Jens Lekman, Prefuse 73, Tight Phantomz, Z-Trip

JENS LEKMAN
Swedish singer/songwriter Jens Lekman has been around for several years but garnered international fame with his 2007 masterpiece, Night Falls Over Kortedala, that’s full of personal ballads, samples, Jonathan Richman-influenced vocals, and sweeping melodies. He first appeared on people’s radar when his song “Black Cab” became an instant hit. A couple of years ago, he burned out and decided to take a break from music. He even got a day job working in a bingo hall, but quit after a couple of days when he thankfully realized that music was his true calling. Since then, he’s moved to Australia and even contracted swine flu while on tour in South America over the summer. Lekman’s live shows are as unpredictable as his own life. Sometimes he performs with an all-female backing group, other times it’s a capella. His New Year’s Eve show in Chicago this month will certainly be special, especially since he’s not touring anywhere else. (Appearing at Empty Bottle on December 31) –text: Garin Pirnia

PREFUSE 73
For lovers of hip-hop who also like their vocals set to groovy, experimental music, Prefuse 73 is quite a familiar name. As one of the many names that Guillermo Scott Herren records under (in addition to Savath & Savalas, Diamond Watch Wrists, Delarosa and Asora, and Piano Overlord), Prefuse 73’s latest LP, Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian, was released this past April. Not one for long attention spans, over a third of the songs on the record are less than a minute long and most tracks are instrumental. The majority of touring that Prefuse has done this past year was abroad, so fans won’t want to miss this rare chance to see Herren & Co. opening for Umphrey’s McGee on New Year’s Eve. If Prefuse gets enough love this time, perhaps we’ll get a chance to see Herren in the new year without the accompanying 3-plus hour-long jam fest. (Appearing with Umphrey’s McGee at the Aragon on December 31) –text: Justine Reisinger

TIGHT PHANTOMZ
Call it what you will — a rejuvenation, a renaissance, a refocusing — but Chicago’s Tight Phantomz has undergone a stylistic awakening since the release of 2005’s Crazy When Wet. Back then, frontman Mike Lust barreled through his ’70s-style glam-rock tunes with a full-on cucumber-in-the-pants swagger. But the departure of his bandmates in 2006 provided just the opportunity that Lust needed to redirect his fledgling outfit and draw upon a wider array of influences. The result was 2008’s Silk Prison, a record that challenges listeners to pinpoint its genre while encapsulating Lust’s love of the long-player. It’s an album vast in its scope, with rich Midwestern soundscapes that parallel his home city’s blue collar grit and white collar extravagance. It’s an LP produced at his personal studio and passed out at shows with an unabashed understanding of the gravity of its era. At the very least, it’s a record that sounds refreshed — from a man not at all trying to be refreshing. (Appearing at Quenchers on December 31) –text: Derek Wright–photo: Jeremy Bolen

Z-TRIP
For those searching for some mash-up dance fun but can’t wait until Girl Talk’s New Year’s Eve show at the Congress Theater, invest in the Umphrey’s McGee show on December 30 with opener Z-Trip. Known by some as the “godfather of mash-ups,” Z-Trip came on the national scene in 2001 with Uneasy Listening and gathered more attention with 2005’s Shifting Gears. Zach Sciacca consistently sells out shows around the globe and will undoubtedly get the Umphrey’s crowd in the mood to dance all night long (with less annoying high school-aged fans in dayglow clothing than will be found at his more famous counterpart’s show at the Congress the following night). No stranger to politics, Obama’s campaign and election inspired Z-Trip to release Party for Change in 2008 followed up by Victory Lap in 2009. Simply put, Z-Trip is better than Girl Talk…with less annoying fans. (Appearing with Umphrey’s McGee at the Aragon on December 30) –text: Justine Reisinger

Prefuse 73

There’s a devil running this country due to silence. When people don’t act and speak about how twisted the U.S. is politically and realize these facts, we shall remain falsely secure in this silence. To the kids that talk all that ‘fuck Bush’ shit but aren’t open to anything but themselves, my advice would imply a simple plan: ‘Today would be a perfect day to get your head out of your own ass.

story by Nicholas Clar
photo by Grace Vilamil

Far too often, the only results of mindless kitchen concoctions are heartburn and indigestion. Occasionally they may be edible, and even more rarely they’re delectable. Conceptualize it: Place a head of lettuce into a bowl, throw in some chopped tomatoes, sliced onions, a couple beats and, what the hell, why not a few fish heads while you’re at it? Make sure they’re all thoroughly washed, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a guaranteed disaster.

Admittedly, the talent to succeed with such dangerous culinary amalgamations only inhabits a few yet fascinates many; hence the crossover appeal of the Japanese-originating “Iron Chef” TV show in the United States. Musically, this precarious art of fusing sonically dissonant ingredients into music palatable to the eardrum is also attempted by many yet perfected by precious few.

