Where would UK dance music be without Burial’s Untrue? The South Londoner’s second album, released ten years ago this month on Hyperdub, has arguably done more than any other record in recent history to shape electronic music, presenting not only novel production techniques but the power of rooting a record in a specific time, mood and place. Through its dank textures and heart-wrenching vocals, Untrue portrays the darker side of London, a rainy metropolis filled with lonely citizens and long-forgotten clubs. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Peeking through the shadows are glimmers of light, hope, even euphoria. To quote the man himself, it’s these flashes that ultimately give Untrue its “buzzin’, glowy, uplifting” edge.

This video essay, the first of its kind on Resident Advisor, tells the story of Untrue, from the software and the samples to its influence on a whole generation of producers.

The mystery surrounding Burial means there’s a lot we’ll probably never know. But then that’s part of what makes Untrue such an iconic piece of work.

Narrator: Moxie
Writer: Carlos Hawthorn
Editor: Sophie Misrahi
Graphics: Mike Winkelmann

IC3PEAK + Subsets + River Bones + Circling Skies.

One might say that there is an “ethics barrier” a speed above which ethics can no longer exit. After that point the only remaining goal is to survive the immediate moment.

P.H.

Mauro Picotto + Kreisel & Idiosynkrasia + SHAHMEN + Rare.

Pow-wow circles and peace pipes
Greet a storyteller spelling out the key to life
My shell’s a gun now still I carry them
And my spirit not the dirt that they’re buried in…

S.

Simas Lin, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Information is expanding daily. How to get it out visually is important.

J.M.

Singularity marks the fifth album from the UK electronic producer and composer and the follow up to 2013’s Mercury Prize nominated Immunity.

Where Immunity charted the dark alternative reality of an epic night out, Singularity explores the dissonance between dystopian urbanity and the green forest. It is a journey that returns to where it began – from the opening note of foreboding to the final sound of acceptance. Shaped by his experiences with meditation and trance states, the album flows seamlessly from rugged techno to transcendent choral music, from solo acoustic piano to psychedelic ambient.

James Blake – If The Car Beside You Moves Ahead

Director : Alexander Brown
Producer : Adam Nelson
Editor : Avner Shiloah
Colourist : Aubrey Woodiwiss (Carbon)
Exec Producer : Carolyn Pedrossian
Managing Director : Laura Thoel
Production Company : The Sweetshop
Copyright: Polydor 2018
Artist : James Blake
Track: If the Car Beside You Moves Ahead
Comissioner : Semera Khan