Jessy Lanza - All The Time

Hyperdub: 2020

While I'm far from a Hyperdub disciple, they are a label I confidently return to whenever I'm interested in hearing something outside my comfort zone. And anytime Burial so much as sneezes, it's enough to get the Hyperdub, erm, hype-train going again, such that I'll gander over to their Bandcamp for a look-see. I must have been feeling particularly saucy on my last visit, indulging in a couple items so far off my usual lane, I may as well have completely changed highways, one of which being this here All The Time from Jessy Lanza.

I've crossed paths with Ms. Lanza before, as she had a few tunes on that Hyperdub 10th anniversary box-set I covered a few years back. More specifically, she featured in Hyperdub 10.2 - aka: the R&B CD. She apparently failed to make enough of an impression for me to mention her in that write-up, but to be fair, she was surrounded by the likes of Burial, Cooly G, and Ghostface Killah in that track list. I did generally like her tunes, just there were so many other dope cuts that were quicker in catching my ear, is all. Not so when I last browsed through Hyperdub's latest clutch of releases, Jessy's sweet croon instantly luring me in for a closer listen. Or maybe it was just that simple, syrupy funk rhythm in Lick In Heaven doing the trick. Could be, could be.

I guess I should get into who Jessy Lanza is. I wish I had more to say than what a standard wiki or Discoggian bio offers, but I don't. I'm diving into this artist about as fresh and raw as can be, which is part of the fun in of itself. Can't grow old and stale settling on the familiar, gotta' get out there and hear other music and newer musicians. Even if said musician has been in the game for over a decade now, it's still new to me, dammit! If you need some background, here's the short-short version: classically trained, took a liking to jazz and R&B, gained plenty of plaudits in the nascent neo-soul movement of the 2010s, fusing her influences with UK garage and synth-pop sensibilities.

And that's basically what we have with All The Time. Music arrangements are mostly sparse, letting the bass bubble about simple electro and footwork rhythms. Jessy uses plenty of multi-tracking on her voice with various pitch changes and dub effects. It's nothing fancy on the surface, but has plenty of depth the more you peel back the layers. It all rather sounds as though she's performing solo at a club that's just emptied out after last call, a strangely isolated vibe for such seemingly chipper music. Which makes some sense as part of this album was written during pandemic lock-downs, Jessy moving cross-continent due to life circumstances. Those are some very lonely roads throughout the mid-west at the best of times. Can only imagine how desolate it got when most folks weren't vacationing.

The Bug ft. Dis Fig - In Blue

Hyperdub: 2020

“New Bug, who Dis?”

Sorry, sorry, couldn't resist that one. This isn't even all that new of a Bug album anymore, though I can't help but feel it quickly went by the wayside, especially in the wake of Fire coming out the following year. It certainly isn't much like Kevin Martin's Ninja Tune releases, none of the aggro dancehall and grime raps present. If anything, In Blue has more in common with his other Hyperdub records, the Roger Robinson collaboration King Midas Sound. I'm far from the only person to make that association, though I do wonder if this album started as a King Midas Sound project before morphing into this. Kevin and Roger had taken their work into almost dark ambient pastures by this point though, so a different approach and collaborator was probably called for if Mr. Martin wanted a return to the more soulful side of his muse.

As for who Dis Fig is, she doesn't have much Discoggian data, a smattering of singles and a tape album the extent of her solo work. Known as Felicia Chen on her travel papers, she does appear to have some presence on the Soundcloud DJ circuit, with a contribution to FACT Magazine her highest profile gig. There's definitely an aggro, industrialist approach to her sound, oftentimes coupled with ethereal whispers and tense ambient interludes, keeping you on edge for when the aural assault resumes. Seems like a perfect match-up with Mr. Martin's own brand of industrial dub and dancehall grit. Oh, what's this, a global pandemic has put everyone on lockdown? With nothing better to do, seems time was about right to get that collaboration rollin'.

