Words to describe Prefuse 73-Hypnotic, Fractured, Complex, Cerebral, Bright, Intense, Trippy, Anxious, Whimsical and often Dreamy…

Preparations (Warp Records), the latest efforts by Prefuse 73’s Guillermo Scott Herren, contrary to the listed adjectives above, offer anything but a whimsical hipster hip-hop ride to the far off land of Intelligent Dance Music. From “East Intro”, the title track off Preparations, starts in the predictable Prefuse fashion; the MC “lyrically” introduces Prefuse 73 admist heavy glitch and broken melodies as heard on the Extinguished: Outtakes album. Does this sound familiar? It’s a hip-hop cliche and in the experimental world of Hipster Hip-Hop, cliches are either exploited or avoided. Personally, if I put on a Prefuse 73 album, I want to hear anything but cliche.

I honestly feel like it would be a waste of time to give a track-by-track explanation of why I feel like Preparations created a new meaning of the acronym IDM: Irrational Driving Music. I’ll give two examples without exhausting my critque – The track, “Girlfriend Boyfriend”, has no depth or melodic direction, while the structure is hard to define. Unfortunately, I can say the same for the rest of the album. Another track, “Let It Ring”, leaves the listener wanting more from the production. There is minor potential in some of the melodies but the beat completely destroys its effect, being drowned in an ocean of digitally altered vocal harmonies.

Has Prefuse 73 pushed the envelope as far as possible in his genre with Preparations? A few years ago his albums were the most exciting and innovative…now they sound like bad versions of Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives.