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SURROUNDED BY SILENCE
(Warp)
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Following several releases by his other alias, Savath and Savalas, Southerner Scott Herren returns to his Prefuse 73 guise, producing yet another glitchy mish-mash of cultures and styles. Herren invites over a boatload of friends — including Beans, Aesop Rock, and a few fellows from Wu-Tang — to collaborate on what is his most eclectic set yet. Ghostface and EL-P deliver tough-guy raps on "Hideyface"; Claudia and Alejandra Deheza coo their way through the fizzy "Pastel Assassins." On the skittering "Gratis," Herren goes toe-to-toe with buddy Pedro. The brief "Mantra Two," featuring the lip-smacking vocalizing of Tyondai Braxton, sounds as if it had been beamed in via shortwave from another galaxy. Although Surrounded by Silence covers an immense amount of ground, it never loses its pulse — the album is fascinating for the colors and shapes of its throbbing beats. Think of it as a giant quilt that stitches together swatches from hidden corners of pop culture. "You cut up the past to find the future," says William Burroughs. If that’s true, welcome to Tomorrowland.
