Burial

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