Kindred EP - Burial

Kindred EP

Burial

Hyperdub Records.

SCQ Rating: 79%

Last spring’s Street Halo was very much a victory lap. Brisk but powerful, it procured enough subtle tricks to warrant a pat on the back for progressive leanings but essentially cemented the same sound we’d all lost our shit over four years prior. That’s something worth celebrating, even in the wake of dubstep’s mainstream perversion; the convincing evidence that insists Burial remains the sole proprietor and executioner of such a gritty, bleak and yet beautiful palette of urban restlessness.

Barely a year on, the mysterious beat-constructor returns with another three-pronged EP of sprawling, nomadic dubstep and the results are equally breathless. Kindred EP expands upon its predecessor’s spacey dimensions – in such a way that Street Halo’s longest run-time in effect becomes this EP’s shortest – and that aural real estate affords weightier compositions. “Loner” breaks from Burial’s trademarked wood-block approach by instilling a comparatively simple drum-machine loop to feed a flurry of samples and morose-keyed momentum. “Ashtray Wasp” preserves that drive, with four-by-four beats thudding beneath a wide array of voices and murky instrumentation, but it’s the title track that really steals the show here. “Kindred”, besides incorporating some industrial noise to its edges, probably boasts Burial’s best use of vocal samples ever, creating an esoteric link of voices that form one devastating hook after another.

Burial’s wise enough to steer clear of laying down too much at a time but by occasionally stripping his compositions down to scratch, he occasionally risks dropping his audience into structure-less limbo. “Ashtray Wasp” takes that permanent detour, presumably as a means to avoid overwhelming listeners, and the track’s piano-led ending – a pale echo of its earlier force – ultimately deepens the artist’s craft (although perhaps at the expense of his fans’ expectations). No matter how you hear it, Kindred EP won’t resonate like another unexpected victory lap, instead presenting itself as a complicated evolution that nonetheless reasserts Burial’s reign over all things dubstep.

9.) Street Halo EP - Burial (Top 20 Albums of 2011)

Street Halo EP

Burial

Hyperdub Records.

Original SCQ Review

People consumed this EP as a taster to some imminently announced Untrue successor that, so far, hasn’t come to be. While I agree with the notion that three tracks clocking in at a combined twenty-minutes can’t quell the anticipation for a full-length release, Street Halo EP comes damned close. Neither the title track nor ‘Stolen Dog’ ever strays from their dancefloor genes, instead building a terse mood beneath Burial’s gritty hooks. And sandwiched between these new dubstep classics lies the sensual ‘NYC’, which percolates the walls of a room with a rainy night ambience. There’s more than enough beauty in these three longer-than-average pieces to swim in.

Word has it that early 2012 will see Burial return with yet another new EP. Details are scarce at the moment but, if Street Halo is anything to base our hopes on, it looks to be another triumphant year for one of electronic music’s chief mysteries.

Street Halo EP - Burial

Street Halo EP

Burial
Hyperdub Records.


SCQ Rating: 84%

When Untrue established dubstep as a genuine electronic movement in the fall of 2007, nobody could comprehend what Burial had brought to the table. Its comparisons to Boards Of Canada weren’t based on any musical similarities but moreso how Untrue paralleled an album like Music Has the Right to Children’s ability to infiltrate a genre with something entirely foreign and exciting. By that measure, the general consensus amid indie-minded music-lovers was that dubstep would either round itself into a palpable sub-genre or fizzle as a trend.

Shit ended up going mainstream and Burial’s return, four years after his inventive sophomore, teases a few seemingly important questions about Burial’s duty as proprietor and whether he’ll deride dubstep or up the ante. Street Halo EP wisely evades that nonsense, thanks to a sudden release strategy and its hype-settling format choice. If there’s a statement decodable through this three-song EP, it’s that Burial remains in an isolated league of his own. Familiar pillars to Untrue’s template have stuck around: the insular bass bubbles from ‘Raver’ drop in on ‘Street Halo’, the block-chop beats branch out indiscriminately and breathy vocals are (no surprise) littered all over.

Yet Street Halo EP does offer a notable shift from previous Burial efforts by yearning for more spacious arrangements. Both of the club-ready tracks as well as the slow-burner ‘NYC’ encompass refined dubstep atmospheres that span well over six minutes, which works well given Burial’s less confrontational approach this time around. Subdued though it may be by comparison, Street Halo EP hides a sinister bite that’ll keep these tracks on devious rotation. In fact, with its easy digestibility, early listens may have you declaring the sensual head-candy of ‘Stolen Dog’ or the fog-tinged beauty of ‘NYC’ as instant classics. Keep listening; this EP doesn’t aim to change the nature of dubstep but it does remind us what’s so enigmatic and alluring about the verified style. Essentially, that's Burial.


burial street halo EP by marrows blog

Moth/Wolf Cub 12" - Burial + Four Tet

Moth/Wolf Cub

Four Tet & Burial
Text Records.

