XI Versions of Black Noise
- Pantha du Prince
- Band Name: Pantha du Prince
- Record Label: Rough Trade
- Release Date: Apr 19, 2011
- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
-
May 5, 201180Far from a cynical money-maker, this is the unwieldy outfit that unanimously improves those essential runners: harder work to start with, but providing great rewards at the finish line.
-
May 5, 201175XI Versions is electronic tiramisu--slightly unnecessary and a little showy, but wholly dynamic, and a fine finish to a satisfying main course.
-
Jul 13, 201170It might be an altogether superfluous release but when the music is as expertly crafted to begin with, it's a solid sensation for anyone to notice.
-
May 5, 201170Black Noise was one of electronic music's recent highlights, and if XI Versions is by no means as essential to anyone's collection as Black Noise, but is a fine addition nonetheless.
-
May 5, 201170Hieroglyphic Being's unrecognizable, incongruously mechanical mix of "Satellite Sniper" is the only real misstep (albeit a minor one), and all told this is one of the most rewarding remix albums in recent memory.
-
May 5, 201165XI versions works best as a companion for smitten Black Noise fans, and it offers a couple of nice moments that Four Tet and Animal Collective completists might want to keep in their back pockets.
-
May 10, 201160Black Noise was the most seductive techno album of last year, and it probably deserves better than this somewhat perfunctory remix comp. [May 2011, p.93]
-
May 5, 201159Though the thesis of this remix album restricts remixers to only one album, the remixers limit themselves further, and seem afraid to do too much more than reaffirm certain dance touchstones already done away with by Weber himself. They've missed the sanctity for the structure.
-
May 5, 201150It's an added complement to the previously released Black Noise, with each track taking on a life of its own. Remix albums can sometimes fail to really serve a mass audience. XI Versions is good, but a casual fan might take the title literally--and mute it out entirely.
-
May 5, 201140Fans of Pantha du Prince could be drawn in to hear how other artists interpret as the vital elements of his work, but many of them will leave XI Versions of Black Noise wondering why all these producers seem to think his music's so boring.
-
May 5, 201137The pointlessness is grating. XI Versions' final three songs do show signs of life--Animal Collective, Walls, and Pantha himself manage to work up a buzz--but they can't compensate for time killers by Lawrence, Carsten, and Efdemin that make inoffensiveness offensive.