Review by: Chris Bress
Dälek are one of those groups you really need to see live, the talent of all three members is pretty in-fucking-sane. The last album I got, the one before their collaboration with Faust, was really good. It mixed great hip-hop like Company Flow or Cannibal Ox with searing washes of beautiful noise. When the two hit it was like My Bloody Valentine’s experiments with pop and noise gone hip-hop, albeit hip-hop that isn’t like Ludacris, 50 Cent or Necro.
‘Absence’ takes way too long to do anything though, and by the time some actual tunes start to show up I find myself reaching for that new amazing Rhythm & Sound LP. It does have a few classics though, like ‘In midst of struggle’ where the walls of feedback are structured into what Merzbow would sound like if he was asked to write a pop record.
While not quite as accomplished as some of their older shit, I do quite like some of this record and I’ll still jump at the chance to see them live again.