#30 - Ryan & Steve

Burial

Untrue

2007

One thing that draws me to certain artists is when they are able to create a character or mystique around themselves. Burial had everyone wondering who he was as he dropped all his releases anonymously. Many people even thought that the man behind the moniker could be an already established electronic artist (some people even ridiculously suggesting it was Aphex Twin). It was a little disappointing last year, when he had to reveal he was just some Brit because he was nominated for a music award for this album.

Dubstep is a relatively new style of electronic dance music that became popular in 2003-2004 in clubs. Thus it was largely limited to 12” singles. In fact, when you look at the Hyperdub label, they have released very few full length records. It wasn’t until 2006 that the first great dubstep record was conceived by Burial. The following year, Untrue was released and proved to be more defined, more clear in its intentions. I was almost immediately sold by the album as the “Archangel” single was my favorite song of 2007. Burial has managed to single-handedly legitimize dubstep with his dark and emotive style. -R.C.

This is quite possibly the least affecting album I’ve ever heard. That’s not to say that it’s bad, irritating, or unpleasant – it by no means is – it just does absolutely nothing for me. I listened to it while I was riding on the el train and again as I was on the treadmill, and both times it did little else for me but create white noise. For those into easy-listening electronic music, give it a try… just don’t expect your life to change. - Phil