Get up and dance, motherfuckers!
Get up and dance, motherfuckers!
http://www.roughtraderecords.com http://www.konkurrent.nl
A truly magnificent release. This really is the way I like dance music to sound, something that keeps you guessing, something that can be a sort of aural travelogue to your own inner journey. Pantha Du Prince’s third LP certainly achieves all of these wishes for me; and at the risk of sounding like a right nincompoop, I’d wager that this is the most complete, most listenable “dance” record of the year.
Despite the meditative nature of a lot of the music (Welt Am Draht or Abglanz are great examples of the monastic vibe that populates the record), there’s an uncompromising, ambitious streak that is sometimes as sharp as a pin. This, (I think) is to do with the way that textures, beats and sounds are often precariously balanced against each other: just listen to the way that the beautiful opener Lay in a Shimmer builds up and then suddenly dips, leaving you with nothing to hold onto. It’s music that is forever just out of your grasp. It’s a diverse record too; Im Bann is to all intents and purposes a Duritti Column track. Stick to My Side (with vocals from one of the Animal Collective) is a poppy, bobby affair, that reminds me of a chorus from a Lansing Dreiden track whereas Bohemian Forest is as magnificently Imperial and widescreen as its title suggests.
But there’s no point carrying on this review, else I’m going to start ranting Lester Bangs style, typewriter in hand, addressing the assembled, slightly bewildered Heads. Get up and dance, motherfuckers!