Pantha Du Prince

Black Noise

BY Andrea AyottePublished Feb 8, 2010

German producer Pantha du Prince switches from Kompakt's techno sub-label (Dial) to notable indie label Rough Trade with his exceptional third release, Black Noise. In 2007, This Bliss became a huge success due to his unique style, combining minimal techno, house and shoegaze. His visionary methods have made him one of the most respected minimal techno producers, comparable to the likes of Villalobos, while also gaining mass appeal from other audiences. This led to him doing remixes for the likes of Depeche Mode, Animal Collective and Bloc Party, as well as many others. Black Noise is another prolific submission for minimal techno enthusiasts, and the move to a new label is bound to further his mass appeal, especially now that he's joined forces with indie stars Noah Lennox (Animal Collective) and Tyler Pope (LCD Soundsystem). Noah Lennox's swelling vocals glide in and out of Pantha's brooding, melodic house shuffles on "Stick To My Side." Tyler Pope plays bass on "The Splendour," an atmospheric composition full of shimmering, bell-like tones developed over tightly threaded micro-beats. Inspired by the sounds discovered from the Swiss Alps, Pantha marvellously brings alive the sonic elements found in nature with his elegant touch of combining the best from all worlds. Highly Recommended!

How did you come up with the name Pantha du Prince and what does it mean?
A friend gave it to me. It's kind of a fantasy fusion, related to Detroit techno and black panthers.

How did your collaboration with Noah Lennox and Tyler Pope come to fruition?
My contact with Animal Collective has existed since my first musical releases. They were even part of my first show in New York, so when we were on tour together, I asked Noah if he could imagine singing on one of my tracks. We did an exchange on some files until "Stick To My Side" was finished. Tyler Pope stays in Berlin half the time so we went for dinner a few times and wanted to do some music together for a while; it was about this time last summer.

How have your production methods evolved from album to album?
For Diamond Daze, I was based in a studio in Hamburg and it was pretty much about studio experiments and trying to grasp a condensed form of my shoegaze, noise pop teenage past. For This Bliss, I was travelling during the production, so it was more of a nomadic situation with headphones, and I wanted to keep it electronic in a virtual 3D world. For Black Noise, we recorded material in [the] Swiss [Alps] outside of our studio and used this material as a source, like an organic liquid that is growing out of itself. I raised tracks from small found sounds ― magic moments. The mountainside area was a place full of stories to be told with the help of recordings. I also created sample banks and instruments from these sounds. This refers also to the concept of black noise to make unlistenable things visible.
(Rough Trade)

Latest Coverage