Send "Prefuse 73 " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Considering Guillermo Scott Herren may have about five side projects at any given time, perhaps the most surprising thing about The Only She Chapters is that it comes under the Prefuse 73 brand. Previous Prefuse records highlighted the glitch-hop production style that Herren pretty much perfected on 2003's One Word Extinguisher; here though, Herren hews closer to the psychedelia of his recent collaborations with Zola Jesus.Prefuse's works are often inward-focused and clipped, with melodic ideas constantly shooting off in different directions-- usually in the same song. Vocals and guest raps are cut up too, with Herren employing them as rhythmic elements within his productions. The guest vocals on The Only She Chapters are all female, and instead of being chopped-up, Herren allows them to stretch and play out, obscuring them with layers rather than edits. "The Only Trial of 9000 Suns" features the late Broadcast singer Trish Keenan, a wonderfully distinctive vocalist, but Herren's production buries her voice in a psychedelic swirl, moving in and out of focus. Minor-key textures clash against each other, and with no space for anything to rise out of the haze and anchor the movement, the song ends up feeling aimless. "The Only Hand to Hold" has more clarity, with My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden contributing a gorgeous vocal over restrained bursts of hiss and faraway guitars. It sounds a little esoteric, but Worden spins sweet harmonies and offers the record's most accessible and haunting few minutes. The track is one of the only moments that works in isolation on a record that otherwise seamlessly folds into itself, as Herren rings out any empty spaces. It's an approach that can make for an exhausting, sometimes daunting listen....full text |
| Avclub |
| The last time Guillermo Scott Herren checked in as Prefuse 73 was on 2009’s Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian, the knottiest, most wound-up-sounding album of his career. The tracks sounded ever glitchier: more splintered, almost ADHD. The Only She Chapters is a different thing—from Ampexian, and from the mutant hip-hop of earlier albums like 2001’s Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives. On Chapters, Herren is going for big, winding, and sonorous; even mini-tracks such as “The Only Test To Score” and “The Only Recollection Of How Things Change” have the effect of slow motion. (And yes, all the titles here start with “The Only.”) The instrumentation—whether played, programmed, or sampled; a little of each typically goes into Prefuse 73’s recordings—is given room to stretch its limbs. Sonically, a lot of wind seems to sweep: On “The Only Trial Of 9000 Suns,” he deploys languid vocal-stitching (long a specialty) with a crawling, hypnotic meld of percussion, while “The Only Way To Find” uses much the same blueprint, but adds clock-ticking guitar harmonics that add more richness to the dense mix....full text |
| Dustedmagazine |
| The music of Guillermo Scott Herren follows a paradigm, if only one that applies to the galaxy of his orbiting monikers. His narratives are built out of audio texture mapping, ie. the musical end product is not created from a vertically layered combination of direct sources, but of a multitude of lateral sounds that are skewed and interwoven to create something almost exceeding two dimensions. These textures are built out of carefully recorded sounds. These samples – often by experienced and talented musicians other than himself – are spliced and re-threaded, not so much as a crutch to songwriting, but rather as an unwavering appreciation of a prismatic aesthetic. As Delarosa + Asora or Ahmad Szabo, the textures are skittering and emanating from low-tier equipment. As Savath + Savalas, they are autobiographical and gossamer. As Piano Overlord, they are skeletal. As a member of A Cloud Mireya, Risil or Diamond Wrist Watches, they are the force that refuses to let linear songwriting even enter the room. And as Prefuse 73, they are the point. The Only She Chapters is familiar. From the opening tide of Frankensteinian sample undulations to the moody, melodic piece near the end that spans more than twice as long as any prior track, this is without question a Prefuse 73 album. It’s all here: the “equal parts throwback, step forward, common thump, and alien beat;” the ”auteur intent on confronting tomorrow on his own terms;” the little regard for popular taste or for any far-fetched notions of advancing his artform;” the “sinuous but seamless blend of the organic and synthetic, embodying the hand-in-everything spirit of hip hop;” and the ”nagging sense that it’s all sound and fury.” What’s different is the pace. The Only She Chapters sounds inebriated. Each snare hit has a tail of diminishing echoes, and each ping of a sample is followed by a ripple of overtones. The diversity of rhythms is on par, but each one is unfurled at a snail’s pace. Melodies peak around the usual backdrop pastiche, but they are swaying amidst the drowsily nodding tempos. “The Only Valentine’s Day Failure” sounds like a King Tubby 45 at 33 RPMs. The eddying vocal samples of “The Only Serenidad” must have been created with the audio equivalent of a slowly rotating Paint ’n’ Swirl. During “The Only Trial of 9000 Suns”, the late Trish Keenan (R.I.P.) sounds less like the aloof retro-pop princess she was than that confusing final conversation you had leaving the bar with the pretty girl in the tangerine dress....full text |
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