BURIAL: I Was Brought up on Old Jungle Tunes and Garage Tunes Had

NIGHT LIGHT #1 — EDITED BY FRED CAVE, WERKPLAATS TYPOGRAFIE WERKPLAATS — JUNE 2014 FRED CAVE, NIGHT LIGHT #1 — EDITED BY BURIAL INTERVIEW WITH MARK FISHER play us ‘Metropolis’, Reinforced, Paradox, DJ Hype, Foul DECEMBER 2007 – UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT Play, DJ Krystl, Source Direct and techno tunes. When you’re younger that stuff blows your mind. But then they, MARK FISHER: Vocals were always central to your they didn’t lose interest in it, but they got on with life and sound, but they have become even more important I was stuck for years. And I would still buy the tunes, and on this album than they were on your first LP. my whole life was going on missions to buy tunes and try and impress ‘em by putting together compilations I BURIAL: I was brought up on old jungle tunes and thought that they would like. I thought I was holding a garage tunes had lots of vocals in but me and my brothers lighter up for that stuff, I’d cane Jaffa Cakes and make loved intense, darker tunes too, I found something I compilations, slip the odd garage tune in. And even when could believe in... but sometimes I used to listen to the I started making tunes I was trying to impress them, I still ones with vocals on my own and it was almost a secret am, but I think they hate my new tunes though. When thing. I’d love these vocals that would come in, not proper I grew up I thought everyone would be into jungle and singing but cut-up and repeating, and executed coldly. It garage tunes but hardly anyone I knew was, in the end. was like a forbidden siren. I was into the cut-up singing as much as the dark basslines. Something happens when MARK FISHER: Your music seems to be about the I hear the subs, the rolling drums and vocals together. To after effects of rave, about never actually experienc me it’s like a pure UK style of music, and I wanted to ing it. make tunes based on what UK underground hardcore tunes mean to me, and I want a dose of real life in there BURIAL: I’ve never been to a festival. Never been to a too, something people can relate to. rave in a field. Never been to a big warehouse, never been So when I started doing tunes, I didn’t to an illegal party, just clubs and playing tunes indoors or have the kit and I didn’t understand how to do it properly, whatever. I heard about it, dreamed about it. My brother so I can’t make the drums and bass sound massive, no might bring back these records that seemed really adult to loud sounds taking up the whole tune. But as long as it me and I couldn’t believe I had ’em. It was like when you had a bit of singing in it, it forgave the rest of the tune. It first saw Terminator or Alien when you’re only little. I’d was the thing that made me excited about doing it. Then get a rush from it, I was hearing this other world, and my I couldn’t believe that I’d done a tune that gave me that brother would drop by late and I’d fall asleep listening to feeling that proper real records used to, and the vocal was tunes he put on. the one thing that seemed to take the tune to that place. My favorite tunes were underground and moody but MARK FISHER: I suppose your contact with rave with killer vocals: ‘Let Go’ by Teebee, ‘Being With You through your brother is what makes your records so Remix’ by Foul Play. Intense, Alex Reece, Digital, Goldie, mournful: you know what is missing now, whereas Dillinja, EL B, D Bridge, Steve Gurley. I miss being on others might not even know what they are missing. the bus to school listening to DJ Hype mixes. Sometimes some other kids would get us tunes, I’d record off of BURIAL: I don’t know if it exists any more at all. A lot pirate radio all night. of those old tunes I put on at night and hear something in the tune that makes me feel sad, a few of my favour- MARK FISHER: You started off listening to music ite producers and DJs are dead now too and I hear this because of your older brother? hope in all those old tracks, trying to unite the UK, but they couldn’t, because the UK was changing in a differ- BURIAL: My older brother loved tunes, rave tunes, ent direction, away from us. Maybe the feeling of the UK jungle, he lived all that stuff, and he was gone, he was on in clubs and stuff back then, it wasn’t as artificial, self- the other side of the night, almost. He was the one who aware or created by the internet. It was more rumour, wasn’t back, he was out there, going to places. He’d tell underground folklore. No mobile phones back then. us stories about it. We were brought up on stories about Anyone could go into the night and they had to seek it it. Leaving the city in a car and finding somewhere and out. Because you could see it in people, you could see it hearing these tunes, and he’d bring them back. He would in their eyes. Those ravers were at the edge at their lives, sit us down and play these old tunes, and later on he’d they weren’t running ahead or falling behind, they were just right there and the tunes meant everything. In the do it really fast. I sort of did the whole album in about 90s you could feel that it had been taken away from them. two weeks. Most of it in the final week. When I made this In club culture, it all became like super clubs, magazines, a lot of things were wrong. It was nice to say, ‘fuck this’, trance, commercialized. All these designer bars would be I’m just going to make it well fast. So I’m quite defensive trying to be like clubs. It all got just taken. So it just went of it. When you’re making a tune and it’s really late… I militant, underground from that point. That era is gone, heard this thing on EastEnders about burning the candle now there’s less danger, less sacrifice, less journey to find at both ends with a flame-thrower, I was making tunes something. You can’t hide, the media clocks everything. in the middle of the night, if I didn’t have the vocal to The internet or whatever, but DMZ and FWD have that keep me awake, like singing a lullaby, trying to hypnotise deep atmosphere and real feeling, the true underground is myself so I didn’t fall asleep. still strong, I hear good new tunes all the time. MARK FISHER: It’s like a reverse lullaby in a way — MARK FISHER: Kode9 says that the new album has a instead of sending you to sleep, it’s keeping you feeling of ‘downcast euphoria’, whereas the first one awake! With the first album, it felt like the references was just downcast. were early mid 90s jungle, whereas with the new one, it’s as if things have moved on two or three years, to BURIAL: When I listened to these old tapes, I took UK garage and 2 step. what these jungle MCs were telling me seriously. Rolling a tune out, I took it as a commandment about how to BURIAL: I love UK garage, I love 2step and Todd make a tune: roll it out, do it fast. I was into old hardcore, Edwards. For a long time I felt that no one liked it, some darkside, trying to do a properly dark record. Not this music people cussed it because they’re stupid, but its new, pumped up tech sound. I liked the old tunes, music for real people, those tunes still sound better than properly darkside like finding a body in a lift shaft: dank most stuff when you’re out. I don’t know many people moody tunes, suburban tunes. I want to go back to that who like tunes but I had one mate who had a car and let hardcore era of darkside someday, which would be rugged, me test my tunes, I always liked deeper night-time tunes, film samples just pitched up and down with strings. It a bit more rolling garage, dubstep is half pulse, half sway, wasn’t just that pure monochrome thing, it was something so it sounds good in a car at night. else, it sounded like tearing through an empty building. I wanted to make a half euphoric But the thing is, I had this bunch of tunes for my second record. That was an older thing that UK underground album that were dark tunes, and I just scrapped them. I music used to have. I think that type of euphoria is a took ages on them. I was worrying, because after my first British thing, like UK tunes, old rave tunes used to be the album I felt a bit of pressure to follow it up. I worked masters of that, for a reason, to do with the rave, a half for hours on these tunes, and I was trying to learn these smile, half human endorphins and half something hyp- programmes.

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