This is a monthly feature where classic and cult albums are revisited and reassessed for the modern listener. The only rule is that it must be a critically acclaimed or cult record released before 2000.
This month’s selection for Classics Critiqued comes from an artist who often divides opinion and has admitted that since the release of the seminal “Maxinquaye” he has tried to “kill all that Maxinquaye bullshit”. In this article I will explore not only the album’s sound, but also the main points of discourse surrounding it. Including its perception as “a coffee-table album”, the switching of gender roles employed on the album, the music’s dissonance and of course whether it deserves its classic status.
The story of “Maxinquaye” starts many years beforehand in 1990 when Tricky was working with Bristol trip-hop innovators Massive Attack under the name Tricky Kid. He featured on their début single ‘Daydreaming’, the first time anyone heard of a half whispered, half rapped vocal style. Tricky would contribute to a majority of the tracks on Massive Attack’s landmark début album “Blue Lines” (1991) and the follow-up “Protection” (1994) before “Maxinquaye” would see the light of day. Tricky had offered his debut single “Aftermath” to Massive Attack for inclusion on “Blue Lines” but the trio weren’t interested in “its hollowed-out hip-hop blues”. ‘Aftermath’ lay untouched for two years before Tricky’s cousin encouraged him to get his own record deal, this came surprisingly quickly with Island Records signing Tricky in 1994 after gaining their attention through a self released white label of ‘Aftermath’. Suddenly Tricky had an album to produce and no knowledge or skills to make it with, as ‘Aftermath’ had been produced by Mark Stewart (ex-The Pop Group singer & On-U Sound alumni).
Island hired Mark Saunders as a sound engineer for the album’s recording sessions which began in Tricky’s home studio in a time when this mostly unheard of. In a 2007 interview, Saunders describes the unorthodox approach that Tricky took to creating “Maxinquaye”, “We basically made a record out of different bits; the spare parts of other people’s records… every track was built around a bit of somebody else’s track, or a combination of quite a few, and so the traditional method of starting by programming drums didn’t apply”. The floor would be littered with records which Tricky would pick up and hand to Saunders for sampling and the tracks would be a result of the disparate elements being pitched down and edited until they made some sort of musical sense or Tricky was happy with the track.
It was also unclear early on what contribution Tricky’s ex-girlfriend and vocalist Martina Topley-Bird would be making to the record as she’d become a central part of it. Saunders recalls that Tricky was no more orthodox with his use of Topley-Bird “She would come into the studio, murmur, ‘Hi,’ and he would hand her the lyrics that he’d just scribbled out and say, ‘Go and sing it’.” There was no preparation and no notation, Topley-Bird came up with her “hair standing up on the back of your neck” melodies on the spot”. The next stage was the addition of parts by musicians James Stevenson (guitar), Pete Briquette (bass) and techno-rock band FTV who featured on ‘Black Steel’, a cover of Public Enemy’s ‘Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos’. Saunders also contributed guitar parts and edited keyboards that Tricky improvised into the tracks.
When the album came out in February 1995 with very little radio play it shot to No.2 on the album chart and was hugely critically acclaimed, garnering rave reviews and featuring in many end of year polls on both sides of the Atlantic. Tricky had commercially and critically arrived but he hadn’t wanted to and wasn’t interested in fame and success, as he stated in a recent interview with The Guardian, “I thought I’d be an underground artist, I had no idea it was going to do that and I was not ready for it.” In his opinion success ruined “Maxinquaye” and turned it into “a coffee-table album”, which has annoyed him since. It some ways it’s easy to understand why the album has fallen victim to this as on the surface it’s a smooth, smoky and jazzy album that lopes along at a crawl for most of its duration, the perfect soundtrack for the dinner party set. However, it’s what’s under that surface that gives the album its vital edge, the spiky guitar riffs, reverse effects, lo-fi sample and paranoid vibe that critics loved at the time and at present. This is why Tricky despairs, his vision wasn’t to create a companion piece to “Blues Lines” but to make the other side of its smooth, seductive coin. He wanted to step out of their shadow.
One of most interesting facets of “Maxinquaye” is the switching of gender roles that runs through the album and is especially pronounced on ‘Black Steel’ when Martina Topley-Bird sings “I’m a black man”. Tricky wanted her to sing on the majority of the songs as he saw his lyrics as “my mum speaking through me; a lot of my lyrics are written from a woman’s point of view”. Most of the tracks have a soft and supple sound that’s very feminine for music written by a man and for what’s essentially a hip-hop record. This makes a unique proposition even today.
So now for the biggest question is “Maxinquaye” a classic album? The answer is yes and no. There are many things to admire in this ambitious and singular album: its sonic adventurousness to its lyrical challenges of sex and gender roles. However, 17 years on from its original release the album feels to me to be an album to admire and analyse not one you instantly feel an emotional connection to or recognise as an out-and-out classic. On the other hand how many people were able to get their head around “OK Computer” the first time they played it? With that in mind please let me know your thoughts on “Maxinquaye” in the comments below or via our Twitter.