And if the tunnel artwork wasn't enough, first proper tune Come gets right to work in setting the tone of In Blue. Muted echoes, rumbling bass reverberating off concrete walls, an omnipresent dub wail like wind through confined industrial zones - it's all quite familiar Bug music, though rather muted and suppressed compared to his Ninja Tune outings. All the while Ms. Chen softly croons along, though only provides verses to about half the tracks, sometimes with nothing more than a dubbed-out wail piercing Kevin's grimey murk. Some tunes barely feature her at all, such as the gutter bounce of In 2 U or the diesel-train chugging of Forever. It does leave me to wonder if Dis Fig did any music production for this album. Like, The Bug's work is largely prevalent, but surely a couple of those endless echoes are more than Ms. Chen's soft vocals.

In Blue definitely is a seductive album for those who like their bass music on the ethereal side of things. It's a bit samey throughout though, as though you're travelling through an unending monochrome tunnel. Again, I'm sure that was the intent, and Bug plus Fig pull it off well. It just unfortunately kind of melts into the background after a while. Might have been better served as a couple EPs instead.

Burial - Tunes 2011-2019

Hyperdub: 2019

Folks were so anxious to hear a third LP in the wake of Untrue, they didn't realize Burial had low-key released a double-LP's worth of material in the decade since. However, it was scattered about some seven singles, so never thought of as a singular listening experience. If only there was a way to consolidate all that music into such a format. By golly there is!

I kid, but honestly, Tunes 2011-2019 is quite handy for the casual Burial listener. While I'm sure such a compilation is highly redundant for a dedicated follower of Mr. Bevan's music, not everyone has time or interest in getting every EP as they come. Even myself, an individual who quite enjoys (and sure relates to) his post-clubbing come-down urban vibes, only ever sprung for the Rival Dealer EP. I had thought about getting others, even eyed the double-EP option of Street Halo / Kindred on many an occasion. I guess that procrastination paid off in that now I have them all in a single package.

Still, what's the big deal? Just all the singles appropriately aligned in chronological order, right? Been there, done that. Not at all! In fact, things have been arranged such that Tunes Of The '10s plays out like Burial had planned all these EPSs as a double-LP right from the get-go. Just, he needed a bit of an obtuse angle to initially approach it from, before realizing what overarching themes manifested with all these disparate compositions. Or it was just a big ol' coincidence things worked out they way they did.

Basically, each CD serves as its own narrative, disc one the more conceptual of the two. The first half mostly features his ambient and experimental works, and if nothing else, effectively creates a mood of back-alley squalor. Some of it does meander too long (too much field recording dithering in Subtemple), but all of it effectively builds a sense of isolation and loneliness that's only broken free from once the shimmering synths of Nightmarket hit. Then, we're off into the uplifting messaging of the Rival Dealer tracks, with the ol' school garage vibes of Claustro serving a perfect companion piece to them. Why there's even a call-back of sorts, the haunting ambience at the tail end of Hiders having been given expanded exploration in the earlier Beachfires.

By contrast, CD2 is the 'clubbier' of the two, if you could ever call Burial's post-Untrue works club worthy. For sure there are moments where a house groove or 2-step shuffle is in action, but the lengthy, stop-start nature of most of these tracks makes them rather unwieldy for the dancefloor. It's all about the atmosphere anyway. Especially with the final two cuts off the Street Halo EP, Stolen Dog and NYC. Ah, there's that Untrue feels. Wait a minute...

*checks track list again*

Oh, hah! Tune 2011-2019 is in mostly chronological order after all, just reverse. Funny how that worked out. Or a big ol' coincidence.

