History Music / Burial

Burial (real name: William Emmanuel Bevan) is a South London-based musician commonly attributed to the genres of dubstep and future garage. He was the very first artist signed to [=Kode9=]'s Hyperdub label in 2005.

Bevan has a distinctive sound composed of pitch-shifted vocal samples and meticulous breakbeat patterns surrounded by vinyl crackle and rainfall, making for more atmospheric and intimate listening experiences compared to his contemporaries. His tracks are often described as being like the soundtrack to {{cyberpunk}} or {{film noir}}, which is an apt description.

He also claims to make nearly all of his music in the audio editor Soundforge, disavowing the traditional trackers and sequencers that eventually brought {{drum and bass}} to a creative standstill.

Bevan has collaborated with several other dubstep and drum-and-bass artists, and plans have been announced to have him remix Music/MassiveAttack's ''Heligoland'', though when this will occur is anyone's guess. The release of a limited-edition 12" featuring two, roughly 10 minute long remixes of two Massive Attack songs (one released, one unreleased) have led many to wonder whether it is the end product of the album collaboration rumours.

* CursedWithAwesome: The reason he uses Soundforge is, [[WordOfGod according to the man himself]], that he simply can't make good music on a traditional DAW.[[note]]The song "Unite" was reportedly made in a DAW, and is distinctly four-on-the-floor compared to the traditional off-kilter Burial sound.[[/note]]

Bevan is primarily known for his two highly acclaimed studio albums (''[[SelfTitledAlbum Burial]]'' and ''Untrue''), both of which are hailed as some of the greatest of their decade/genre, and his impressively enigmatic persona. He has never played a live show, rarely accepts interviews and makes few public appearances. It took a borderline witch-hunt among UK tabloids to unearth his identity after several years of complete anonymity; even then, only three good photos of him exist on the Internet to this day (aside from the page image, cropped from a picture with [=Kode9=], there's also [[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2e8ce0999197d526815beec9d4e1ade7822d59da/0_0_1980_1188/master/1980.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=bbd0cbdbb47b5fa9f26469c0abc26478 his MySpace profile picture]] and [[https://static.spin.com/files/140131-burial-william-bevan.jpg this straightforward selfie]]).

Burial (real name: William Emmanuel Bevan) is a South London-based musician commonly attributed to the genres of dubstep and future garage, the very first artist signed to [=Kode9=]'s Hyperdub label in 2005.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Generally at a 1-2.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Invoked to some extent; the slightly unintelligible state of his vocal samples post-processing have encouraged this among fans.

Bevan is primarily known for his two highly acclaimed studio albums (''[[SelfTitledAlbum Burial]]'' and ''Untrue''), both of which are hailed as some of the greatest of their decade/genre, and his impressively enigmatic persona. It took a borderline witch-hunt among UK tabloids to unearth his identity after several years of complete anonymity; even then, only three good photos of him exist on the Internet to this day (aside from the page image, cropped from a picture with [=Kode9=], there's also [[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2e8ce0999197d526815beec9d4e1ade7822d59da/0_0_1980_1188/master/1980.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=bbd0cbdbb47b5fa9f26469c0abc26478 his MySpace profile picture]] and [[https://static.spin.com/files/140131-burial-william-bevan.jpg this straightforward selfie]]).

Bevan is known for his two highly acclaimed studio albums (''Burial'' and ''Untrue''), both of which are hailed as some of the greatest of their decade/genre, and his impressively enigmatic persona. It took a borderline witch-hunt among UK tabloids to unearth his identity after several years of complete anonymity; even then, only three good photos of him exist on the Internet to this day (aside from the page image, there's also [[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2e8ce0999197d526815beec9d4e1ade7822d59da/0_0_1980_1188/master/1980.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=bbd0cbdbb47b5fa9f26469c0abc26478 his MySpace profile picture]] and [[https://static.spin.com/files/140131-burial-william-bevan.jpg this straightforward selfie]]).

Burial (real name: William Emmanuel Bevan) is a London-based musician commonly attributed to the genres of dubstep and future garage, known for his two highly acclaimed studio albums (''Burial'' and ''Untrue''), both of which are hailed as some of the greatest of their decade/genre, and holding an impressive anonymity[[note]]only three good photos of him exist on the Internet (aside from the page image, there's also [[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2e8ce0999197d526815beec9d4e1ade7822d59da/0_0_1980_1188/master/1980.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=bbd0cbdbb47b5fa9f26469c0abc26478 his MySpace profile picture]] and [[https://static.spin.com/files/140131-burial-william-bevan.jpg this straightforward selfie]])[[/note]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/burial.jpg]]

Burial (real name: William Emmanuel Bevan) is a London-based musician commonly attributed to the genres of dubstep and future garage. Known for his two highly acclaimed studio albums (''Burial'' and ''Untrue''), both of which are hailed as some of the greatest of their decade/genre, and holding a thorough and impressive anonymity[[note]]only three good photos of him exist on the Internet (aside from the page image, there's also [[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2e8ce0999197d526815beec9d4e1ade7822d59da/0_0_1980_1188/master/1980.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=bbd0cbdbb47b5fa9f26469c0abc26478 his MySpace profile picture]] and [[https://static.spin.com/files/140131-burial-william-bevan.jpg this straightforward selfie]])[[/note]].

