10 years on: 7 artists tell us how Burial's 'Untrue' changed their lives

I remember a time when I was going to FWD>> a lot. I think Kode9 was playing one night and he opened with ‘Archangel’. It was when there were rumours of a new Burial album flying around so everyone was just like, “what the fuck is this? This is just incredible.” Burial has such a special place in people’s hearts, as an artist who had released that first record that just sounded like nothing else.

There was also that thing where no-one knew who he was, which is always the sort of cliché with him. I mean, even The Sun got involved in that. But I swear, I think I had worked out who he was. I kind of had this idea that I kept seeing the same guy at the parties and there was always this thing like, “I bet that must be Burial”. It was always something you talked about afterwards. He was just so iconic at that time, and still is. He was one of those artists who taught me you could make music that had its own identity - it was all completely him, it was so unmistakably him. There weren’t many artists making that sort of music at the time that could really say that. As a young artist, it was really inspirational to see someone like him carve out his own space. I remember going to Rough Trade back in 2007 because Pinch had a new album out, and then of course ‘Untrue’ was out that day. So, I went down to Rough Trade East before work right when it opened to grab the new Pinch album and the new Burial album, and I threw a massive tantrum at the staff there because they didn’t have the Burial one.

People always used to talk about how he famously made all his tracks on Sound Forge as well. From that you sort of understand, “Fuck, I don’t have to learn all this stuff and know how machines work. I can literally just apply my brain to a tiny piece of software and do something great.” Also, just being a London musician myself and growing up listening to similar music to Burial, I’ve always had a soft-spot for those UK electronic music guys who continue the tradition of London having its own kind of influence.