Burial At Juno Download

Review: Given that his sound has now been referenced by countless imitators, it's testament to Burial's enduring appeal that the announcement of a new EP on a Sunday in February was enough to shake the online music press out of their collective stupor. As an EP it more than stands up to his previous work, and it may even be better than last year's Street Halo EP - where the brilliance of the title track left the EP quite top-heavy, there's no such complaints on Kindred. If UK garage was the touchpoint for his earlier releases, this EP sees Burial further developing a sound that has few obvious points of comparison, whether it's the savage, gnarled bassline of the title track, or the shambling house of "Loner", characterized by its hollowed out arpeggio and ambient crackle. But it's "Ashtray Wasp" that provides the most breathtaking moment, seeing the producer using the distinct musical language he's created and bringing confident melodic elements into play. Of course such descriptions seem trivial when trying to describe this EP - even for Burial it's far beyond what his peers and imitators could ever imagine making.

Review: Burial is back. Yes, after four years away, he's not only ambushed us with THAT collab with Four Tet and Thom Yorke, but now he springs a three track EP on Kode9's Hyperdub imprint upon us too! The eponymous "Street Halo" is a delectable, crackling 4/4 roller with buckets of emotion and texture. In other words, it's the Burial of "Archangel" fame, which we all know and love. "NYC" is the urban retort, bristling with echoes of thunder, murmurs of traffic in the distance, jingling keys, it symbolizes the minutiae of everyday existence and is underpinned by slouching beats with a small, eerie and discernibly mournful voice wailing on top. Final track, "Stolen Dog" pairs smudgy piano keys with terse, ticking beats, all shrouded in an ethereal shimmer, much like Burial himself.

Review: The double header of Truant/Rough Sleeper is the second EP from Burial in 2012, and arrives with as little fanfare as the superb Kindred EP did early this year. Unlike that more dancefloor focused record however, this EP harks back to the producer's earlier sound. Of course, being two longform compositions clocking in at 12 and 14 minutes respectively, they're hardly conventional works; each utilises the same liberal use of spectral atmospheres, emotive vocal samples, hollow 2-step beats and nods to jungle as we've come to expect from the producer, but with complex structures that come across more like two sides of an old mixtape recorded from a pair of decrepit turntables. Of course being a mixtape from Burial, this is special stuff indeed - consider it an early Christmas present to yourself.