We’ve been blessed with a full track from the magical, musical mind of Burial. This time coming off of Keysound Recordings, it takes all of 5 seconds to become perfectly apparent that Burial is back and doing what we all love him for. The moody bass, straddling the lines between breaks, real dubstep (pay attention kids), UK garage comes on strong, with his signature ethereal vocals shimmering into existence a little over a minute in. It’s not new ground, but I could not be happier this is out, to remind people that stuff can actually sound like this. It rambles along, pulling the feeling of loss & almost confusion into the vibe of the track, and before you know it, it’s gone. A 2:41 track is tiny compared to most of his work, but at the same time, it’s still manna from the heavens. Even though it is always raining in Burial tracks, so don’t look up unless you want to get bass rain in your eyes.
Tag Archives: Burial
Midnight Music: Breakage ft. Burial – Vial [Future Garage/Burialstep]
More obscure Burial! I keep my promise that whenever I find anything Burial related that probably never saw release, you’d see it here. His signature mash of ambient sounds, maudlin garage beats & echoic vocal samples comes through once again. I’m not even sure when this was done, or if it’s officially been avowed as a Burial feature, but the internet says it was, and it kinda sounds like him, so it’s good enough for me! Burial will always sound like the first walk home from the ex’s house after you’ve been broken up with, especially if it’s raining after she did. And, even in this obscure feature, he managed to. Enjoy!
Midnight Music: Burial – Feral Witchchild [Burial Dubplate]
I am super pleased to bring you this ridiculously obscure gem from Burial. I have no idea when it was released or if it’s an official edit or not. It could just be something a fan recorded off of a dj set or a podcast, or an original dubplate, as is reported where I found it. This is vintage Burial, that mix of UK garage, being dumped by your ex , dubstep and soft hip hop beats.
Burial’s Rival Dealer Inspires Short Film By Ben Dawkins
This is an exquisite little short done after some awesome people in the UK listened to “Rival Dealer” by Burial. Hyperdub was approached by Ben Dawkins, who wanted to use the track to score a short, sweet, awesome film. They were all over it , and we have this potent, riveting and masterfully shot thing to enjoy because of it. Hey labels, get on this. Find directors who make movies with your music. We’d watch it.
EP Of The Week: Burial’s New Hotness “Rival Dealer”
From the depths of the UK underground, Burial has risen once again to issue forth future garage gorgeousness. Burial is the only person on the planet that can drop a 3 track EP that lasts 29 minutes and no one will bat an eye. The work is dotted with positive, anti-bullying messages. The odd sample, foreshadowing, leading up to a tremendous quote by a very famous person (I’ll get to a little later) reminding us to believe in ourselves and not give into the haters. He actually sent a text to Mary Anne Hobbs, one of the Radio One aristocracy, discussing his inspiration (via NME)
“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. So it’s like an angel’s spell to protect them against the unkind people, the dark times, and the self-doubts.”
The stupendous production value is on display with the first track (same name as the album). Rival Dealer is a deep, driving but enclosed track, dotted with messages about support, love and bisexuality, tunnels through this space that only he can create. I’ll continue to contend that Burial can best be described as “music you listen to while wearing your favorite hoodie in the rain.”
“Hiders” starts with a vocal sample of “There’s a kid somewhere” evoking a very raw feel of the idea that there are children who fear for their safety and flee the light. The sounds are murky, but hopeful. There samples continue, keeping you guessing, and almost hoping things turn out ok.
“Excuse me, I’m lost” begins “Come Down to Us, the 13 min opus of the EP. It’s almost a ballad, with the shimmering vocals leaking out between the cloudy bass. Burial is also one of the only artists on the planet right now that can put more than one or two ideas into a track and not lose anything from them. The melodies and energy build gradually over time, even when the track seems to be turning into something completely different. Without knowing it, you’ve gone from dark to light and eight minutes in (that’s right kids, eight, and we’re nowhere near done) we’re in this triumphant, hopeful and sunny place, reminding you, that you’re not alone. This is capped off by a speech, one of the first obviously/overtly political samples in the entirety of his discography. Lana Wachowski discusses her experience of being transgendered and how she was able to remind herself of her inherent worth and value, even under the onslaught of bullshit from people.
