Pantha du Prince^de

Hendrik Weber, better known as Pantha du Prince, Panthel or Glühen 4, was born in 1975 in Bad Wildungen, often referred to as the region's “Siberia”.

Weber, already a successful composer, producer and conceptual artist, published his debut album as Pantha du Prince entitled “nowhere”, in 2002. A few years later his first Studio album “Diamond Daze” (2004) appeared, followed by a Remix-12" (“Butterfly Girl Versions”, 2005), as well as new material (“Lichten/Walden”, 2006). His second studio album as Pantha du Prince was “This Bliss,” (2007), which generated great interest among critics.

In 2010 he presented his third album "Black Noise" via London's legendary Rough Trade Records. The label's founder, Geoff Travis personally introduced him to the English independent music institution, which has published many celebrated albums since its founding in the late 1970s. “Black Noise” with its digitalized, natural sounds of rustling and bells, is already considered a classic of its genre. For this phenomenal album, Weber was awarded with the distinguished German music award “Echo” in Berlin in 2011.

As Pantha du Prince & The Bell Laboratory Weber was joined by the Norwegian composer Lars Petter Hagen. Together, they developed a modern musical piece in Oslo and Berlin in 2010. On “The Bell Laboratory,” Weber and Hagen explore the soundscape of bells and melodic percussion, both rhythmically and tonally. The percussion piece is composed for a 64 bell carillon, to be accompanied by a six-person ensemble. The world premiere of this piece was celebrated enthusiastically in August 2011 at the Oya Festival in Oslo.

In May 2012, Weber presented his new project “Ursprung”, created together with Stephan Abry (who played with the artist Kai Althoff in the Kraut-Elektronika-Group “Workshop”). This project was performed live on-stage by a performance group. In 2015, Weber toured and performed with a new band-project called “The Triad”. He collaborated with old time friends and musicians Joachim Schütz, Stephan Abry, Scott Mou, Bendik Hovik Kjeldsberg, Kassian Troyer, and Thilo Kuhn, working in a different constellation of three musicians for each track. Rather than monopolizing control over the project like so many producers and DJs, Weber allowed himself to rely on improvisation and empathy and embraced an inevitably time-consuming production process. The album came out in three different versions, the regular album, an ambient version (both via Rough Trade) and an additional remix version via Recondite’s Plangent Rec.

In September 2017, he collaborated with classical composer Arash Safaian on a remix project called “Überbach”, composed after two canons by the great Johann Sebastian Bach.

At the same time he began to work on his concept of “Conference of Trees”. The premiere took place in Hamburg on August 13th 2018. On “Conference of Trees”, Weber presents a unique combination of electronic music and traditional instruments as he explores and interprets the communication of trees and, based on this exploration, creates a phenomenal sound concept. Some of the sound sources and Instruments were crafted by himself. It’s a breakthrough recording of experimental music, visual poetry, club culture and speculative science. The album is set for release in 2019 via Modern Recordings / BMG.

429 Hertz - Formen von Stille is Pantha Du Prince's first release under his own name, Hendrik Weber. The essence is drawn from the acclaimed album "Conference of Trees", which was released at the beginning of 2020. "429 Hertz - Forms of Silence" was created with acoustic instruments played live. They are bright patterns of frequencies and spectra, a flowing play of overtones on a far-reaching fundamental: constant 429 hertz. Hendrik Weber describes this music as maximum meditation and minimal manipulation, because when the fundamental vibration slows down, in the music as well as in the body, healing ultimately occurs. Music for meditation, for slowing down and for the inner healing process: Harmony.

Since 2012, a decade ago, Hendrik Weber alias Pantha du Prince has dedicated himself to an über-project that has long outshone all his other releases and reached a provisional artistic climax with Garden Gaia (released in August 2022 on Modern Recordings), which is dedicated to the theme of "man as nature".

The music released translates formative processes in nature into vibrating sound poetry that mediates between techno and avantgarde echoes. On the remix album of the same name (Nov.2023 via Modern 'Recordings), Weber (again) invites to make music and experiment together. Garden Gaia Remixes contains 9 remixes by Deakin from the group Animal Collective, Kuniyuki Takahashi from Sapporo, Sebastian Mullaert, Dave DK, Féjka, Stefan Goldmann and Chloé (Thévenin).

As part of the celebrations of MUTEK Barcelona's 15 years, we will have the privilege of witnessing the premiere of his new audiovisual show designed around the reissue of his highly acclaimed album 'This Bliss', an emblem of the microhouse sound.