IsThisIt_basic's Album Review for One Word Extinguisher
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The most innovative hip-hop album since "Fear of a Black Planet"?
On "Fear of a Black Planet", Chuck D prophecized "in 1995 you'll twist to this" (the album was released six years earlier, in '89). A similar proclimation should be made at the start of Scott Herren's (better known as Prefuse 73) release, "One Word Extinguisher", only, he needs to aim a little higher, like, say, 2050. Yeah, this is what hip hop will sound like in 46 years.
Word on the street is that this stuff is called "glitch hop", but I think that's just a really lazy way of saying this is highly electronic, yet highly developed hip-hop that is hip-hop to the bone. In fact, that's the very reason this album should be so highly revered -- it's far and beyond pushing the limits of hip-hop like no record has done since Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet". If you give this album to most people, chances are they are going to say it's not hip-hop -- it's some techno ish or something. Might that be that they just aren't prepared for this album? Is the world ready for Scott Heren?
Let's take a closer look at the record. From the vibrant, colorful sounds and textures streaming out of the music ("Color of Tempo" is all the farthest you need to go for proof), to the HARD beats ("End of Biters", for example), to the occasional beat-boxing (the SICK track "Busy Signal (Make You Go Bombing Mix)"), there's hip-hop in every glitch, snare, and vocal.
This album isn't made for everyone, even if alot of people that won't like it now will probably dig it sooner or later (and even alot of unlikely candidates might like this ... do you like Boards of Canada? Always wanted a hip-hop record you could like? Bingo.). But the fact is, hip-hop was born on pushing the limits ... it was always about taking what the next man did and doing it one step better. The late 70's and entire 80's were brimming with innovation, but I think this is the greatest leap in creativity we've seen since PE's so-ahead-of-its-time-we're-still-not-caught-up "Fear of a Black Planet". Give it a listen, if only even just to see how far the boundaries of hip-hop are being stretched. My second favorite release of 2003.
Word on the street is that this stuff is called "glitch hop", but I think that's just a really lazy way of saying this is highly electronic, yet highly developed hip-hop that is hip-hop to the bone. In fact, that's the very reason this album should be so highly revered -- it's far and beyond pushing the limits of hip-hop like no record has done since Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet". If you give this album to most people, chances are they are going to say it's not hip-hop -- it's some techno ish or something. Might that be that they just aren't prepared for this album? Is the world ready for Scott Heren?
Let's take a closer look at the record. From the vibrant, colorful sounds and textures streaming out of the music ("Color of Tempo" is all the farthest you need to go for proof), to the HARD beats ("End of Biters", for example), to the occasional beat-boxing (the SICK track "Busy Signal (Make You Go Bombing Mix)"), there's hip-hop in every glitch, snare, and vocal.
This album isn't made for everyone, even if alot of people that won't like it now will probably dig it sooner or later (and even alot of unlikely candidates might like this ... do you like Boards of Canada? Always wanted a hip-hop record you could like? Bingo.). But the fact is, hip-hop was born on pushing the limits ... it was always about taking what the next man did and doing it one step better. The late 70's and entire 80's were brimming with innovation, but I think this is the greatest leap in creativity we've seen since PE's so-ahead-of-its-time-we're-still-not-caught-up "Fear of a Black Planet". Give it a listen, if only even just to see how far the boundaries of hip-hop are being stretched. My second favorite release of 2003.
posted Oct 16, 2004
Agree
Disagree
