Burial (musician)

Last updated

Burial
Burial1.svg
Background information
Birth nameWilliam Emmanuel Bevan
Origin South London, England, United Kingdom
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Record producer
  • musician
Instrument(s)Personal computer [1]
Years active2001–present [2]
Labels

William Emmanuel Bevan, [3] [4] known by his recording alias Burial, is a British electronic musician from South London. Initially remaining anonymous, Burial became the first artist signed to Kode9's electronic label Hyperdub in 2005. He won acclaim the following year for his self-titled debut album, an influential release in the UK's dubstep scene which showcased a dark, emotive take on UK rave music styles such as UK garage and 2-step; [5] it was named the album of the year by The Wire . [6] Burial's second album, Untrue , was released to further critical acclaim in 2007. [7]

Contents

In 2008, Bevan's identity was revealed by The Independent and confirmed by Hyperdub. In the following years, he went on to collaborate with artists such as Four Tet, Massive Attack, Thom Yorke, Zomby, and The Bug, in addition to releasing a series of long-form EPs such as Kindred (2012), Truant / Rough Sleeper (2012), and Rival Dealer (2013); most of these releases were later compiled on the 2019 compilation Tunes 2011–2019 . He has remained reclusive, giving few interviews and avoiding public appearances. [8] AllMusic described him as "one of the most acclaimed, influential, and enigmatic electronic musicians of the early 21st century." [9]

Biography

Early career: self-titled debut and Untrue

Bevan grew up being a fan of jungle and garage, having been introduced to the UK rave scene by his older brothers. He mentioned American garage producer Todd Edwards and the UK's 2-step subgenre as favorites. [1] In an interview with The Wire , he explained:

I was brought up on old jungle tunes and garage tunes that had lots of vocals in but me and my brothers loved intense, darker tunes too, I found something I could believe in... but sometimes I used to listen to the ones with vocals on my own and it was almost a secret thing [...] My brother might bring back these records that seemed really adult to me and I couldn’t believe I had 'em. It was like when you first saw Terminator or Alien when you're only little. I'd get a rush from it, I was hearing this other world... [1]

Bevan began sending Steve Goodman (Kode9) letters and CD-Rs of his home-made music around 2002, having been a fan of the music featured on Goodman's Hyperdub website. [10] In 2005, the label released the South London Boroughs EP, which collected tracks recorded by Burial for several years prior. Burial's self-titled 2006 debut album was the first full-length release on Hyperdub.

Despite early acclaim, Burial initially remained anonymous, and said in an early interview that "only five people know I make tunes". [11] In February 2008, The Independent speculated [12] that Burial was Bevan, an alumnus of South London's Elliott School. [3] [13] The school's alumni also include Kieran Hebden (Four Tet), with whom Bevan has collaborated. On 22 July 2008, it was announced Burial was a nominee for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize for his second album, Untrue . [14] There was much Mercury Prize-related coverage in tabloid newspapers in the UK, including speculation that Burial was either Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) or Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim). [15] On 5 August 2008, Bevan confirmed his identity, and posted a picture of himself on his Myspace page. [12] A blog entry stated, "I'm a lowkey person and I just want to make some tunes", as well as announcing a forthcoming four-track 12″, and thanking his fans for their support up to this point. [12]

Post-Untrue work

Rather than releasing a third album, Burial has spent the years since Untrue releasing increasingly longer and more experimental individual tracks. This began with "Moth" / "Wolf Cub", a collaboration with Four Tet, and Burial's own track "Fostercare" and EP Street Halo . He developed this practice, experimenting with multi-part suites rather than conventional songs on a Massive Attack collaboration, [16] [17] and subsequent solo EPs Kindred (2012), Truant / Rough Sleeper (2012) and Rival Dealer (2013). Each of these EPs was met with critical acclaim, with Kindred being singled out in particular as a landmark release. [18] [19] [20] Three further shorter records were released in the following years. "Temple Sleeper" was released on Keysound Recordings in 2015, [21] an EP titled Young Death / Nightmarket came out in November 2016, [22] and Subtemple / Beachfires followed in May 2017. [23]

