At one time the main focus in hip hop music were the MCs; their socialand (at times) political messages relayed with quick-cut rhymes, cleverwordplay and attitude over a cool, sampled yet repetitive backingtrack. Over the last bunch of years, the role of DJ/producer has gainedas much, if not more attention than their MC counterparts, which, inturn, has pushed the envelope of the genre. With One Word Extinguisher,the second full length release as Prefuse 73, multi-aliased producerScott Herren continues to creatively fuse hip hop beats and samplingwith certain elements of electronic music to form a uniquecompositional style. A disc of mostly instrumental tracks, Herrenenlists the MC skills of Diverse to drive the synth-gurgling of"Plastic" and a brief rhythmic social commentary from Mr. Lif on theominous progressions of "Huevos With Jeff and Rani." The use of clippedvocal textures and spoken word samples also factor in throughout thedisc's 23 tracks. The steady polyrhythmic beat shifting of "The Colorof Tempo" plays off a choppy melody played by what could either be atwisted soprano saxophone sample or a really warbly synth patch for anupdate on some '70s instrumental soul music. Teaming with fellowproducer Daedelus, the speedy keyboard tremolo and human beatboxpropelled "Busy Signal (Make You Go Bombing Mix)" swells with stringsamples and sneaks in some bass clarinet for an upbeat yet surprisinglyeerie mix. The simple rhythm section groove supporting a sampledsaxophone motif, strings and simple xylophone on "Perverted Undertone"come across as paramount in feel for one of the disc's more subtlehighlights. Skateboarding legend Tommy Guerrero lends his soulfulmulti-tracked guitar playing to "Strom Returns" as the latin-jazzelement in the hip hop concept. Herren continues to update up the usualstraight-ahead beats with his clever use polyrhythmics as heard on lastyear's The '92 vs '02 Collection EP and the percussive sampling style from his Vocal Studies + Uprock Narrativesdebut. Over the span of sixty minutes, the tunes move between flashesof excitement and some great compositional grooves with a fewinterludes that give the disc a natural flow. With Prefuse 73 currentlyon tour, this new material will make a great live set even moreentertaining.Read More
