Pantha du Prince: This Bliss [Dial]

"Urlichten" is the song playing on my stereo right now. This whole record is fantastic. I think "Walden 2" is my favorite track this week.

You ever have really good creeper bud, where you go around for 20 minutes not realizing what is happening to your head, but then there's this moment of realization where you're like, "Holy shit, I'm really high!" That's what walking around listening to this album on headphones is like. My #1 of 2007.

Jeez his animal collective remix is really tops.

Honestly, there are times where Pantha (not necesarilly the AC remix, just his stuff in general) reminds me why I like music in the first place.

For awhile this was in my Top 5 for the year, though I'm not sure that's still the case; I haven't been calibrating my favorites with any real attention to detail recently. But this is an absolutely gorgeous album for sure.

love love love this album.

It's really lovely but there's something that prevents me from ever wanting to listen all the way through in one sitting. Perhaps its the limitations of the sound palette but there are some amazing melodic touches in there.

Would I like this?

I think so.

I may investigate.

i tried to buy immer 2 a few months ago in a shop and the clerk was like, "look, you can buy this, and it's good, or you can buy this.." there was a sign over it that said "FUCKING MASTERPIECE," so i took his advice.

Why has this one been talked about/covered so much more than Diamond Daze?

vampire techno

like anne rice style vampires

don't believe me?

andy, because this is much better than Diamond Daze.

one of the 3 best albums of the year, imo.

i picked up the animal collective single tonight and does indeed rock. thanks for the tip melht.

wow, it's better than anything on this bliss which is really saying something.

i wasn't feeling the peacebone remix at all at first, but after about ten or so listens, it's startling how much my opinion's changed. i love it. starts off so unassuming, then a slow, ever so subtle progression into a real banger of a track, i wish it would keep going another ten minutes!

anyone know of an online store i could pick up the AC remix 12"?

not sure if Juno is out of stock, but they don't have it :(

arr.. the Domino site.

Still my #1, after some consideration and lots of shuffling around of playlists. I think it's at about 4:08 of the first track that I made up my mind over again.

And who said they can't listen to it all the way through? Rong.

Can't listen all the way thru!?

But... but... but then how do you get to its meisterstück, "Steiner Im Flug"!?

I finally bought it (issues of loyalty to record stores that haven't been able to get it in, as well as delayed release in north america (I think) held me back) and it's pretty much what I'd expect this to be, nothing short of sublime.

I'm dead serious when I say Pantha du Prince reminds me why I like music in the first place. Listening to this, It almost put me back to when I just first started listening to electronic music, and probably back to when I first heard a melody that I just couldn't get over. I got this distinct feeling halfway through the album of being 16 again and first listening to Lawrence (obviously the similarity of the two artists factors in, but Lawrence was one of the first techno/house producers I started listening to, and one of the very first I felt really strongly about)and just being amazed at this new (to me) music which was just so mesmerizing and astonishing. And Pantha du Prince brings that feeling back, and he puts everything since then into context, he provides this amazing feeling of hearing something that feels like it's the first time combined with the familiarity and knowledge that comes with experience.
For me, he is honestly one of those artists that only comes once in every few couple years, if that.

I think this is pretty pleasant.

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, February 26, 2007 6:04 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Link
Nice and chilly, this is.

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, February 26, 2007 10:35 PM

"Jeez his animal collective remix is really tops.
Honestly, there are times where Pantha (not necesarilly the AC remix, just his stuff in general) reminds me why I like music in the first place."

OTM. This record is killing me right now !

good for this time of year. slips into a cool gray day in a sort of unassuming fashion, and then gradually buoys you up...

see this is the type of shit that condemns me to spending too much time reading about and listening to music - to think that i might have missed THIS.

Two new remixes of his out recently: solomun , and errrm, someone else I can't remember, but of a track called deep tunnels, which has a lot of potential if it sounds like the title suggests. Downloaded the solomun one, haven't listened to it yet, but it sounds like a good remix, more dark and straightforward. Anyone heard the first one I mentioned?

Phew, that being said, I think I should give This Bliss another whirl, and freaking buy Diamond Daze as soon as I can, it too is quite brilliant.

boomkat sample of "deep tunnel" (the original is by 'blunt')(no, i haven't heard of him before either)(lousy name) sounds really nice. i have the solomun remix somewhere, but for some reason it didn't really stick with me, might have to give it a re-listen.

the whole of "deep tunnel" is really nice. also, its predictably pretty, but if can't really get enough melancholy minimal tech with orchestral flourishes (i'm not sure i can) check out his remix of raz ohara and the odd orchestra's "kisses".

was pondering earlier that this bliss might actually be my "album of the year".

I forgot to mention kisses, which I've kind of previewed to mixed feelings, but don't listen to that because it's very much the kind of thing you need to hear from beginning to end.

In my end of the year list which is still in progress, I made a conscious decision to limit it to 1 track per artist, as otherwise it would just be This Bliss! Honestly though, Saturn Strobe (my #1), Florac, and the Peacebone remix are all top 10 for sure.

here's Howard Skempton's utterly sublime "Lento" which Pantha used as the basis for "Saturn Strobe". it was good of him to give Skempton the entire writing credit for the track but a little shameful of him to mis-credit the track to "Robert Skempton" on the sleeve! i sent this to a friend of mine a while back and he messaged me tonight to say that it had just brought him to the verge of tears.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/sol35z

Thanks! I love Saturn Strobe and thought it must be a sample, but I had no idea what.

Blissful mix of soaring techno from Pantha for Sonar 2008 on RBMA Radio. Do yourself a favor and check it out, esp if you've been pining for something similar after his last record.

is there an archive of this or other red bull shows for download anywhere?

i've been asked that question many times. i would love to have all these great mixes as podcasts. to answer your question, no i havent been able to find a means to dl these.

cool--anxious to hear this. just got This Bliss on vinyl--sweet!

must listen to this again as it bored me first time around... is ot more an autumn / winter thing?

where exactly is this mix found?

Good God!

From http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1750&Itemid=26

There's no news like really fucking good news. One of our favourite labels in the world, Hamburg's Dial Records, has revealed its release plans for 2009, prompting at least one member of the FACT editorial team to wet himself.

First up, it looks as though there'll be a new Pantha Du Prince album hitting shelves before the year is out. The last album by Pantha AKA Henrik Weber (pictured above), This Bliss, was one of the albums of 2007, and it's shaping up to be one of the albums of the decade n'all. Details of its follow-up are scarce (i.e. non-existent), but we're reliably informed that it's going to surface "late 2009". It will be preceded in the early part of the year by a new 12" (dial45).

The most imminent Dial release is an EP collection entitled Pyramid Drift, due out on February 2nd. It features post-punk legend Momus along with Christoph de Babalon, Efdemin and Arises. This will be followed by Christian Naujok's debut LP on March 16th, which we're told will "deliver Marimba instrumentals, 12tone r 'n' b, piano pieces and endearing pop songs!"

In late April, Phantom/Ghost return with a new album, Thrown Out of Drama School, and 12" releases from Pigon and John Roberts are in the pipeline too. As if that's not enough, an album is expected from Pawel in the latter part of the year, while Carsten Jost is working on new material and Dial boss/figurehead Lawrence has completed an LP for release on Mule Electronic in late summer.

News comes and news goes, but this is too good of an announcement to help start to the new year

the new 12" is this big ominous riff that dissipates into this noodly melodic thing about 2/3rds of the way though, really great.

I love PdP and Behind The Stars. But it makes it pretty obvious that his template is:

1: Create nice chord progression: C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6

2: ----- C1 C2 ------------------ C3 C4 ---- C5 C6 -----

Where - is beats + tweaking

"Pantha du Prince signed to Rough Trade Records. New album Black Noise to be released on Rough Trade on the 8th of Febuary 2010.

Black Noise includes collaborations with Noah Lennox aka Panda Bear of Animal Collective and Tyler Pope of !!! and LCD Soundsystem. Prepared instruments played on location in Swiss by Joachim Schütz, Stephan Abry and Hendrik Weber. "

Intrigued, at the very least. The last single - "Behind The Stars" wasn't that engaging, but given that "This Bliss" still delivers sublime listening (even if xpost kinda sullied the whole thing with pointing out the trick) and is even now frequently listened to, I'm looking forward to the new album.

Dear Pantha,

Please get Panda Bear the fuck off this thing right now.

Yours,

Matt DC

^ totally agree.

Actually as long as he's not singing I don't much mind.

"Prepared instruments" - like John Cage style or something?

major w00tage until i read about panda bear, ugh

still looking forward to this album though my excitement has turned into skepticism

it's always nice when one can cut down one's to-listen list so easily i guess :(

yeah, def. won't have to waste my precious megabytes on this one.

Question: remember how, like, last year, when I had just seen James Holden and was looking for reccomendations of other "minimal meets nu-gaze textural stuff" NOT A ONE OF YOU repped this album to me?

Coz this is pretty much a dictionary definition of this.

yeah, def. won't have to waste my precious megabytes on this one.

Presumably Panda Bear will only be on one track and the rest of it could be incredible. Bit early to dismiss the whole record isn't it?

It's a bad sign when the guest appearances start to crop up.

(will I get a beatdown if I ask the question, why are German minimal producers so damn hott? They're just really... sculptural. Is that why they make such sculptural, minimal music, to match their cheek bones and their dress sense?)

It's a bad sign when the guest appearances start to crop up.

I hope it turns out to be the best record ever and you never hear it.

Hey, it could be worse. It could be like when Ulrich Schnauss got that wanker from Longview to come and sing over every damn track so it became bloody painful to ever see him live. I doubt PandaBear will be touring with him.

I bet you 5 to 1 odds, when ILM polls the Pantha albums next year, whatever this new one is finishes below This Bliss. I'll still download it from mediafire but I didn't really like his last 12" and can't imagine pairing with Indie Fucks is going to improve his sound.

(will I get a beatdown if I ask the question, why are German minimal producers so damn hott?

haha some of them are just mad-eyed casualties and def not hott. villalobos, väth et al. hottest for me is ben klock for real

vleurgh, we have such different tastes. Klock just looks like GI Joe to me. Way too built. I like the skinny androgynouse ones. Sorry, we should just start a ROLLING HOTT BOYS OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC thread but, erm... nah, I found this Berlin compilation that Pantha du Prince had a new track on, on Spotify, and I was just casually flicking through the first few artists - and all of them were just these sculptured cheekbone dudes. Like, you wouldn't actually want to do anything with them, they're just too beautiful to even touch. You'd wanna put them on a shelf and admire them.

sorry sorry sorry for derail.

not a derail when it comes to PduP, every girl i know lusts after him. and how could you not:

http://www.panthaduprince.com/img/photos/photo5.jpg

would rather talk about that than be reminded of ::shudder:: panda bear, at any rate

I'll stop the hate now. This Bliss gave me endless hours of joy and I was so excited to find Diamond Daze on cd at my local shop so I'm def. hoping the new one is enjoyable.

they're the same guy dudes... pantha/panda... think about it

every boy in his "similar artists" profile on last.fm is a STONE COLD FOX

http://www.last.fm/music/Pantha+du+prince

two clicks got me to...

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/20547767/Onur+zer+onurzer.jpg

who is just the super hottest amazing cheekboned boy I've ever seen.
(except he's not actually German, he's Turkish. even better.)

I don't know what his music sounds like, but the idea of Turkish minimal makes me orgasm just thinking about it.

I mean, this dude... WOW

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/603389/Onur+zer.jpg

Sorry. I mean, yeah. Pantha du Prince.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Pantha_du_Prince.jpg

::falls off chair::

onur özer is amazing, search "red cabaret (overture)" and "halikarnas" -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0fcZr7n65s

and for more turkish minimal, check out tolga fidan's "tanbulistan"...

Newly signed to Rough Trade for the UK

I found Orion first, and it's mind-blowing. It's got darboukas on it. The sound of darboukas to me is like bongos to the balaeric beardo dudes. It's like catnip. Plus, it's about SPACE. WHy isn't he on any of my "club sounds of Istanbul" comps? MAN!

ha ha, I just looked on last.fm and the Lex's last 3 tracks and mine were exactly the same.

all the German minimal dudes seem to have a Johnny Greenwood thing going on

Ben Klock, physically, is the Henry Rollins of techno.

Maybe this is my heterosexuality talking, but I imagine that in itself would be a deal-breaker.

Similarly, Onur is the Vinni Reilly of Techno, which would be a total deal-maker.

Also, before we talk about Panda Bear ruining Pantha du Prince, lest we forget what the latter did to Peacebone, i.e. pretty much the remix of 2007?

I really dig "Behind The Stars". I am terrified of these collaborations, no matter what you say, EDB.

But yeah, brotherlovesdub, even if it is a wonderful album, it will probably finish below Bliss because it's not a shocking great album from nowhere.

im not really sure i see panda bear ruining the album either, at least not necessarily - i mean, the guy obviously has some respect for electronic music (basic channel's in his liner notes iirc), is there any reason to think he doesnt like This Bliss for the same reasons you do?

All is lost, don't you see?

it's more just about the basic fact that he's singing. unless that voice is heavily, heavily treated, it will ruin whatever it's on.

Is he actually singing? oh noes. that worries me. I was hoping he'd be making some doingy doingy noises or something. nonononononooo.

it's Longview syndrome, all over again.

Also, Panda Bear is so not hot. And we are only having hott techno boys on this thread.

http://www.electronicbeats.net/var/eb/storage/images/events/event-calendar/pantha-du-prince/51285-1-eng-GB/Pantha-Du-Prince_header_image.jpg

If he's not singing I really don't mind if he's on there. I would totally take an instrumental version of Merriweather Post Pavilion.

PANTHA DU PRINCE signs to Rough Trade
-New album Black Noise to be released on Feb 8th, 2010

Rough Trade is very pleased to announce the signing of electronic musician and producer, Pantha du Prince. His new full length, “Black Noise” will be released on February 8th, 2010. Pantha Du Prince fuses house, techno, shoegazy electronica and psychedelic electro-acoustic soundscapes into music that is at once both beautiful and bewitching.

