Lurking around the fringes of the British club scene, dubstep isn't so much a formula as a feeling. Burial's self-titled debut, perhaps the first breakout album born of this new genre, is spilling over with mood and atmosphere. Even the cover's murky, night time view from high above South London perfectly captures the detached, spectral vibe of the album.Burial invokes a London in perpetual darkness, crowded yet lonely, as if walking down a darkened back alley just around the corner from the rest of humanity. It hints at sounds from many different cultures, both ethnic and social, without embracing any of them. Voices and melodies often exist only in the margins of the mix, and even then sparsely. Listening, one is struck by the purposeful repetition of ominous bass patterns and sporadic, minimalist percussion dominated by echoing rimshot rhythms...with little else. It all comes together perfectly on the astonishing "Southern Comfort", setting the high watermark for the album's unique ambiance.
Burial is both of and outside electronic music trends, a distant observer deconstructing the rituals of the genres that surround it. For my money, this haunting futuristic dispatch is one of the very best of the year.