Various - Hyperdub 10.4

Hyperdub: 2014

You'd think with the camo cover art, the fourth volume of Hyperdub's Tenth Anniversary Box-Set Spectakaganza would be getting down with the jungle scene. It makes sense, after all, UK garage and d'n'b having a mutual understanding of cross-pollination. They hang out at the same venues, where none of that cheesy cracker-trance or lame-o house music is being played, and maybe even share a few musical ideas between each other. Not too much though, as junglists are all about that purity, and UK garage followers... actually, I don't know what they consider 'pure' in their scene, so many mutations having emerged from it since the turn of the millennium. It was all so simpler when all you had was 2-step, grime, and speed. Now, it's all a confuzzled mess, especially after that which is dubstep infected both scenes with varying degrees of interest and suckitude.

Anyhow, all this is moot because the camo is a lie. There is no jungle here, nowhere on either CD of this double-discer closer. Unless the camo is meant to reflect the disguise you didn't see coming at all with a Hyperdub compilation, of a genre that most would figure never had a chance of appearing among future garage, nu-soul, wonky-step, and 'night bus' ambient (dear God, Beatport actually tried to make that a thing!). I am, of course, talking about the one electronic genre to rule them all: techno. Because no matter how disparate, divergent, or unique a sound you may enter with, everyone returns to the mean of making either house or techno. It's an absolutism none can resist, even those dudes with the crappy, choppy beat boxes.

I wouldn't go so far as to call everything among these twenty-eight tracks techno. Some of it is 2-step garage, some of it is bassline house (aka: speed garage without the garage), and some of it is that weirdo electro-grime thing that could only have been made somewhere among the streets of South London, an impossible fusion of so many different things, it's entirely it's own thing (so, future garage, then). It's stuff like that that gave Hyperdub that extra edge among its contemporaries. Well, that, plus all the other things highlighted in the previous five CDs.

Generally though, Hyperdub 10.4 sticks to the stripped-back techno, spiced with that distinct UK urban flavour. Maybe some vintage bleep/rave tuneage (Funkystepz' Vice Versa), or a dubby minimal rinse-out (Fhloston Paradigm's The Phoenix), or Detroit-funk all wobbled up in a ketamine daze (Kode9 & Spaceape's Love Is The Drug). There's quite a bit to take in here, though if I'm honest, the deliberately stripped aesthetic UK garage of this era loves kinda' makes much of this sound like cheap filler on generic techno compilations of the '90s. Not saying Hyperdub should have stayed in their lane, and I'm sure many of these tunes make for fine compliments to any tech-house or techno set. Two CDs of it though, it's just too much for a single sitting.

Various - Hyperdub 10.3

Hyperdub: 2014

Wait, Hyperdub did ambient music too? Well, yeah, guy, of course they did. Doesn't everyone? Mind, what you consider ambient is probably a rather narrow niche of sonic padding and lengthy doodling, but that doesn't mean other scenes can't have their kick at the can with their own beatless interpretations of abstract art music, especially ones where 'dub' production is seen as the norm. While many musicians have taken the original Eno concept down radically divergent paths, that doesn't mean folks in the UK garage scene haven't felt the influence of spacious sounds filling sonic gaps between heavy bangers and the ephemeral void leading you to the Land Of Nod. Even 'gaihr-idge' heads need their comedown music, mate.

Still, it's not like Hyperdub has any dedicated musicians making just ambient music, or even much ambient adjacent music on the regular. Rather, they'll craft little interludes and quiet sound experiments as part of a larger album narrative (or a B2 on a single). As such, most of the twenty-three 'ambient' tracks on offer with Hyperdub 10.3 hover around the two-to-three minute mark, some not even reaching ninety seconds in length. Which urges the question, exactly what the point of this particular compilation is? Like, I get you wanted an excuse to show off more Burial, and certainly his two pieces of At McDonald's and Night Bus were key elements of what made Untold the seminal work of post-clubbing reflective misery that it was. However, sixty-four seconds of chopped pad tones from Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland comes off as redundant filler on a CD that's already technically filled with the filler of other LPs.