He has released several recordings to date through the respected German label Dial Records, which is run by and for its artists. His previous album This Bliss, was a bittersweet take on techno, which appealed to both dancefloors and living rooms alike and was hugely successful. As a result he has become an in-demand remixer and has done tracks for Depeche Mode, Animal Collective, Bloc Party, Phantom/Ghost, The Long Blondes and many others.

On his new album, Pantha Du Prince, who lives in Berlin and Paris, claims: music slumbers in all matter; any sound, even silence, is already music. The mission, then, must be to render audible what is unheard and unheard of: black noise, a frequency that is inaudible to man. Black noise often presages natural disasters, earthquakes or floods; only some animals perceive this “calm before the storm.” Black noise is something archaic and earthy. The music on Black Noise balances precariously on the slippery threshold between art and nature, between techno and folklore, which lends it a certain spectral and intangible aspect.

Black Noise also features a couple of special guests – Noah Lennox of Animal Collective sings on “Stick to my side” and Tyler Pope of !!! and LCD Soundsystem plays bass on “The Splendour”.

Geoff Travis, the founder of Rough Trade, signed Pantha Du Prince and said the following about the newest addition to the label: “When Rough Trade started we were very much involved with the first wave of do it yourself electronica, with Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle amongst our early releases. It is nice to be able to return to the fray with one of the most musically eloquent practitioners in this field, Pantha Du Prince.”

currently d/l Diamond Daze which is supposed to be the really shoegazy one, right?

x-post UGH UGH UGH NO NO NO SINGING UGH IT'S LONGVIEW SYNDROME ALL OVER AGAIN

(though apart from that it sounds really really intersting)

((that's so weird about the black noise thing, though, as one of my fictional characters in a story about 6 months ago was working on music based on earthquake samples and the like. get out of my brane, hot sound artist))

Butterfly Girl was the only thing I really liked from Diamond Daze. Maybe due a re-listen.

I'm two songs in, and yes, this really is my sort of thing. It's kind of very close and almost claustrophobic, quite radiophonic in its quiet spookiness. Lots of whirring clockwork noises and quite a "under the covers, in the dark, as the nights draw in" feeling to it.

So you know, go and search all of Lawrence's early albums, and all his stuff up until 2004 or so, just so you don't blame me later for not mentioning it.

this dude is completely savage

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/pantha_.jpg

album cover, apparently

I'm two songs in, and yes, this really is my sort of thing. It's kind of very close and almost claustrophobic, quite radiophonic in its quiet spookiness. Lots of whirring clockwork noises and quite a "under the covers, in the dark, as the nights draw in" feeling to it.

― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:02 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark

This really describes it for me, too. It's earworm-high sustained syntesizer tones and "off" harmonies give it an eerie, alien feel. It has a strange, ataxic rhythm, too...

^ uh you guys talking about the new one?

I was talking about Diamond Daze. Haven't heard the new one yet

oh, ok then! i thought maybe...

but anyhoo, This Bliss is fantastic.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This Bliss reminded me why I like music in the first place.

errr... like

Oh man, that is an actual bad album cover.

I *really* like it, since I already imagine Pantha du Prince as a Teutonic Alpen thing.

It looks like a Thomas Kincaid painting!

It doesn't!

I'm going to listen to Saturn Strobe right now, just to spite you!

http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/images/stories/easygallery/thumbs/46/pantha-main.jpg

Whatever happened to faceless techno bollocks?

RA News: Pantha Du Prince preps Black Noise
http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=11370
Rough Trade will release Black Noise on February 8th, 2010. article includes interview

going to see him live in glasgow tomorrow.

^jealous

not going to see him live in glasgow tomorrow because i suck and didn't know he was playing and now have plans (>_<)

has this bliss showed up on any of these best-of-decade lists? because it oughta. (i imagine it'll place on the inevitable ilm poll.)

yeah dude the album is incredible.

jim, he's not playing til midnight or so. he's playing at men and machines in stereo which opens at club time (11.00?)

I hate to interrupt all the speculations on why his new album is going to bear a panda-bear filled disaster, but you can listen to his new single

Could very have very well been on This Bliss, which is obviously not a bad thing. I hear some Walden in there, too. Nevertheless, I'm still of the belief that Pantha can do whatever he goddamn pleases after making TB.

FACT had This Bliss at No. 8 on their best albums of the decade list. Well done them.

As kind of scattered as their list was, This Bliss is no doubt one of the best albums of the 00's.

Can't believe I left Dial out of my one published "Best of the decade" list. I hang my head in shame ...

not going to see him in glasgow cos I didn't know he ws playing. how ws it?

and here's the pandabear track: http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com/2009/12/mp3-pantha-du-prince-stick-to-my-side.html

That's pretty good actually, Panda Bear hardly gets in the way at all.

I like this Pantha/Panda Bear song. The soft little explosions of noise add drama and depth to all those plingy, pinging sounds. And the vocals give the song a nice focus (songs like this too often become background music for me when they are instrumental tracks).

I too scared to listen to the Panda Bear track. Listened to The Splendour this morning and it just made me want to get onto the first half of This Bliss.

I really was disappointed with Behind The Stars - lacked the prettiness, iciness of This Bliss and went on for too long. I'm fearful for my mood if the Panda Bear track fails.

Not quite the disaster that I was expecting (something on the level of the Notwist hooking up with Anticon was). It's nowhere near as good as the "Peacebone" remix was, but it is better than "Behind the Stars."

not going to see him in glasgow cos I didn't know he ws playing. how ws it?

― SKATAAAAAAAAAAA (cozwn), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 19:57 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest

i texted you the day before the gig!

it was okay. guy with laptop etc.

handsome guy with a laptop, slightly better.

i like this new album! it doesn't have the iciness of the last one, per se, but is still pretty glassy...

that said, i've only listened to it on repeat while writing a massive term paper.

just... no. panda bear ruins this track for me. his vocals are way to prominent in the mix. they might have got away with it if they were more ambient or chopped up or unrecognisable. but i suppose, why get some flavour-of-the-week if you're not going to take advantage of it

some music really should stay instrumental

"the splendour" is nice, but feels like a this bliss outtake. just makes me want to go back to that.

not gonna touch this panda bear track until i absolutely have to...dude has one of the worst voices i've ever heard, the only way he could avoid fucking this up is by remaining silent.

am i being thick? is that track linked above or is everyone on this board a journo who has advance copies of everything?

i suppose vocals could have been really nice over the top of this, had they been decent vocals, but this is just completely the wrong vocal for the music. seriously, don't listen to it, lex pretend, his voice is inescapable

my mobile is borked right now, jed, sorry : /

I dunno, maybe Panda Bear's vocals are more prominent on the MP3, and it was just the stream quality that made them sound airier than they really are.

"Glassy" is a such a perfect word to use to describe Pantha's music, although I find it warm rather than icy, especially compared to most minimal of the time.

Agree "glassy" is more apt then my use of "iciness"

i REALLY LIKE 'Stick to My Side.' i'm reviewing this album for the next issue of XLR8R, think i'm most likely going to give it big ups.

and i don't really understand this hatred of panda bear's voice... i lost my AC fanboy status many moons ago (haven't consciously heard a track since 'Feels,' which might seem odd, but i just have no interest), but his voice can be rather charming, i think.

that said, 'Behind the Stars' is just okay, imho

(okay i love the way it ends, but the first half is a bit snoresville)

drip

when's the new LP out, again?

it's 'out' now if you have the google skillz.

