This Bliss.
2007 is already an incredible year for music.
Despite some unfortunate missteps (Arcade Fire, The Chemical Brothers, Kaiser Chiefs, The New Pornographers), a lot of perennial favorites have had strong showings (Björk, The Clientele, Interpol, Modest Mouse, Nine Inch Nails, The Shins, Spoon).
Even new comers (Battles, Marnie Stern) and artists I had never bothered with in the past (!!!, Of Montreal) have surprised me with solid albums.
But really 2007 has been the year of Ambient, Minimal Techno and IDM.
These terms probably don't mean anything to you. They barely register as genres for me too.
Let us just say that Eluvium, The Field, Gui Boratto, Kalabrese, Stars of the Lid, and The Tuss (aka. Aphex Twin) have released some of the best electronic music in years.
And then there is Pantha du Prince.
Back in February when I started listening to This Bliss, Chris Dahlen wrote a fascinating article about the music scene at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
I will be honest. I didn't know people actively lived in Antarctica, let alone put on regular live shows.
In a way it was a disappointing discovery. I had always imagined the South Pole to still be one of those rugged patches of inhospitable territory -- harsh terrain transversed only by foolhardy explorers.
Pantha du Prince seems to share this same romantic vision, as This Bliss evokes solitary sojourns across tundra landscapes [and interior labyrinths]. Each track imagines a different season of the Arctic, from the calm glacial vistas of "Asha" to the blinding dancefloor blizzard of "Moonstruck".
One potential word to describe the album is cinematic. It would sound like the perfect Planet Earth soundtrack, if it wasn't so compulsively introspective. Each song is guided less by visual panorama and sequential narrative than emotional necessity. The sampled Robert Skempton strings in "Saturn Strobe" speak to some ineffable melancholy perversely mirrored in the surrounding landscape.
Not since Björk has there been an electronic album that weds digital abstraction with such inner warmness.
And I seriously doubt I will hear a more beautiful and lush album this year.
Despite some unfortunate missteps (Arcade Fire, The Chemical Brothers, Kaiser Chiefs, The New Pornographers), a lot of perennial favorites have had strong showings (Björk, The Clientele, Interpol, Modest Mouse, Nine Inch Nails, The Shins, Spoon).
Even new comers (Battles, Marnie Stern) and artists I had never bothered with in the past (!!!, Of Montreal) have surprised me with solid albums.
But really 2007 has been the year of Ambient, Minimal Techno and IDM.
These terms probably don't mean anything to you. They barely register as genres for me too.
Let us just say that Eluvium, The Field, Gui Boratto, Kalabrese, Stars of the Lid, and The Tuss (aka. Aphex Twin) have released some of the best electronic music in years.
And then there is Pantha du Prince.
Back in February when I started listening to This Bliss, Chris Dahlen wrote a fascinating article about the music scene at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
I will be honest. I didn't know people actively lived in Antarctica, let alone put on regular live shows.
In a way it was a disappointing discovery. I had always imagined the South Pole to still be one of those rugged patches of inhospitable territory -- harsh terrain transversed only by foolhardy explorers.
Pantha du Prince seems to share this same romantic vision, as This Bliss evokes solitary sojourns across tundra landscapes [and interior labyrinths]. Each track imagines a different season of the Arctic, from the calm glacial vistas of "Asha" to the blinding dancefloor blizzard of "Moonstruck".
One potential word to describe the album is cinematic. It would sound like the perfect Planet Earth soundtrack, if it wasn't so compulsively introspective. Each song is guided less by visual panorama and sequential narrative than emotional necessity. The sampled Robert Skempton strings in "Saturn Strobe" speak to some ineffable melancholy perversely mirrored in the surrounding landscape.
Not since Björk has there been an electronic album that weds digital abstraction with such inner warmness.
And I seriously doubt I will hear a more beautiful and lush album this year.
posted by d l wright at 7/06/2007 01:15:00 PM
5 Comments:
Arcade Fire a misstep? Not so much.
i've tried hard to like arcade fire. . . it seems like i should, but, sadly,
by the way the word verification for this comment is zgzaszm
Neon Bible blows dude.
This was painfully obvious when we saw them live at Sasquatch and they juxtaposed their newer tracks with Funeral fare.
Also, what a terribly obnoxious band live.
Honestly, I am not sure where you would ever find This Bliss in the States, but I am sure if you looked hard enough you could probably find it somewhere.
Have yet to see them live... but I really liked Neon Bible.
It was so lush and beautiful. Sure, the lo-fi simplicity of the first album is awesome, but it doesn't hold a candle to the new album.
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