Prefuse 73

Scott Herren’s recent work has drawn criticism for sounding too similar to his early breakthrough recordings (particularly Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives). He often uses the same melodies — a soft, melodic arpeggio of keys — on all of his recordings, a tendency that frequently appears on Security Screenings, his latest effort as Prefuse 73, also. Herren is too good a producer to make a truly bad album. The chopped loops of Prodigy’s diatribe on Mobb Deep’s The Infamous through “Weight Watching,” and the quirky bounce beat jumping underneath “With Dirt and Two Texts: Later Version with Love,” are proof of his superior technical abilities. But nearly all of Security Screenings‘ tracks use a similar melodic scheme, buffing away at any legitimate innovations in his work. Only a few of the tracks — the noisy sound mashing of “No Origin” in particular — point toward a fresh, unexplored direction in his work.