REKKID of the Week
Burial - Burial 2006
This is the most deserving inclusion for rekkid of the week. A long time fan of drum & bass & dubstep, I couldn’t quite believe that I had never come across this album. In 2019 or BC (before Covid) I was fortunate enough to find a sealed copy of this rekkid in Lisbon.On the recommendation of my brother-in-law, I picked it up and he was so on the money. I love this rekkid. Any rekkid collector worth their salt will work visiting record stores into their itinerary, and Lisbon’s purveyors did not disappoint. The minor detail of how we would eventually get these treasures back home safely and within our flight weight allowance is a story for another day.
History
Burial is the self titled debut album by William Bevan and was released in 2006 on the lesser known Kode9 Hyperdub label. Dubstep was a new (ish) genre and Burial landed like a defining pin on the map marking London as the epicenter of this evolution.
The tones of Burial are dark and melodic and the seamless flow from track to track elegantly produced. A Lot has been said about Burial’s musical influence stemming from the UK Jungle and Garage scene and you can hear it.
At a glance
If I were to highlight a few tracks, although I recommend listening to this album from start to finish in its entirety, I’d pick out “U Hurt Me” and “Distant Lights”. They’re not only filled with emotion, but provide a dark, almost grimy undertone that has in the past been suggested to appeal to Brian Eno fans.
Fun fact. Track 1 on the album, "Untitled" you might recognize the vocal of actor Benicio del Toro sampled from the film, ‘21 Grams’.
Critics
- The Wire Magazine named Burial ‘Record of the year’ as part of its annual critics’ poll in 2006.
- Mixmag ranked Burial as the 5th best album of the year (2006)
- The Guardian ranked Burial as the 6th best album of the year (2006)
- NME's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" ranked Burial at No.391