Burial - Kindred EP

  On 2/15/2012 at 12:07 AM, Caretstik said:

I took the skips for granted during my first few listens. If they're not meant to be there I'll be a tad disappointed.

Yeah I don't want them too- but they really stand out for me, and kinda take me out of the track as im just waiting for them to pop up. Its kinda wierd, I know that's the sound that burial goes for, but these just seem very different to the usual crackle etc he goes for. Given the tweet about drop-outs I guess with a high profile release like this they must be meant to be there. I dunno, they just sound out of place.

Noted down rough times when they happen- its doesn't sound like a skip to me, more a digital gitch- again as others have said like an error when copied from one source to another.

Ashtray 0.30/ 5.40/ 6.50/ 8.36

Loner 3.56/ 4.22 ish

I know, I know- should just be enjoying the tracks... And I am very much! Just bugging the OCD in me ;)

Still great stuff, and has really re-ignited my love for his music.

Thank you for your diligence. It'll be interesting to see if those glitches are present on the Japanese CD. And the vinyl, of course.

  On 2/15/2012 at 10:30 AM, Caretstik said:

Thank you for your diligence. It'll be interesting to see if those glitches are present on the Japanese CD. And the vinyl, of course.

Yeah I guess the vinyl will be the one to check against. Sure someone else had said they had a rip of the Japanese CD and that did have the glitches. Also my timings are rough, may be a few seconds either side for the drop-outs.

i love loner and kindred, but ashtray wasp doesn't work for me. too random and pointless and overall boring.

  On 2/15/2012 at 10:42 AM, smokebelch said:

  On 2/15/2012 at 10:30 AM, Caretstik said:

Thank you for your diligence. It'll be interesting to see if those glitches are present on the Japanese CD. And the vinyl, of course.

 

Yeah I guess the vinyl will be the one to check against. Sure someone else had said they had a rip of the Japanese CD and that did have the glitches. Also my timings are rough, may be a few seconds either side for the drop-outs.

They weren't too far out sir, although I didn't spot them all. I've a feeling they're meant to be there, bearing in mind the amount of crackle that's also evident.

maybe the skips are burial being nostalgic about old cds? listening to the ep, made me break out this cd:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-A-History-Of-Hardcore-Part-2/release/137123

there's not that much similarity between the two other than both being riggidy raw 2 tha max.

a burial / the weeknd collab would be awesome btw.

  Quote

When last year's Street Halo came out, it was met with the same breathless hysteria that has greeted every new morsel of Burial music since Untrue. But you couldn't help but feel that the ghostly two-step master had become a little predictable. Even as the producer experimented with house music on the title track (which he had done previously on "Raver" and "Versus"), it felt as if he were re-using the same sounds and effects. A year later, and with still no sign of a third album, we're treated to another three-track EP. But unlike Street Halo, Kindredbreaks nearly every Burial precedent there is, from the 12-minute-long tracks to an new sound design that feels consummately richer than the genius of his earlier work.

Of the three, "Kindred" (12-minute symphony No. 1) will be the most recognizable to Burial die-hards, featuring that same clanking metal-on-metal garage skip-and-swing. But this time something just feels heavier, harder, more devastating. Burial's been credited since the beginning as a prophet tying together UK genres old and new, but there's never been a better argument than "Kindred", which hints at the agility of jungle with the lead-footed heft of dubstep as seen through elliptical garage beats. They tumble and timestretch like vintage Metalheadz underneath smouldering Reese basslines, and the vocals lack Burial's usual phrases, instead choking out syllables smothered by the aural ash and soot that seems to soak the recording in a humongous, unearthly rumbling. As a whole "Kindred" sounds bigger than anything he's done before, an infinitely detailed behemoth that lumbers and shakes the ground beneath it with every little stroke of movement.

"Kindred" is basically a suite in itself, a new kind of tumult that only heightens Burial's usual wrenching sorrow, an ambitious new venture repeated in Kindred's other two tracks. "Loner" outdoes the sad-sack ecstacy of Untrue's similarly housey "Raver"-- for one thing, it's a lot faster-- but it's coated in MDMA residue, its chugging kick-and-snare pattern and almost prog-house pumping chord progression drowning in gloss. That chemical energy lends its fatalism an almost heroic sense of momentum, moving and moving and never quite getting anywhere but into the same empty, desperate silence that swallowed "Kindred". It's a well-timed track, navigating the same obsession with house and techno that's gripping the entire bass music world and turning it into something distinctly Burial, perverting house's speedy metronome (and prog house's politics of bliss) into profound, otherworldly sadness.

But as impressive as those two tracks are, there's no real way to prepare for "Ashtray Wasp", also built on a broken house lope. This time it's overloaded with funereal synths and arpeggios that twirl frantically in anguish as if they had nowhere else to go, saturating the cloudy soundscape with particulate matter so intricate it's a wonder all this sound data can be contained in a single mp3, nevermind a groove in wax. The fluttering effects are only further confused by the bleary smudge of it all, cinematic and grand but stuck in Burial's world of canned frequencies: The locust-swarm effect of the filters is impossibly stirring, far more visceral than perfect clarity ever could have been. It falls apart about seven minutes in before reconstructing into an even more decayed beat, violently wedged apart by static-- recalling the most challenging work of the Caretaker and his vinyl experiments. "Ashtray Wasp" suggests a structural intricacy and awe-inspiring execution from one of electronic music's mopiest producers, and the result might be his definitive track.

