No Type has blossomed from one of the first Net-based labels to a solid platform for experimental music, touching upon minimalist and improvisational electronics, noise, musique actuelle, renegade electro-acoustics — and with Headphone Science, sliced and diced hip-hop. Exploring cut-and-paste, rough-hewn beat tangents that bear reference to the sampledelia of Scott Herren (PreFuse 73), the slices of Anticon and the dark surrealism of Sixtoo (and possible other Spooky DJs as well), the Science (Dustin Craig) nonetheless also nods to the emotive feel that governs Boards of Canada. Craig recombinates classical melodies with contemporary digital techniques. Microscopic particles are embedded deep within rumbling breaks while traditional piano melodies hold the refrain, a hard-hitting approach that buoys its melancholia. Comparisons in this case are futile, and unnecessary — the Science expands upon sonic directions that are bubbling in the air today, and performs it well enough that the disc fades not, etching into one’s head with repeated listenings. That said, We Remain Faded crossfades its uniqueness into the vagaries of its predecessors and thus orbits the same demons and inspirations that guide the genre’s conventions. Breakout begins to rumble in the Science’s treatment of low, basstone-lines and the use of microsound and inventive percussion. Larcenous demonstrates flashes of inspiration with complicated programming and abstract samples, while the opening instrumental establishes the disc’s watermark. But it is To Dine in Distance that is the soft risk, incorporating a guy-girl break-up conversation alongside acoustic guitar. What saves Craig from indulgence is the supremely disjointed dub-treatment to the instruments and delicate trumpet — a successful experiment.