Review: For all his innovation, Burial has historically shied away from delivering full-throttle, mind-altering club bangers. Certainly, we can't remember him serving up anything as rhythmically intense as the two dystopian techno slammers showcased on this EP. Both feature many of his usual sonic trademarks - oodles of vinyl crackle, end-of-days aural textures and creepy ambient electronics - but are underpinned by bombastic 4/4 beats rather than sparse, post-dubstep rhythms. "Pre-Dawn", a dense and incredibly intense affair, is the more energetic and instant of the two, though weirder and looser "Indoors", which contains some pitched-up rave-era vocal samples and woozy riffs amongst its highlights, is also very impressive.
Review: Enigmatic supergroup Burial, Four Tet and Thom Yorke reunite with a new age splice of their sound first heard in the Ego / Mirror collaboration of 2011. Revealed as a limited 300 copy vinyl release only available from a set of record store clerks somewhere in Soho, London, Her Revolution/His Rope (as if right on time) dramatises the modern day gender role in bringing 2020 and its forlorn soundtrack to an end. Yorke's voice wavers in the distance as ever while crumpled noise floors of Burial seemingly give cushion to the soft percussion and shimmering melody lines of a Four Tet's making. Capture the moment.
Review: The ten year celebrations from Hyperdub continue apace here with the second of four planned label compilations arriving with the stated intention of casting "some sunshine" over the label's sometimes "dread filled reputation". Arriving on just one disc this time round as opposed to two, the fourteen tracks nevertheless features productions from DVA, Morgan Zarate, Cooly G, Jessy and Burial among other Hyperdub regulars, who are joined by the vocal talents of Dam-Funk, Fatima and others. Perhaps most exciting is the inclusion of an unreleased track from the defunct partnership of Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland; fans of the latter will also be intrigued by Kode9?s "Lies Lies", which features the talents of Inga in her new solo guise, copeland.