When I saw Burial’s Untrue at the top of many 2007 year-end lists, I was puzzled. After hearing the album for the first time, I was skeptical and wondered what all the fuss was about. But now, some months (and many many listens) later, I’m thoroughly enjoying Untrue and his twisting turning dubstep. What exactly is dubstep? Good question. I’m not totally sure, but evidently it has something to do with being “a kind of trip-hop revival with overtones of downtempo drum ‘n’ bass” and is one of many subgenres of the UK’s garage and grime scenes. What? I don’t even think I understand a word of that.

Luckily for us common folk Untrue is fairly easy to appreciate. It is a bit minimalistic and darkly atmospheric but with the inclusion of glitched, chopped, and vocoded R&B vocal samples, it plays like some warped form of club music that never quite breaks wide open on the dance floor despite trying to. But, who am I kidding, I don’ dance at all, so maybe you can dance to this. Burial’s music is powerful but engaging but it is also very intimate and almost secretive. It is certainly heady music, but strangely accessible.

Now as someone who likes a fair amount of minimal techno, I’m still not sure what Burial and Untrue really are and what to compare this to. I don’t follow dance/cub/electronic music all that much, but when something catches my ears, I’ll listen. Seriously though, maybe like a more downtempo and glitchy version of Moby’s Play might be a no-so-bad-for-the-average-person comparison. Whatever though. I seriously dig the chilled out vibe of Untrue. You just might as well.

MP3 | Burial – Archangel Untrue
MP3 | Burial – Shell Of Light Untrue

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