The fact that this kind of message is coming from Burial makes me even more reverent of his work. He could literally say anything, but he chose a strong anti-bullying & trans-positive message, not the easiest position to take on these here internets. Kudos to you Burial. Can’t wait for my copy in the mail.
New Burial EP!
One year and one day after Burial brought us Truant (featured below), a new 3 track EP is dropping Dec 16th. I finally have something to look forward to that doesn’t involve consumerism or high-fructose corn syrup this month! (via FACT)
EP of the Week – Leaving by Skrillex
It seems that the majority of r/dubstep misjudged Skrillex and his big room dub focus. Skrillex got famous for playing the kind of hyper-aggrandized dubstep that I lovingly describe as “Transformer Porn.” When you take the sounds Michael Bay gave the Transformers and you imagine them having sex, BAM, Scary Sprites. While people can hate on it all they want, Sonny’s hard work, playing the heartland of America and irrepressible positive outlook & joy for making the music is undeniable. You can see this in his Rolling Stone interview or his acceptance speech at the Grammys. And this week, Skrillex reminded us very hard how much he respected his roots, in addition to shaking up our identity of him pretty fundamentally.
Leaving is straight up some American Future Garage. I specify as such because most of the Future Garage that people are rocking out to these days is UK-based. And the inspiration for this kind of sound and in fact a lot of other artists in the space Leaving explores is the one and only Burial. He was featured on a previous EP of the week, and Skrillex has thanked/named Burial & the rest of the Brixton Dub crew for the work they did to blaze the way for Skrillex to shine and bring this stuff to America’s heartland. The track not only pays homage to Burial, but it does so in a very American, Skrillex-esque way. The signature style that allowed him to shine so brightly is being put into this minimized, stripped down beat, groove & heavily modified sample which works perfectly. I can’t wait to see what effect this has on Skrillex’s approximately 4 billion listeners.
EP of the Week – Burial’s Truant & Rough Sleeper Joint
Burial is one of those artists that finds you at a certain point in your listening history and shakes up your worldview. The ethereal, melancholy beats, haunting melodies and astonishing compositions first showed up in 2006, when his debut album off Hyperdub records completely shook up what 2-step, future garage & dubstep could sound like. The sounds just weren’t comparable to what others were sounding like at the time. A personal favorite of mine, Archangel off of his second album released in 2007 is a track that everyone needs to hear before they die:
However, this post isn’t about Burial’s previous (mind-blowing) work. Burial released a two single EP this week, to the glee and adulation of anyone who listens to UK garage, chillstep or downtempo. Whenever Burial puts something out, it gets swarmed immediately. People might’ve been disappointed that it was only a 2 track EP, but the two tracks total over 25min of sound. This is a treat in time for the holidays, almost perfectly timed to totally fuck with everyone’s “Best of 2012” lists. Truant continues the storied tradition of Burial tracks approximating a stylized walk through the rain wearing a hoodie. This quiet backbeat melts into the frayed vocals and silky samples. As always, the production value is through the roof. The track, 11:45 in length, feels like the first half of an EP, especially with the oscillating beats, the melodic progressions and the continued focus on inducing dreamlike states.
Rough Sleeper definitely breaks past that melodic quiet chillstep and pushes some more uptempo beats and jarring sounds into your awareness. Nothing abrasive, buzz-sawy or brosteppy, but there is a strength behind the bluesy & ethereal track that Truant just didn’t have. It provides an excellent compliment to the previous feel. Almost a wake up call from a dream. The speed kicks up, and while still scratchy and ethereal, there’s a groove to them that you can really get into, especially if you’re into where he’s going with it.
I mean, there’s really not that much that needs to or even should be said about the work. This is one of the artists that changed a sound a lot of us take for granted now, doing what he does best. I’ve gotta say I like the long-form track format, as it makes it a lot easier to get in deep with a track, and not have to keep switching up basslines 10 times in 5 minutes. Great stuff, but, of course, it couldn’t have been anything else.
Terry Gotham 