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Wednesday 28 September 2011

Pantha du Prince - Black Noise LP 2010


This is the latest offering from Hendrik Weber, a German techno producer who goes by the name of Pantha du Prince. The blurb on the CD cover goes on about the various definitions on 'black noise' and from what I can gather it basically equates to silence. Fortunately the album has music on it rather than silence, which is a bonus.

Why should you listen?
Hendrik apparently draws on his passion for late 1980's shoegazing indie types like Slowdive, Ride and My Bloody Valentine and combines this with a parallel love for minimal Detroit techno. How can you not want to listen with that combination of influences? Even Evlkeith is sitting up and taking notice.

What’s it like?
As always, things never quite go to plan and Black Noise could not sound less like MBV if it tried. It doesn't sound much like Carl Craig either. Hendrik however, has used his influences to produce a whole new substance, but whether it's a musical substance that we actually need is debatable. Pantha uses an extremely limited 'sound palette' for all the tracks on the LP which can basically be summarised by the formula:

(minimal techno drums + glockenspiel + people blowing over the top of milk bottles + cow bells + jingle bells)  multiplied by a sort of dark mellowness = Dark noise by Pantha du Prince.

If you like that idea you'll love every song.

What’s the best track?
‘Lay in a Shimmer' is typically mellow, dark  and even has a bit of singing on it. If I was being unfair I'd say that all the other tracks sound like remixes of this track, but that's only true to a certain extent.

Who does it sound like?
Plastic Man, Banco de Gaia, Trentmoller.


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