Replacing cutting boards and stoves with drum machines and samplers, musical iron chef Scott Herren, most well-know as Prefuse 73, has been sautéing finger-licking beats since the late ’90s. Taking his moniker from his adoration of pre-fusion jazz circa 1973, when Herren felt more spiritually-aware musicians were creating the most mind-expanding music, Herren looks to take hip-hop back to its fusion roots through his own “mangled language.”

The talented yet musically schizophrenic Herren announced his unique fusion of hip-hop and electronica with his 2001 debut full-length as Prefuse 73, titled Vocal Studies & Uprock Narratives. He has also recorded more straight-up electronica under the alias Delarosa & Asora and, more recently, radically changing direction as Savath & Savalas – his foray into soft-spoken acoustic experimentation. He and Spanish musician Eva Puyuelo Muns released Apropa’t as Savath & Savalas while Herren was living in Barcelona last year exploring his Spanish roots (his real name is Guillermo Scott Herren and his father is Catalan.)

The Atlanta native returned to New York to record his third and latest Prefuse full-length, Surrounded By Silence, for London-based electronica powerhouse Warp Records. The impact of what Herren sees as the United States’ current oppressive political climate had a profound impact on Herren and on the record he would go on to record with a host of all-star collaborators from modern progressive hip-hop, electronica and indie rock circles.

“There’s a devil running this country due to silence,” Herren tells Chicago Innerview, beginning to speak on the title and meaning behind his latest release. “When people don’t act and speak about how twisted the U.S. is politically, and realize these facts, we shall remain falsely secure in this silence. To the kids that talk all that ‘fuck Bush’ shit but aren’t open to anything but themselves, my advice would imply a simple plan: ‘Today would be a perfect day to get your head out of your own ass.’”

By seamlessly blending the heavier oil and lighter water with his beats, a recipe has been derived that possibly could stir an apathetic hip-hop culture into activists or simply make this demographic increase the volume and reach for another doobie and more liquor. After all, it is that combination of the heavy and light, along with his aforementioned interest in politics, “trees, architecture, the sea, other artists, friends, lots of being lonely and just a little bit of rain,” he says, that serve as the motivation for his unlikely creations.

Inspired by edited versions of ’80s hip-hop b-sides, Herren admits to digging on their chopped-up complexity. Thus, as an impressionable kid, this opened his eyes to search for more b-sides and paved a road for him towards uncovering other production greats along the way like Eric B. and Prince Paul, ultimately stirring up a lot of noise himself. But like those who went before, Herren says he learned to keep it original and “keep moving [hip-hop] to the future, while understanding its foundation.”

And, beyond merely instrumentals, Prefuse 73 has proven to be a team player, offering his beats for a plethora of rappers to shine on. Not only do many of the emcees successfully compliment the unorthodox production; Prefuse 73 has created and served dishes for numerous rappers to share their own unique style on. Surrounded By Silence sees Herren surrounded by his largest number of guest collaborators yet, with contributions from Wu Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah and GZA, Def Jux’s El-P, Aesop Rock, Beans, The Books, Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino, On!Air!Library! and others.

With this many cooks in the kitchen, the focus of the album tends to change constantly, resulting in Herren’s most scattered and least focused release to date. He has been criticized for worrying more about the liner notes than the album’s emotional center, yet Herren stands by his decision to bring people from different backgrounds and place them in unusual settings in an attempt to push the boundaries of his boundary-pushing music even further. “It was amazing to have a variety of people on one record and to watch people come out of the woodwork to help me,” Herren says. “Obviously, here we do have a big pool of different people.”

Regardless of taste, the unique use of finely chopped samples coherently intertwined into the end product is a different style that goes a few steps further than tempo-adjusting samples. However, “sampling and copyright laws are more infringements on kids that can’t afford to hire a string ensemble to sample. It’s so easy for a lawyer, judge and one washed-up artist to fuck with a kid who made an amazing beat with two to four seconds of [their] sound up in his beat,” an unabashed Herren willingly adds. “I want to hear a good beat, good lyrics, etc…hip-hop is hip-hop.”

Although angry at the current state of politics and the music industry, Herren still holds a hopeful vision for the future, one in which hip-hop is taken “away from the hands of people that want to capitalize on the music for stupid products and exploit it,” he says. Herren also maintains a deep societal passion, asking if “people really believe that their own careers in music are more important than thousands of people dying without reason?”

Regardless, with the combination of a dope soundman and a live band for most of the tour, Prefuse 73 promises a dope show. And by constantly achieving inconceivable complexities while cooking new, dope beats, that might as well be a guarantee.

Prefuse 73 :: with Battles and Beans :: Empty Bottle :: May 12 and 13.