Most of these pieces are of such nature, taking the Hyperdub notions of urban digital editing to the realm of wallpaper music. It does provide a unique take on ambient, though it isn't that far removed from the glitchy realm of IDM experiments. It's interesting that two such disparate scenes could arrive at similar sonic points though – gotta' love all that easily accessible production software! Heck, some of this stuff could fit in with the noise camps, like DVA's Reach The Devil, and Jeremy Greenspan & Borys' Gage, which ends the whole CD off with an awful aural assault before abruptly ending. Kewl.

Personally though, I prefer it when things go for the urban-soul Burial mould, as in Cooly G's Mind and Trying, or Lee Gamble's DSM. But let's not leave out the retro-ghetto stylings of Darkstar's Ostkreuz, or the near synthwavey pieces from Ikonika's Time/Speed and Completion V.3. Wait, synthwave, in a Hyperdub collection? What timeline is this?

Then there's more traditional stuff, like The Bug's five-minute long Siren, and the super-traditional stuff, as in Fhloston Paradigm's Liloo's Seduction. Seriously, this production from the King Britt alias brings to mind '70s Berlin-School, and lasts ten minutes in length. On a CD where only three other tracks break the four-minute mark, Liloo's Seduction might as well be a double-LP composition.

Various - Hyperdub 10.2

Hyperdub: 2014

Look, I get all that post-dub-juke-bash-grim-skee-ap stuff is what folks hip to every tiny permutation of UK garage were digging. I mean, it must have been a significant development if Hypderdub was gonna' dedicated a double-CD opening salvo to it. And while there were enough tracks among those thirty-plus that a few got my attention or had my head twitchin' for a mild nod, much of it just passed me by as same ol', same ol', no matter who was chopping and screwing with the hi-hats and snares. It's music that makes better sense when out at a shitty London venue or abandoned Chicago warehouse, where the ketamine is floating through the air like particulates of ashen snow. That is what all those early dubstep parties were like, right? I wouldn't know, I never went to any, not even in British Columbia when the likes of Skream and Rusko were becoming big names here.

Just because it wasn't to my taste doesn't mean it was to no one's taste, and it was popular enough that many indie rags were forced to dedicate detailed write-ups about why this new 'yoot' movement was Very Important to UK's underground dance scene. It's not what attracted me to Hyperdub though, so if the review of Hyperdub 10.1 seems lacking, well, that's your reason. Now, let's move onto the stuff I'm more interested in: the dubby funk 'n soul music of Hyperdub 10.2!

That's right, the post-clubbing, depressive soul of Burial, or the urban grit soul of King Midas Sound, where R&B is taken through the UK underground wringer of lonely nights spent at coffee shops and fish friars before returning to squalid flats barely paid for by a dwindling dole, the unmistakable croon of a lovely lady still echoing in your ears over a cheap, choppy beat. Something like that, I think.

That's the vibe I get from these tracks. Burial's Shell Of Light, DVA's Solid with Zaki Ibrahim and Metrodome, Terror Danjah's You Make Me Feel with Meleka, Fhloston Paradigm's Never Defeated with Rachel Claudio, Morgan Zarate's Sticks & Stones with Eska and Ghostface Killah. Wait, Ghostface is here? Man, them UK grime dudes sure do love 'em some Ghostface. Don't blame 'em, Tony Stark basically bullet-proof no matter where he ends up (UK garage, Eastcoast rap, horrorcore stories, 30 Rock cameos).

And it's weird, because normally I'm not that hype to R&B either. I appreciate its influence and its contributions and all that rot, but generally speaking, I get my musical soul-food from other sources. This Hyperdub stuff though, it hits me at just the right angle, just gritty and askew enough, where the cheap, scattershot production keeps it leagues away from the slick polish of the industrious mainstream material. It's rhythm and blues as the terms should be interpreted, with bare beats and human murk. Still, it's not like I'm actively seeking such music either, Hyperdub 10.2 sating most of that itch until the next King Midas Sound record comes out.

