Pantha Du Prince is a German minimal techno/microhouse/call-it-what-you-want artist, made famous (to me) for the heart-stoppingly beautiful Asha on 2007’s This Bliss. Previously on microhouse hero Lawrence’s Dial label, Pantha has relocated to the very not-techno Rough Trade for this, his third record. Featuring contributions from Noah Lennox (which should hopefully provide some clues to the direction of the upcoming Panda Bear record) on Stick To My Side and Tyler Pope (of LCD Soundsystem, !!!, and corrupting high schoolers fame) on The Splendour, this album is a musical creation in a world of its own. Layered yet minimal, the sound is so uniquely delicate that I must let Pantha Du Prince speak for himself:

“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.”

This is electronic music and also much more.

If you listen to one techno release this year, nay, one electronic music release, have this be it.

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