Burial "Untrue"

[tate]

It's you isn't it Ben?

That picture does look a bit like you.

Not that I care, at all. I'm just kidding.

Funny you should mention that, noel, I amused myself last week for a couple of hours entertaining the same thought (being a big fan of both burial and ben). Even went back and read the interviews for fun to see, but the Burial quotes about not being a DJ, not knowing producers, and not being musically trained definitely don't apply to Mr. UFO . . . (just kidding around too, as I know that the whole 'who is Burial' is quite annoying to some folks around here, I don't mean to stir the pot).

 

[noel emits]

You know in The Wicker Man how that's not Britt Ekland's bottom?

 

[Gavin]

That's because you're lucky enough to not get Top Gear...

It's on BBC America! Wretched show...

 

[zhao]

to be fair just had a second listen -- clicked on a track or 2 trying to come up with adverts to go with them and let it play till the end -- did like it better second time around. pretty nice.

now back to Joe McPhee

 

[nomadologist]

to be fair just had a second listen -- clicked on a track or 2 trying to come up with adverts to go with them and let it play till the end -- did like it better second time around. pretty nice.

now back to Joe McPhee

I do think this is one of those "repeated listens" type grower albums. It's also quite "headphones optimal" unless you are like me and enjoy lying on the floor so you can feel the basstones all over at top volumes.

 

[fldsfslmn]

I have the same feelings about Untrue as I do about Super Mario Galaxy. Comes on a disc, promises and delivers entertainment, goes great with drugs, triggers nostalgia, etc.

But in the end I keep wondering "why am I chasing all these fucking coins anyway?" and "why is that crackly sound on everything?"

In both cases I think the accrued testimony of emotional response, all the critical theory references (err mostly for Burial, this one) and all the laboured mythmaking conceal what are essentially frighteningly shallow and falsely dimensional experiences. Burial's "London" is to the real London as Mario's Galaxy is to a real life Galaxy. In the final analysis they're very, very annoying places and not at all like the real thing.

 

[noel emits]

Yeah, realistic music! That sounds like a fun and worthwhile exercise.

 

[fldsfslmn]

Errr, not exactly what I meant. Sorry.

 

[noel emits]

Listening to Near Dark and Homeless quite loud - they're more havin' it and rolling then it seemed at first. Definitely rinsing the El-B vibes.

Also I'd like to see Jan Svankmajer do a video for Archangel.

 

[noel emits]

Errr, not exactly what I meant. Sorry.

I know.

Maybe John Cage would concur though? All music is annoying ultimately.

 

[noel emits]

In the final analysis they're very, very annoying places and not at all like the real thing.

Sorry, didn't mean to be an arse about this.

It's an interesting point of comparison. Maybe this album like a lot of electronica reflects a rather limited set of experiences - like sitting around getting stoned and playing video games or listening to an ipod on the night bus.

It's a bit insular and stingy with its points of reference, but that's a big part of the appeal as well. And of course like the man says, he was only originally making music for himself and his famo.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

But in the end I keep wondering "why am I chasing all these fucking coins anyway?" and "why is that crackly sound on everything?"

lol

 

[mos dan]

I have the same feelings about Untrue as I do about Super Mario Galaxy. Comes on a disc, promises and delivers entertainment, goes great with drugs, triggers nostalgia, etc.

But in the end I keep wondering "why am I chasing all these fucking coins anyway?" and "why is that crackly sound on everything?"

lol i would like to see more album reviews written like this

 

[fldsfslmn]

Sorry, didn't mean to be an arse about this.

It's an interesting point of comparison. Maybe this album like a lot of electronica reflects a rather limited set of experiences - like sitting around getting stoned and playing video games or listening to an ipod on the night bus.

It's a bit insular and stingy with its points of reference, but that's a big part of the appeal as well. And of course like the man says, he was only originally making music for himself and his famo.

It's all good. I guess I sounded pretty flippant, but I'm dead serious that my reaction to these two products has been exactly the same. Something about space, a certain logic of unrestricted movement, implicit panoramic fascination, etc. I dunno.

It isn't that Burial and Mario constitute a failure in the fulfillment of some kind of promise (like the promise of total immersion, the promise of the panoramic, the promise of unrestricted or unscrutinized movement) it's that they both constitute a failure in the ability to conceive of a fantasy which would in turn set terms for the fulfillment of a promise. I guess that's just my convoluted way of saying that I think it lacks imagination.

 

[baboon2004]

I do think this record will age badly, and I did keep thinking of Massive Attack. Still, kids'll probably be listening to them in 5 years anyway.

We were talking about this the other day, ie why does Massive Attack sound so dated? Perhaps it's inevitable, given how utterly their sound defined the 90s for a lot of people. You're right - in five years they will be reassessed.

What stuns me is that 'Maxinquaye' doesn't appear in that much (any?) discourse surrounding the kind of vibe that Burial is aiming for/achieves. Tricky seems the obvious precursor to this kind of nameless urban dread.

 

[viktorvaughn]

Maxinquaye is great. What other greats are there in the post-dance canon?

 

[tox]

love the Chantelle Fiddy sample at the start of Etched Headplate

that quote at the start of Etched Headplate is strangely intriguing. Really drew me into the track. Didn't realise its Miss Fiddy... do you know where its taken from?

 

[Blackdown]

not sure that's Chan. can you prove it?

 

[Gavin]

I do find the crackles a bit tacked on, moreso than the first album... Like the first time I listened through headphones I was like "Oh there it is." But then the vocals melted my cold cold heart.

 

[Benny Bunter]

We were talking about this the other day, ie why does Massive Attack sound so dated? Perhaps it's inevitable, given how utterly their sound defined the 90s for a lot of people. You're right - in five years they will be reassessed.

Dunno, 'Blue Lines' still sounds pretty good to my ears, I always enjoy it when I throw it on once in a while. As over played as it is, Unfinished Sympathy still gives me a tingle in way that Archangel or Ghost Hardware does right now. Hope these tunes don't get plastered all over telly adverts though...