Various - Hyperdub 10.1

Hyperdub: 2014

It's hard to undersell just how Very Important of a label Hyperdub turned out. Even if you excise the Burial factor, it's been home to many producers that helped steer the course of UK garage into ever stranger and weirder future incarnations. Acts like Kode9 (founder), Space Ape, Zomby, The Bug, Mala, Flowdan, Kyle Hall, Inga Copeland, Darkstar, Ikonika, and loads more have made their home on Hyperdub at one point or another. While I can't say I've messed with many of them over the years, I cannot deny the label's earned a pedigree in tapping unique artists that have caught my ear more often than not. Considering the UK garage scene at large is filled with redundant, generic, cheap-ass half-step beats and gimmicky bass noises, that's no mean feat.

I've long considered diving deeper into the Hyperdub discography than whatever Burial and The Bug have released, and while there are a number of Very Recommended records, I wondered whether there was an easier way, a handier way, a box-settier way. Why, hello there, Tenth Anniversary four-volume, six CD collection celebrating the label, how you doin'? Of course, even this set is a little old now, Hyperdub coming upon their fifteenth anniversary in short order. I don't doubt for a second they won't celebrate that, having done a little roll-out of their fifth birthday too, when all they had to their name were some critically hailed works from Kode9 and Burial.

Things really started rolling from there though, hence a quadrupling of material for this box-set. And kicking things off for Hyperdub 10.1 is nothing less than a double-CD of material, with all the familiar Hyperdub names, and then some. DJ Taye! Cooly G! Ill Blu! Mark Pritchard! (!!) Terror Danjah! LV! DJ Rashad! Too many more to name-drop!

As each volume of this box-set focuses on a specific genre or style of music, you bet the first would feature that dubstep action. Or, post-dubstep, I guess – whatever it was folks tried to label the Hyperdub sound (certainly not bland wub-wub). There's also, according to Lord Discogs: Bassline, Grime, Techno, UK Garage, Abstract, and Juke. What, no Trap? Sure sounds like a lot of rat-a-tat-tat hi-hats and snares among these two CDs. Right, trap wasn't really a UK thing, but they had a whole bunch of other names for ghetto beats.

And that's the sense I get from these twenty-three, two-to-four minute tracks, where drums kits, acid boxes and samples are chopped and screwed in such scattershot fashion, it feels like you're hearing music made by the slummiest of musicians too broke to afford any proper production or studio time. Y'know, real music, like punk rock, unfettered and uncut from the soul, technical limitations be damned. Or something.

I dunno. Sometimes I feel journalists made this stuff seem more important because of that supposed authenticity than any actual musical merit. Wouldn't be the first time that happened, especially in UK-Land.

King Midas Sound - Without You

Hyperdub: 2011

How odd is it that this Kevin Martin project immediately got a remix album, but none of his Bug material has. Even the critically lauded London Zoo only got a few token EP rubs, and that was undoubtedly his most successful album ever. King Midas Sound, on the other hand, passed by with less buzz, quite a few folks not even aware it was another project from The Bug. Still, I sense it gained something of a 'musician's musician' following, where the savviest of UK Bass ears couldn't help but zero in on King Midas Sound's developments. I doubt Martin, Roger Robinson, and Kiki Hitomi planned it as such, but when I see a crap-ton of obscure, esoteric artists 'reworking' tunes for Without You, it makes me wonder exactly who's the target audience here. Like, were so many acts anxious to lend their aesthetic to the King Midas sound that Hyperdub had no choice but to release a remix album like this?

Actually, Without You is something of a mish-mash of older stuff and new material. If you missed out on the King Midas Sound debut record Cool Out, fret not for you get the wonk-jazz of Flying Lotus' rub on Lost (eh, I'll pass) and Dabrye's weirdo synth-pop stab at One Ting as a hidden track (noice!). Both remixes on the Goodbye Girl single also show up, Without You kicking off with Kuedo's ker-lumpity bass-clump of G.G., plus Mala's tribal dubstep of Earth A Kill Ya. It ain't bad, but compare it to the bizarre place art-poppers Gang Gang Dance take the original moody number - I'm left speechless! The original was a fairly minimalist, menacing piece of spoken word dub music, whereas Gang Gang turn it into something you might expect from an Orb and Youth collaboration: all chipper, flighty, and filled with silly sounds. And yet Roger's words remain just as poignant in this setting as the other. How'd Gang Gang do d'at?