SCQ Rating: 86%

Like many electronica fans, I digested the curious news two weeks ago of a super-limited twelve-inch release that sported rare collaborations between Four Tet and Burial. No details, no confirmation from either camp responsible, and above all else, copies of this release had sold out before most major online-publications caught word of its existence! So I ravenously searched for proof of life, finding the same scraps as everyone else, before accidentally discovering it (and by “it”, yes, I mean the actual vinyl) several days ago. Forgive any bragging that ensues…

There’s a mystic rustling at the commencement of ‘Moth’; a masala of test-tones and dull taps that provide one’s first audio accompaniment to the many questions of this mystery release. The most common and probably necessary query to coattail this release boils down to who is responsible for what, given there are no liner notes amid the black-clad cover-art. Did each artist produce a side to this twelve-inch or were both tracks written and recorded together? Both bloggers and professional critics have embraced this lack of information with a zest best remembered from the days of print magazines and anticipated release dates, but it’s a question easily answered if, of course, you actually own the record. Each side of this limited vinyl is inscribed with the song and artist responsible, and on both sides, it reads: “Burial + Four Tet”. Case closed. If that doesn’t satiate your doubt, however, you can always just listen and discover the obvious collison of these two artists yourself.

Anyway, enough mystic rustling: we’ve traded enough mysteries when, really, the music proves to be the real story. As soon as ‘Moth’ flickers into its divine techno-trance of deep bass stabs and dancefloor stutter, you’ll think you’ve found the best club track of the year. Then it’ll wiggle out of its strict bassline and bounce from a softer lens, maintaining its momentum but increasingly dewier, out of focus, and upon Burial’s inclusion of perfectly-pitched vocal samples, you might just realize it’s the best electronic track of 2009. Moving from direct, spontaneous and white-knuckled to a nearly muted, nostalgic reflection of its first half, ‘Moth’ is artful in a way few dance tracks of recent years have been capable of. It’s a result could only arrive from not one, but two of our finest electronic producers, as both sets of fingerprints are all over these tracks. Imagine the frenetic melodies of Four Tet’s Ringer EP that endlessly cycled its own footsteps, yet instead of being stabilized by that EP’s dependence on 4/4 techno beats, now imagine Hebden’s loops hitched to Burial’s ever-accomplished percussive clatter - those wood-block thuds and concrete-wet smacks – which, combined, gives spirited new direction for both artists in the heart-pounding ‘Wolf Cub’. If ‘Moth’ is poised to steal the best dancefloors in Britain this summer, than ‘Wolf Cub’ might soundtrack the footrace that ensues out the back of the club and into the jungle night. Although Four Tet’s cut-up codas lay the track’s foundation, this is inevitably Burial’s high-point; each subtle tap or pounding grime-step beat deviating between sympathetic rain-on-window or irresistible, elastic, hammerhead euphoria. As these two compositions shift between speeds and emotions, Moth/Wolf Cub warrants the tease/argument of being both Four Tet and Burial’s finest work to date.

Artistic collaborations between solo artists are commonly akin to B-movies, not because the musicians involved are subpar but because with collaboration comes varied ideas, with varied ideas comes ego or disagreement, and with ego or disagreement comes polarity or - the evil enemy of art itself - consensus. It’s an extremely unpolished thesis but the proof is everywhere; it’s the reason Lindstrom albums are infinitely more anticipated than Lindstrom & Prins Thomas albums and, dare I say, Four Tet albums take precedence over Fridge albums. It’s also why remix albums are virtual footnotes to an artist’s body of work. How Burial and Four Tet sidestepped the usual homogenization inherent to collaboration is unbeknownst to me, but it’s a strategy as coveted and important as the resulting document itself. Now I’m no fool; the hype surrounding this release can only bolster the blogosphere’s blind delight. Yet if either of these tracks showed trace of a recycled or substandard idea, this underhanded press-approach would come off as little more than a hollow gimmick. Truth is, the whole package is so damned fresh, you’ll forget the piece of vinyl was hyped in the first place. Sure, these two producers may’ve first crossed paths on The Eraser RMXS but after Moth/Wolf Cub, their future collaborations (rumoured to be in the process) look to be deservedly higher in profile.