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Several of the instrumentals recapture something of the Prefuse 73 magic, but Herren isn't entirely successful even when in cut-and-splice mode.
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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.
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UncutThere's a flightiness that lends the album a showreel quality. [Apr 2005, p.97]
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At longer lengths the jittery qualities of glitch-hop sputter, pushing patience towards intolerance.
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MojoFruitful collaborations... invite the listener to keep that dial locked, despite the odd distracting lapse into free-form digital static. [Jul 2005, p.112]
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Q MagazineSubtle 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]
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New Musical Express (NME)Will only sound sweeter as summer draws nearer. [19 Mar 2005, p.59]
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Surrounded by Silence isn't exactly coherent, but it isn't supposed to be: Strictly for fans of fragmented, forward-thinking beatscapes.
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Those wanting significant progression will find Surrounded By Silence mostly lacking.
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Surrounded By Silence is never less than pleasant, but with the exception of "Hide Ya Face," it's seldom more than that either.
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SpinHerren has the good collaborative instincts of Handsome Boy Modeling School, but none of their seedy, crowd-pleasing shtick. [Apr 2005, p.108]
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Silence easily matches, and likely exceeds, Mike Ladd’s recent Negrophilia in regard to hip hop’s lack of limits.
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Alternative PressA must-hear. [May 2005, p.138]
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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.
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FilterTrack-for-track, Herren's stuttering production and Technicolor glitch madness turns the whole thing into some insane dance party. [#15, p.93]
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The album is diverse and slows up where it should.
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Overall, it’s a story of too many ideas.
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UrbPrefuse 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]
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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.
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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.
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PlanetFans 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]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 12
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Mixed: 1 out of 12
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Negative: 1 out of 12
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mattaSep 9, 2005
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MCTravelApr 22, 2005
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trentApr 13, 2005