track. They're both messier and 'sketchier' than his previous releases (including "Ashtray Wasp"). "Rough Sleeper" has some great passages, but it's a bit of a mess as a whole, with some parts more successful than others.

But the build up and sequencing of the first eight and a half minutes of "Truant" are breathtaking... Bevan has a great sense of drama. The segment between 3:50 and 5:13 is some of the best work he's done. I might lazily describe it as Indo-Caribbean Futurism (?) that only could've come out of the UK. It easily gives Shackleton a run for his money. The track sounds a bit like an evolution of the aesthetics of "Fostercare".

A bit of a mixed bag as a whole. Still a worthy effort, though. Would love to see a proper album built on some of the ideas heard here and on Kindred.

Feels like a mini-album of many short tracks. Took a few listens to get into, but I do love this now.

I sort of agree with that 'mini-album' comment. Each track does seem to have 2 or 3 distinct sections. The first time I listened I thought the tracks had changed but they hadn't.

"Rough Sleeper" has some great passages

well that's what happened to me. one particular passage in Rough Sleeper is in loop in my head. the perfect soundtrack for the rainy saturday

On first listen I think Truant sounds a lot more interesting. Most of Rough Sleeper is kind of rote.

This thing's a grower.

Still not quite sure what to make of the whole organ segment of "Rough Sleeper". There's little as far as momentum to the beat and not really an ambient feel either; kind of stuck somewhere in the middle. But god do things pick up after that. The "light surrounding you" vocals and the chimes are such a welcome new direction.

And "Truant" is still a stunner.

feels like the most refined, 'pop' thing he's done. even if it's a complex series of developing sections or movements. even if he's using a chintz-y lexicon unit to pitch his sounds. don't really consider myself a burial fan, but i've played this new one(two) endlessly. nice to have such frequent, and increasingly varied output from somebody.

was pretty bored by these tracks myself

So is there anything to this?: http://equalizermag.com/news/four-tet-confirms-he-is-burial/

Or does everyone know this already?

ha, this really seems like bullshit.

I didn't know it but a friend said he was told back in 2007.

Hebden talks about his "collaboration" with Burial in this Pitchfork interview from 2010:

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7752-four-tet/

otoh that equalizer website seems like a joke website so

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/is-burial-actually-four-tet-hoax-resurfaces-online-128103

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8h_v_our_Q

http://i.imgur.com/ACq6Ija.jpg

Ha.

I'd kind of like this to be true, but it seems unlikely.

https://twitter.com/FourTet/status/347672091333644288

nice try four tet we know you're burial. don't try to pretend you're not.

I've seen people link various news from Equalizemag.com, but that site appears to be like The Onion for electronic music, i.e. it consists of nothing but parody news.

This item from the same site was making the rounds a couple of weeks ago, and people seemed to believe that too.

I doubt anyone believed this one, though:

http://equalizermag.com/news/unreleased-boards-of-canada-7-inch-discovered-beneath-feces-at-dog-park/

also 'james blake to launch line of organic cotton shirts' made me lol inexplicably hard

me TOO

i like that there is a version of the onion for electronic music news. i don't like that it isn't very funny, or doesn't seem to be.

http://store.massiveattack.com/landing-page/massive-attack-v-burial-digital.html

yeah man, that's a cool release

Available digitally for the first time, it's also one of the first items on Massive Attack's new web store.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1JzK424lawM

Incidentally I know someone that actually SAW sisqo perform live recently.

http://www.factmag.com/2013/12/02/burial-announces-new-three-track-ep-for-hyperdub-out-december/

Good news, the last few eps have been probably his best work imo.

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Daniel OTM

Good

'Ashtray Wasp' now his greatest song IMO

That bit where the riff comes in quietly at about 1.45 is one of my favourite ever bits where a riff comes in

And that cycling bit at about 3.16

And yeah - it is ashtray wasp that has that bit at 8.00 where it turns into a weird glam groove in a scary sad mist and goes 'Darkness falls upon me' (or is it flies? lies?)

That's a bit of burial I'm always looking for and always forgetting which song it's in

Dunno about anyone else, but I think negative emotions are extremely difficult to put into a piece of music that you'd actually (honestly) want to listen to, it requires a pitch-perfect sensibility to avoid turning into parody – Burial today one of the few people who can do this?

Ashtray Wasp also has the really sad submerged jazz ending

It doesn't get sadder than In McDonalds does it lads?
"You look different"

^ ^ ^

knew there was a special reason for my morningwood today.

'Ashtray Wasp' now his greatest song IMO

rough sleeper for me, tho ashtray wasp gets extra points for sampling cheap-trick.

http://youtu.be/vBoTdWSYleI

gettin' pStoked, raming up for the new one.

errritt.. RAMPING up for it?

Earlier today, http://www.theorchard.co.uk/release/888003991057/burial/rival-dealer was taken down. It contained this info:
" 23 dec. 2013 - UPC: 888003991057. Tracklisting. 1. Rival Dealer. 2. Hiders. 3. Come Down to Us "

Guessing the date might be the physical release since digital was going to be next week (Dec 16th)

Good.

Never know what to say when anticipating something.

