Pre-fusion
I was turned onto Prefuse 73 by my friend John back in Oklahoma City years ago. He got me into more electronic music in general. I have gotten to appreciate electronic music more and more. Prefuse 73 I feel is one of the more innovative and progressive. Very unique sound.
The album I've been drawn to the most by him is One Word Extinguisher. The way he chops up vocals and creates a cohesive feel throughout the record is great. Its not just sampling a track or sound and playing it back, its more about making something completely new and original. I usually prefer when I can't immediately tell where the sample came from or even recognize it at all.
I had the chance to see him perform in person last night at Hiro Ballroom in Manhattan. I think it was some guy's birthday party. Another DJ who performed before Prefuse who was quite impressive himself. At first there were a few DJs just playing and mixing records. Then this guy, Bean, I think was his name started really performing and playing things I had never heard. Somewhat in the vein of prefuse 73.
Then, a skinny dude with a baseball cap on backwards, glasses and big poofy hair spilling out the sides came out, this was Scott Herren, Prefuse 73. He fiddled with many different mixers, soundboards, and an akai drum machine while Bean was playing then he finally went on.
I was thinking of the word futuristic but that isn't really it, progressive is a better word. He had another guy with him that was moving around many different knobs and switches as well. I didn't see him use any headphones at all to hear what the mix would sound like before hand, it all seemed to be spontaneous performance. He was, however, apparantly using headphone ear peace as a microphone. It looked like he was making noises into it and sampling it and distorting or modifying the sample, blending it into the sound. At times the tracks meander into somewhat of a latin sounding beat yet still maintaining his cohesive style. Its hard to describe anything else it sounds like. Its not really very danceable but makes you want to move, similar to The Field. I got up close to the stage and was about 10 feet away from him so I could see what he was doing. I noticed, similar to The Field, he didn't seem to be using any computers at all. There were a few macbook pro's set up on stage but they seemed to be for the previous performances.
It was great to see him play live. I am drawn to any artists pushing sounds in new direcctions. Now, I need to see Aphex Twin somehow.