It's pretty fucking good, too.

yeah it really is. wasn't too keen on the panda bear vocal and i like panda bear. so peeps whose mileage varies will be sure to hate it.

Can't say I enjoyed that song, but the rest of the record worked like a charm. After one listen, anyway...

i know i've said that i liked the Panda Bear track here.

but i also want to say that whenever i play that track for friend, they're really into it. they're not techno-heads, most of them, but have very good taste. so i'm wondering whether the difference is that those more 'invested' in the genre might not dig that track specifically, whereas those who might not be technofied might be really into it?

Yeah, many technofied people are most likely coming to with preconceived ideas about what it's supposed to or should sound like, idea that don't take kindly to Pandabearindiefuxxorwhatever. I'm pretty sure a lot of people are more offended by the idea of Panda Bear than his vocals themselves (case in point this thread). That said I don't actually like the vocals, but do think they'd have worked quite well if they were further buried in the mix, made more abstract/harmonic.

Woah strawman-building ahoy. Fwiw this sounds almost exactly how I expected it to sound.

I like this album, the Panda Bear vocals do get in the way a bit but they aren't terrible. It doesn't feel like the track should need vocals in the first place though.

i like this album except the panda bear song, but it doesn't really feel like it builds on this bliss in any way - it sort of reprises those sounds to satisfactory but slight-less-gorgeous effect.

I dunno, it's quite a lot darker than This Bliss.

Fwiw this sounds almost exactly how I expected it to sound.

because it's virtually indistinguishable from this bliss.

i really prefer it to this bliss and think it sounds more like diamond daze(?) but only listened to it through twice.

Fwiw this sounds almost exactly how I expected it to sound.

because it's virtually indistinguishable from this bliss.

― sir ilx-a-lot (cutty)

The cumulative effect is a bit darker than This Bliss, like Matt DC said, but no one track would be out of place on TB. A "departure", it ain't.

it doesn't have the iciness of the last one, per se, but is still pretty glassy...

The glass seems a bit cracked this time, if that makes sense.

My verdict is still out on the Panda Bear vocal track.

has this bliss showed up on any of these best-of-decade lists? because it oughta. (i imagine it'll place on the inevitable ilm poll.)

My #4.

Gorgeous but I can't find a way in, emotionally or intellectually. Sounds like stuff a decade or so ago, not the bleeding edge of nowsville.

Are you talking about This Bliss or the new one?

new one

This Bliss was 8th on FACT's decade list (http://www.factmag.com/2009/12/08/100-best-albums-of-the-decade/10/).

People who would vote for This Bliss as top 10 of the 00s: what makes it much much better than all of the emotional fragile sometimes dark microhouse released at the beginning of the decade?

I mean, I love the album, but in the same way that I love, oh, Total 7, say.

frankly I would love to hear loads more records in the same vein as This Bliss - any recs?

what makes it much much better than all of the emotional fragile sometimes dark microhouse released at the beginning of the decade?

If you have to ask...

(Which is another way of saying, "I don't know.")

My stab at it, Tim: It's all of a piece as much compositionally as sonically, so you get to really explore his sensibility, and Weber is the kind of artist for whom sensibility is all, rather than a brand identity's, bountiful though that brand identity may be. I find him hard to write about, which is clearly my limitation since what's so attractive is how sumptuous and immersive his music is; a lot of what I pick up on from that album is how completely he's showing off his facets, limited as they are in a strict sense. It's a narrower cohesion than a Total comp but it's also deeper, a portrait rather than a snapshot. Or, simpler: it really works as an album, maaaan.

(This Bliss isn't in my decade Top 10; it's 77th.)

Poke holes in this:

The postpunk/disco-rock/nu-electro axis : Sound of Silver :: Early Kompakt/microminimal : [i]This Bliss

Maybe?

I like that, even if I hesitate to fully endorse it.

My intention, I should note, is more relationship-to than culminating-in.

Yeah I guess all of that makes sense, and I do very much like the album.

I guess the thing that works even better in an "album, maaan" sense for me is mixes, and in my top 100 stuff like 'Hypercity' and 'Immer' and 'Friends' and 'Metawuffmischfelge', each of which attain that "portrait" feel while also being broader in their aims, would push out the space that would otherwise exist for single artist albums such as this. Though the vaguely similar single artist album I'd probably rep first is the MRI debut (which is rather underrated perhaps due to the existence both of 'Hypercity' and the more gregarious 'All That Glitters').

It's not merely the high poll placings though: lots of raves I've read about the album have implied some essential novelty to it, like he's doing things others haven't, whereas I'd say that really what he does is take something that's been done before quite a bit and then does it very intently. Nothing wrong with that, it's a noble aim, but I've wondered if people are hearing stuff than I'm missing.

This is what I said about dude at the time: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10273-this-bliss/

So you found it cold. And yet...

"hope itself becomes too much to hope for in a narrative defined by decay."

This is OTM, and why it's one of my favorite records.

("Disintegration Loops" is also in my top 10, fwiw.)

Friends is my '00s No. 1.

Yeah my issue here was less "why do people like this album so much" and more "gee, if this is number 8 then you better put 'Friends' (or equiv) at number 1!"

xp Mine's Apologies to the Queen Mary, but I should have put Friends higher, considering how often I have listened to it. It's been a go-to since I got it, more than either Immer.

This is why I was careful to give my list bullets and not numbers.

Oh yeah, I agree. Was being too shorthanded above. I think here we run into the semi-conscious (when we're lucky) inner-blocking that a lot of folks have re: "real album" and fake ones like comps and mixes. I don't think it's nearly as widespread in dance (-friendly) circles as outside it, but it occurs.

(xpost to Tim)

Probably true.

It's correct to say, I think, that Pantha Du Prince has really nailed this space as an artist-aesthetic, and I could imagine lots of people warming to it for that as much as anything else.

Esp. in the context of lots of artists in vaguely similar territory going sing-songy or eclectic or moving into a totally different style on their actual artist albums (see Superpitcher, Mathias Schaffhauser, Closer Musik).

One reason the Panda Bear guest spot makes sense to me, besides (narrowly) commercially, is that Weber waited till album 3 to do it. It does seem as if the earlier the guest stars start showing up, the shorter the career.

Ok i have to ask what that Friends album is, seeing as I really like Pantha, I'd love to hear more that sounds like it.

What's makes Pantha Du Prince have more press and recognition than Lawrence, who I like much more. Until Then, Goodbye was one of my favorites from last year, as well as singles like Jill.

I'm assuming Friends is 'Triple R Friends' on Kompakt?
http://www.discogs.com/Triple-R-Friends/release/67137

Or is there another friends?

ok thanks

Jibe have you heard Lawrence's The Absence Of Blight? If you like This Bliss go find it.

