So it’s shrouded in mystery and lacks artwork as well as track notes (thus far). Burial joins bizarre twee-audio-tinkerer FourTet for an interesting meeting of techniques and music.
Track 1 – which sounds like “the Burial track” to me (although they most likely both worked on both) and sits drenched in the usual Burial schmooze of dusty beats, woodblock cracks, and almost indistinguishable melody which all seems to add up to something people jump on at the first chance. My immediate reaction is that it’s not as memorable as some of his other work. Mainly because it sounds like Four Tet’s messed about with it and given it a bizarre ‘happy smiley’ sheen which completely removes part of what Burial was all about for me. Where’s the moody desolate “walking home from a club at 5am” type feeling?
Track 2 – which by elimination I’m assuming is “the FourTet one” gets a bit housey. For those who can’t get audio, it sounds a bit like your next door neighbor, playing that horrendous 2004 version of Lou Reed’s Satellite of Love at high volume with the treble turned down.
it’s not terrible. There are blissed-out elements that shine through – but it’s not the greatest thing I’ve seen over-hyped, and after catching Mr Hebden’s musical-nonsense-mongery live at Connect Festival 2007 when he decided it would be a good idea to team up with jazz drummer Steve Reid and bash out some free form noise, I’m hardly surprised that his half of the release isn’t grabbing me by the man-breasts and wrenching me forward to scream audio loveliness in my face like some flower-adorned hippy drill-master.
If you’re lucky enough to have pre-orded the vinyl, then come the 4th of May I expect it won’t matter what I think, as you’ll be a mega-fan of either artist if not both, but if you’re waiting for a re-pressing or eagerly awaiting a dodgy low-fi copy from your mate, or a rip from the radio – don’t get too worked up, I’d imagine once you hear the tracks in their entirety you’ll realise it’s quite a lot of fuss about not very much.
