The Depth of Noise
Pantha Du Prince aka Hendrik Weber is an oddity of a creator whose style exists as a faint pulsing light within and beyond his predecessors and peers of electronica. A faint star whose light we’re only beginning to see with brilliance like we’ve never seen thanks to the recent XI Versions of Black Noise released on the Rough Trade Records label.
Of course, credit must be paid to the virtuosos on this remix album for diligently segmenting and extrapolating the genius of Black Noise. Boiling down and redesigning Weber’s original creation into 11 almost completely new tracks with parts from only five of the original tracks. Four Tet, Animal Collective, Efdemin, Lawrence, Walls and others have their crack at it putting their minds where others dared not.
That said, this is by far one of the most unrecognizable remix albums I’ve ever heard, each track taking you somewhere that had been only been eluded to with phantom side-mouthed synth lines or the glimpse of nervous electronic ticks on Black Noise.
Next to the range of emotions each track has is an equal amount of astonishment to the production continuity throughout XI Versions, culminating into one of the best polished collaborations I’ve heard in recent memory. There was no stone unturned looking for the exact sound to deconstruct the original tracks. Tracks like Die Vogel’s version of “Welt Am Draht” actively haunt you from beginning to end while Four Tet’s version of “Stick to My Side” impress a dizzying yet deep four-on-the-floor environment.
Black Noise was one of my favorite albums last year. As such, like any good album does it makes me peer into nothing and laugh hysterically from time to time. But with XI Versions I felt like I never laughed before, like Pantha Du Prince was someone I’ve never even heard before. As if Weber with Black Noise had created a threshold with a view of this beautiful evolution of an artist, and the artists on XI Versions created the first telescope to properly view through the threshold.
-Dakotah Cornelius
Threat Level: Green
