Friday, March 26, 2010

Burial - Dog Shelter/Homeless

First off, I guess I should get this out there.

I'm rarely at the forefront of musical trends. I usually stumble into them well after the fact, when the cool kids have already moved on. Such was the case with dubstep, which is a fairly fascinating subgenre of electronic music. During my annual perusal of Pitchfork's  yearly "best of" list at the close of 2007 I noticed the following blurb of the number 10 album, "Untrue" by Burial:
With Burial's 2006 debut, it helped to have some investment in dubstep; Untrue is for everyone. Or at least anyone who's ever walked home alone on some late night, soaking in the creaky sounds of a city asleep. No album in 2007 conveyed so much loneliness through the sheer palpability of its atmosphere. To listen to Untrue is to be thrust inside a world whose blurred dimensions are marked by hisses, crackles, and indeterminate noises somewhere in the distance. But the record will be best remembered for its ethereal singers, beamed in from another plane and wailing away into the void. Their voices, which are key to the record's wide appeal, still don't work quite as expected. Rather than humanizing or softening the stark backdrop, they reinforce the music's sense of alienation. They're the voices you miss; the ones you'll probably never hear again. --Mark Richardson
Wow. I had to check this out.  The bit about the atmosphere is 100% correct - the entire album absolute breathes as though you are shuffling through dark, possibly rainy city streets. It is an album tailor made for the headphone experience.

The tracks "Dog Shelter" and "Homeless" on this album seem linked. The mostly beatless "Dog Shelter" employs swelling string chords along with ghostly vocals to impressive effect, along with the crackling and popping of music being played on a vinyl LP. It has an ethereal, subliminal feel that somehow pushes some emotional buttons. I feel it in my gut, anyway.



Interestingly enough the tune came up on the ipod shuffle play when I was bringing our first adopted dog (Yogi) home from the shelter. Odd coincidence I'd say.

Once "Homeless" starts up, it's on. Dubstep has this interesting ability to clatter along, sounding like it's on the verge of total collapse yet it hangs together with a bit of a space-laser bass and some soulfully moaning vocals. I'm not able to make out the lyrics, and it really doesn't matter. It sets the mood perfectly for some low key head nodding along with the syncopated rhythm.



"Homeless" is the climax of this stunner of an album, and I strongly recommend checking the full album out.

Welcome to Tune Picks!

Hello, and welcome!

I thought it would be fun doing a blog where I post my favourite tunes. This will include everything from stuff I am listening to currently to "flashback" tracks. My musical tastes are pretty wide reaching and discussing a song's style or mechanics is especially fascinating. Mostly we'll be dealing with modern music but who knows, I might throw in some classical just to change things up.

One thing I feel I'm going to work on is getting more out of the lyrics in music, currently they're usually just "there" for me. Perhaps by discussing it a bit I'll get more of a handle on tunes I already enjoy.

Anyway hope any folks out there are interested in reading about music, think of me as a really slow and long-winded DJ..