Customer Reviews

Collaborations & Remixes

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Amon Tobin has made some staggeringly difficult music in his short but prolific career. Although to some his music is instantly accessable and listenable, but to me Amon Tobin was someone you had to sit down and get to know, learn the quirks of his music, pull it apart then reassemble it to truly apperciate what he was doing(why? because I'm pretenious like that). So it came as quite a shock to find that Collaborations & Remixes is as immediate as it is. I was expecting to learn to love Tobin all over again(not a problem) but right out the gate I was shocked and impressed by the quality of what could have been an experiment gone sour.

The CD is split into unequal halves. The first 5 tracks represent the collaborations and the second half, well yeah you got it. The tracks on the collaboration all have that Tobin signature stamp on them but what helps this album is how much life each distinctive artist brings to the table(and a few surprises to boot). Kid Koala opens the album off with a surprisingly moody number that focuses mainly on creating atmosphere instead of virtuouso scratching. Infact, the entire album seems a bit darker and downbeat then his usual batch of stuff. Something of a continuation of the mood that Mighty Micro People left off on on Out From Out Where. From there, each collaborative artist leave their own sound and flavor combined tastfully with Tobin's already masterful production, leaving a fresh breath of air into Tobin's own signature style.

From the collaborations come 4 truly distinctive remixes of one of the best songs(and singles) from Out From Out Where. Verbal was already a song made of cut ups but here, name artists like Prefuse 73 and Kid 606 decide to take it for their own spin. Prefuse adds his usual gorgous digital cut up mess while Kid 606 adds a harder, energetic edge to the song. The other two lesser known remixers give it a far more downtemp feel which sort of disrupts the energy that Prefuse and Kid provide but still offer their own unique takes on a great song.

Honestly, I could not think of a better place to get started for anyone who wants to approach Amon Tobin's music. Its far easier to get into then the difficult but rewarding Supermodified or Out From Out Where. For its price, you get not only Tobin, but a taste of some of electronic music's front runners as well as some new commers. Certainly one of the most enjoyable releases of last year. Highly recommended.

Amon Tobin is the most famous ninja prodigy, ain't he?!

Now you can meet some of the family and friends.

It's always good to know someone-respected's playground friends.
Especially when it's Ninja Playground.

Amon Tobin (AT) offers the admirer a Unique Experience in his Collaborations projects.

AT with Kid Koala in 'Untitled' - funny, atmospheric and a bit lunatic ole'time swingy track
with a kinky turntable /or was it gramophone?/ touch to it. Whoa!

AT with Bonobo in 'I'll have the Waldorf Salad' - beautiful bass, distant strings, deep beats, powerful
noise drill intakes. Bonobo adds some great feel to beautiful detail.

AT with P-love in 'Hot Korean Moms' - turntablism combined with complex drill'n'bass and distant pitched down snares. Add some typical horror strings. True intelligent sound orgy.

AT with Steinski in 'Ten piece metric wrench set' - lowkey hum echoing keyboards, power drums, distant robo voice, tension buildups, warped space headspin feel. Waaaaaaaooo.

AT with Doubleclick in 'Ownage' - spacey drill'n'bass, changing tension - careful, relax, watch it, ouch - feel. Super heavy synths.

Now ...The Verbal remixes - maybe better than the original. Not sure what to like best. Turntablistics, guitar rhythm, euphoria.

Prefuse 73 /intelligent, great feel, great change of patterns/ , Topo Gigio /galaxy spirals, space radio calling, coming home/, Kid 606 /powerful as hell, let's bring the house down, hooowl these drums, tribal trance - blow out your sound system!/, Boom Bip /muffled and bassy/.

As a whole - great Amon Tobin feel with extras. Great bridges between tracks. Excessively decorated and adorable.

Favourite tracks- very hard to choose.
And yet - Untitled and Verbal-Kid 606.

Conclusion: beautiful, twisted, playful, brainy, damn scary, must have.

As we all know, Amon Tobin is the Einstein of intelligent rhythmic electronica hailing from the Ninjatune label. Now when you imagine Mr. Tobin collaborating with other artists, you might think they could only take away from his mind boggling genius. Of course, if they united him with DJ Irene or Paul Oakenfold I would completely agree, but the clever Brits at Ninjatune knew what they were doing, for sheezy.

