December 11, 2013 • Hyperdub Records
I've been trying to ignore the hype train that shows up with every new Burial release, but with the amount of quality stuff this guy has been putting out lately, it's been kind of unavoidable. The latest in his repertoire is definitely his weirdest and most difficult to wrap my head around, but I still find myself enjoying it on some weird half-sincere, half-bewildered level.
It helps that he's obviously trying to keep his sound fresh, and it seems to be working. "Rival Dealer" takes on a more high-energy, almost disco-like breakbeat, but still with his standard depressive noir-urban atmosphere. The soundscaping on this track is just fantastic; the background noise and low distorted grinding and vocal samples all gel together perfectly. The beat seems a bit cheesy at first, but it's definitely been growing on me.
The other two tracks are even less normal as far as Burial goes, but that's not saying a whole lot. "Hiders" is essentially some kind of weird dream-pop-disco thing; "Come Down to Us" slows that down to something reminiscent of dreamy cloud rap. But even with the weirdness, it's that trademark mood that glues things together, even when the arrangements get so sprawling and abstract.
While on the whole Rival Dealer is definitely not near as engrossing as Kindred was, Burial is definitely still on a roll with these last few EPs. Definitely one to check out if you're in an especially odd mood.
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