Burial Revealed!

So Burial isn’t Banksy! Man, if he was banksy he’d have been THE coolest person to take other peoples art and make it into capital a art. But he’s not. So move on, this isn’t a photo opportunity.

Turns out that the enigmatic dubstep champion is will bevan. I refrain from using capitals in respect of the artist currently known as Burial. In a statement on his myspace page he made the announcement in quite a low key sort of way:

hi

for a while theres been some talk about who i am , but its not a big deal
i wanted to be unknown because i just want it to be all about the tunes.
over the last year the unknown thing become an issue so im not into it any more.
im a lowkey person and i just want to make some tunes, nothing else. my names will bevan, im from south london, im keeping my head down and just going to finish my next album, theres going to be a 12″ maybe in the next few weeks too with 4 tunes. hope u like it, i’ll try put a tune up later

sorry for any rubbish tunes i made in the past, ill make up for it

a big big thank you to anyone who ever supported me, liked my tunes or sent me messages, it means the world to me

big up everyone, take care, will ( burial ) 

It’s a well timed unveiling, what with will being short listed for the Mercuty Music Prize this year, and I don’t mind going on the record to say that I don’t care who Burial is - his music rocks. ( Not in a triple-rock sort of way though)

Good on ya will, you’re okay.

30_Borrowed_Beats_August_08_Edition - Stress Free Edition

Is everyone witnessing (or suffering from) the inordinate amount of stress involved in our daily lives recently? It seems everywhere I look a friend is out with a stress induced illness, or taking a few ‘mental health’ days.

No one seems to take the time to immerse themselves in anything anymore. People just buy the track they like, not the album - the death toll for music as a body of work. And that track they bought had better grab them in the first 15 seconds…

If all that rings true, then you will either love the opportunity of the August Edition or hate its lack of immediacy, because this month we’re not in a rush. So take some deep breaths and press play for a 68 minute aural massage.

People Press Play - People Press Play

So you arrive at a party late, really late…as your eyes adjust to the dim light you hear smooth dub beats with swirling chords and the angelic voice of an unknown nonchalant lady singing….music that is the perfect wind down from what must have been a massive party. Except you arrived late. Me too. I arrived late to this 2007 release, almost a year late.

People Press Play are a Copenhagen foursome and ‘People Press Play’is their surprisingly accomplished debut album. Equal parts the Postal Service, Brian Eno and Death Cab for Cutie, they are a band in the traditional sense that they also play analogue instruments. Sara Savery’s lush vocals are equally at home over the dub infused athmospherics of opener ‘Girl’ as they are over the‘New Order-esque bassline’ of ‘Hanging on’. People Press Play is a down tempo album by a band rather than an ambient album by producers, and that’s an important distinction. The songs are carefully crafted, where melodies and electronic sounds progressively entwine around the vocals, or leave it hanging in mid air, unaccompanied. For silence is a rhythm too.

People Press Playwill suffer from some classifications imposed upon them. If I read ‘trip hop’ I’d think 1997, and move on. Down tempo can translate as ‘lacks excitement’, so I’ll settle in electronica ( despite the ‘band’ diatribe above) when I say that ‘People Press Play’is one of the best electonica albums that I have heard in a while. Check it out.

THINK: Plej meet The Postal Service in a jazz lounge.
READ: People Press Play’s myspace
WATCH:The vid for ‘These days’
BUY: People press play at inertia

Amon Tobin - Foley Room

In the immortal words of John Cleese, and now for something completely different.
Amon Tobin, a brazillian with Irish parentage (hurrah) released his 7th album on Ninja Tune in October. Foley Room is a departure for Tobin because the album is inspired (and named after) the foley rooms where sound effects were recorded for films.

Found sounds and field recordings are nothing new, but Tobin manages to weave them with a cinematographer’s sensibility. In fact, the album could be accurately categorised as sonic fiction, it features jazz, d’n’b, dub and ambient passages, all out to the backdrop of borrowed beats. (Please excuse that little self indulgence. )

Tobin’s earlier influences have not necessarily faded. Ennio Morricone’s influence can heard on ‘Keep Your Distance’. ‘The Killers Vanilla’ is a dancehall murder scene and ‘Always’ is carnival dub step. It’s surprising that Tobin hasn’t scored much since his debut with Splinter Cell – Chaos Theory. My reaction to the music is to conjure up images the music would be a soundtrack for.

A worthy dream is that life could be exciting enough to have an Amon Tobin soundtrack.

THINK: Burial with David Holmes sense of the cimenatic
READ: Tobin’s myspace and homepage
WATCH: Foley Rooms Trailers 1 & 2
BUY: Foley Room at Amazon

Fat Freddy’s Drop - Based on  True Story

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for summer. The winter blues are getting me down. Maybe it’s just the hang over from my trip to Europe, maybe it’s a touch of homesickness, or maybe it’s all this bloody rain – but I can’t wait for summer. And when it comes, I have the perfect soundtrack.

Fat Freddy’s Drop are a seven-piece New Zealand ‘collective’, and their album ‘Based on a True Story’ is just what the doctor ordered. The heart of the Freddy sound is reggae (Man, do those kiwi’s love their reggae or what?) with touches of ska and dub, all hung on a skeleton of electronica. The result is an uplifting album that sets off at a cruisey pace and compels you along softly with it.

Three minutes into the first song, you still haven’t heard Joe Dukie’s velvet smooth vocals. Four and a half minutes in, the ‘actual’ melody of the track starts. And so it goes. With most of the ten tracks clocking in over seven minutes, you had better not be in a hurry.

“Ray Ray” starts with vibes and a thick beat, and in producer Fitchie’s hands that’s plenty to begin with. The track slowly builds and layers up beautifully finally climaxing with the perfect refrain “tell me what’s the world with no soul”. More of an electronic track than others, it’s as if Fitchie laid down the beats and bass and then invited the Drops lush horn section to lay down their disco stabs.

“Wandering Eye”, which spent over 42 weeks in the NZ charts, starts off in soul-blues mode, dancing over a deep reggae bassline. The song then mutates through funk and soul with some ‘Stevie Wonder’ style keys. The beauty of Fat Freddy’s Drop is their ability to blend diverse musical styles whilst retaining their own distinctive character.
‘Based on a True Story’ is summer for your ears. Buy this album now so your ready when summer finally arrives.

THINK: Stevie Wonder’s electro-reggae-dub album
READ: their homepage or myspace
WATCH: Award winning ‘Wandering Eye’ clip
BUY: Based on a true story at amazon