Albums
Richard Davis "Details"
Lawrence "The Absence of Blight"
Pantha Du Prince "Diamond Daze"
Gringo Gringer's "Breakfast Included"
Ola Bergman's "The Satellite City"
Fairmont's "Paper Stars"
Kaito, "Special Love"
Superpitcher, "Today"
Michael Mayer, "Immer"
Tobias Thomas, "Please Please Please"
Ada, "Adaptations"

Tracks
Closer Musik's One Two Three (No Gravity)
Ada's Each and Everyone (Blindhouse)
M83's Don't Save Us From The Flames (Superpitcher Remix)
Ghost Cauldron's See What I've Become (Superpitcher Smallville remix)
Margo's La Baumette (Broker Dealer Remix)
Phantom Ghost's Perfect Lovers (Unperfect Love Mix Tobias Thomas & Superpitcher)
Nathan Fake - Outhouse
Duplex's Late Night Cycling
System 7's Big Sky City (High Rise Mix)
Phantom Ghost's Nothing Is Written (Tobias Thomas & Superpitcher Mix)
Raz O'Hara's This' A Beautiful Day (Mathias Schaffhauser Mix)
Quarks' Du Entkommst Mir Nicht (Lawrence Remix)
Chelonis R. Jones' I Don't Know
RJ Project's What Colour Is Love (Red Jerry's Monkeyhouse Mix)
Alexander Kowalski's Lock Me Up (Sascha Funke Mix)
Dennis Desantis's Promotion of Vice (Alexander Kowalski Mix)
Carsten Jost's Uccellini
Gus Gus's Remembrance (neuromantic avant la lettre)
Dextro's Do You Need Help
Extrawelt's Zu Fuss
Miss Kittin's Happy Violentine
Plastikman's I Don't Know
Villalobos's Easy Lee
Dopplereffekt's Myon-Neutrino
Laurent Garnier's Go To Sleep
GusGus' Detention
Alex Smoke's I Don't See The Point
DnTel's This is the Dream of Evan and Chan (Superpitcher Remix)

Ada's Each and Everyone (Blindhouse)
RJ Project's What Colour Is Love (Red Jerry's Monkeyhouse Mix)
Raz O'Hara's This' A Beautiful Day (Mathias Schaffhauser Mix)
Alexander Kowalski's Lock Me Up (Sascha Funke Mix)
Carsten Jost's Uccellini

Cozen, hearting you so much for these choices. Especially the RJ Project track which I've always thought was loved by no one else in the world.

@Jacob Sanders : yeah I've listened to Lawrence too. Quite like Absence of blight, not too hot on his latest one but I didn't pay it much attention. Need to listen to it a bit more before I make up my mind.

Also cowzn, thanks for this list of stuff I need to find and listen!

I think Tim's more or less right. Pantha's not doing anything new, just doing it better. I sort of view This Bliss as a picking up of where Lawrence left off with Absence of Blight type stuff (before he started doing his more contemporary stuff which I think just pales in comparison), and nailing the feeling.

I think a lot of people either forget about or disdain early 00's microhouse, to my total dismay because it's my favourite kind of music.

I'm sure if a lot of people heard friends or the stuff off cozwn's list came out today and got the proper exposure it could do serious damage(Richard Davis might even have the potential to achieve more success and crossover acclaim than Pantha I'd argue. I HAVE to find myself a copy of Details immediately).

cozzie i <3 u

The world does need more moody, Baroque Superpitcher remixes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrZUxN3-KpU

Yup.

But actually I think Pantha is different enough from most of the stuff Cozen lists, in terms of structure if nothing else. They're a lot more direct, more dancefloor-friendly. Pantha's tracks remind a lot of Plaid circa the P-Brane EP, kind of meandering around in abstract plinking before finally arriving at some cute melody for the last couple of minutes. At times it's amazing, at times the whole "let's see what's over here" approach can grate.

i agree re: plaid. anyone remember the hab "mapod" LP.

lawrence owns that techno packaged in images of dead plants thing, doesn't he?

Lawrence's "Along the Wire (Superpitcher remix)" never got quite enough attention - The Night Will Last Forever wasn't the most compelling album, but the Superpitcher mix and the Carsten Jost remix of "Swap" prefigure later Pantha du Prince almost perfectly.

Also interesting comparing Efdemin's career: This Bliss and the Efdemin LP came out at about the same time & felt very similar, but Efdemin seems much more interested in house than in being a crossover.

I was hoping Superpitcher's supposed new album would be a return to form for this genre. I missed this kind of music and perhaps what's missing in Pantha Du Prince for me is the Danciness? Hasn't Richard Davis released an album since Details? How does it compare with Bring Me Closer? Could Gui Boratto's No Turning Back fit cozen's nice list?

Lawrence's "Along the Wire (Superpitcher remix)" never got quite enough attention

don't know about the truth of this statement, but maybe that's because this might be one of my favorite tracks ever.

RJ Project's What Colour Is Love (Red Jerry's Monkeyhouse Mix)

Is this a Terry Callier cover? :o

I don't mind this!

(The new one that is.)

Except for the ones with the crappy vocals which I guess is the guest indie guy?

here's a spotify playlist w/lots of tht stuff on it btw

^ thanks dude!! journey to work just got fun!

Cozen. is that playlist to big to transcribe over here? Spotify is not available in my country and I loved your picks upthread.

it's pretty much just the same stuff above (tracks and albums, incl. three or four other tracks I remembered when putting it together)

K thanks cozen.... here is a tracklist I arranged some months ago with a similar mood:

Gui Boratto - Atol
Mathew Leutwyler - Jovencitas
Sascha Funke - Mango
Ellen Allien & Apparat - Jet
The Rice Twins - for Penny and Alexis
Stephan Bodzin - Kerosene
Pantha du Prince - Asha
The MFA - The difference it makes
Nightguy - Pretty Face
Raz Ohara and the Odd Orchestra - Kisses (Pantha du Prince remix)
Sennh - I am with you
Ellen Allien - Sehnsucht
Lucio Aquilina - Magic M
Moonbeam - Slow Heart
Flying Lotus - Auntie’s Lock / Infinitum
Shigeto - Winter Thaw
Mujuice - Over the Rainbow
Ezekiel Honig - More human than human
Paul Kalkbrenner - Aaron
Son.sine - Upekah
Paul Kalkbrenner - Since 77
Arc Lab - Versions
Four Tet & Burial - Moth
Jesse Somfay - Amo Alucinor
Stimming - The Kiss
Broker/Dealer - Every Other Sunday
Closer Musik - Maria
Booka Shade - Mandarine Girl
Triola - Neuland

I thought this was "just okay" at first, something of a retread... but it's getting more and more awesome with each listen. Probably in my top 3-4 of the year so far, along with Four Tet and a couple other greats.

yeah i really like the broken music box acoustic sounds that pop up seemingly out of nowhere on this record. reminds me a little of anthony collins stuff.