El-B's Serious is a tune by the way – I think it gets mentioned as a possible Burial influence upthread

possible sample of the title track

sounds, superficially at least, like burial, but it's a lot more aggressive than the other recent work. again, if it's genuine.

okay, so possible samples of all three songs from the new ep. not convinced these are genuine, but they certainly could be.

http://www.hyperdub.net/releases/view/258/HDB080

that title track is fantastic. and with the second-half of that song, he's still experimenting with longer, weirder, more ambient song-structures (like he did on the truant/rough-sleeper ep).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd3Ch53PxBs&feature=share&list=UUNvfjGiZOuh78KYMojvugeQ&index=5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1bb2JakOmo&feature=share&list=UUNvfjGiZOuh78KYMojvugeQ&index=5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY0FLh2EIfs&feature=share&list=UUNvfjGiZOuh78KYMojvugeQ

the beginning of hiders reminds me a little of david foster's instrumental theme to st. elmo's fire? but i really dig it, especially as it builds to something almost rock-ish sounding.

this ep feels like a fairly big departure (into interesting directions) to me. initial impression is that this ep is one of the best things i've heard this year.

St. Elmo's Fire meets To Live and Die in LA -- Foster/Wang Chung soundclash.

yeah!

um, two of the three official mp3s are called ... - Burlal - ...

and it's... wow... different but great

wow

yeah. it's pop-ish at points. the fact magazine insta-review got a lot of things wrong, in my view, but they finished with an interesting discussion about subject-matter that might be embedded in the subtext of the EP.

man the full-on dream pop in the first half of Come Down To Us is just gorgeous

fairly sure if you combined burial's two 2013-ish EPs into a single album, it would be my favorite of the year.

i love how some of the snare sounds on this will probably be most divisive thing about it. but it's poppy and weird and gorgeous.

i'm loving this. i feel like there've been glimpses of burial approaching something resembling pop/house in the last two, little melodious rave-y suites we hear snatches of here and there, but nothing as fully fleshed out as on this one.

omg such bangers!!

it's almost a little weird to hear burial acknowledge relatively recent sounds (sampling auto-tuned vox, 16th note hi-hats), but that quickly gets subsumed into the dream-pop thing and overall burialness.

more like boringal

MODED

OMG, edgy (xpost)

I wonder if they released it early so it wouldn't be too near Mandela's burial.

"Hiders" >>> "Rival Dealer"

Hiders is insane

the whole ep is insanely good.

yeah, these are off putting, right off.. good to see he's fucking around with the formula though. might need some headphones for these, and a proper format.

The first bit of melody on 'Come Down To Us' - I think that's a rhodes piano with some autotuned vocals over it? – is really sentimental and cheesy but the way its been looped makes it have loads of pathos

Sounds like the sound-loops you hear ringing out as mobile phone ringtones and on adverts? Anyone else feel this?

Does this mean he isn't Four Tet anymore?

best person in the game right now, greatest artist in the world, and I mean artist

the tom fill at 2:43 in 'hiders' is funniest thing ever to happen on a burial record

best person in the game right now, greatest artist in the world, and I mean artist

totally agree with this.

I love this EP. Not expecting this turn at all, and it's all the better for it.

is this ep going to be made available on itunes in the us?

it's stateside street date is on the 17th, so it'll likely be up then.

burial has basically surprised me with every release. thank god for that dude.

this sounds aight

as someone with v little time for burial in general, these are the first burial tracks i've wanted to play again since "archangel". a christmas coming out story, huh

The second half of 'Come Down to Us' is...its like an ascension to heaven or something. The moment when that lone voices says "I saw myself crying" jesus christ

*lone voice ffs

this sounds aight

― the late great, Thursday, 12 December 2013 02:31 (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

as someone with v little time for burial in general, these are the first burial tracks i've wanted to play again since "archangel". a christmas coming out story, huh

― lex pretend, Thursday, 12 December 2013 08:29 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

concur

seems he has become a p decent successor to dj shadow all in all

I feel a bit like I'm being trolled by Burial on those last two tracks.

these are kinda terrible imo. i mean not in a way that affronts me, they're like p much his usual sound with an "innovation" of some faintly pop elements which are sort of jarring or bordering on silly. all sounds like the weeknd too.

I can't tell if those tracks are inspired and interesting or kinda terrible. #confused

jarring and silly and confusing and terrible are all improvements in this dude's usually tedious case

arguably, yeah.

tracks 2 and 3 definitely bring the Saturdays=Youth vibes

Come Down To Us is completely ridiculous, isn't it?

I think I'm obsessed with the sprawling hot mess that is this track. The "you are not alone" sample drop at like 10:30 is so hilarious. "There's something out there..." And the concluding dialogue at the end of being transgendered? So the theme is like a Walt Disney meets hardcore continuum Christmas coming out prog-opera?

Yeah, this track. I'm inspired to write some Come Down To Us fan fiction.

If anything, it counters some of the more tasteful, selective nostalgia for the nuum.

This whole queer aspect of the EP, this is really an unexpected turn right? It's like Burial meets DJ Sprinkles.

