Pantha du PrinceThis Bliss
(2007, Dial)
8.5/10.0
I always thought micro-house and IDM (intelligent dance music) were somewhat humorous genre titles with their miniature dance moves and fluttering electroencephalographic (I'm learning new words today! This one references the "neurophysiologic" measurement of the electrical activity of the brain!! Just trying to be the intelligent dance connoisseur the genre implies) increases respectively. 2007 seems to be the critical coming out party for the intertwined genres in indiedom. With The Field's From Here We Go Sublime raking in the highest metacritic score of any album so far this year along with similarly positive remarks laid for both Pole's Steingarten and the very subject of this review, Pantha du Prince's This Bliss, hipsters are beginning to think they are even smarter than the coffee shops that house them. Well count me as not being fully converted but pleasantly intrigued and willing to experiment. The stickiness of this area of music is in making previously unavoidably booty shaking music from the clubs fit tidily inside a city flat. It is turning the obnoxiously overpowering into the restrained minimalistic and doing so while venturing, repetitively, far beyond pop-lengthed songs. I am not sure on the winning album of the three records I have previous mentioned (as they will all be getting their fair spin) but Pantha du Prince’s This Bliss is definitely the current front runner. The album has been the quickest (which isn’t to say that the process was quick) to reveal itself as more than some bored exhaustion of beats and synths or even more than a simply above average electronic album. This Bliss requires relaxation, because without it the subtle gold lining on these tracks would be buried and unsalvageable. Contending against this record with tense criticism will produce a strained and bitter confusion. It is as if This Bliss can judge your character and knows whether you have let down all guards and are willing to submit honestly to its spells. Meticulously constructed, as This Bliss moves from track to track and you become lulled into its world. The songs begin to pour forth caves of musical gems. If you're still unconvinced here is the real tell-tell sign: every successive listen has been better than the last; more intricate, more charming, more enchanting; it has become absolutely stunning to behold.
-Mr. Thistle
Pantha du Prince - "Moonstruck"
1 comment:
Are you implying that coffee shops in and of themselves are smart. Last time I checked coffee shops don't even have brains to measure neuropshycic levels from.
This album has really lame art- looks like he is trying to replace the real Prince
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