We have a pair of tickets to give away to Broken & Uneven’s forthcoming Dial Records showcase, featuring Pantha Du Prince, John Roberts, Efdemin and Roman Flugel.
Pantha du Prince, (aka Hendrik Weber), and experimental act Workshop’s Stephan Abry have announced details of a collaborative project under the name of URSPRUNG.
Taken form Hendrik Weber’s acclaimed second album, Black Noise, “Lay in a Shimmer” continues the German producer’s transformation from deep techno player to indie/IDM champion. Eschewing the dance floor, “Shimmer” is based on a abstract, glitchy framework, with splintered percussive elements complimented by warbling electronic hooks – the kind that Boards of Canada used to excel at – and cloaked in dreamy textures. There are hints of the introspective qualities that his earlier releases for Dial had in spades, but also Seefeel’s love of layering. “Summerstrum” is more detached from Weber’s techno roots: granted, there are glitchy percussive licks again, but at the track’s heart is a jangling, breathless melody that floats in the air like fireflies at sunset.
The ‘Fata Morgana’ version of “Shimmer” accentuates the fragile hooks, and the cacophony of skewed, twisted percussion that accompany the succession of melodic surges suggests this version is also destined to remain a home listening treat. However, midway through, it surprises by veering into clipped 4/4 beats. “Ursonate 3” doesn’t offer such surprises: from the outset Weber sets his sights on creating a straightforward dance floor techno track. This he does adeptly with the help of loose, wayward drums and a resonating, throbbing bassline, but without losing the otherworldly sensibility that is a common theme on his productions.
Richard Brophy
Artist: Various
Title: 2010
Label: Dial
Genre: Minimal/Tech House
Format: CD, Digital
Buy From: Juno Records, Juno Download
Hamburg based label Dial Records shot to fame in the second half of the 00s with their high brow approach to deep, minimal house and techno. Founded in 2000, they now celebrate their tenth birthday with a new compilation featuring all their usual suspects, aptly titled 2010.
Set up at the turn of the millennium by Carsten Jost and Peter M, better known as Lawrence, Dial remained largely unnoticed at first. It was only the last five or so years that the imprint famed for its sophisticated and emotionally evocative style of deep and minimal house came to the wider attention. Releases such as Efdemin’s “Bergwein” EP and Pantha Du Prince “This Bliss” have garnered them the most attention leading up to today’s celebratory compilation. But rather than just collecting the finest moments from those ten years, such is Dial’s ethos, they celebrate with entirely new material, including previously unreleased tracks from the likes of Rndm, Pigon and John Roberts.
Opening the compilation in typically refined style, Phantom Ghost embark on a fittingly theatrical ode to the pleasures of the highlife with the twilight keys of “My Secret Europe”. Cultivated 4/4s then take over, starting with John Roberts who brings a classical element into the mix on “Lines”. Efdemin explores sensuously deep tribalism on “Time,” whereas Kassian Troyer uses layers of sub bass on “Tourist” to get into the groove. Isolée makes a rare appearance with some trippier house moments on “Black Lodge” before Pigon take it unfeasibly deep on “Koto”. One of the label’s starlets, Pantha Du Prince, adds one of the highlights of the release with the enveloping masterpiece of “Fountain Drive”.
Dial celebrate their tenth year, and twentieth release, the only way they know how – with a selection of tracks that look unreservedly forward, proving their need to do more than simply sit back on their previous successes. We’re already looking forward to their 2020 compilation.
Review: Tom Jones
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German techno producer Pantha Du Prince (pictured) will be joined by the likes of James Holden, Phoenix, and Joker at this year’s Field Day festival in east London’s Victoria Park.
Artist: Pantha Du Prince
Title: Black Noise
Label: Rough Trade
Genre: Minimal House/Tech House, Techno
Format: 12″ (2xLP), CD, Digital
Buy From: Juno Records (CD, vinyl), Juno Download
Hendrik Weber aka Pantha du Prince returns with his follow-up to the much acclaimed This Bliss avec Black Noise and it does not disappoint. With chimes and marimba acting as aural touchstones throughout, Black Noise shows the further evolutions of Weber’s melodic-robotic dichotomy and his penchant for deep and infectious bass. And speaking of infectious, “Stick To My Side”, Weber’s collaboration with Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox will leech itself into your memory banks and have you humming and singing it for days. It’s a truly great crossover hit that is just as groovy as it is catchy, and will no doubt help Pantha gain some new listeners.
Beyond that, tracks like “The Splendour”, “A Nomad’s Retreat”, and “Satellite Sniper” are amazing 4/4 burners that build carefully and envelop you in lush tones and Detroit-tinged techno beats. There’s much more warmth to Black Noise than This Bliss, and it’s somewhat reminiscent of The Field’s second album in its execution and musical aesthetic.
Weber seems a bit of a Byronic Romantic. The concept of the album stems from a trip to the Swiss Alps with some musician friends to record sounds and philosophize about music, technology, and silence. Next door to where they were staying was an enormous pile of debris, the remains of a landslide that had buried an entire village, and this is where the album’s concept was born – with the notion that ‘black noise’ is heard like a sonic omen before a natural disaster.
The second half of the album is more sedate, yet still no less compelling. The last two songs “Im Bann” and “Es Schneit” are warm and melodic come down tracks, the closer working those chimes into a subtle frenzy before dissipating like smoke in the air. Black Noise is another excellent release from Pantha du Prince, and a great start for electronic music in 2010. Dig it.
Review: Matt Leslie
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German producer Pantha Du Prince, the first ever techno act to be signed to the inimitable Rough Trade label, will release an album on the imprint in February 2010.