Rival Dealer

Rival Dealer is the seventh extended play by British electronic music producer Burial. It was released digitally by Hyperdub on 11 December 2013, with a physical release following five days later.

Rival Dealer
EP by
Burial
Released11 December 2013 (2013-12-11)
Length28:33
LabelHyperdub
ProducerBurial
Burial chronology
Truant / Rough Sleeper
(2012)		 Rival Dealer
(2013)		 Young Death / Nightmarket
(2016)

Background

On 2 December 2013, a Cargo Records distribution email revealed that record label Hyperdub would release a three-track EP of Burial material on 16 December in vinyl and CD formats, designated with the catalogue number HDB080.[1][2] His first release since Truant / Rough Sleeper the year prior, it was also revealed to have a 28-minute running time.[1] On 11 December, Hyperdub made the EP available to purchase digitally through their website and uploaded its three tracks—"Rival Dealer", "Hiders" and "Come Down to Us"—to YouTube.[3][4]

Themes

Unlike previous Burial releases, Rival Dealer maintains a significant theme throughout its three tracks. Fact critic Tom Lea called the EP a story about "love, confusion and relationships", citing the track "Come Down to Us" as a primary example.[5] In a rare public message to BBC Radio 6 Music, Burial himself clarified that he wanted the songs to be "anti-bullying tunes that could maybe help someone to believe in themselves, to not be afraid, and to not give up, and to know that someone out there cares and is looking out for them."[6]

All three tracks contain samples from an interview with NASA scientist Melissa Dawson Higgins.[7] "Come Down to Us" utilizes a sample from a speech by filmmaker Lana Wachowski at the 2012 Human Rights Campaign gala.[5]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.1/10[8]
Metacritic83/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Consequence of Sound[11]
Cuepoint (Expert Witness)A[12]
DIY[13]
NME9/10[14]
Pitchfork9.0/10[15]
Resident Advisor4.0/5[16]
Rolling Stone[17]
Slant Magazine[18]
XLR8R9/10[19]

Upon its release, Rival Dealer received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album holds an average score of 83, indicating "universal acclaim".[9] Pitchfork awarded it their "Best New Music" accolade, with reviewer Larry Fitzmaurice noting a "wider, more jarring and revelatory" change in Burial's sound and praising it as "unquestionably the strongest release of his since 2012's Kindred, and his most satisfying statement of purpose."[15] Resident Advisor's Kit Macdonald felt that the release puts Burial in a "new creative sweet spot" and expands his musical diversity.[16] Fact's Tom Lea argued that Rival Dealer would likely be considered Burial's most divisive release.[5] Writing for Cuepoint, Robert Christgau said the EP offers him the same satisfaction as Rokku Mi Rokka (2007) by Youssou N'Dour and Into the Music (1979) by Van Morrison, and wrote in summation:

Despite the reflexively dark title it shares with the lead track, despite the glitched electronics that will always scare off my generational cohort, despite the consoling females who will just as inevitably trip cynics' corn alarms, its gestalt is intelligently humanistic and fucking uplifting well before the quiet, awkward self-acceptance speech that serves as a coda.[12]

In a year-end list for The Barnes & Noble Review, Christgau named Rival Dealer the ninth best album of 2014.[20]

Track listing

All tracks written and produced by Burial.[21]

No.TitleLength
1."Rival Dealer"10:45
2."Hiders"4:42
3."Come Down to Us"13:06
Total length:28:33

Charts
Chart (2013) Peak
position
Japanese Singles (Oricon)[22] 140
UK Physical Singles (OCC)[23] 37
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[24] 5
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[25] 8

References
  1. Ryce, Andrew (2 December 2013). "New Burial EP set for December". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  2. Cooper, Leonie (2 December 2013). "New Burial EP set for December release". NME. London. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  3. "Burial releases new EP Rival Dealer: buy it and stream audio now". Fact. London. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  4. "Stream Burial Rival Dealer EP in full". Fact. London. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  5. Lea, Tom (11 December 2013). "Burial's Rival Dealer is a Christmas story about love, confusion and sexuality, and the best thing he's made since Untrue". Fact. London. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  6. Minsker, Evan (14 December 2013). "Burial Shares Message About Rival Dealer EP". Pitchfork. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  7. "Mysterious voice in Burial's Rival Dealer EP identified". Fact. London. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  8. "Rival Dealer by Burial reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  9. "Reviews for Rival Dealer [EP] by Burial". Metacritic. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  10. Kellman, Andy. "Rival Dealer – Burial". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  11. Geffen, Sasha (13 December 2013). "Album Review: Burial – Rival Dealer EP". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  12. Christgau, Robert (30 January 2015). "Robert Christgau: Expert Witness". Cuepoint. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  13. Price, Joe (18 December 2013). "Burial – Rival Dealer". DIY. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  14. Cardew, Ben (19 December 2013). "Burial – 'Rival Dealer' EP". NME. London. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  15. Fitzmaurice, Larry (13 December 2013). "Burial: Rival Dealer EP". Pitchfork. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  16. Macdonald, Kit (13 December 2013). "Burial – Rival Dealer". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  17. Battaglia, Andy (16 December 2013). "Rival Dealer". Rolling Stone. New York. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  18. Woodruff, Chase (16 December 2013). "Burial: Rival Dealer". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  19. Fallon, Patric (16 December 2013). "Burial: Rival Dealer EP". XLR8R. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  20. Christgau, Robert (10 March 2015). "Excuses, Excuses: The 2014 Dean's List". The Barnes & Noble Review. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  21. Rival Dealer (Media notes). Burial. Hyperdub. 2013. HDB080CD.CS1 maint: others (link)
  22. "ブリアルのシングル売上ランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  23. "Official Physical Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  24. "Burial Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  25. "Burial Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
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