(January 2010) Prefuse 73 is a classic example of an outstanding talent that was almost destroyed by its own success. Guillermo Scott Herren (the brain behind Prefuse 73 and a half dozen other projects as well) emerged in the late 90’s working under the moniker Delarosa and Asora. This early work was difficult to classify, but it reminded me of early Slicker and Tortoise during their more electronic moments. When the first Prefuse 73 record, the classic Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives, debuted on Warp in 2001 it was immediately hailed as the savoir of both electronica and hip-hop and it did provide a much needed bridge between these previously unconnected worlds. Unfortunately Herren cast such a long shadow over underground music in the intervening years, launching so many sound-a-like artist and copycats, that his signature style of combining idm sound sources with hip hop progressions and chop suey vocals felt kind of played out by the time his third studio album Surrounded by Silence dropped in ’05.
Perhaps in response to this, Herren turned his back on the successful formula already established and begin experimenting with diffrent techniques. The first full length, 2007’s Preparations, was a good album with many lovely moments but some how it just didn’t feel “right.” It was as if Herren was uncomfortable and still searching for his voice. Then came 2009’s Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian which was many folks’ favorite Prefuse album to date. Fan’s have eagerly anticipating this next offering, wondering if it would expand on this new approach or return to the more groove driven glitch hop of earlier years. Luckily for us it does both brilliantly.
Meditation on Meditations (the Japanese Diaries) is one of those rare records that reminds you why you love music. It successfully synthesizes all the high points of Prefuse’s career while standing apart from anything that has come before. The best way I’ve found to describe it is like channel surfing a hundred TV’s at once, with peripheral snippets rushing by, faster then the ear can behold. While Prefuse has always bean known for quick cuts and mix tape track layout, that hardly begins to describe the melting grandeur of Meditation on Meditations, which surrounds the listener in a ticker-tap parade of shimmering audio confetti. Although technically divided into 14 songs, the album feels more like ten thousand separately recorded micro movements digitally stitched together. Herren then weaves the threads so deftly they blur into something like a particle cloud, in which innumerable small forms bleed in and out of each other creating the illusion of a larger physical structure.
What transforms Meditation on Meditation from an interesting experiment into a great album, is that with in its challenging format of collaged sounds one can find some of the sickest beats heard in years. Meditation on Meditations overflows with ambidextrous button pushing, processed live percussion and obscure samples that run together into seamless rivers of rhythm. Melodically the album is all over the map, jumping from lush organic instrumentation to playful degraded keyboards, with smatterings of female vocals dissected in classic Prefuse style. Ultimately Mediation on Meditations greatest strength is its uniform sound quality. The album has a charming aged and far away feeling to it, while still sounding full and crisp even through crapy computer speakers.
While researching this article I was stunned to realized just how prolific Scott Herren has been. I mean obviously the guy makes a lot of music but in the 13 years since his first release there have been 14 full lengths and 21 EP’s under 6 project name’s. That’s a staggering ratio of 2.7 albums per year, better then a lot of record labels I could mention. On top of that he has managed to reinvent himself after making a major impact on the musical landscape, something only a handful of artist ever pull off. Perhaps most impressive, the quality and speed of his creation seam to be exponentially increasing, with his last two full-length coming less then a year apart with a bad ass EP in between them. While it is safe to say this is still just the early stages of Prefuse 73’s evolution, and I am very excited to see what comes next, these last two records have been so amazing one can only hope we get a few more albums in this vein before it all changes again.
Meditation on Meditations is out now on Beat. [Purchase P73 releases]
