Welcome to The Harmonic Series, a daily(ish) music review series - exclusive to Steemit - where I’ll be discussing music across many different styles and genres from metal, to electronic music, to jazz and beyond! I’ll be talking up exciting new releases, some of my personal classics, and anything else that I think is worth checking out. Some of the reviews I share will be brand new, and some will be from my personal archives.
Today's review is another from the archives:
Amon Tobin - Permutation (Ninja Tune, 1998)
Genre: Electronic
Style: Breakbeat, Drum n' Bass, IDM
Amon Tobin was one of the first electronic acts I ever liked, though I hardly had any idea who it was at the time. Music of his was featured in the Toonami original show IGPX and one of my favorite videogames, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Along with Aphex Twin and Photek, Amon Tobin really started my interest in electronic music. At least 9 years after I first heard his music, I'm finally getting around to really listening to some of it.
Although his music stuck in my head a lot, I've been acutely aware that based on how prolific he is, there's probably a wide variety to his sound. Of course the sampled breaks that I remembered and loved are here, but there's also more sampled jazz instrumentation including upright bass and saxophone. The second track Bridge seems likes an extended jam section that a prog band would play. The third track is where it really gets going for me in a "yeah this is what I came for!" way, with deep, sliding bass and busy snare centric breaks.
This is the first of these albums I haven't listened to at school and on headphones. Instead, I'm laying on the couch in Robin's basement, listening on 4 foot tall speakers and surround sound. The track Sordid features a classic chromatic DnB bassline and an eerie synth lead on top. Some of these drum samples features very extensive soloing, I wonder if these were maybe created for Tobin? It seems like quite a lot to directly sample from a song. This album is taking me in directions I didn't expect. Nightlife begins with some lounge sounding jazz before bringing in some ominous solo classical flute, after which the beat comes in. There's a lot of really unique instrumentation on this and very hip chord changes on the hits. Vibraphone, woodwinds, and plucked/strummed strings give way to dark pads, and what seems like a blend of sampled and synth bass.
There's even a sense of humor on this album with these little vocal samples, such as on the the track Escape, which also brings the sub bass to its lowest point yet on the album. I don't know how well I would hear this stuff in my normal listening environment, but it's massive here. Switch is an apt title, as it begins on a straight-ahead jazz groove that would sound very ordinary outside of this context, but the weird textures come in sure enough, and the piano dips in to a more processed sounds at times. That track flows seamlessly into People Like Frank, another noir tinged jazz track that moves into a super hard groove very fluidly, that almost as quickly fades down to make room for an organ, and then bursts back in to the forefront of the track.
I'm loving Tobins ability to transition between very disparate ideas, and I didn't expect as much weird jazz and traditional instrumentation as there is on here. His sonic palette and sample collection is very unique and interesting even today, and this album is from 1998!!! I wouldn't be surprised if he was a big influence on Flying Lotus' earlier music, both seem to dip into the aesthetics of jazz and middle eastern music very heavily. On Fast Eddie the breaks are cut up quite heavily for an almost lyrical pattern with heavy syncopation. Toys reminds me of the Herbie Hancock album Sextant. The last track begins with a very smooth Brazilian jazz section and has probably the most subtle introduction of breaks that I've ever heard. It's actually making me wonder why I've never heard gradual progress and subtlety in this kind of music before, but it feels so established and natural here. Wow this album was so good and I wish I got to it earlier. Definitely one of best of the month and gonna get a lot of repeat listening. This is some really dynamic sample based electronic music that doesn't dwell in tropes.
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