In 2018 Burial worked with Kode9 to compile Fabriclive 100, the final instalment of the long-running Fabriclive mix CD series. [24] He then collaborated with The Bug on two EPs, 2018's Fog / Shrine and 2019's Dive / Rain, released under the names "Flame 1" and "Flame 2", respectively. [25] [26] A compilation of Burial's solo EP and single releases, Tunes 2011–2019, was released on Hyperdub at the end of 2019. [27]

In December 2020, Burial, Four Tet, and Thom Yorke released two new songs, "Her Revolution" and "His Rope", [28] followed by a Burial-only release, "Chemz". [29] In April 2021, Burial and Blackdown released a split EP, Shock Power of Love, with two songs from each artist. [30] The next month, the previous year's single, "Chemz", was given a physical release alongside the track "Dolphinz". [31]

In December 2021, a new EP titled Antidawn was announced for a release in January 2022. [32] Another EP titled Streetlands released later the same year in October. [33] In July 2023, Burial released the single "Unknown Summer", alongside Kode9's single "Infirmary". [34]

In February 2024, Burial released the EP "Dreamfear / Boy Sent From Above" on XL Recordings. [35]

Style and composition

AllMusic described Burial's recordings as "gloomy, dystopian soundscapes" which blend "fractured breakbeats with mysterious, pitch-shifted voices and loads of vinyl crackle, rainfall, and submerged video game sound effects." [9] His work is inspired by British dance music such as garage, jungle, and hardcore, while his first album was one of the first prominent dubstep albums. [9] He was associated with the mid-2000s hauntology trend, in which British artists explored elements of "spectral" cultural memory. [36]

Bevan claims to compose his music in Sound Forge, a digital audio editor, and to eschew the use of trackers and sequencers. As he describes the process in an interview, "Once I change something, I can never un-change it. I can only see the waves. So I know when I’m happy with my drums because they look like a nice fishbone. When they look just skeletal as fuck in front of me, and so I know they’ll sound good." [37] He also said that he didn't use a sequencer, because if his drums were timed too perfectly, they would "lose something" and "sound rubbish". [37] Discussing his rhythmic affinities in an interview with writer Mark Fisher, Burial stated that:

Something happens when I hear the subs, the rolling drums and vocals together. To me it’s like a pure UK style of music, and I wanted to make tunes based on what UK underground hardcore tunes mean to me, and I want a dose of real life in there too, something people can relate to. [1]

Of his production techniques, journalist Derek Walmsley wrote in The Wire:

Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
"Ghost Hardware"
An excerpt from 'Ghost Hardware', demonstrating Burial's use of crackle, shuffle, and manipulated vocal samples.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Burial decided at the outset to avoid at all costs the rigid, mechanistic path that eventually brought drum 'n' bass to a standstill. To this end, his percussion patterns are intuitively arranged on the screen rather than rigidly quantized, creating minute hesitations and slippages in the rhythm. His snares and hi-hats are covered in fuzz and phaser, like cobwebs on forgotten instruments, and the mix is rough and ready rather than endlessly polished. Perhaps most importantly, his basslines sound like nothing else on Earth. Distorted and heavy, yet also warm and earthy, they resemble the balmy gust of air that precedes an underground train. [38]

Burial's music features heavily in the work of documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis. [39] Curtis places Bevan's emotionally saturated sound within the context of a possible cultural revival of the spirit of Romanticism. [40] Discussing the song "Come Down to Us", which is a prominent motif on the soundtrack of his documentary Bitter Lake , in an interview with music and pop culture magazine Dazed , Curtis lionises the piece as a work of "genius" [41] going on to explain:

It really sums up our time... That song is saying, it's really frightening to jump off the edge into the darkness. Both when you fall in love with someone, and when you want to change the world. And it depends whether you can live with the fear or whether you really want the thrill of it. Or whether you retreat into the world you're happy with. And I think that's why it's a work of genius. He's got it, it's the mood of our time that we're waiting for. He's way ahead of our time, an epic emotional artist. [41]

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

EPs

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four Tet</span> English electronic musician and DJ (born 1977)

Kieran Hebden, known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting and critically acclaimed albums such as Rounds (2003), Everything Ecstatic (2005) and There Is Love in You (2010). In addition to his twelve studio albums as Four Tet, Hebden's work includes a number of improvisational works with jazz drummer Steve Reid and collaborations with Burial and Thom Yorke.

Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken beat, grime, and drum and bass. In the United Kingdom, the origins of the genre can be traced back to the growth of the Jamaican sound system party scene in the early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyperdub</span> British electronic music record label

Hyperdub is a British, London-based electronic music record label and former webzine, founded by Steve Goodman, a.k.a. Kode9. The label was formed in 2004, and grew out of the UK's early dubstep scene. Artists signed to the label have included Burial, Cooly G, Dean Blunt, DJ Rashad, DVA, Fatima Al Qadiri, Ikonika, Jessy Lanza, Klein, Laurel Halo and Zomby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Martin (British musician)</span> British music producer

Kevin Richard Martin, often known under his recording alias The Bug, is an English musician and music producer. Martin moved from Weymouth to London around 1990 and is now currently based in mainland Europe. He has been active for over three decades in the genres of dub, jazzcore, industrial hip hop, dancehall, and dubstep.

<i>Burial</i> (Burial album) 2006 studio album by Burial

Burial is the debut studio album by British electronic musician Burial, released on 15 May 2006 by Kode9's Hyperdub label. Considered a landmark of the mid-2000s dubstep scene, the album's sound features a dark, emotive take on the UK rave music that preoccupied Burial in his youth, including UK garage and 2-step. Critics have variously interpreted the release as an elegy for the dissipated rave movement and a sullen audio portrait of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kode9</span> Musical artist

Steve Goodman, known as Kode9 is a Scottish electronic music artist, DJ, and founder of the Hyperdub record label. He was one of the founding members of the early dubstep scene with his late collaborator The Spaceape. He has released four full-length albums: 2006's Memories of the Future and 2011's Black Sun, Nothing (2015), Escapology and Astro-Darien (2022).

<i>Untrue</i> (album) 2007 studio album by Burial

Untrue is the second studio album by British electronic music producer Burial. Released on 5 November 2007 by Hyperdub, the album was produced by Burial in 2007 using the digital audio editing software Sound Forge. Untrue builds on the sound established by Burial on his eponymous debut album from the previous year, notably through its more prominent use of pitch-shifted and time-stretched vocal samples. The album, like Burial's previous work, also draws on influences from UK garage, ambient, and hardcore music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passion Pit</span> American electropop band

Passion Pit is an American indie pop band from Cambridge, Massachusetts, formed in 2007 by band members Michael Angelakos, Ian Hultquist (Guitar/Synth), Ayad Al Adhamy (synth), Thom Plasse (bass), and Adam Levinsky (drums).

Zomby is a British electronic musician who began releasing music in 2007. He has released music on several labels, including Hyperdub, Werk Discs, and 4AD. Zomby's influences include oldschool jungle music and Wiley's eskibeat sound.

<i>Kindred</i> (EP) 2012 EP by Burial

Kindred is the fifth extended play by British electronic music producer Burial. It was first released on 13 February 2012 digitally by Hyperdub, with a vinyl release following on 12 March 2012. The EP was met with praise, with Metacritic assigning an averaged score of 88 out of 100 based on 17 reviews from mainstream critics. In Japan and selected world markets, Hyperdub issued Kindred as a compilation with Burial's previous EP Street Halo on 11 February 2012. The release, Street Halo / Kindred, placed on the Ultratop 50 albums chart.

