Extinguished: Outtakes

Soon after releasing One Word Extinguisher, his long-awaited second full record as Prefuse 73, Scott Herren delivered another set of recordings to Warp and requested a release. It's easy to see why the label agreed; several of the tracks on this collection of outtakes could have easily made the highlight reel. Besides proving how much talent Scott Herren has sitting around, Extinguished also illustrates that he's a surprisingly good editor. As great as they are, most of these work better on an EP release simply because of their length; ripping through 23 tracks in a half-hour, Herren gives listeners the gist of a simple idea, then cuts out, usually in less than a minute. (Only a few, including the opening "Suite for the Way Things Happen," reveal more than one idea at work.) Jagged-edge beat tracks like "Martinique Was My Girl" or "For Some but Not for Me" or "Wronge Posture" succeed on little more than the Prefuse trademark: intricate, repeatedly triggered samples of strings, pianos, disembodied vocals — just enough to wrap around his ideas several times and create a distinguishable melody line (and more often than not, a breathtaking one). Compared to the original One Word Extinguisher, Herren is slightly more laid-back and not as heavy with the collaborations (except for the excellent rap piece "Pase Rock's Prestyle"). For those who can't get enough Prefuse, Extinguished is an even more concentrated work of genius than the LP.