At his best, Prefuse 73 is like a short, sharp hailstorm breaking out in your iTunes; a stance which label-mate Jackson and his marauding computer army have seen fit to joyously pillage. So can 'Security Screenings' reclaim his throne? Well, if you're after instrumental hip-hop that sounds like it's been smashed into a thousand pieces then sello-taped back together around a cochlea-baiting bass, 'Security Screenings' will be the national anthem to your brittle fiefdom. Almost fugacious in its brevity, 'Security Screenings' (named to reflect the fluorescent-lit stupor of international travel through which it was recorded) clocks in the right side of 40-minutes - with most tracks barely breaching the three-minute embankment. Opening with 'the letter P', you might be mistaken for thinking there's been a pseudonym mix-up at the dry-cleaners; as rhythmic flotsam clings to some Ye Olde Broadway samples ala Savath Savalas. However any such doubts are soon blown from the water on 'With Dirt and Two Texts - Afternoon Version', wherein bits stutter, things lurch, vocals are butchered and it all coalesces into a sound SO Prefuse it should come with serial number stamped onto the underside. Similarly, 'Weight Watching', 'No Origin' and 'Mud In Your Mouth' are textbook transmissions from the miss-wired hip-hop lobe of Herron's brain; exhilarating in the short-term, if not a little insubstantial when subjected to prolonged exposure. Yet this isn't the whole story. Combining elements of all his recording personas, 'Security Screenings' is Herron's most accomplished album thus far, thanks in no small part to a willingness not to condescend his core demographics. A case in point is the Four Tet collaboration 'Creating Cyclical Headaches' where the revolving beats, twinkly disposition and level bleeding interludes wouldn't look out of place on Tzadik or amongst Steve Reid's back catalogue. Other notable tracks include the gorgeous backward vocals of 'Always It's Gonna Be Like That' and the borderline-Badalamenti of Babatunde Adebimpe hook-up 'We Leave You In A Cloud of Thick Smoke and Sleep'; an aural lung-full of Nitrous Oxide to see you merrily on your way..