All the new songs are given 'revoice' credits, including the titular cut with a D-Bridge rub that's almost ambient dub. Kiki gets to showcase a little Japanese knowledge with Tears, Cooly G brings some R&B sultriness to the fray in Spin Me Around, and Joel Ford does his own croon in Say Somethin'. Not to let all these urban voices dominate, Green Gartside of the indie band Scritti Politti shows up in Come And Behold. It's... an odd contrast to the rest of Without You's thick haze of grimy dub ol' Kevin drenches his productions in.

In case that's not enough, other remixes go for weird abstraction (Robert Aiki; Ras G & Afrikan Space Program; ooh Deep Chord!), or familiar Hyperdub future garage (hey Kode 9; yo' Hype Williams). In all, Without You is a warped trip through the disparate muses of various musicians, the only thing holding it together being Kevin Martin's faith in letting all those invited stretch wherever they want. Well no wonder so many wanted in on this 'remix' album!

King Midas Sound - Waiting For You...

Hyperdub: 2009

Stupid of me sleeping on this when it first came out. I was fiending for more material from Kevin Martin after London Zoo, ready to hear any and all music The Bug had to offer. But not enough to follow developments in his other projects apparently, King Midas Sound making their debut in a flash before receding from the limelight again. Part of that was due to timing, Waiting For You... coming out at the tail-end of 2009, when I was burnt out keeping an ear to the pulse of electronic music for review purposes.

It's also a case of the group almost deliberately eschewing much media marketing, doing a few requisite interviews and tours, but not much else. Even Mr. Martin seemed hesitant in letting folks know that The Bug had a second project called King Midas Sound, one gestating in the background almost as long as his work for London Zoo had been in progress. Waiting For You... went so overlooked, there's no review for it at Resident Advisor, though one for lead-up single Dub Heavy Hearts And Ghosts, plus follow-up remix LP Without You. Still, that makes me more hip than RA now, right?

We did all finally catch up to this conglomerate of Kevin Martin, singer/crooner/spoken-worder Roger Robinson, and singer/artist Kiki Hitomi. It was a slow burn, which makes sense as Waiting For You... has a feeling of needing lengthy time and many play-throughs to simmer into your soul. Those coming into it expecting more of Mr. Martin's crushing bass assaults won't find that here, though the bottom-end is dutifully represented throughout. Plenty of that trip-hoppin' dub action too, utilized in such a manner that it creates a wall of white noise where Mr. Robinson's vocals ride along, like surfing waves of mile-high sound. Other times he's completely enveloped by the layers of timbre, his voice just another instrument to- wait, I've already typed such a description before, haven't I, when I reviewed the Fennesz collaboration Edition 1. Darn it, it's such a good description though.

What's interesting is that Roger wasn't really known for a soulful croon prior to his team-up with Kevin, his prior performance experience mostly poetry over a rhythm. And there are a few tracks that go that route on this album too, such as the punchy, minimalist (and super-preachy) Earth A Killya, and the interlude Sumtime. Elsewhere he edges closer to a dancehall cadence (I Man), but by and large he carries a song with his soft croon. And he'd never done anything like it before! He figured he'd carry on doing the spoken-word stuff, but when Kevin persisted in hearing him sing a little, he realized that was what would make King Midas Sound stand out as something unique in the UK's urban scene. Throw in a few spacey additions from Kiki (Outer Space really does live up to its name), plus a couple dubbed-out instrumentals for good measure, and voila, Waiting For You..., a neo-soul album like few others.

