Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise (Rough Trade)
There’s a cruel irony whenever Electronic musicians strive to bring a sense of the natural to their work—one tends to contemplate why they just didn’t pick up a stringed instrument instead of a synthesizer.
Lately, there have been enormous strides in the Electronic genre to manipulate those sounds of nature into the cold precision of the silicone that’s fueling their muse. And Pantha Du Prince must surely be near the top of that effort, letting the landscapes of his surroundings begin each track of Black Noise before it dissolves into textural beats, expressive chimes, and sophisticated arrangements.
Between stays in Berlin and Paris, Black Noise compiles a surprising amount of natural tones and beats that lend the album as a nice winter solace soundtrack.
You’ll be hearing more about Pantha Du Prince with this record, thanks in large part to “Stick In My Side,” a nearly eight-minute wash of cool rhythms and Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox on vocals. It’s infectious enough, but unless you’re obsessive over Lennox’s extra-curricular activities, it’s the subdued pulse of Pantha Du Prince’s backdrop that will remain with you.
What should be driving everyone’s attention to Black Noise is the coyly infectious way it begins each song with a collage of sounds before falling into a comfortable pattern of sleepwalking rhythms. They may not exactly lead you to the dancefloor, but Black Noise certainly sounds like it’s taking you somewhere special.
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