Conveniently, it's on Spotify so I can make up my mind.

and, like This Bliss, sounds even better on vinyl!

http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/musicvideo/4073-pantha-du-prince-stick-to-my-side-rough-trade

ok you bastards this is pretty damn good altho admittedly i have only heard 1 1/2 songs from it thus far

in an hour i will have enjoyed the whole thing

will presumably treat myself to 'this bliss' afterwards

http://roughtraderecords.com/files/sticktomysidefourtetversion_panthaduprince.mp3

Four Tet remixes Pantha Du Prince.

let me guess mr mouthy you are about to tell me to listen to the four tet album

that is generally how these things go

It is great.

this album seriously bangs, 'satellite snyper' is HUGE

~seriously bangs~

this isn't really that good apart from about one track, the one that has a vocal that may be someone american but i didn't check....it's like about 10 per cent of older better german emo techno eg kompakt.

it's not as good sonically maximalist as ulrich schnauss, that's for sure

but there's good, intricate work at play here, and arresting songs

my problem with techno is that i never know where to start

i'm trying not to needlessly just criticise a record but basically i listened this and thought it sounded like everything dial have done for years, like really years. not bad but i personally would love to hear some techno that overrides brain over heritage/soul but it'd be better if it was done in a new way.

I listen to german techno about once a year so this fits my needs...

I would like to know more about superpitcher though. guess I'll do some diggin

black noise would appear to be the techno dilettante's album of choice '10

ronan it is your mission to unveil unseen delights in a non-oh-my-god-it's-full-of-stars way - a couple of shit-hot recommendations, rather than a cataract of fabric mixes and all the doubtless great but highly specialised ephemera that constitute the techno scene

just search superpitcher in spotify....no means a comprehensive selection but basically a primer of high quality.

from the (not at all reflective of how good superpitcher is) results start with the remix of "along the wire"

do they have spotify in hong kong?

no :(

I hereby petition the british parliament to mandate that all services available exclusively to residents of the UK also be made available to residents of all of the queen's former colonies as well

hard luck chum, enjoy yr 'independence'

:( TAKE US BACK

black noise would appear to be the techno dilettante's album of choice '10

Yeah, I can't even qualify as a techno dilettante (I am sub-dilettante in regard to techno) and I love it. It does make me curious to hear more along these lines, but I'm happy to just enjoy it as possibly a one-off techno album I somehow happen to like a whole lot.

(As mentioned before, I didn't even know what genre it was when I downloaded it.)

ok cool dyao we're sending over our top agent to try and convince the chinese that they need more british potentates to tell them how to make tea

don't you mean british... MANDARINS

*dum dum dum*

http://www.greenexpander.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/a-mandarinduck.jpg

REQUIEM

I guess this is the de facto Pantha Du Prince thread?

Anyway this video is like what I picture when I listen to Black Noise, only there's no Jim Hensonesque puppet in my vision

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYp91WftFqQ

I was alerted to this via the Facebook fan page which made it seem like it was new, but thinking about it and considering video views it is very likely it is not, but I liked it anyway

http://vimeo.com/10773105 there's this too

Oh, why not? http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=125676131

Didn't write the headline, comments are o_O, apologies for self-promo.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125676131 is the actual written piece, notably different from the radio one.

Didn't realize until last week that "Welt am Draht" is a reference to Fassbinder's film by the same name - that uses Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" (as featured in the KLF's Chill Out & the Köhncke/Heimermann cover) as end titles music.

Oh, why not? http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=125676131

Didn't write the headline, comments are o_O, apologies for self-promo.

― Please Do Not Swagga Jack Me (Matos W.K.), Monday, 19 April 2010 22:55 (44 minutes ago) Bookmark

haha!! I put that comment in there with the link to a Kenny Larkin YouTube link after being bewildered that someone referenced the shittiest of shit as "techno". Should have been more vitriolic in my despair!

hahaha I was thinking more of the "Oh yeah, it's ambient!" stuff. and I hadn't seen Phil's comment till after I linked it here.

Sherburne sorts 'em out.

I tried This Bliss (after liking Black Noise) but the techno/house rhythms that normally bug me felt too upfront on that one. I may have tried too hard to like it, because now on returning to Black Noise I'm not enjoying it so much any more. I still like aspects of it a lot, but am having trouble getting back my visceral dislike of the primary beats on it. Maybe the whole thing was just a fluke for me. I also didn't like some of the cosmic synth sounds on This Bliss (which reminded me of the mostly German electronic I moved away from after the 80s), but that may have mainly been on one track. I definitely still like Black Noise comparatively more than This Bliss, mostly, I think, because there are more other rhythmic things (beside the core beats) going on that I find interesting. Also, I like the inclusion of more organic environmental sounds.

Nice insert in the CD package for this album. (I already had this on order by the time I started to lose some of my enthusiasm for it, so I'm hoping I haven't lost my appreciation completely.)

Please, please tell me this isn't another complaint about techno that is inherently worse because it doesn't have complex rhythm.

I just dislike techno rhythms themselves, on a gut level. I'm definitely not interested in an argument about it. I only posted to this thread because I liked Black Noise, and some of my comments are my attempts to figure out why.

Well, you can't blame a techno producer for having techno rhythms.

Rudi, I'm curious what you think of Christian Prommer's instrumental covers of various techno/house classics, if you know them...

I don't know them. The whole Pantha du Prince thing maybe have been a fluke and I probably shouldn't have even posted on this thread. I will look around for the Christian Prommer though, since you've mentioned it.

Oh you just linked to some, duh.

I like the kitchen.

I actually think that if you removed Saturn Strobe from This Bliss, then Black Love would be the better album, it's certainly more engaging throughout, now I've been living with it for a few months. Obviously the fact that This Bliss DOES contain Saturn Strobe lifts it way way above the new one.

Paul, those aren't so bad, I guess. "Groove La Chord" gets on my nerves a little, especially the snares, but mostly I don't really have a strong reaction to it overall. I don't know the originals in either case. The second has a samba feel to me and is a little more accessible.

I much prefer the originals but suspected you might not. I have a gut-level dislike of Latin-jazz grooves that's similar to your techno thing. Doesn't stop me from enjoying some music from that world (which is hugely diverse, after all); but it's an obstacle. So I can relate to what you were saying upthread.

Anyway, all the discussion about Black Noise finally prompted me to go back and check out This Bliss, which I've ended up liking quite a lot. I think I originally got it mixed up with Justice † because the album covers are similar. I like what I've heard off of BN as well and may pick it up someday.

The Prommer tracks do make me question whether it's really the rhythms themselves or a combination of the rhythms and the particularly instrumentation/timbre that normally go with them. I'm not 100% sure. I'm also not giving up on BN, and still definitely like some of what's going on there.

I think I originally got it mixed up with Justice †

This strikes me as really strange

maybe because justice don't use complex rhythms?

Complex rhythms fucking rule.

I agree completely, but you realize that disparaging something because of its non complex rhythms is frankly just reverse-geirism.

Show at the Echo is sold out, of course. I'm 32 years old and I'm going to wait outside the box office for an hour plus tonight, alone, in case they decide to release another 10 tickets. lol me

hopefully it will be worth it, old man.

Saw him last week, worth waiting in line for. Don't fret if you don't get in - he's supposed to do a full US tour this fall.

thank you

new york show was pretty good! though santos party house was a weird location for it.

waited forever. stranger gave me a free ticket at the last minute. "behind the stars" fucking killed it.

Ooh. Rumbly.

listening to black noise for the first time in a few months and TOTALLY noticing a drukqs vibe

Feel like I neglected the Dial label in 2010. Have I missed anything I shouldn't have?