Burial - Untrue

Hyperdub: 2007

The only dubstep album you’re supposed to have, even if you’re not a fan of dubstep. Especially if you’re not a fan of dubstep, as this was the one that was supposed to convince you the genre wasn’t all bad. And that’s funny, because Burial’s Untrue isn’t even considered a dubstep record anymore. Even at the time of release, it was something of a nebulous demarcation, but because the genre hadn’t branched into splinter sub-genres in any significant way yet, it was hailed as the first Proper Dubstep Album Classic. I think folks stopped calling it that around 2009, when it became clear that dubstep’s growing popularity wasn’t going the way of these moody, atmospheric, intricate productions, but rather whatever obnoxious wub-wub nonsense Benga and Rusko were churning out. Quick, call it something else! Well, it’s still got some ties to UK Garage, but it’s like, futuristic sounding compared to original UK Garage. Hmm, what to call it indeed…

So Untrue is technically no longer a classic dubstep album, but it’s still considered a classic album within the lexicon of electronic music history. The impact it had in the year 2007 still resonates to this day, many up-and-coming ‘urban bass’ producers inspired, imitating, and cloning what Burial did with his sophomore album. The digitally distorted R&B vocals from memories long past, the thick beatcraft echoing off warehouse walls, the atmosphere drenched in rainfall and vinyl crackles, the introspective dusty ambient interludes, the grace in unpolished electronics, all things no one can go without mentioning in any review of Untrue, nor most Burial releases at this point.

Hell, I’m almost certain I’ve typed words similar to that in a previous Burial review, which makes me wonder if, much like Boards Of Canada, Mr. Bevan became trapped by his unique aesthetics’ success. Folks adored the raver nostalgia vibes his tunes generated, eager to hear more, even if from second-run acts filling those aching gaps. Some actually improved upon the template Burial set out here, though given that Untrue is nearly a decade old now (!!), there’s been plenty of time and opportunity to explore themes of post-party isolation in hazy 4am city streets. Besides, it’s not like Burial’s been in any hurry to produce a third LP.

Oh, he’s kept a steady rate of singles over the years, but to make a follow-up to one of the most critically hailed electronic albums in the wake of the new millennium? Hot damn, what pressure that must be! Wait, The Bug also had a huge, critically-hailed ‘dubstep’ album of his own in 2008, and he put out another album, eventually. Why the wait, Mr. Bevan? Surely whatever personal anxiety one must feel after such a release has waned by now, free to evolve as an artist without being crushed by expectation so close to the cultural supernova event that was Untrue (yay, hyperbole!). We’ve already heard some hints of this in recent singles - seems the time is about right to take on the album format again.

Burial - Rival Dealer

Hyperdub: 2013

I mean, if you have as dedicated and willing a listening audience as Burial’s, why not take the noble road with a Message Album? It’s tricky though, getting them across such that they’re understandable, but without coming off cloying and obvious as fuck. Also, when even the greatest songwriters look goofy in benefit concerts, what hope does a persistently reclusive sort like Mr. Bevan have, especially with a bevy of Burial backlashers waiting in the bleachers? And did they ever pounce when Rival Dealer came out, decrying it the point where Burial had finally fallen off (until this latest single Temple Sleeper anyway), straying too far from his future garage roots into sentimental pap in delivering his one very important thought. Others countered it was bold moving on from dubstep’s resolutely isolationist urban vibe in favor of something uplifting and socially embracing. Debates raged over intent of message versus calculated courting of controversy for the purpose of marketing, posts in comment threads reaching word counts longer than what I self-impose upon myself for these reviews. Oh shit, the review! I still have to talk about the music!

Three tracks make up Rival Dealer, though the way Burial changes course so frequently, it feels like twice as many shorter tunes mashed together forming a whole. The titular opener alone runs the gamut of darkcore jungle, ravey bosh, and rain-soaked cinematic ambience, all fed through Burial’s distinct crackly urban-soul production. Less about songcraft than sound collage, there’s much to digest, a sonic assault provoking a response – whee, art! Hiders, the short cut of the three (other two breach the ten minute mark each) goes in a synth-pop route, including swelling strings, uplifting pianos, and a lovely croon; then, over a minute of field recordings static and dark drone. Talk about contrasts.

