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Surrounded By Silence
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Warp
Release Date: 22 March 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Electronic, Rap, Indie
Summary
Scott Herren's latest Prefuse 73 album features about as many guest appearances as you can fit on a single compact disc, including contributions from The Books, El-P, Ghostface, Aesop Rock, Broadcast, RZA, Beans and Café Tacuba.
Also By This Artist: Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian One Word Extinguisher Preparations Reads The Books [EP] Security Screenings
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: Savath & Savalas: Apropa't
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site Prefuse 73 @ Warp
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Alternative Press
A must-hear. [May 2005, p.138]
Urb
Prefuse 73 has defiantly asserted himself as one of the most important artists of his generation, ignoring boundaries and creating a landscape that recognizes hip-hop's original "anything goes" ethos. [Apr 2005, p.99]
Tiny Mix Tapes
Surrounded by Silence is at once more scatterbrained and fast moving than any other Prefuse album (even more so than the blink-and-you-miss-the-hook Extinguished), but the difference here is the cohesion of the radically different cuts.
Read Full Review >Filter
Track-for-track, Herren's stuttering production and Technicolor glitch madness turns the whole thing into some insane dance party. [#15, p.93]
Dusted Magazine
Silence easily matches, and likely exceeds, Mike Ladd’s recent Negrophilia in regard to hip hop’s lack of limits.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
The jewel in Scott's creative crown is that he has an uncanny knack of keeping it flowing, even when his beats and tones are jerking our sensibilities to shreds with their cerebral madness.
Read Full Review >Spin
Herren has the good collaborative instincts of Handsome Boy Modeling School, but none of their seedy, crowd-pleasing shtick. [Apr 2005, p.108]
Junkmedia
Silence's instrumentals - choppy samples, organs, and horns, set to the tune of a staccato digital pacemaker - sound great, but they hardly stray from the formula laid down by Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Surrounded By Silence is never less than pleasant, but with the exception of "Hide Ya Face," it's seldom more than that either.
Read Full Review >Planet
Fans of Handsome Boy Modeling School, DJ Spooky, RJD2 and other genre-melding, conscious hip-hop are gonna want to procure this one right away. [#9, p.71]
All Music Guide
Several of the instrumentals recapture something of the Prefuse 73 magic, but Herren isn't entirely successful even when in cut-and-splice mode.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Fruitful collaborations... invite the listener to keep that dial locked, despite the odd distracting lapse into free-form digital static. [Jul 2005, p.112]
Pitchfork
Whether Herren is using Surrounded By Silence to spread the word about some of his favorite acts, or to insta-build a portfolio of outside production work, or a little of both, it's a much different-- and far more inconsistent-- affair than previous Prefuse efforts.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
Those wanting significant progression will find Surrounded By Silence mostly lacking.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Subtle contributions from left-field electronic artists like The Books and Broadcast add variety, but at 21 tracks, it's still a marathon. [Apr 2005, p.126]
New Musical Express
Will only sound sweeter as summer draws nearer. [19 Mar 2005, p.59]
Rolling Stone
Surrounded by Silence isn't exactly coherent, but it isn't supposed to be: Strictly for fans of fragmented, forward-thinking beatscapes.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
At longer lengths the jittery qualities of glitch-hop sputter, pushing patience towards intolerance.
Read Full Review >Uncut
There's a flightiness that lends the album a showreel quality. [Apr 2005, p.97]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
matt a gave it an8:
Sure it's weaker than his last album, but it's not a 71 weak. There are some fantastic tracks on here, but some of the collaborations were disappointing. I was excited for Hide Ya Face, and while it is good, it pales in comparison to Plastic from One Word Exstinguisher. Also, the instrumental numbers here aren't as good as they were on One Word. It just doesn't sound like as much time went into this one, and Herren attempted to hide that my including a plethora of guests. As much as I'm being critical, I did really enjoy the album and it's in my top 25 of the year so far. Best track-Pagina Dos with The Books guesting.
MC Travel gave it a10:
Critics tend to undervalue the immense amount of work that clearly goes into Prefuse 73's albums. Anyone with any experience with digital music-making is rightfully placed in awe by the apparantly grueling, painstakingly minute cutting, pasting and arranging that go into these recordings. What's more, the songs maintain a beautifully and listenable melodic quality unmatched by many of Prefuse's electronic contemporaries. This album is clearly the evolution of years of hard work and experience on Herren's part. The songs are beautiful, and with headphones on, practically exasperating in their compexity. It may be a little more than the average listener can handle. For the same reason I don't expect my little sister to like it when I play Aphex Twin in my car stereo, I can understand why many reviewers don't like it. Travel.
trent gave it an8:
The Ghostface/El-P collabo was, although not classic, still dope.Ghostface was all right, but El-P naturally matched the inventiveness of Herren's production. Instrumental tracks-most of them were excellent, although at times a little too laid back. Gza and Masta Killa- they took the day the day off. Their track was the only weak one on the album. I think critics had one of two expectations for Surrounded By Silence, an album that was a rehash of One Word Extinguisher, or an album that would erase the fine line between hip-hop and electronica for 21 tracks. Overall, a very eclectic and engrossing listen, but it doesn't match the all-around atmospheric quality of One Word Extinguisher.
Paper Cut gave it a4:
Pretty crappy work. Basically he mixes a few of his favorite artists over edgy glitch sounds, and it just doesn't react. Ghostface's verse from Hideyaface is ill on it's own,, and isn't really complemented by the beat, like a wanna be DJ mixtape exclusive. Favorite non-collab is minutes away without you (a reworking of 5 minutes away from Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives). Certainly not much originality here.
jawz gave it a1:
this album is horrible.
Connor D gave it an8:
Contrary to the reviews, I think this is Herren's best work yet. Inconsistent? It flows pretty well to me. It's a little heavy on the collaborations, but most of them are RAD. I like it a lot.
Chris F gave it a10:
Scott develops his greatest snapshot portrait of hip hop here and in the process proves that all the mainstream music around him just adds up to silence.