<i>Street Halo</i> 2011 EP by Burial

Street Halo is the fourth extended play by British electronic music producer Burial. It was released on 28 March 2011 by Hyperdub, who announced the release five days prior. The EP serves as Burial's first solo release since his second studio album Untrue (2007).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burial discography</span>

English electronic music producer Burial has released two studio albums, two compilation albums, one mix album, sixteen extended plays, and fourteen singles. Burial debuted in May 2005 with the release of his debut extended play South London Boroughs on the Hyperdub label. His eponymous debut studio album followed in May 2006 and was praised by music critics for its unique incorporation of 2-step garage, ambient, downtempo, dubstep, and trip hop styles. Following the releases of the extended plays Distant Lights (2006) and Ghost Hardware (2007), Burial released his second studio album Untrue in November 2007 to critical acclaim. It peaked at number 58 on the UK Albums Chart and at number 57 on the Ultratop 50 chart for the Belgian region of Flanders. Untrue later received nominations for the Mercury Prize and the Shortlist Music Prize, with the album experiencing a 1004% sales increase in the week following the Mercury Prize awards ceremony.

<i>Truant / Rough Sleeper</i> 2012 EP by Burial

Truant / Rough Sleeper is the sixth extended play by British electronic music producer Burial. It was digitally released by Hyperdub on 14 December 2012, with a vinyl and CD release following on 17 December 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurel Halo</span> American electronic musician

Laurel Anne Chartow, known professionally as Laurel Halo, is an American electronic musician currently based in Los Angeles, California. She released her debut album Quarantine on Hyperdub in 2012 to critical acclaim; it was named album of the year by The Wire.

<i>Rival Dealer</i> 2013 EP by Burial

Rival Dealer is the seventh extended play by British electronic music producer Burial. It was released digitally by Hyperdub on 11 December 2013, with a physical release following five days later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJ Rashad</span> Musical artist

Rashad Harden, known as DJ Rashad, was a Chicago-based electronic musician, producer and DJ known as a pioneer in the footwork genre and founder of the Teklife crew. He released his debut studio album Double Cup on Hyperdub in 2013 to critical praise. He died in April 2014 from a drug overdose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Spaceape</span> British musician

Stephen Samuel Gordon, known as The Spaceape, was a British poet and MC. He is known for his work on the electronic music label Hyperdub, and in particular for his frequent collaborations with labelmate Kode9. He was described by The Guardian as "a pioneering Hyperdub artist," while Pitchfork Media stated that "if first-wave UK dubstep had a voice, it belonged to Stephen Gordon."

<i>Young Death / Nightmarket</i> 2016 EP by Burial

Young Death / Nightmarket is the eighth extended play released by William Emmanuel Bevan, an electronic musician known by his stage name Burial, and the 100th release in the catalog of the Hyperdub label. It departs from his previous two extended plays, Kindred (2012) and Rival Dealer (2013), in that it returns to Burial's signature sound consisting of vinyl crackle sounds, rain-filled atmospheres and vocal samples that was on records like Untrue (2007). It is also less dance-based than previous releases by the producer, with the percussion of "Young Death" being submerged by other sounds and "Nightmarket" being devoid of any drum beats.

<i>Tommy</i> (EP) 2017 EP by Klein

Tommy is an extended play by South London musician Klein, released on 29 September 2017. It is her debut release on Kode9's electronic label Hyperdub. It received acclaim from professional critics. It was named the third best release of 2017 by The Wire.

