Back in 2019, after my first time in London, I wrote a blog post about how listening to Burial in the city he made his music added another level of appreciation to it. The relationship between music and the context it’s created is a topic I’ve been thinking about ever since1.
Last week, YouTube’s algorithm decided that I should watch this video of Flying Lotus talking about different songs and artists. I said, “Sure, why not?” I like Flying Lotus, and I love listening to artists talking about other artists and their inspirations.
The last song on the list was Burial’s Untrue, which is not surprising. The surprising part was Flying Lotus’ story about how when he first listened to it in LA, it didn’t make much sense to him, but then he listened to it again when he was on a car ride in London, and everything clicked. Pretty much the same experience I had years ago.
His story also made me think about the difference between his story and mine. Considering the influence of the context and the geography in these stories, I wonder if the reason I was already enjoying Burial’s music because my first time with his music happened in İstanbul. When you think about it, İstanbul is much more similar to London than Los Angeles, which surely plays a role in your relationship with music.
On the other hand, my hometown, Adana, is closer to California than London, and maybe if my first time listening to Burial had happened there, my reaction would be different. Which wouldn’t surprise me because I discovered and became a fan of SoCal punk/hardcore when I was a high school student in Adana and always thought about the familiar feeling it had.
- We’re going to talk about it more in-depth later, I promise. ↩︎
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