Drum'n'bass deviant
Amon Tobin fuses
hip-hop and
jazz compositional ideas with the bustling rhythms of
hip-hop and jungle and the bent sonic mayhem of
ambient and
dub. Unlike rolling junglists such as Alex Reece and
Wax Doctor, however, who draw from a softer, "cooler" brand of
jazz,
Tobin aims to maintain the heat of
bop and
free jazz, pairing spry, galloping basslines with complex trapset orchestration and shrill, screaming horns.
A native of Brazil,
Tobin moved to the U.K. in the mid-'80s, when
hip-hop was beginning to take hold and the rhythms of breakbeat
electro-
funk were replacing
reggae and
punk as the underground youth music of choice.
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Drum'n'bass deviant
Amon Tobin fuses
hip-hop and
jazz compositional ideas with the bustling rhythms of
hip-hop and jungle and the bent sonic mayhem of
ambient and
dub. Unlike rolling junglists such as Alex Reece and
Wax Doctor, however, who draw from a softer, "cooler" brand of
jazz,
Tobin aims to maintain the heat of
bop and
free jazz, pairing spry, galloping basslines with complex trapset orchestration and shrill, screaming horns.
A native of Brazil,
Tobin moved to the U.K. in the mid-'80s, when
hip-hop was beginning to take hold and the rhythms of breakbeat
electro-
funk were replacing
reggae and
punk as the underground youth music of choice.
Tobin didn't begin seriously making music until college, but his passion for the sampler, as well as the support and encouragement of no less of breakbeat scientists than those at Ninebar and Ninja Tune, immediately convinced him to forgo a university career to focus on music (he was a few years into a photography degree when he put the whole project on hold).
Tobin began releasing material with a trio of EPs (a pair for Ninebar, as well as the Creatures EP for Ninja Tune), and a full-length LP as
Cujo (
Adventures in Foam on Ninebar).
Bricolage, his first LP under his own name, was released in mid-1997. Beginning with 1998's
Permutation,
Tobin full-lengths followed every other year, including
Supermodified in 2000 and
Out from Out Where in 2002. A live performance was recorded for the Solid Steel series and released in 2004, and
Tobin reached his highest profile when he recorded the
soundtrack to a Tom Clancy video game, Splinter Cell 3. The studio album Foley Room, from 2007, relied on
field recordings from
Tobin and others, and featured performances by
Kronos Quartet. He has also performed remix and production work, for fellow native Brazilians
Bebel Gilberto and
Airto Moreira as well as Ninja Tune compatriots
Coldcut and
the Irresistible Force. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide
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