<i>Tunes 2011–2019</i> 2019 compilation album by Burial

Tunes 2011–2019 is the second compilation album by British electronic musician Burial. It was released by Hyperdub on 6 December 2019, and compiles Burial's solo EPs on the label.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Fisher, Mark.Burial: Unedited Transcript Archived 1 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Wire. Retrieved 21 January 2007.
  2. ↑ Burial (CD Back Cover Notes). Burial. London, UK: Hyperdub. 2006. HDBCD001.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. 1 2 Brown, Jonathan; Lucy Kinnear (11 February 2008). "The real school of rock". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  4. ↑ "The Top 50 Albums of 2013". Pitchfork Media. 18 December 2013. Archived from the original on 21 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  5. ↑ IMO Records "Burial Biography" Archived 11 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine , IMO Records , London, 20 October 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  6. ↑ The Wire (January 2007). "Rewind 2006". The Wire . No. 275. Archived from the original on 17 September 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
  7. ↑ Best Albums of 2007 Archived 26 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine . Metacritic. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  8. ↑ Stonham, Buster. "Review: Burial – Truant / Rough Sleeper". Music Factory Number One. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Birchmeier, Jason. "Biography". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  10. ↑ "Electronic Beats". Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  11. ↑ Hancox, Dan. "Only five people know I make tunes Archived 13 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine ". The Guardian, 26 October 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
  12. 1 2 3 "Nationwide Mercury Music Prize nominee Burial’s identity revealed Archived 12 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine " NME. Accessed 11 February 2017
  13. ↑ Parkin, Chris (2 October 2006). "Hot Chip: interview". Time Out London. Archived from the original on 27 December 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  14. ↑ Mercury Prize Nominations. The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-11-23. Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Sisson, Patrick (18 January 2010). "Pitchfork interviews Four Tet". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  16. ↑ Four Walls – Massive Attack vs Burial ltd. edition 12″ « Massive Attack Blog Archived 12 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine . Massive Attack. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  17. ↑ Four Walls / Paradise Circus – Massive Attack vs Burial – The VinylFactory Editions Shop Archived 31 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine . Vfeditions.com. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  18. ↑ Burial – Truant / Rough Sleeper: Single Review Archived 13 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine The Skinny. Retrieved 13 December 2013
  19. ↑ Metacritic - Burial's Scores Archived 8 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-12-13
  20. ↑ "Burial – Album Reviews Archived 13 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine " Pitchfork (website). Retrieved 13 December 2013
  21. ↑ Gordon, Jeremy (22 January 2015). "Burial Releases "Temple Sleeper" Single". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  22. ↑ Renshaw, David (28 November 2016). "Listen To Two New Burial Songs". The Fader . Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  23. ↑ Friedman, Sam (19 May 2017). "Burial Releases Two New Ambient Tracks "Subtemple" and "Beachfires"". Prefix Magazine. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  24. ↑ Pearl, Max (15 August 2018). "Kode9 & Burial mix the final Fabriclive". Resident Advisor. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  25. ↑ "Burial and the Bug Share New Song "Shrine": Listen". Pitchfork . 21 March 2018. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  26. ↑ "Burial and the Bug Drop New EP: Listen". Pitchfork . 5 August 2019. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  27. ↑ "Burial: Tunes 2011-2019 review". the Guardian. 6 December 2019. Archived from the original on 31 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  28. ↑ "Listen to Thom Yorke, Burial, and Four Tet's new songs "Her Revolution" and "His Rope"". Pitchfork . 11 December 2020. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  29. ↑ "Burial shares new 12-minute track 'Chemz' | NME". NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News. 21 December 2020. Archived from the original on 21 December 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  30. ↑ "Burial and Blackdown Share New Split EP: Listen". Pitchfork . 29 April 2021. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  31. ↑ "Burial Releases New Song "Dolphinz": Listen". Pitchfork . 20 May 2021. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  32. ↑ "Burial Announces New Antidawn EP". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  33. ↑ "Burial shares surprise EP Streetlands". The FADER. Archived from the original on 5 November 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  34. ↑ "Burial and Kode9 return with split-single "Infirmary" / "Unknown Summer"". The Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  35. ↑ "Listen to Burial's New Single "Dreamfear / Boy Sent From Above"". Pitchfork. 2 February 2024. Archived from the original on 2 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  36. ↑ Albiez, Sean (2017). Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume 11. Bloomsbury. pp. 347–349. ISBN   9781501326103. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  37. 1 2 Clark, Martin (21 March 2006). "soundboy burial". Blackdown Blog. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  38. ↑ Derek Walmsley, "Dubstep", The Wire Primers: A Guide to Modern Music, ed. Rob Young, London: Verso, 2009, p. 92.
  39. ↑ "BBC Blogs - Adam Curtis - Adam Curtis". BBC. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  40. ↑ "EP.44 - ADAM CURTIS | Adam Buxton". adam-buxton.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  41. 1 2 Dazed (27 October 2016). "Adam Curtis on power in a post-truth world". Dazed. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.