It's hard to talk about Kindred-- whether in the context of electronic dance music or just in the Burial discography itself-- without resorting to superlative terms, because it really is justthat impressive. It's easy enough to take a talent such as Burial for granted, but Kindred is like a convenient slap in the face, a wake up call. Never before has his music possessed this much majesty, this much command, this much power: The pathos here has moved from sympathetic to completely domineering. The amount of dialog around Burial can be a little hard to swallow sometimes, especially when the guy himself seems so resistant-- or at least indifferent-- to the ongoing intellectualization of his music. But what we get on Kindred isn't some loner unknowingly making genius out of samples from Metal Gear Solid on his Playstation. You might not think of refinement when you think of Burial's productions, but just try to imagine it, and you'll get an idea of the kind of glory that Kindred carries. It still might not be the follow-up to Untrue that everyone's been waiting for, but format feels completely irrelevant. When those beats fall into place on the title track, nothing else matters for the next 30 minutes, until the crackle and fizz of "Ashtray Wasps" finally fades away. Then you put it on again. And again. And again.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16292-kindred/

  On 2/15/2012 at 11:18 AM, nene multiple assgasms said:

maybe the skips are burial being nostalgic about old cds? listening to the ep, made me break out this cd:

 

http://www.discogs.c.../release/137123

 

there's not that much similarity between the two other than both being riggidy raw 2 tha max.

It's funny you should say that. In his interview with the Wire (link) he goes on about how he first started listening to music via his older brother who would go to raves and play him tracks by artists on that CD among others.

after a thousand re-listens, the skips are present for sure. i wasn't hearing them at first but they are definitely there.

  On 2/15/2012 at 7:40 PM, jules said:

after a thousand re-listens, the skips are present for sure. i wasn't hearing them at first but they are definitely there.

Yeah think thats the problem, once you notice they are there its kinda hard to ignore them.

Though that said, I haven't spotted any in the first track- which if they are there on purpose would seem wierd...

I guess until the vinyl is out we won't know for sure.

Bleep just put the digital up for sale... $2 is an amazing deal!

  On 2/15/2012 at 10:30 AM, Caretstik said:

Thank you for your diligence. It'll be interesting to see if those glitches are present on the Japanese CD. And the vinyl, of course.

I've been listening to the Japanese CD and yes, the glitches are there. Still, phenomenal stuff.

FYI, Beatink also just reissued the first two albums with 2 bonus tracks each. The first album gets South London Boroughs and Nite Train tacked on at the end while Untrue gets Shutta and Exit Woundz. Glad to finally have these on CD.

Shutta is such an amazing track. It's his most under appreciated tune for sure.

nite train is one of my favourites. the percussion on it is so fucking evocative.

it's our duty to beat the skrillex thread on this one.

i don't hate anything more than i love burial.

so do you guys still think vinyl sales will suffer because of the digital release?

  On 2/15/2012 at 9:58 PM, Maurice said:

  On 2/15/2012 at 10:30 AM, Caretstik said:

Thank you for your diligence. It'll be interesting to see if those glitches are present on the Japanese CD. And the vinyl, of course.

 

I've been listening to the Japanese CD and yes, the glitches are there. Still, phenomenal stuff.

 

FYI, Beatink also just reissued the first two albums with 2 bonus tracks each. The first album gets South London Boroughs and Nite Train tacked on at the end while Untrue gets Shutta and Exit Woundz. Glad to finally have these on CD.

Anybody bought digitally from Bleep? Glitches still there? I find this kind of odd as an aesthetic choice. But how willing I am to overlook them is probably a testament to how great this EP is.

  On 2/16/2012 at 2:17 AM, jules said:

so do you guys still think vinyl sales will suffer because of the digital release?

i have every single burial ep on wax, and i plan to have this one too. sample size of one, but there's some serious love for this guy.

  On 2/16/2012 at 2:17 AM, jules said:

so do you guys still think vinyl sales will suffer because of the digital release?

I'd think that everyone who was going to buy the vinyl release before the leak/digital release happened still will.

so does this sound any good? haven't heard it yet...

convert me to Burial...

did he just hack it together? with one of those computer things?

love,

Steve Albini

  On 2/16/2012 at 6:10 AM, sirch said:

so does this sound any good? haven't heard it yet...

 

 

convert me to Burial...

 

did he just hack it together? with one of those computer things?

 

love,

 

Steve Albini

I've never heard any burial.. I will have to check it out.

Definitely hearing those little skips now, damn. It's as though everything cuts out when they occur. If they were intentional I'd imagine you'd still hear some sort of reverb tail or background ambience still going on.

Everything DOES cut to zero. I've repaired my own versions of the tracks.