Hyperdub

A continual seller ever since release in April 2006, demand for Burial's roundly praised debut has rocketed following a swathe of superlative appraisals and high rankings in the various year-end review sections. 

With the DJ in mind, optimum sonic integrity has been maintained by removing the CD version's beatless opening and closing tracks, and the remaining 11 tunes have been re-sequenced and re-cut to allow those 4 that have until now not appeared on vinyl to be presented in newly-mastered 12-inch-standard audio across the first 2 sides ('Wounder', 'U Hurt Me', 'Spaceape' and 'Prayer').

With both the 'South London Boroughs' and 'Distant Lghts' EPs now out of print and likely to remain that way, this limited edition two-wax pack offers the only way to get your Burial fix in club-ready configuration, but it won't be around for ever as the ever-elusive producer is near to completing his next opus, at which point this changes tense from present to past. Advertising to run in Observer Music Monthly from 18/03, and still very much in stock on CD right this very minute.

Tracklisting:
1. Untitled
2. Distant Lights
3. Spaceape
4. Wounder
5. Night Bus
6. Southern Comfort
7. U Hurt Me
8. Gutted
9. Forgive
10. Broken Home
11. Prayer
12. Pirates
13. Untitled

Tracklisting:
1. Street Halo
2. NYC
3. Stolen Dog
4. Kindred
5. Loner
6. Ashtray

Two new tracks by Burial, rendered in his singular ambient style.

Total running time of seventeen minutes and thirteen seconds.

Tracklisting:
Side A:
Subtemple [ 07:23 ]

Side B:
Beachfires [ 09:50 ]

Of all the artists past and present who claim to let their music do their talking for them, Burial is one of the elite band of whom this truly is the case. In fact, so reluctant is he to engage with the cult-of-personality hoopla that surrounds almost every modern producer and musician of merit, that he remains a genuine recluse; he has never appeared live, only one obliquely-angled publicity photograph is known to exist, and the number of interviews he has given can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Yet despite this, his music speaks loud and wide, and the world has been listening ever since his 'South London Boroughs' EP debut on Hyperdub in March 2005. His eponymous album, which began life as a low-key release in May 2006, is now widely regarded as the benchmark release of the ever-widening dubstep genre, picking up unanimous critical acclaim along the way, and ending the year heavily featured in many 'best of' polls. Now Burial returns with 'Untrue', a new record of weird soul music, which lovingly processes spectral female voices into vaporised R&B and smudged 2step garage.

Vocal lines are blurred, smeared, pitched up pitched down and pitch bent until their content is cast adrift from their original context and they whisper their saccharin sweet nothings into the void. The album continues with the debut's crackle-drenched yearning and bustling syncopations, haunted by the ghosts of rave, but also reveals some new Burial treats with a more glowing, upbeat energy.

Kicking off with the skittering 2step syncopations and vocal science of 'Archangel', 'Near Dark' and 'Ghost Hardware', before long it descends into a space of radiant divas and ambience. Where 'Burial' first was humid, suffocating and unrelentingly sad, 'Untrue' is less sunless. Many of the tracks are so sweet, they become toxic, underscored by the almost geological rumbles of growling basslines.

Unlike the overpoweringly melancholic prevailing mood of before, Burial's sound is now better defined as a downcast euphoria typified by the epic, muted optimism of the album's last track 'Raver'. Forget central heating¦ the radioactivity of this album is all that you'll need to keep you warm this winter. 'Untrue' is available as full 13 track digipack CD, including recent underground hit 'Ghost Hardware', and 9 track DJ friendly double vinyl set, from which some of the beatless pieces have been edited.

Tracklisting:
1. Untitled
2. Archangel
3. Near Dark
4. Ghost Hardware
5. Endorphin
6. Etched Headplate
7. In McDonalds
8. Untrue
9. Shell Of Light
10. Dog Shelter
11. Homeless
12. UK
13. Raver

Darkstar in 2010 are an upgraded model of the darkstar which released the much loved single 'aidy's girl is a computer' at the end of 2009. That song, and previous singles 'need you' and 'squeeze my lime' hinted at a nascent songwriting talent and mastery of oozing synth drones that has burst into life on their debut album, 'north'.

The band have adjusted their focus, adding lead singer James Buttery to the production and writing team of James young and aiden whalley, and the result as heard on 'north' is a brave, low-key pop masterpiece, which discards the cheap thrills and treadmill ideas that many deploy to access success. instead, 'north' will creep up on you with each listen, seducing with its' achingly gorgeous, synthesized songwriting.

From the intro track 'in the wings', right through to the closing song, a lush new version of 'squeeze my lime' now called 'when it's gone', the album blends their crunchy, citric synths, baroque strings, piano and tender guitar with vocal harmonies, gently laced with glitches and noise.

Here, Darkstar have subtly found the beauty in distortion. the first single from the album, the catchy 'gold', is a cover of a little known human league song 'you remind me of gold', inspired by hearing the original slowed to 33rpm.

Insectoid drum machine rhythms carry the song along accompanied by a chilly piano. 'Deadness', 'Dear heartbeat', 'Two chords' and 'North' impress with their icy radiance, the rich, wafting strings, dreamy guitar and keys bury the otherwise snowy-white sonics, the crunch of the drums and the translucent vocals sounding as if they're sung by a hologram.

Some tracks, like 'Ostkreuz' and aspects of 'Under one roof' conjure up a soundtrack to twin peaks if it was set in the north of england. Mini-anthem of 2009, 'aidy's girl is a computer' also earns a slot among the new material.

With their first long player, Darkstar have produced an album many bands with far more experience and many more releases and under their belt can only dream of.

Downbeat, breezy, sometimes melancholy, sometimes just plain sad, at others optimistic and affirming, and always gracefully elegant, 'north' will surprise many, a classic record for short days and long nights

Trackliting:
1. In The Wings
2. Gold
3. Deadness
4. Aidy's Girl Is A Computer
5. Under One Roof
6. Two Chords
7. North
8. Ostkruez
9. Dear Heartbeat
10. When It's Gone

1. Reach The Sun
2. Just Vybe
3. Polyphonic Dreams
4. Pretty Ugly
5. Bare Fuzz
6. Madness
7. Fire Fly
8. Why You Do?
9. The Big 5ive
10. Eye Know
11. 33rd Degree
12. Where I Belong