A fantastic in-depth essay deconstructing the music of Burial. An excerpt:
The connection of Burial’s music with London goes beyond the simple association of certain musical styles with the places where they’re produced or celebrated, however. Sound effects, again taken from films and video games, also play an important part. In the context of this music the metallic noises of falling gun cartridges, drawn jungle knives and rifles being reloaded in the music are not so much threatening indicators of urban warfare as the non-specific background sound of an inhabited industrialised environment. The ubiquitous hiss and crackle of vinyl records that overlaps with recordings of rain on empty streets has been seen as a metaphor for (musical, cultural) decay, which it can be, but in a less complicated sense it describes the dirty, weathered and rainy streets of London with amazing efficiency.
