Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise

Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise by GvsB
Minimal techno is almost something of an oxymoron. Since why would anyone in the ravey, entrancing, maximalist pill-popping world of techno music ever want any of that indulgence minimized? I pose that question rhetorically, but if one were to force an answer, then the closest thing lies with Hendrik Weber, a.k.a. Pantha du Prince. Album three on his CV, Black Noise is the culmination of Weber’s adherence to a simple artistic ethic that single-handedly restores relevance to the "minimal techno" label: to treat all excess in dance music as precisely that—excess, superfluity, luxuriance, waste. Instead, the German native opts for economy, trading in thumping beats for a rhythmic sea of pulsation, abrasive thumping variety for loop utilization to its fullest effect, and big catchy hooks for the subtlety of a woven palette of melodic coloring. Black Noise is as intoxicating as it is intellectual, and most remarkably, as pure dance music, the euphoric yield remains utterly undiminished. (Mac Nguyen)