Pre-orders for Rival Dealer by Burial are available digitally at Hyperdub and on CD/Vinyl over at Bleep. This is the fourth installment of EPs released since 2007’s sophomore release Untrue and with its physical worldwide release scheduled for December 16th, 2013, there’s a stream over on YouTube of the entire project.

Rival Dealer as a whole strays from the unconventional compositions and at times, mainly on “Come Down to Us” and “Hiders,” a pure sense of pop bleeds through the clicks, pops, and rained-on ambient soundscapes. Don’t let the genre-term fool you, as Burial has become synonymous with maintaining a signature sound that crosses into many areas of the contemporary and experimental musical worlds. This is no exception. “Come Down to Us” clocks in at over ten minutes, with its follow up “Hiders” subconciously shedding light on the social issue touched upon in the track previous to it.

Toward the very end of “Come Down to Us,” a pitch manipulated, spoken vocal track laments “Without examples, without models, I began to believe the voices in my head that I was a freak, that I am broken, there is something wrong with me that I will never be loveable. Years later, I find the courage to admit that I am transgendered and that this does not mean I am unlovable. So this world we imagine and this room might be used to gain access to other rooms, to other worlds previously unimaginable.” As powerful as this speech stands on its own, it’s the “Hiders” implication that freaks and outsiders tend to hide themselves that speaks volumes for Burial’s sense of social atmospheres. Both tracks are smart tracks that are drenched in current event & sociology as they are pop-progressive electronic pieces.

The title track, “Rival Dealers,” is classic and progressive Burial at its absolute best. In a way, it’s a continuation of the brooding synthesizers explored the most on “Kindred,” but is combined with percussion breaks that tread into an early Prodigy oriented space. It’s dark, demented, and contains walkie-talkie and siren samples. It buzzes, it aggressively attacks, and morphs over time in the way that only a Burial track knows how to. In all, the title track is a summarized spirit of a Burial track as well as the Rival Dealers project as a whole.

It’s above love, it’s about acceptance, it’s about self-revelation, sexuality, and all of the oppression and opposition faced within it. This is arguably the most difficult Burial record to understand sonically and it’s by no means an accident. This is a crucial piece, if not the crucial piece inside of the Burial discography as it stands thus far.

This is the best way to go.

Download digital copies of Rival Dealer from Hyperdub now & pre-order the physical copies over at Bleep