Search - Amon Tobin :: Recorded Live: Solid Steel Presents

Amon's live performances are much different from his albums

Glitch Addiction | Humboldt County | 10/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I agreed with the first reviewer in that seeing Amon live leaves the audience with the impression of "not catching everything". When I saw Amon Tobin with Bonobo earlier this year I was somewhat dissappointed with the show.(and I don't mean the 8 dollar drinks/water) When I go to see artists like Tobin and Bonobo I expect to hear the same type of trip-hop/downtempo that they release on their albums, instead of playing any of his own material Bonobo played an average house set. I was overwhelmingly bummed since I consider Bonobo to be one of the best downtempo acts ever, but I can't stand house music. (I'm not kidding here he seriously played four on the floor house music his whole set, no joke) My next disappointment came when Amon played his set and included only two or three of his own tracks in a largely jungle set. I actually like jungle, but I feel like it wasn't what I waited two monthes and drove 400 miles to see. For a moment he snuck in Marine Machines but pulled it out really fast, and at the very end he dropped Propper Hoodidge and everybody went nuts. You could definitely feel the crowd asking "what? only 2 Amon Tobin tracks!" I understand that nobody wants to play a set of all their own material, but when you are (arguably) the best trip hop producer(s) in the world why would you play a House/Jungle set of mediocre tracks that you didn't even make? This mix reminds me of what I was hoping he would play at the show, a set that actually contains Amon Tobin tracks. Amon has really been influenced by the glitchy breaks that have blown up so much lately as reflected by the stylistc changes on "Out From Out Where", and although I really like glitchy breaks, I question whether someone like Amon who virtually created a new genre of music needs to follow the same trends as the rest of the electronic scene. Most producers could only dream of creating lush symphonies like Amon's so for him to take off in the direction of AFX seems sad to me."

Feel the Power of the Tobin

J. Harrison | Gadsden, AL | 09/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw Amon Tobin on this tour a couple of years back, and ever since I've been unable to escape the feeling that I didn't catch everything that he threw at me that night. A listen to this cd brought the memory of that night back to roaring life and reminded me of just what kind of sonic assault I had been subjected to.



Tobin's sound, as one reviewer put it, is organic, and that's exactly what I love about it. While most electronically produced music admittedly sounds just that - electronic, synthetic, I dare say - fake, Amon's sound is real in every way -Real instruments - drums, strings, woodwinds such as flutes, oboes, and the occsssional tuba - make Tobin's music sound astonishingly symphonic and "live." He brings the same big sound to his live sets, though with the addition of outside artists who share his need for a bigger, more organic sound.

The tunes on this mix don't sound as if they're being mixed on

turntables. They sound as if there is a BIG band, right there in your face, banging out the tracks. The result is an upfront and immediate sound. Think of Steve Albini's production of Nirvana's "In Utero" or PJ Harvey's "Rid of Me." Those albums aren't slickly produced to delete noise and echo, but rather they accentuate the room noise to make it sound as if you're sitting right there in front of the amps.



Tobin's production and mixing, while loud, raw, and "live" sounding, is definitely not sloppy. He employs an almost

"what mix?" mentality, shifting so effortlessly between such

disparaging tracks that it's impossible to keep track unless

you keep an eye on the tracklisting and timer. He covers it all: hard breaks (Verbal and Chronic Tronic), proggy big beat jazz (the Cherrystones' Pressure Cooker), dubby trip-hop (Tobin mashes up his own material in this realm including a Yasawas/Nightlife/Fear mix as well as a Four Ton Mantis/Hey Blondie mix),full on digital drum circle nastiness (Couger Merkin), and some of the sickest drum and bass imaginable (Suspicious Circumstances' "Completely Real" sounds like a post-schnapps hangover wretch session).



Tobin's use of Final Scratch ensures not only that many of the tracks are reworked and beefed up, but that some are just plain unavailable. Tobin's mixes are quick, but that's not to say that he jumps from track to track; some of the mixes ride so long that you forget you're listening to two tracks.



Overall, Amon Tobin's superior track selection, pro-tools skills, and use of Final Scratch ensures that the listener gets something unique and head and shoulders above the rest.

A final note, too. I'm not really sure that I'd recommend this to anyone looking for music to dance to. The tempos for the breaks and the dnb are actually a little slower than most, but don't let that stop you from buying it. This is headphone music at its best - multilayered, all encompassing heaviness. Feel the power.

"

I (heart) Amon Tobin, but......

Burke M. Gallagher | Haddonfield, NJ | 04/28/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I should preface my review by stating that I am a _huge_ amon tobin fan. His album > album progression is rivaled only by Medeski, Martin and Wood. Every (studio) album he puts together represents a large step forward and each serves both to expand and refine his ludicrous sound.



I rushed out to get this album as soon as it popped out (having already been a fan of the DK and DJ food solid steel album), and have been largely disappointed thus far. The sound quality is disappointing, and many of these ballyhooed final scratch transitions fall flat for me. I feel as if I could peform this mix given an afternoon with mixmeister or pro-tools (though the proper hoodidge > four ton mantis transition is nice).



As a survey of Amon's finest tracks, this compilation also fails to impress. A bunch of his finest tracks are here but most appear in abbreviated fashion, and this serves to lessen the impact of what are normally beautifully crafted songs. As mentioned before, the poor audio quality also diminishes the detailed flourishes and breaks of many of the tracks.



There are some interesting cut-ups, notably J5's quality control (run through the chipmunk filter) over Verbal and a nearly unrecognizable Dizzee Rascal over Proper Hoodidge, but they seem to me to be interesting artifacts with little improvement on the originals.



I'm no connesieur of the genres, but most of the spastic drum and bass and hard jungle stuffed in between his own tracks don't really interest me wholly.



All in all, if you're an Amon Tobin completist, pick the disc up. But if you're starting out, please do yourself a favor and pick up bricolage, supermodified or out from out where (they pretty much progress from Jungle-Jazz with cool breaks to other-worldly breaks-oriented techno). Anyway, cheers and much love to Amon Tobin, may his next release bury the memory of this one."