Final cut Come Down To Us lays the sentiments on thick as syrup, though the broken beats Burial crafts are nice and thick too, so I can’t complain. As for his pull on your emotions, yeah, this is as subtle as a meat hook in your heart, but damn if he doesn’t pull it off. Burial’s ace remains his appeal to your base emotions, particularly tugs at nostalgia (hello eleven millionth Boards Of Canada comparison) - that he wrenches feeling out of issues of depression, isolation and hope doesn’t surprise me, and I’m more stunned he pulls it off without crossing that aforementioned line of corn. I can see how others wouldn’t agree, and deride Burial for even going there, but as far as I’m concerned, this is as tastefully done as one can hope, given the context of the subject matter.

As for that particular topic, I’m hardly the person to start preaching, but for what it’s worth, I believe it’s absolute shit the way LGBTQ folk have been generally treated. They deserve better, and am glad progress is made in their benefit, slow as it may be. As the sample on Rival Dealer consistently assures throughout, “you’re not alone”.

Burial - Burial

Hyperdub: 2006

About time I get some Burial up in this here bloggin' bitch. I've made reference to him in a dozen other reviews, so it's only proper that I take the once-enigmatic post-dubsteppy future-garageist darling under the critical scalpel at some point. If only he'd have a higher workrate, chucking out EPs, LPs, and CDs at enough of a clip that I'd have covered at least one release by now. Wait... no, never mind, it wouldn't matter anyway. Lord Discogs tells me almost all his musics are titled in the bottom end of the alphabet – that are available on compacted discual format anyway. Man, when Burial goes low, it be low indeed.

Appropriately enough, I'm beginning this Burial business with his self-titled debut album. Come, let me take you to a bizarre time in electronic music history, when dubstep had barely squirted out of the London City underground. Hyperdub, the ultra-cool, savvy UK bass music label known for critically hailed acts like Kode9, Zomby, and DJ Rashad, had just launched. Many pegged it an upstart in the early dubstep scene, as few looked capable of toppling the mighty Tempa in those days. But they hadn't counted on a secret weapon in the likes of Burial emerging from those grimy South London Burroughs.

Thing about early dubstep is it was still entirely indebted to grime rap for its inspiration, especially so the ‘dub’ instrumentals. Grime, however, had emerged from UK garage, a rugged, aggressive counter to that scene’s glitzy urban attributes. D’em London rude-boys, they want no girly vocals and emotions in their gritty beats. Then Burial said, “Nah, guy, we can bring the garage soul to the warehouse. Watch.” And that’s what he done did, taking in garage samples and overdubbing them so they came out as ethereal whispers of UK clubbing’s past, contorted into something abstract and haunting. And geez, does it ever tug at your nostalgia memory centres. Small surprise everyone was quick in making the Boards Of Canada comparison, and it can’t be a coincidence that the Scotland duo took a long hiatus almost immediately after Burial emerged (yes it can).

But that’s the Burial as we’ve come to know, which broke out of UK obscurity with his sophomore album, Untrue. For this album, we only hear that half the time, and no surprise these are among the best tracks within. Distant Lights, Southern Comfort, U Hurt Me, Gutted, and Pirates all play to a sense desolate inner-city soul, even as the rhythmic shuffle echoes crisp and clear off abandoned buildings recently used for squat parties. There’s gentle rain-soaked ambience too (Night Bus, Forgive), but the rest of Burial is still tied to dubstep’s pure-grime roots, music much too sparse and rhythmically clunky for those uninterested in anything UK bass related.

Ultimately, Burial’s debut sounds like he’s exploring where his music can potentially go rather than being bothered in creating a cohesive LP. Considering how many copy-cats its spawned though, he definitely hit upon something special here.