The first track, Mr. Tobin is given the privilege to work with none other than Kid Koala. The thought of these two prodigies making a song brings me near complete euphoria, and the song certainly doesn't disappoint. With its underwater circus organ sample bringing in a bit of Kid Koala's humor into Tobin's dark minor keyism, the song balances out excellently. Also, faintly in the background, low and behold Koala's turntablism which just adds compliment to ecstasy (can you tell this is my favorite track?). Anything after this track would be anti-climactic, you would think? Not when it's Tobin with Bonobo. Christ, just buy this EP already! Bonobo with his straight forward beats brings in a more organized sound to this track. Track 03, P-Love is brought in to take us on a ride through a horror fun house, with the craziest scratching I've ever heard. Track 04 has Stienski giving an ominous vocal sound, like Frankenstein's monster giving you a back rub and smacking your bum every once and a while. The last collaboration is with Doubleclick who helps end the EP with a powerhouse of a song.

And as if all this wasn't enough, the EP includes 4 bonus remixes of Tobin's Verbal. Remixes by the likes of...oh you know...no one special...just a little guy named PREFUSE 73!!! If you're not pulling out your credit card by now, there is something dreadfully wrong with you and perhaps you should go back to listening to Country music after all. But if you are buying it, enjoy.

-TarTar

this album shows that, when given something to work with, some actual content from his collaborators, amon tobin can make some incredible music. this is shown in the first few tracks of the album. the remixes are the truly great part, taking the only good song from "out from out where" (which was already heavily influenced by prefuse 73) and hearing the unique styles of four great musicians interpret it. The songs have very little in common, aside from the requisite sample cut-up vocals. prefuse does what he always does, with weird tones and unmatchably creative beats. topo gigio puts on heavy atmosphere and creates an enveloping, dramatic song, also the most true to the original. kid 606 turns it into dancehall, and screws around with every element of the song as much as possible, making a fun short-attention-span piece. and of course boom bip brings in some real instruments and gives the album some class. this is the best cd i've seen in a while.

When I first started listening to Amon Tobin I was captured by the complxity and the hypnotizing rhythems and beats that penetrate your mind. There is just something about his music that is amazing and unforgetable. I purchased this new ep/single with very high expectations and those expectations were exceeded. If you have never heard Amon Tobin by this single and you will become an instant fan. This guy is amazing!

Impressive compilation/collaboration from one of the most creative, aggressive, and intelligent electronic artists out today, flies by despite the repeated remix of Verbal, due the the inspiring array of interpretations, mixed with the first half of originals, also hitting the mark, as is usual for Tobin.

As befitting as artist, who is one of the `Intelligent dance music's' most consistently accomplished artists, is a remix/collaborations album of a similarly groundbreaking standard, as with his solo work. "Kid Koala" adds significant weight to the argument with his quirky sample/Scratch aesthetic on "Untitled", proving that music doesn't have to take itself too seriously. "Bonobo" reach into their organically textural bag of tricks and devise a Mediterranean, endlessly breezy sound on the track "I'll have a Waldorf salad", far removed from Amon's Jazz/D'n'B cut & Paste. Both "Prefuse 73" & "Boom Bip" reinterpret Amon's "Verbal" track.....both are tremendous (possibly surpassing the original), with "Prefuse 73" cutting as Glitching things up like a refined `Aphex Twin'. And "Boom Bip" favours dark, stark, minimal sounds....choosing mood & Atmosphere to push the remix into places the original couldn't even being to think about, with a strong list on contributors & remixers all handing in a consistently fantastic standard of work, there isn't anything on here that I feel is weaker in comparison to any other track, (although people are undoubtedly likely to have their favourite tracks), and as if that wasn't enough, it retails at a mid-price.

I only found it fitting to get this CD being that it beckoned me everytime I would enter the "Dance" section at Borders, and since I have become an Amon Tobin fan. "Hey, $10--what do I have to lose?" So I got "Collaborations and Remixes"... right now, though, I'm feeling somewhat indifferent as to whether I like the material here or not...some of the music like the opening "Untitled", "I'll Have the Waldorf Salad" and the "Verbal" remixes do have Amon Tobin's signature orchestra- meets-cut'n'paste D&B touch, but in comparison to his material on the classic "Bricolage" and "Supermodified", this "remix" CD is "common"! But then what remix CD really grabs you unless it's Herbert's "Secondhand Sounds", but that's a whole nother review. Definitely get "Collaborations and Remixes" if you're fond of Tobin's work and the producers and DJs who have collaborated with him. However, don't expect to be blown away by anything that hasn't been done before.