Burial "Untrue"

Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Some of the drum patterns on this album sound very similar to each other I've noticed, there's more rhythmic variation on the debut. But perhaps thats why Untrue feels more cohesive, has a much better flow.

I'm glad that I bought the album on CD this time around. I've got the first one on vinyl and having to turn the record over really spoils the flow. Plus I missed out on some of the beatless tracks from the CD version. Really like the ambient soundscape-y tunes on this new one.

Cracking album then, for me its currently running a close second to 'Person Pitch' for album of the year. Yup, its getting to that time of year again folks, flown in hasn't it? :rolleyes:
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
noel emits said:
Person Pitch ran its course for me all too quickly. :(

I'm hoping it can be revived.
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Know what you mean, but thats because I caned it so so much over the summer. I've got a bad habit of overplaying records that I fall in love with instantly, then sickening myself. You always come back to the best stuff though don't you? I think I'll try and ration myself with Untrue this time. Only one play per day!

Come to think of it, Untrue and Person Pitch are the only two truly great albums I've heard this year, though there's been a few 'good' ones. Better save this for the inevitable 'best of 2007' thread though...
 
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hrh

New member
Benny B said:
Some of the drum patterns on this album sound very similar to each other I've noticed, there's more rhythmic variation on the debut. But perhaps thats why Untrue feels more cohesive, has a much better flow.
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agreed on the drum patterns, disagree on the overall effect on the album's flow. that rimshotty snare thing started to do my head in after a bit.
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
hrh said:
agreed on the drum patterns, disagree on the overall effect on the album's flow. that rimshotty snare thing started to do my head in after a bit.
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Its such a cool snare sound though, but you're right, he does rely on it a bit too much. I'm probably speaking far too soon, but he'll definitely have to come up with some more varied stuff next time around or its gonna start to sound samey. But so far, so good...
 
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nomadologist

Guest
I couldn't disagree with him more, Nick. People in the U.S., by and large, would absolutely DESPISE this album. It is everything the American market thinks is lame and horrible. It really is. Most people if I put it on would probably say something like "1996 just called and it wants its music back." To an American, there is nothing less tasteful than rave-oriented music. Nothing.

I don't see this being a commercial success at all. Unless you mean by U.K. sales standards, which, ahem, is really not all that difficult to achieve.
 
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noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
I did LOL at the second one and I've said it sounds like advert music in places myself. And there is what sounds like a sampled blues singer at the end of one track.

But... I don't think the fact that the album can slip by unnoticed and insinuate itself into situations is necessarily a failing in its ability to cast a spell. On the contrary. You don't have to threaten people and beat them in the face with harsh sonics to get a message across.

He is right though. Not sure if Hyperdub are as handy with their TV licensing deals as someone like Warp but this could easily be all over those fucking home improvement / turn your garden into an Aztec temple programs. Boards Of Canada / Aphex / DJ Shadow used to be all over TV when I last watched one.
 
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gek-opel

entered apprentice
I have no problem with mid-90s trip hop anyway (or the classic stuff at least)... its amongst the stuff of that era which is most likely to be due a re-appraisal. Obviously the whole dinner party/coffee table image is a pejorative one, but I see no reason to allow that (or the potential for popular cross-over- which whilst limited is there to some extent) to get in the way of the fact that Burial is great music, and even more so great to conceptualise, to think about. It is in this way that you can se the most significant link between him and Trip Hop (ie- back to Tricky's "Maxinquaye"- similarly smooth on the surface but a rich springboard for a whole host of different concepts and analyses)...
 
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bassnation

the abyss
noel emits said:
I did LOL at the second one and I've said it sounds like advert music in places myself. And there is what sounds like a sampled blues singer at the end of one track.

But... I don't think the fact that the album can slip by unnoticed and insinuate itself into banal situations is necessarily a failing in its ability to cast a spell. On the contrary. You don't have to threaten people and beat them in the face with harsh sonics to get a message across.

He is right though.
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yes, untrue is definitely the bastard child of that dire fucking moby album with all those hackneyed soul vox. i can't believe i didn't spot it before. i think a year from now this lp will mean very little but we'll have to wait and see.
 
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nomadologist

Guest
I like trip-hop. Thing is, Burial, or really any dubstep or vaguely dubsteppish music would never be in an "advert" in the U.S. Never. Maybe an MTV segue on MTV News during a particularly depressing story or something.
 
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nomadologist

Guest
The difference between Moby and Burial is that Moby actually sampled soul music for his vocals, which is horrifically cliched. When I said Burial was a "soulful" album, I did not mean the vocals sounded anything like traditional soul music. They sound like robotic r&b, nothing like soul.
 
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gek-opel

entered apprentice
nomadologist said:
The difference between Moby and Burial is that Moby actually sampled soul music for his vocals, which is horrifically cliched. When I said Burial was a "soulful" album, I did not mean the vocals sounded anything like traditional soul music. They sound like robotic r&b, nothing like soul.
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I agree. Also the comparison is absurd as this is an extremely familiar technique, which began (in pop at least) with Holger Czukay's "Movies" and Eno/Byrne's "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts". Moby utilised old blues recordings to give "soul" to his inane tinkling lifestyle muzak... Burial uses them to foreground the necromantic process of recorded sound itself- and is working far more faithfully within the dance music/a cappella tradition anyway...
 
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gek-opel

entered apprentice
bassnation said:
you have to admit that arcangel is the bastard child of moby's "play" and cher's "life after love" though. come on, admit it ;)
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Both of these are inaccurate! "Play" rifled through ancient blues vocals for a stamp of authenticity, Burial is after the exact opposite of this. "Life After Love" used a live vocalist through heavy vocodering. Burial achieved a similar denatured/hiccupping effect by pitchshifting fragments of vocal and cutting them apart to create the impression of different syllables and consonants...
 
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bassnation

the abyss
gek-opel said:
Both of these are inaccurate! "Play" rifled through ancient blues vocals for a stamp of authenticity, Burial is after the exact opposite of this. "Life After Love" used a live vocalist through heavy vocodering. Burial achieved a similar denatured/hiccupping effect by pitchshifting fragments of vocal and cutting them apart to create the impression of different syllables and consonants...
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presumably cher is quite expensive for session work, which i guess is why burial came up with his technique?
 
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noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
bassnation said:
yes, untrue is definitely the bastard child of that dire fucking moby album with all those hackneyed soul vox. i can't believe i didn't spot it before. i think a year from now this lp will mean very little but we'll have to wait and see.
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Heh. I meant Impostume was right about how it might end up getting used, not about the music as such.

Wasn't sure if you were being sarcy or not at first. ;)
 
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bassnation

the abyss
noel emits said:
Heh. I meant Impostume was right about how it might end up getting used, not about the music as such.

Wasn't sure if you were being sarcy or not at first. ;)
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and isn't it a sad state of affairs when the use of vox as a whole is suddenly subversive? this says more about dubstep as a genre than it does about burial tho.
 
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