Burial's London

Burial: 'They seem to have people all around them, but that’s actually not true. Sometimes you’re surrounded by mates but you’re not surrounded by friends. You feel protective of people, because no matter who we are, we all return to quite a vulnerable place, a flat, mates, a family, a room or whatever. You can see through all that stuff, a lot of young people artificially take on adult issues, that have maybe been pushed at them, or maybe they’re living out an adult relationship, proper life issues, maybe their family isn't looking out for them anymore, other serious stuff that you can't take lightly. I've seen that if you take on that stuff early on, it fucks you up. My new tunes are about that, wanting an angel watching over you, when there's nowhere to go and all you can do is sit in McDonalds late at night, not answering your phone.'


Working as the Banksy of the underground music world, Burial functions as one of the most highly skilled (and illusive) producers of dubstep future garage and two step. He still remains a huge influence in my music taste, discovering him at just 13

, leading me to discover further sub genres like the ambient music of Aphex twin. While my discovery of this great artist was 5 years ago now, he still remains one of my favourite artists, primarily in the way I believe he symbolises and writes the London culture. His music, is hauntingly beautiful and highly centred around London life, taking us with him on a 'beautiful journey of a gritty glowing UK soul'. 

It was the other day, that I was sat on the bus at night and Burial happened to come on shuffle, and I could not deny his ability to completely submerge you in a culture of night tubes, lonely busses and South London boroughs through his music. Another thing that makes the artist so interesting, just like the art of Banksy or music of CasisDead, is his allusiveness through anonymity, which keeps people guessing. I have always thought this be a genius trait of any artist for two reasons. Firstly, it keeps people interested and excited, secondly, you can not judge an artists at face value, it simply has no face to it and this, I believe, makes the music ever more beautiful. I've never been one to google what artists look like because, quite frankly, I don't think I'd want to. I like to listen to the music for what it is - the music, and often I think we make an attachment with the person who we know is singing this song or producing this track that it almost skews the listening.

Anyway, I guess the point of this post is for 14 year old me to pay homage to Burial, not only for opening up the door to the discovery of many more great ambient, dub and 2 step artists, but for showing me a certain beauty in the hustle and bustle of London life. I must admit, having recently moved away, I do not find much I miss about London life, save when a Burial tune comes on shuffle, my heart kind of yearns for that poorly lit night bus alone through the city that never sleeps with just a pair of headphones and a whole lot of time to think. 

I will leave you with a couple Burial tracks, and similar artists that I hope you enjoy, if you're interested in exploring this unconventional and genius artist. 

Burial- Unite Burial & Four Tet- Nova
Burial- Moth
Burial- Paradise Circus
Burial- UK
Burial- in McDonalds
Burial- Night bus
Burial- Homeless
Hiatus- Insurrection
Burial- Shutta
Burial- Untrue
Burial- Dog Shelter
Burial fostercare
Burial- Stolen dog
Burial- Rough sleeper
Deep Summer