With hip-hop/noise combo Dälek, Hsi-Chang Lin,
better known as Still, has spent the last six years
exploring the more extreme experimental side of hip-hop
by injecting noise substances and heavy textures in
turn reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine, Faust or early
Aphex into the band’s
already dark ambiences. Lin joined the combo at the
end of the nineties, after original members Dälek
and Oktopus released a first album, Negros, Necros,
Nekros, on Gern Blandsten in 1998. Already, the
pair had defined their sonic environment, and the arrival
of turntablist Still only added to the post-everything
equation.
With Remains, Still leaves for a moment the Dälek
frame behind to focus on six uncompromising noisebient
compositions close in nature to Selected Ambient
Works Vol. 2-era Aphex
Twin or the likes of Merzbow or Philip Jeck. Remains
is the fruit of two years of intense experimentation
collated into just over thirty five minutes. Each track
was meticulously prepared prior to be recorded live
in the studio. While Remains loosely falls
into the ambient category, its scope reaches far beyond
the genre. Beginning with a sharp noise construction
(Once Confronted), on which Still applies layer
after layer of gritty interferences, cracklings and
glitches, Lin progressively draws his compositions out
of the abrasive zone to build on more gentle soundscapes.
Although extremely dense and oppressive, the six tracks
featured here allow for emotions to run through. While
soundscapes are assembled, twisted, looped and processed,
Lin weaves debris of musical elements through his sonic
structures, as to remain in touch with the raw material
used. This adds an interesting layer of humanity throughout
this album and reveals a hidden depth to his compositions.
Remains concludes with the ethereal Blindness
(Live), on which wave after wave of orchestral
formations erupt from the dense background, introducing
the notion of melody for the first time here.
Completing the album are three short super-8 films created
by New York-based cinematographer Todd Boebel. Adding
somber footage to Blindness, A Dream You
Were Alive, Futility and Atrophy
respectively, the last two combined in one film, Boebel
adds to the grit of the record.
Intriguing and, at times, disturbing, Remains
provides an insight into Still’s twisted sonic
realm, away from that of his usual formation. In some
ways more accessible than his work with Dälek,
the range explored on this album is vast enough to avoid
repetition, yet remains focused all the way through
to deliver. This first solo outing is not however an
easy record to approach, and requires a bit of distance
to reveal all its depth.
4.2/5 |
