Though he lacks the crossover name recognition of producers like the Field, Burial, and Lindstrøm, Germany's Hendrik Weber is one of the leading figures in modern techno. As Pantha du Prince, he has up until now released two albums of meticulous, minimal-inspired house music. The last, 2007's This Bliss, found the rare balance between ambient sweep and dancefloor bounce, and it's only grown in stature since its release. In part because of a move from the smaller Dial Records to Rough Trade and guest spots from some indie heavyweights, his new LP, Black Noise, is being met with more excitement this time around. And with good reason: Said to be born out of a period of musical exploration in the Swiss Alps, the record is both a stylistic departure for Weber and an extension of what he already does well.
Weber is unlike most minimal techno producers in that he doesn't look to locate one groove and ride it for the course of a track. His songs open up, unfurl, and regularly change course. With Black Noise he develops this to incorporate a wide range of sounds-- field recordings, atonal noise, and stray percussion all populate the album. Above all, here he aims to reproduce sounds already in nature, and where This Bliss was airy and celestial, this record is gritty and earthbound. It's darker, more forceful, and more chaotic.
From the first moments of opener "Lay in a Shimmer", it's clear that we're in for a different kind of Pantha du Prince album. The track begins with a cluster of noise-- crowd voices, clanging scrapes, the rev of a car engine-- before building into a groove of low-end synths and glistening bells. While the core arrangement is still carefully constructed and precise, the clamor around it makes the song far looser than anything Weber's done to date. Subsequent tracks also strike a balance between the natural and electronic. "Abglanz" combines woodblock percussion with a gritty dubstep instrumental, and "The Splendour" (which features !!! and LCD Soundsystem bassist Tyler Pope) sets pinball plonks loose over a muted minimal backdrop.
The album moves through a few distinct phases while maintaining this earthy, psychedelic quality. In its middle section, starting with "A Nomad's Retreat", Weber plays with asymmetry and extreme textural contrast. He puts gravelly bass next to reverberant synths in a way that shouldn't work but does. He revisits the icy atmospheres of This Bliss toward the end of the record, rendering them grainier but equally haunting. On the gorgeous "Welt Am Dracht" and closer "Es Schneit", eerie vocals drift over taut drum programming and shredded synths flutter around like pieces of confetti. During both stretches, the songs tear and split at certain points, giving way to pockets of noise that reinforce the album's overall theme.
Ironically the only track to stumble is the one that will likely attract the most new listeners. "Stick to My Side" is Weber's much-drooled over collaboration with Animal Collective's Noah Lennox, but oddly it doesn't come together like one would hope-- Lennox's traditionally warm vocals sound detached from Weber's chilly arrangement. That's disappointing considering the duo's combined potential, but it's not enough to derail what is otherwise an exceptional record.
At 70 minutes, Black Noise is a big, dense listen but also the kind of album that rewards investment. Each track is its own micro sound world with enough rich detail to draw you back for deeper investigation. The album is undoubtedly a success for Weber-- if not an outright step forward, then a graceful lateral one-- who probably could have gotten away with not making such a comprehensive shift in sound. Instead he chose to deconstruct his signature style, and the result is strikingly unique.
