Pitchfork: Prefuse 73 Confuses Fans, Plans Releases

Prefuse 73 Confuses Fans, Plans Releases

Alarm bells rang recently when a rather confusing message surfaced on the MySpace page belonging to Prefuse 73 (aka Guillermo Scott Herren). The post seemed to indicate some sort of closing down of the Prefuse empire, with Herren writing, "it's been a beautiful experience meeting and sharing with so many different things in a "prefuse" context but there comes a time when the end is an end to an end...." He continued, "i must to move on to where my heart is closest and that goes beyond prefuse."

At first we thought we smelled the IRS at work (Prefuse 73 Cooks the Books?), or maybe Scientology. But then we read the rest of the sprawling missive: "of course, my music won't end but this era will. i will continue to play shows and put the same amount of love into all things creative for p73 in the 06 but i must move on, or as a human my mind will not grow....to my true fans: be happy-- it's just a new beginning alright?.... without you, i'm nada."

After taking a minute to scratch our heads and do a quick beer shotgun, we were thankful that Herren provided this nugget of clarity to sum things up:

"guillermo s.h. 73 - dirty south cubano catalan trainwreck, clothes don't match, shiny grill dude who can still be heard blasting "unwound" out of his system going 85 south or 95 north. that's official.......... yesssssssssssssssssssssss..! i'm with you."

Right.

Of course, we should have known that you can't keep a productive soul like Herren down. While details of what, exactly, this all means remain shrouded in mystery (even Warp Records apparently has no idea what's going on), Herren recently announced that he's got quite a few projects brewing in his top-secret sound lab. First there's the "not a follow up to Surrounded by Silence" mini-album Security Screenings, due out February 7 on Warp. A full-length Prefuse 73 album, recorded with John Stanier of Battles, is in the works, as is another Savath & Savalas release of some kind.

Herren also has tons of wet hot collaborative action scheduled for the coming year. He's been working on music with rapper Count Bass D and Plug Research/Stones Throw beatsmiths Flying Lotus, and is a member of two new bands: A Cloud Mireya with Claudia Deheza, formerly of ON!AIR!LIBRARY! and currently of Daylight's for the Birds, as well as the avant-rock supergroup Zanzo, which also includes Hisham Bharoocha (Black Dice, Soft Circle, Pixletan), Tyondai Braxton (Battles), and Rob Lowe (90 Day Men, TV on the Radio, Lichens, Austin Powers, Wayne's World).

And that's not all. That isn't anywhere near all. According to his website, Herren is also busy cooking up "lots of D.L. hip hop production for major label dudes that i can't advertise or mention here." (Ooh, we hope it's Cam'ron!) His soundtrack to Roger Gual's film Remake is due in the spring, and a collection of "writing, photos and art stuff" is scheduled to be published by the Japanese company BNN's GAS Books imprint this summer.

In his free time (ha), Herren also runs the record label Eastern Developments, which is gearing up to unleash a flurry of music upon the public in '06, including releases from A Cloud Mireya, Soft Circle, Tyondai Braxton, and the Bablicon/Need New Body side project Icy Demons.

Unfortunately for British Prefuse fans, Herren recently pulled out of the opening slot on the Secret Machines' spring UK tour. On his MySpace page, Herren offered the following explanation: "wait, something happened and i can't go." OK, it all makes sense now.

He will, however, honor two February commitments in the States, rocking the glamorous locales of Pittsnburgh, Pennsylvania and Buffalo, New York.

Surrounded by silence:

02-23 Pittsburgh, PA - Rangos Ballroom
02-24 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place