Prefuse 73 - Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian

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  • On One Word Extinguisher, Prefuse 73 would frequently flaunt his impeccable timing as a means of enchantment—like when the ricochet beatboxing on "Busy Signal" abruptly shifted to quantised symphonic boom-bap. It was like watching someone do a standing back-flip or an elaborate disappearing act in a five-act play, wowing the listener while underscoring the wizardry with moving music. On Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian failed pratfalls are the stock-in-trade, and it hurts to watch. Everything She Touched..., the fifth album by Scott Herren under his Prefuse moniker, is comprised of discrete tracks sequenced disjunctively. Which begs the question: Why the hell would Herren think that this is a remotely good idea? If one accomplishment was to be singled out from Herren's first two albums—Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives and One Word Extinguisher, still his best work—it is the deftness with which diverse slabs of glitch-peppered instrumental hip-hop were weaved together fluidly. To completely eliminate those transitions from his aesthetic, thereby discarding any cohesion or thematic consistency, is to do away with one of the most inspired touchstones of Prefuse 73's music. Perhaps the reason behind this quixotic decision was to present himself with a new challenge—to try and string together increasingly disparate tracks. But then, as with his last album, Preparations, Everything She Touched… is desperately in need of an editor, or at least someone unafraid of deleting inchoate compositions. The first seven tracks, "Periodic Measurements of Infrequent Smiles" to "Sexual Fantasy Scale," all clock in at a minute or less, with no apparent logical sequence. A more patient listener might strain to internalise this section, but it's difficult to fathom it not being an invariably fruitless effort. The album isn't entirely innocuous, though. Of the 29 selections, nine are in the two-to-five minute range, resembling actual, belabored songs, the majority of which fall in line with Prefuse's most venerable work. "Regato"'s breezy acoustic guitar, spectral sighs and slight digital dissonance is reminiscent of Herren's material as Savath & Savalas—forming the nearest imaginable equivalent to laptop Tropicália. "Simple Loop Choir" speaks for itself, except that the loop slowly dissolves, like a William Basinski piece in fast forward. And "Preparation's Kids Choir" would have fit right in on One Word Extinguisher, its cultivated microskronk flashing hard drive-thru beats and assorted computerised noises. Ultimately, though, the songs are brief gusts of wind amid the frequent nausea of recycled airplane oxygen. If Herren is to try and further fracture his music again, here's hoping for some fresh air.
  • Tracklist
      01. Periodic Measurements of Infrequent Smiles 02. Hairy Faces (stress) 03. Parachute Panador 04. NoNo 05. Punish 06. Half up Front 07. Sexual Fantasy Scale 08. DEC. Machine Funk all ERA's 09. Get em High 10. Ampexian Tribe of a Lesser Time 11. When is a good time? 12. Fountains of Spring 13. Whipcream Eyepatch 14. Regalo 15. Rubber Stems 16. Oh is it 17. Four Reels Collide 18. Fringertip Trajectories 19. Violent Bathroom Exchange 20. Natures Uplifting Revenge 21. Yuletide 22. Simple Loop Choir 23. No Lights Still Rock - Feat. Dimlite 24. Gaslamp Killer Feedback Text 25. Digan Lo 26. Preperation's Kids Choir 27. Pitch Pipe 28. Periodic Measurements of Infrequent Frowns 29. Formal Dedications
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