Prefuse 73 - "Class of 73 Bells EP"

Prefuse 73 - The Class of 73 Bells feat. School of Seven Bells (WARP 2007)

Prefuse 73 – Class of 73 Bells EP / WARP

Oh busy schedules. Finding time to write about music here at Audiversity HQ is easily our biggest concern. Hell, finding spare moments to spend a sufficient amount of time just listening to the records is hard enough, nonetheless securing a block of a couple hours to think critically about them. But we do it because we love to (and don’t mind sacrificing other time-consuming tasks), just like artists who get readily labeled “prolific” for their constant output of high quality music. This tag has often been dropped when discussing Guillermo Scott Herren, aka Prefuse 73 aka Savath y Savalas aka Delarosa & Asora aka Piano Overlord aka A Cloud Mireya aka La Corrección (if you would like brief descriptions on the particular sound of each of these monikers, check out my review of Golden Pollen from a few months back). Herren is just one of those cats who are constantly brewing up delicious aural treats in his ever-mobile kitchen, and we get to enjoy the fruits of his seemingly nonstop labor with an elaborate discography of exploratory sounds. The Prefuse 73 alias has been the bread and butter for the traveled musician, and any time a new album is on the horizon I get giddy. We are still a couple months off from the October 23rd release of Preparations, but there is a new teaser EP hitting the streets in a few weeks, so let’s take a look at that.

A four-song twelve-inch, the Class of 73 Bells EP finds Herren in a familiar setting: collaborating with talented, like-minded folks. While not everyone is partial to such things (see the critical reaction to the underappreciated Surrounded by Silence from 2005), I for one am always down for it. As far as I’m concerned, two creative minds are always better than one. For the first single from both the EP and the upcoming LP is a collaboration with a few familiar faces under an unfamiliar moniker. New York City psyche-pop band and Blonde Redhead openers School of Seven Bells is made up of the Deheza twins, Claudia and Alley, from On!Air!Library!, Ben Curtis of the Secret Machines and James Elliott of Ateleia. Herren has often teamed with Claudia Deheza, and even put out a full-length featuring them as a pair under the name A Cloud Mireya. “The Class of 73 Bells” features a traditional Prefuse beat (read: chopped, screwed and incredibly catchy) and his penchant for glitchy ambient noise, as well as swirling flute samples, chiming church bells and other bubbling melodic undertones. Overtop, the Deheza twins brilliantly harmonize lyrics with elongated syllables for a final product of soothing, head-nodding psyche-hop.

The more abrasive second track, “Smoking Red,” features the percussive mania of John Santier, most recently known for his incredible drum performances as the Battles backbeat, not to mention the time he spent with Helmet, Tomahawk and The Mark of Cain. The song features a much more aggressive backdrop from Herren with searing waves of high pitched electronic noise and slightly disturbing vocal samples, but grounded by a subtly melodic undercurrent. Next, “En Blanco” is listed as “A Prefuse/Epstein Production,” though I am not completely sure who Epstein is exactly (Ed. Note -- Thanks to Rodolfo, here are links with more information on Epstein: www.robertolange.com & www.arepaz.com) Either way, it’s a classic Herren production with a steady, head-nodding, hip-hop backbeat overdubbed and overlapped six-fold, continually erupting electronic sunspots, shifting synthesizer hooks, string flourishes and a few keyboard lines pulled out of the Alice Coltrane repertoire. The EP rounds out with “The Classical Sounds of 73 Bells,” a revisit to the opening track with the percussion replaced by heavily sighing string sways. The Deheza twins sound even more angelic as they are free to glide and sashay over the free-flowing track.

The Class of 73 Bells EP may not be overtly surprising for longtime Prefuse 73 fans, but at the same time, it will definitely have you salivating for a new full-length. Go ahead and circle October 17th on your calendar, and I’ll meet you at the record store with a broad smile on my face.