Tuesday, January 13, 2009

PREFUSE 73 RETURNS IN 2009 WITH A SLEW OF NEW PROJECTS


From Pitchfork Media:

Prefuse 73 Has a Lot of Stuff Going On, As Usual
New project with Zach Hill, new Prefuse 73 and Savath y Savalas albums coming soon
Prefuse 73 Has a Lot of Stuff Going On, As Usual

Guillermo Scott Herren, the perennially freaked-out beat-chopper behind Prefuse 73 and Savath y Savalas, always seems to have a lot going on. If his difficult-to-navigate website is to be believed, every one of his projects has new music on the way. But maybe the most interesting thing on Herren's plate right now is Diamond Watch Wrists, his new project with scarily diesel multi-tentacled Hella drummer Zach Hill.

On the Facebook page that the duo recently launched, Herren explains that Diamond Watch Wrists started with Herren "writing 'simple' songs between touring and producing for other projects." Herren originally planned to record these songs with Battles drummer John Stanier (as we reported back in April), but the two couldn't reconcile their schedules, so he went with Hill instead. According to that Facebook page, "This partnership in particular seemed perfect since Guillermo was already checking out Zach Hill's recordings on his own and was then approached by Zach to produce his next solo album (as mentioned in June)." It must be nice, getting to choose between two of indie rock's straight-up nastiest drummers.

The Facebook page names a confounding list of influences: Fela Kuti, Christian Fennesz, the Boredoms, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. But the songs posted there actually do sound relatively simple, especially given the hyperactive tendencies of both Herren and Hill. This is warm, placid music, with Herren harmonizing with himself in a hushed coo over soft synth-washes and acoustic guitars. The drums are busy, but they're not deafening the way they are in Hella. Really, the closest point of comparison on first listen would be Caribou.

On that Facebook page, Herren says that the band's first full-length, Ice Capped on Both Ends, will be out on Warp this spring, and that the band will be touring alongside Prefuse this spring and summer. And the band will also release a 7" single on the indie rap label Female Fun, even though Diamond Watch Wrists have basically nothing in common musically with indie rap.

On the Prefuse 73 site, Herren claims he's finished with a new LP and a new EP from Prefuse, both of which will be out soon on Warp, the label Herren claimed he was leaving last year. The LP is titled Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian, and the EP is called The Forest of Oversensitivity. According to a MySpace blog post, the album will be out this April. As for Savath y Savalas, they've signed with the West Coast indie rap label Stones Throw, and they've got their own album and EP on the way. The album will be called La Llama, and the EP will be MASIA.

Prefuse 73's "Perverted Undertones" video:

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