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Dec 17, 2013This is easily the producer's most emotional and story-like output.
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Dec 17, 2013Rival Dealer has some of the most immediate music from the Burial project, but it's worth noting that this is also a noisy, dissonant work.
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Dec 20, 2013Burial’s success has brought with it imitators, but with this EP he’s outwitted them all by introducing a gloriously widened palate to his music that is both instantly familiar and shockingly unlikely.
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Dec 17, 2013There's a heart beating in Burial’s out-of-body sound, and Rival Dealer plays like an ashy memorial to a beat that lives on.
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Dec 17, 2013Burial's tracks have always sounded sentimental, but it was usually contrasted with caustic backdrops that gave them some bite; on these two tracks ["Hiders" and "Come Down to Us"], it's the missing element.
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Dec 17, 2013Burial’s still dealing in shadow and echo here, but for the first time he’s harnessing them for what sounds a lot like joy.
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Dec 17, 2013Wintry sonic atmospheres, a motley chorus of voices, and a life-affirming message of salvation--intentionally or not, Burial might have just released the best Christmas album of the year.
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Dec 18, 2013It moves away from what many a critic will lazily refer to as Burial-esque, but still retains the throbbing heart that's always sat at the centre of his music.
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Dec 17, 2013Burial doesn’t step into the spotlight particularly masterfully. For the first time, his rhythmic choices get a bit lost, and some of the cuts to silence are more clumsy than disorienting.
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Jan 6, 2014Rival Dealer might be an intrepid leap for Burial, but the music is ultimately obscured by his intention to share a positive message through the most glaring of means.
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The WireJan 30, 2014Rival Dealer constitutes Burial's boldest statement to date. [Feb 2014, p.44]
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Dec 17, 2013Talk of pretension aside, Rival Dealer is an important piece of work, a genuinely astounding and jaw-dropping release that deserves every pair of ears it can find.
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Dec 17, 2013They function as compassionate anthems that rally against the wrought iron tempestuousness of youth.
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Jan 6, 2014It’s the sound of something--or someone--rumbling to the surface, about to erupt.
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Dec 17, 2013Debate will rage indefinitely on its merits, but to my ears Rival Dealer places Burial in a new creative sweet spot.
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Jan 15, 2014This more cerebral music is interesting and challenging, but it is missing some of immediacy of his earlier work.
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Dec 18, 2013The title track kicks things off with a familiar formula, with ghostly vocal samples and static noise building into a beat that kicks off, and from there things start to feel a little less familiar than they have in the past.
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Dec 17, 2013Rival Dealer is only three tracks long but it’s as rich as many LPs.
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Dec 17, 2013More so than any of his other releases, Burial seems to have something to say throughout Rival Dealer, and that message helps tie together the record's diverse 28 minutes and give its three tracks the impact of a full-length album.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 66 out of 72
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Mixed: 3 out of 72
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Negative: 3 out of 72
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Dec 17, 2013
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Jan 8, 2014
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Jan 5, 2014