[3/5] After 2005's guest-star-loaded Surrounded By Silence, underground hip-hop wunderkind Prefuse 73 (a.k.a. Scott Herren) has retreated to diminished-expectations mode. He claims Security Screenings isn't a follow-up to Silence, and it carries all the warning signs of those dreaded albums artists make just for themselves. The jagged instrumentals, flecked with street sounds and modem noise, definitely justify the title of Prefuse's collaboration with Four Tet, "Creating Cyclical Headaches". Yet Herren's gift for finding order--and even melody--amid such chaos is too strong to allow this collection to be written off as self-indulgent. The reanimated bebop of "No Origin" is impressive; the junkyard lullaby "Weight Watching" is even catchy; and the rest is convincing enough to make you hope Herren rediscovers his ambition soon.
(WARP) Dan LeRoy
 Official Website: http://www.warprecords.com
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