Bevan has collaborated with several other dubstep and drum-and-bass artists, and plans have been announced to have him remix Music/MassiveAttack's ''Heliogoland'', though when this will occur is anyone's guess. The release of a limited-edition 12" featuring two, roughly 10 minute long remixes of 1 released and 1 unreleased Massive Attack songs have led many to wonder whether it is the end product of the album collaboration rumours.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove - "Etched Headplate," "Truant," "Rival Dealer"

* CursedWithAwesome - The reason he uses Soundforge is, [[WordOfGod according to the man himself]], that he simply can't make good music on a traditional DAW.[[note]]The song "Unite" was reportedly made in a DAW, and the four-on-the-floor rhythms of the song eschew a lot of the unique, off-kilter grooves that Burial is known for.[[/note]]

** Subverted later in the song with the line "bending, warping, interfering with the facts", since Spaceape's accent make "facts" sound identical to "fucks".

** Subverted later in the song with the line "bending, warping, interfering with the facts", since Spaceape merely pronounce "facts" identically to "fucks".
* ReclusiveArtist: Even after revealing his identity to the public, Bevan has continued to remain out of the spotlight, very rarely showing his face or granting interviews with the press.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/william_bevan_6336.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[SecretIdentity UNMASKED!]]]]

->''"I partly use the rain to cover up the lameness of my tunes."''

Burial (real name: William Emmanuel Bevan) is a dubstep musician from London. Known for his two highly acclaimed studio albums (''Burial'' and ''Untrue''), both of which are hailed as some of the greatest of their decade/genre, and holding a massive and impressive anonymity[[note]]only two good photos of him exist on the Internet (aside from the page image, there's also [[https://static.spin.com/files/140131-burial-william-bevan.jpg this straightforward selfie]])[[/note]].

Bevan claims to make nearly all of his music in the audio editor Soundforge, disavowing traditional trackers and sequencers that eventually brought {{drum and bass}} to a creative standstill.

His tracks are often described as being like the soundtrack to {{cyberpunk}} or {{film noir}}, which is an apt description.

Burial has collaborated with several other dubstep and drum-and-bass artists, and plans have been announced to have him remix Music/MassiveAttack's ''Heliogoland'', though when this will occur is anyone's guess. The release of a limited-edition 12" featuring two, roughly 10 minute long remixes of 1 released and 1 unreleased Massive Attack songs have led many to wonder whether it is the end product of the album collaboration rumours.

After ''Untrue'', Burial has shifted his focus to longer, more atmospheric songs which frequently last for [[EpicRocking over 10 minutes.]] His ''Kindred'' and ''Truant/Rough Sleeper'' Eps show him expanding his sound with longer and more experimental songs.

* ''Untrue'': 2007: Hyperdub Records

* EpicRocking - He seems to really enjoy making long songs post-''Untrue''- the shortest song on the ''Kindred'' EP is seven and a half minutes long. "Ashtray Wasp," "Kindred," "Truant," "Rough Sleeper," "Paradise Circus," and "Four Walls" are all between ten and twelve minutes long.
* TheGhost: Has a quite impressive anonymity, considering only two pictures of him exist on the Internet.
* HiddenTrack - A remix of Music/MassiveAttack's "Psyche" is hidden at the end of his "Paradise Circus" remix.

* MistakenIdentity - Before he revealed his identity, British tabloids [[WildMassGuessing speculated]] that he might be [[Music/AphexTwin Richard D. James]] or [[Music/FatboySlim Norman Cook]].

* {{Mondegreen}}: Although the vocal sample looped throughout "Forgive" is predominantly unintelligible, some have theorized what it's saying.
-->''He has no arms\\
Tears flow on\\
We move on''

* SelfDeprecation: Used frequently in interviews, as seen in the page quote.

* ReclusiveArtist: Even after revealing his identity to the public in 2008, Bevan has continued to remain out of the spotlight, very rarely showing his face or granting interviews with the press. As of 2019, he has never even performed live.

* ReclusiveArtist: Even after revealing his identity to the public in 2008, he has shied away from the spotlight. He has never performed live, very rarely grants interviews with the press, and only a few photos of his face exist online.

* {{Ambient}}: "Night Bus", "Forgive", "Endorphin", "In [=McDonalds=]", and "Dog Shelter".

* ReclusiveArtist