John Roberts record is really good, a couple of nice tracks on the 2010 compilation, the Efdemin LP doesn't do quite as much for me as the first one.

lol @ all the talk upthread about how the Panda Bear collab was going to ruin and destroy this album, now its probably likely to place higher than This Bliss in the ILM poll

Yeah, I was one of the ones who was pretty skeptical/verging on pissed off about the collab but it turned out pretty good. I've even found myself singing it weeks after I last heard it.

Pantha's a lot more prominent than he was when This Bliss came out though.

listening to black noise for the first time in a few months and TOTALLY noticing a drukqs vibe

― best poast - crazy 4 ya (diamonddave85), Monday, October 4, 2010 12:41 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark

Listening to it now and totally noticing a Severed Heads vibe, epecially on "Stick to My Side". Sure this has been noted elsewhere though.

'XI Versions Of Black Noise' to be released on April 18th, 2011
reworking of 'Black Noise' album by contemporaries

Rough Trade Records are excited to announce the release of ‘XI versions of Black Noise’ by Pantha Du Prince, an album of reworkings of tracks originally on his album ‘Black Noise’ by friends and contemporaries including amongst others Animal Collective, Moritz Von Oswald, Four Tet, Efdemin and North American audio pioneer Hyroglyphic Being.

The full tracklisting is as follows:

1. MORITZ VON OSWALD THE ONE VERSION OF „WELT AM DRAHT“

2. DIE VÖGEL VERSION OF „WELT AM DRAHT“

3. LAWRENCE VERSION OF „STICK TO MY SIDE“

4. FOUR TET VERSION OF „STICK TO MY SIDE“

5. THE SIGHT BELOW VERSION OF „A NOMAD´S RETREAT“

6. EFDEMIN VERSION OF „STICK TO MY SIDE“

7. HIEROGLYPHIC BEING VERSION OF „SATELLITE SNIPER“

8. CARSTEN JOST VERSION OF „STICK TO MY SIDE“

9. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE VERSION OF „WELT AM DRAHT“

10. PANTHA DU PRINCE „LAY IN A SHIMMER“ FATA MORGANA VERSION

11. WALLS VERSION OF „STICK TO MY SIDE“

9. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE VERSION OF „WELT AM DRAHT“

^^FUCK OFF WHY WON'T YOU FUCK OFF

props for getting die vögel on a remix though! "petardo" was amazing.

FIVE versions of Stick To My Side? Would have been good to have followed the order of the original album.

Those all were already available on last year's digital release of the "Stick To My Side" single

I'm loving the remix album. It's not absolutely incredible or anything, but I just keep ending up reaching for it, which is its own kind of litmus test. I do wish the Animal Collective track wasn't on it, too...

I really like the AC track; it regularly pops up in my head apros of nothing. Like the Four Tet remix of it, too; is that what's on the remix album?

The remix album contains that Four Tet remix of the track that Panda Bear sings on, yeah, but it also contains a separate Animal Collective remix of a different track called "Welt am Draht"... I just don't like the flow and shapelessness of it very much. But I too find myself singing the Panda Bear song from Black Noise to myself all the freaking time, entirely randomly!

Aha. So the remix album is worth getting, you think?

wait 'til you find it used/cheap i'd say?

I throw it on quite a bit... I bought the vinyl version, which is only 5 versions, but you get a free high-quality DL of the full 11. I should note that I pretty much buy anything Moritz von Oswald is on without question, though.

URSPRUNG (pantha du prince and stephan abry) record is definitely worth a listen: some nice ambient passages, motorik, and noodly guitar a la göttsching

err motorik isnt the word i was looking for. whatever that sequenced beat in autobahn is called

The Christian Loeffler album is really good, but so obviously in debt to Pantha Du Prince that it might qualify as a tribute album in places.

PANTHA DU PRINCE & THE BELL LABORATORY, ELEMENTS OF LIGHT, TO BE RELEASED ON 14TH JANUARY
Work Composed by Pantha Du Prince Features a Three-Tonne, 50-Bell Carillon, Percussion and Electronics

Over the course of three albums—and as an in-demand remixer of artists ranging from Animal Collective to, most recently, Philip Glass—the Berlin-based musician and producer Pantha Du Prince (Hendrik Weber) has been celebrated for pushing the envelope of electronic music. His newest effort, Elements of Light, a collaborative project with The Bell Laboratory, is doubtless his most ambitious to date: The work is a symphony for electronics, percussion and bell carillon, a three-tonne instrument comprising 50 bronze bells.

The genesis of the project began in Oslo in the summer of 2010, when Weber was having lunch with the local curators Mattis With and Håkon Vinnogg and heard, in the distance, one of the concerts that are played multiple times daily on a bell carillon inside the city hall. Weber was struck by how the frequencies and overtones unfolded unpredictably, influenced one another, and resonated, more or less, throughout the Norwegian capital.

With and Vinnogg suggested he compose for the carillon, which was developed in China 3,500 years ago, during the Shang Dynasty, and made its way to Europe during the Middle Age. Weber began collaborating with the Norwegian Lars Petter Hagen, who served as arranger and conductor. For the recording, a bell carillon was shipped from Denmark to Germany, where Vegar Sandholt, the same carillonist that Weber had heard during his stay in Oslo, played it.

A separate session, in Oslo, brought together a variety of percussionists, including Weber; Martin Horntveth, of Jaga Jazzist, Killl and The National Bank; Erland Dahlen, of Nils Petter Molvaer Trio, Susanne Sundfør, Madrugada, Xploding Plastix, and Kaada; the researcher and performer Håkon Stene, who teaches at the Norwegian Academy of Music; and Heming Valebjørg, of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. They contributed numerous tubular bells, marimba, xylophone, cymbals, chimes, handclaps, finger snaps and other percussion.

The album is a single continuous work, although it has been broken down into five tracks named for elements of light: “Wave,” “Particle,” Photon,” “Spectral Split” and “Quantum.” Sonically, the work is a fusion of electronic music and classical composition, and draws on house and minimalism, jazz and new music, gamelan and western sacred music. Influences include John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Steve Reich, LaMonte Young and Moondog.
Elements of Light is a natural next step in the Pantha Du Prince oeuvre. Bells figured prominently on his last album, the highly acclaimed Black Noise, which Rough Trade Records released in 2010. In a Best New Music review of Black Noise, Pitchfork said, “each track is its own micro sound world with enough rich detail to draw you back for deeper investigation.”
Elements of Light live performances are being planned for late 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87rx_1xFgvg

YES

I was quite excited upon reading that and the track is really nice but it does sound almost exactly like most of the last two albums but with live percussion. I still find myself wishing he'd stretch himself more either melodically or texturally.

Yeah, saw mention of this earlier. Looking forward to it.

Matt DC you misspelled "wishing he'd keep re-making the same album forever because they're basically dopamine release levers for humans instead of rats"

Ooh, I quite like the youtube with live bells. It does seem to lift it above the "more of that same album he makes every years" thing. I'm not sure what exact envelope he's supposed to have been pushing exactly.

I didn't get around to listening to the remix album for Black Noise, maybe it will help me get into that record more. Magical words "Four Tet remix" appear in there.