Is the sample of the transgendered person at the end the same person that is sampled on the last track on his debut "I went in to the bathroom to get some aspirin and I happened to look in the mirror and I swear to God I see something that I can't describe but it sure as hell is not my reflection"?

It's like Burial meets DJ Sprinkles.

sounds like a great music combination, actually.

The transgendered person talking is Lana Wachowski, Don't think she appeared on the s/t.

idk and maybe this is a cross-post w/ the gender identity thread but the whole prospect of being trapped in a body that isn't "who you are" sounds deeply unsettling and fits w/ burial's project i think. the "other rooms, other worlds" bit at the end of Come Down To Us is key here-- giving voice to liminal states, androgynous voices/vocal samples where the gender is switched mid-sample, ~murkiness~ etc-- all this is old-hat burial stuff, only thing that's new here is a level of explicitness that has been missing from his catalog. or else is new to my ears at least.

This is really not a good record. It is, however, awesome.

its def goofy as hell, esp side B

yeah I really don't know what to make of it

Actually, the EP kind of has the high-gloss blockbuster camp of a Lana & Andy Wachowski production.

It's more divisive than I expected/some of my friends are less open minded than I thought.

This is doing absolutely nothing for me, and I've always liked if not loved everything before.

facebook notification sound

lol

here's my take:
http://crackmagazine.net/music/burial/

nicely done. review also prompted me to seek-out this website, which identifies samples used in songs, posts clips of both songs and pinpoints the sampled moment in both of them.

would never have guessed that the stone-roses were sampled in ashtray wasp.

burial sent a message to a bbc 6 show about the rival-dealer ep:

I put my heart into the new EP, I hope someone likes it. I wanted the tunes to be anti-bullying tunes that could maybe help someone to believe in themselves, to not be afraid, and to not give up, and to know that someone out there cares and is looking out for them.

A+ review Dwight Yorke (unexpected major spelling breakdown (two words?) in the first line of the last paragraph though?)

https://soundcloud.com/beriel4furtit2k13/rivel-beriel

http://cdn.hiphopwired.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/beyonce-cover-500x500.jpg http://waws-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/2013/12/Burial-Rival-Dealer-1.jpg

design twins, nearly. both fond of surprise december releases. they should do an album together.

I would actually love them to.

beyrial

This EP is fucking amazing imo. Got a really nihilistic pissed up feel to it. Post-nightbus.

beyrial

― mh, Saturday, December 14, 2013 12:55 PM (Yesterday)

blasted this in the car for the first time yesterday evening. title track sounded mindblowing at loud volume. really might be the best thing i've heard all year.

funny how december -- normally a "dead zone" for new music releases -- was among the strongest months for new music in 2013.

also

beyrial

― mh, Saturday, December 14, 2013 12:55 PM (Yesterday)

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, December 15, 2013

Listening to this for the first time now. You really know an artists is a critically overindulged one-trick pony when a change of sound this minor is hailed as a controversial left turn.

Nobody forced you to like him or click on this thread, or did they?

critically overindulged one-trick pony vs. having a totally focused, identifiable, and hugely influential style

damn this is still amazing. the few-second stretch on the title-track, just around the 1:00 mark, where the song's main riff is kinda audible, but slurred and submerged, then jumps to the forefront and locks in, is brilliant.

Nobody forced you to like him or click on this thread, or did they?

Sorry, didn't realise this was only a thread for positive comments. FWIW I do like Burial, or some of his stuff at least, but he is very indulged and granted a level of reverence that 99% of producers aren't, even when he's being lazy or uninspired or just a bit crap, and the tracks here don't represent anywhere near as much of a curveball as is being claimed in some quarters.

you're right. should've thrown every identifiable aspect of his sound out. these tracks, especially the b-side, sound nothing like anything else he's done. i don't see where you are getting that vibe from it. you don't have to like it, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I've accused Burial of being a one-trick pony in the past, but I felt like the new single was making a big statement even before he came out with his statement about bullying. The sample choices and way they're used are extra evocative on this release. I think he's getting better with time and I'd rather play his last 2 eps than his first album at this point.

the tracks here don't represent anywhere near as much of a curveball as is being claimed in some quarters

no, but it's a noticeable change, just like his experimenting with very long pieces, with several movements, was a noticeable change, just like his moving into more propulsive, upbeat tunes (with four-tet) was, at the time, a noticeable change. i don't mind him mining his signature-sound, especially since he is moving it around, albeit incrementally. i actually prefer this to the genre-hopping you see with some artists (including my beloved r.e.m., who developed and discarded several signature-sounds, and kinda hung around other genres for an album or so, with varying success).

beyrial

― mh, Saturday, December 14, 2013 12:55 PM (Yesterday)

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, December 16, 2013 1:21 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Matt: I totally understand when people say they don't like something and they can explain why they don't like it, but that "critically overindulged one-trick pony" was the thing that I didn't get and I took it as "let's troll the fanboys by insulting them"

http://soundcloud.com/hypertrap

^_^

Pretty clear to me that the latest EP counts as mixing things up...I just don't think it works as well as the previous one, too "obvious" and latter-M83-y. Nothing wrong with trying something new though, I'll still be as keen for the next one.