prefuse 73 - surrounded by silence
being one of scott herrens many outlets for sounds this is where the man also known as prefuse 73 focuses on the hip hop side of things. however, recent lukewarm reviews in both hip hop connection and nme show that a prefuse 73 album is anything but straight forward head banging beats and rhymes set of tracks. instead scott has tried to craft an album that equates to being 'the radio station of my mind', blending hip hop structures to an electronica production method. so, while there are some standout hip hop collaborations spread throughout, these are sat against strange headf*ck sonic experiments, where the beats and noises are cut up, squashed, stretched and manipulated via the usual computer trickery. as messy as this sounds, somehow there are strands and elements that really work. firstly there is the obvious 'hide ya face' single, featuring ghostface and underground hip hop producer el-p. this is probably the closest track to a classic b-boy hip hop track that prefuse 73 could create, and anyone who has picked up this cd expected more of the same are in for a head shock. but, if they give the album time the emotional upset could dissipate and reveal an album that gets better and better with each listen. for example, at first the strange vocal samples in ''ty versus detchibe' were really off putting to me, but after 4 spins i really grew to love the uniqueness and wished that this section of the album was given more space - which luckily seems to be the case, as the vocals (by tyondai braxton) are briefly revisited later on with 'mantra'.
if you haven't heard or read elsewhere, the album is chocka with guest and collaborations .. some of whom are from the hip hop world, (aesop rock, masta killa and gza, and label mate beans) but many others from other areas of the musical map, including my fave laptop manipulator - pedro. so that's me won over then. when the gloriously gorgeous drop dead beautiful vocals by twin sisters claudia and alejandra deheza, from a band called 'on!air!library', hit the twisted beats of 'pastel assasins' then the mix of modern cold studio sonics are in stark contrast to the humanity of the sisters harmonies making a seriously wonderful 4 minutes. this highlight is then followed by a spliced and diced banjo loop making up 'pagina dos' more clicky beats, and weirdness but the vocal samples, and found sounds are blended in such a way that the mind is dominated by the beauty as opposed to the unsettling nature of the beats.
i will admit that the album does come over as an overly academic take on sound making in some parts but thankfully just when you are beginning to get worn down by the jittery aspect of the music, prefuse 73 then drops in something as excellent as 'gratis' - the collaboration with pedro. a track which was originally featured on the recent pedro remix ep, but is totally worthy of the extra exposure provided here.
gradually, the listener begins to realise that the plan of making an album like a radio station actually becomes an accurate description, one minute your head nodding along to the deft wordplay by aesop rock 'sabbatical with options', next your head is being soothed by the relatively straightforward ambience of ''it's crowded'.
tis this genre hop scotch which can often become tiresome if the creator cant maintain the quality, but in the case of 'surrounded by silence' i would say this sonic form of a.d.h.d is probably the album's key strength, making for a fascinatingly compelling 60 minutes as prefuse 73 has a way with structuring the abstract forms combining them to make for a complicated but enjoyable listen. just don't expect a standard hip hop album. you have been warned.