I have that FT remix somewhere, WCC. I'll try and dig it out for you.

No need! It is on the remix album. Which I am listening to right now. But thanks.

His music is lovely but he doesn't "push the envelope" at all, that's just press release bollocks.

I mean when you read things like a fusion of electronic music and classical composition, and draws on house and minimalism, jazz and new music, gamelan and western sacred music. Influences include John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Steve Reich, LaMonte Young and Moondog then it's reasonable to expect a greater departure. Maybe the rest of the record will provide that.

Probably looking forward to the live performance more than anything right now.

I'm not really a fan of pdp's music but saw him live at the dial night at netil house last month and was actually pretty good

Dunno if it's just the effects of the snow, but this record is sounding pretty great right now, if essentially the same as his previous albums. 'Spectral Split' is amazing.

I was thinking of "Es Schneit" earlier today. Might have to give Black Noise a listen as I journey across the tundrous wastes of N London after work.

The live bells don't really sound that different to his sampled bells but this is really good, very wintery sounding. The sense stillness at the start of Spectral Split is really striking (excuse the excess alliteration).

buildup on 'spectral split' is great

This record making a tedious grey morning in a pokey little office seem infinitely more bearable.

it's a gorgeous record, very cocooning, very suitable for this current weather

Its brevity is a virtue as well, I lose interest in both This Bliss and Black Noise in their final third because his sound palette is consciously limited, but this is exactly the right length for one sitting.

Very much looking forward to picking this up at the weekend.

I held the LP in my hands last weekend but chose not to buy it, largely because of what Matt DC says - the Pantha thing is often too much to take in the form of an album. Its supposed brevity makes me reconsider though...

love this album

did anyone else go to the live show last night? INCREDIBLE experience. spellbinding

Did he/they basically play the album in order?

pretty much, but for the encore did reworked older Pantha material (Eisbaden among them)

the ravey/percussiony bits were way more intense than on record, and it was really visually compelling too - the lights, the shadows, the weirdly robed musicians (at first I thought it was a religious thing - the whole thing sounds so devotional) - but their costumes were actually scientists' lab coats; also, the actual act of playing bells is oddly fun to watch

So jealous.

ya. i stupidly missed them when they were here in chicago — and it looks like he won't even be playing in the states for the rest of the year :C

jealous too

elements of light a godsend today

In the mood for a new Lawrence album.

(Couldn't find a Dial thread).

have been loving efdemin's s/t lately

Feeling like I should love "Elements of Light" ... but I don't.

^^

the human bell-players aren't as tight as machines + he doesn't get to play with timbre the same way

Had a late night Dial Records shopping spree ... Phantom Ghost, Ursprung and Christian Naujoks albums now in the post.

x-post: maybe. i usually love hearing people hitting bells and usually love pantha du prince but i like the * idea * of it more than the actual result.

The new Lawrence single is making me want a new full-length too. But Elements Of Light is plenty sufficient.

Any thoughts on the new Lawrence album?

I still have to hear it properly but the samples didn't excite me much :(

I wish he'd kept to the sleeves being monochrome plants/old photographs.

I have time for Lawrence definitely, but agree with mmmm on this one, nothing in the samples is making me think about buying it

It is a nice album but the Etoile Du Midi single features the two best tracks from it.

Just repress The Absence of Bliss already!

Lol, I mean Absence of Blight. S/T Lawrence album too!

Succumbed and bought it. On a couple of plays (admittedly, whilst driving so I may have been missing detail) it didn't seem particularly special: like Lawrence but ... less so.

New Efdemin album in March.

A Sunday evening playing of Lawrence's "Lowlights from the past and future" ... beautiful.

Never did hear the Efdemin album ... any good?

Good but not great, not quite as ~emo~ as most of this thread.

In the mood for something "Lawrence-ish". (Recent) Recommendations?

might not be quite what you are looking for but we've all been late for tea once or twice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXlxpiZtfig

and its 2011 but it suddenly popped in there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mci6yWwWuCo

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?2466

http://pitchfork.com/news/63649-pantha-du-prince-returns-with-first-solo-album-in-six-years-shares-the-winter-hymn-video/

Can't believe a) that I'd totally missed a new album and b) that I've lost my copy of "This Bliss". "Black Noise" sounding just right tonight, though.

the lack of chatter on this thread seems to confirm my thoughts that this new album isn't anything special

Yeah, I was interpreting that, too.

I've lost track of Lawrence since he released an album in a non-monochromatic sleeve ... but sometimes I'll find an old track on a compilation that sounds just incredible.

dude constantly gets mentioned along with early Pantha (which is my favorite Pantha), however I can't remember a single track he's ever done. also he's impossible to search for.

Lawrence POX thread?

I'd just start with "The Absence of Blight" and see where that takes you.

I really like Lawrence because of the transcience of his material. There's enough going on in it to hold my attention but whenever I listen to his stuff I struggle to recognise it and so it feels new and fresh to me. I can't imagine him going for the emo-bombast of Pantha Du Prince anyway.

I often find myself thinking how Innervisions took the templates of this stuff from Dial and Kompakt and ran with it to become the darlings of European clubbers and Resident Advisor readers, and yet none of the magic of soft sad techno seems to have rubbed off.

New Pantha du Prince! Album 'Conference of Trees' out March 6.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU_o1QpHTkY

Thanks for posting - I'd have easily missed this.

didn't really vibe on much of this including the first few tracks, but "roots making family" and "the crown territory" in particular hit quite nicely. hoping i come around on the rest with more listens.

I'm kinda like you. Love the sound palette of this and a few tracks really hit the spot ("Silentium Larix" and "Pius in Tacet" for me). Needs more spins for sure.

I think it sounds wonderful, but will def take some time getting familiar with

Feel like the response to Conference of Trees was pretty lukewarm. I keep going back to it for the 3 or 4 tracks that I think are great, but I could probably lose the entire first half and not miss it. Really strange album with really strange sequencing. Very slow to reveal itself. But like I said, I keep going back to it.

I liked the ultra chimey single. I must check it out.

Used to listen to PdP and Lawrence all the time ... and they've just fallen off my radar entirely.

Must remedy.

I tried a few things after Black Noise and none of them worked for me. I guess I'll try Conference of Trees.

It's pretty different!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS_dvjdOaaA

This Bliss isn't available on streaming that I've found, which saddens me.

(I do have a digital copy of it ... somewhere ... but I can't just cue it up on Spotify.)

Yeah it's bizarre. Copyright claims from some cathedral whose bell he sampled?

I'm really enjoying Conference of Trees!

Completely missed Lawrence's Music for Plants:

https://lawrencedial.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-plants-2

Really enjoyed hearing Pantha du Prince on Elizabeth Alker's show:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0012rgj

Was in the mood for a wintery mix so possibly very receptive to it.

Still annoyed This Bliss isn’t on streaming.

came here hoping this was now on spotify

Oh, the sampling of this is apparently why it's not available:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT4arTGagPs

(Possibly old news).

came here hoping this was now on spotify

Hell yeah (even thought is looks like Saturn Strobe is missing).

You're right. Wtf

Yay/boo

I guess because of the Skempton sample noted above. Ah well. 90 percent of the album is better than zero percent.