Genres, Music

Chart-Topping Burial

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won’t be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul

Leonard Cohen; The Future

Burial Untrue Album CoverI was perusing the selection of MP3s over at Amazon’s new DRM-free download shop, and was browsing the “Dance and DJ” section when I noticed that Burial’s new Untrue album is the number 2 top seller. In a perfect world it seems logical that a super-futuristic, minimal-atmospheric, R&B-swingstep album would be number two on the charts, but in our world I was completely shocked.

I decided that the “Dance and DJ Section” must be an incredibly small portion of what they sell so I clicked over to the “Bestsellers” page and to my surprise Untrue was at number 14. Out of all the MP3 albums that Amazon is selling, an album on Kode9‘s Hyperdub label is at the 14 spot.

I went back to the “Dance and DJ” section and here’s what the top 5 looked like:

1. The Reminder by Feist
2. Untrue by Burial
3. The Wall by Pink Floyd
4. Shock Value [Explicit] by Timbaland
5. Kala by M.I.A.

I’m glad to see that “dance music” is really busting into some new genre territory (The Wall ?).

Just for some perspective, lets also take a look at the surrounding releases in the main bestsellers list:

12. b-sides and rarities by Cake
13. Back To Black [Explicit] by Amy Winehouse
14. Untrue by Burial
15. Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
16. The Wall by Pink Floyd

Last I knew Burial was a super-left-field, underground dubstep artist. I wasn’t expecting chart-topping performance from his new album. I’m not complaining — just shocked. Perhaps the music industry is beginning to sort itself out. The times they are a changin’ again, but this time even faster.

1 thought on “Chart-Topping Burial

  1. Hey Jake Face. It’s your favorite native Chicago girl.

    So down at the Reckless, we were wondering too, why everyone was asking for a release that we also thought was super-left-field and of a genre that we don’t sell extremely well (ask Chris about my Reckless vs. Electronic music rant. I did have a good one.)

    And so, I look to different (former, mostly) employer of mine, the notorious Pitchfork. And found this:
    http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/46887-untrue

    ALL IS EXPLAINED. YOU CAN NOW RETURN TO YOUR FEATURE PROGRAM.

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