Sat 11 Mar 2006
I can understand Scott Herren’s wanting to burn down the Prefuse 73 moniker and start afresh. It’s been obvious for awhile that he has tired of the cult of personality surrounding this alias of his, and that his interests have grown beyond what is expected of “Prefuse 73.” When Surrounded By Silence was released, he took a lot of criticism for it’s guest and vocal heavy compositions. But what can you expect? For years he has been the “guy that cuts up rap vocals,” why not show the world that he is a heavy weight music composer and producer. The album suffered a little from it’s lack of focus, but with Savath & Savalas and Piano Overlord on his mind and plate, it can be expected. However, some of the tracks on that album are certainly his most melodically complex productions to date. The previous album, One Word Extinguisher is still my favorite album of his, but Surrounded… was nothing but epic and showed he was about more than the chopped vocals. His most recent release, Security Screenings, was composed during and after the tour for Surrounded…, and inspired by the frequent airport security holdups (an admittedly scruffy, tired guy walking around with a ton of instruments and strange looking audio equipment?). The sense of frustration at the hassle and claustrophobia of being prodded brought on by this experience is apparent throughout the “mini-not-an-album.” Sometimes abrasive, sometimes gorgeous, it is thoroughly dense and feels truly like something “new.” Herren is an artist that deserves increasingly closer looks as he grows as an artist.
March 21st, 2006 at 6:35 pm
I don’t know.…but ever sense his ramblings on his site to promote Surrounded by Silence (ie…“thanks to blah blah blah for leaking my album, thanks for stealing it, etc…), i lost a great deal of respect for him. The web and the hype passed through the web is what made him what he is, and yet he got on a soap box about people sharing his album. Extinguisher was great, surrounded was ok, maybe it was too much for one album ( the books track is tops), but in general I’ve lost steam supporting him from his attitude. And really, don’t all of his side projects miss the mark a bit, it’s almost like he should be taking chunks from each to make 1 album.
March 21st, 2006 at 7:07 pm
I felt ashamed when that came out. I know a lot of people feel the same as you do, but it made me feel really bad. You have to see it from his point of view: this is his job, it’s how he makes a living. Distributing it freely is basically like a client asking you to design something, you deliver it, and then they decide not to pay you. But I agree that he has lost focus a bit, which I discussed in my review. I think he senses this and it’s why he is closing the Prefuse name down. There is no denying that he is scattered and weird, but I still respect this music a lot.
March 21st, 2006 at 7:30 pm
but he is is where he is because of sharing, word of mouth, the internet. To have that be the means of your success, and then be angry at it for stopping your profits.…devils’ advocate I guess. I think there are dozens of people out there as talented as he is…for some reason he was picked and was given focus, and now he shuns the meas by which he was given success. His music’s good (his live show for Extinguisher was great), but his attitude irks me, and that influences the criticism (naturally).
I am not saying he should distribute freely. With every release there is a chunk that will be be lost due to piracy, it’s a given. It’s his comments about this that are the issue. He can’t change it, and ultimately it’s distribution through file-sharing that gets kids hooked on new music and go see the shows, pick up albums at the booth, and trickle –down effect from there. I have the attention span of a 2 ear old because of file-sharing. I check out, give it a quick run-through, and if it sticks I check it out more, dive into the record label, see what else they did, check out the show, reco’ it to friends.
March 21st, 2006 at 7:48 pm
I’m probably the wrong person to talk to about this, because I have strong feelings about the effect of file-sharing on music as whole.
However, I would say he wasn’t mad so much about the piracy, it was the pre-release leak that really irked him. Before the record even had a chance to be on the shelvees and sell, recouping his and his label’s investment, it was out in the world about 2 months early, being traded, discussed, and dismissed. It destroyed his sales…something that is important.
Sure, the internet and word of mouth is a reason for his success, but his success certainly didn’t come from early leaks of his music.
The live show for Extinguisher was amazing, you are right. The Silence one wasn’t as good, unfortunately.