With “Music Inspired by Mega City One” Geoff Barrow (Portishead) and BBC composer Ben Salisbury have created an imaginary soundtrack that evokes the sprawling metropolis at the heart of the Judge Dredd comics. Centred around a Oberheim analogue synthesizer the duo’s aim is to revisit classic electronic soundtracks of the 70′s and 80′s especially the work of John Carpenter, Giorgio Moroder and Vangelis. A must for analogue synth and film music enthusiasts.
Killer Mike & El-P – “R.A.P. Music” 14th May (Williams Street Records)
El-P – “Cancer for the Cure” 21st May (Fat Possum Records)
After a few years away from the limelight this is El-P’s second release of May. Early reviews and pre-release track “The Full Retard” suggest its business as usual for the legendary underground hip-hop producer, though their are more guest than there has been on previous El-P solo albums. Its no bad thing if El-P produces more of the same as his style is his and his alone and I feel critics miss the subtle tweaks that he applies to his sound with each new release. Fans of undeground hip-hop could be in for a double whammy of quality hip-hop from El-P this month.
Pantha Du Prince and Stephan Abry – “Ursprung” 21st May (Dial)
Acclaimed techno producer Pantha Du Prince and the experimental artist Stephan Abry (Workshop) collaborate for “Ursprung” (meaning origin in German). Recalling Can, Cluster and Harmonia, the first track ‘Exodus Now’ is dense with guitar chords, thin synths, percussion, a motorik rhythm and buzzing noise. The hand of Hendrik Weber (Pantha Du Prince) can be heard in the fleet-footed hi-hats and high-pitched percussion, with a move to African-sounding percussion halfway through the track, adding an extra dimension. Texturally and atmospherically ‘Exodus Now’ is mesmerizing and “Ursprung” could be as sublime and intricate as Pantha Du Prince’s beautiful “Black Noise”, which Stephan Abry contributed to. The accompanying video was filmed in north Norway above the Arctic Circle in January 2012. Highly recommended.
Jherek Bischoff – “Composed” 28th May (Leaf Label)
“Composed” is the latest album from contemporary classical composer/musician Bischoff and features a stellar array of guests, including ex-Talking Head David Byrne, Brazilian Tropicalismo legend Caetano Veloso, Craig Wedren (Shudder to Think), Mirah, Carla Bozulich (Evangelista, The Geraldine Fibbers), Faun Fables’ Dawn McCarthy, Nels Cline (Wilco) and Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier. You can watch a trailer featuring snippets of songs from the album here.
Doseone – “G Is For Deep” 28th May (Anticon)
His first solo album since 2007 promises to be a welcome return for the ex-cLOUDDEAD founder. Pre-release track ‘Last Life’ combines Doseone’s idiosyncratic vocal/rap stylings with his most pop oriented melody to date. It’s the sort of track that puts a smile on your face and it’s got me (Liam, Sonic Fiction Editor) very excited about “G Is For Deep”.
Drexciya – “Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller II” 21st May (Clone Classic Cuts)
Clone are revisiting Drexciya’s revered back catalogue via a series of compilations. The first focused on their earliest productions and this release, “Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller II”, travels through their EPs from the mid and late ’90s like “Return of Drexciya”, “Journey Home”, “The Quest” and the rare “Uncharted” EP. The collection also includes “The Davey Jones Locker,” which originally appeared on the compilation “True People: The Detroit Techno Album”. It’s due for release in the middle of May. This collection is ideal for collectors and those who are only just discovering the work of this mythical duo.
Laurel Halo – “Quarantine” 28th May (Hyperdub Records)
After a string of hugely impressive EP’s including the recent “Spring” EP as King Felix, Halo finally releases her debut album. Early reports that she’s shifted back towards the ethereal pop of her very earliest releases, in a recent interview Halo even went as far to say “I wanted to combine the sounds of my previous records into something cohesive”. She also said that she’d decided to remove the reverb and echo from her vocals resulting in “the vocals slicing through the mix, giving rhythmic contour to the tracks that was previously missing in delay haze”. All in all we can’t wait to her this album.
Walls – “Coracle Remixed” 28th May (Kompakt)
Walls’ “Coracle” 2011 album is treated to remixes from Holy Other, Perc, VOIGT&VOIGT (Wolfgang and Reinhard Voigt) and Jon Tejada among others. Holy Other’s take on ‘Sunporch’ warps Walls’ sound to fit his own trademark formula. It’s a doomy and sluggish affair with ominous slabs of reverbed snare and chords under a shifting guitar line. Hard-edged techno producer Perc’s remix of the same track features a punishing snare drum, squelching mids and echoing screams, twisting the original’s beauty into a mechanistic thump.
With exciting artists like Lucy and Skudge growing in stature, the space available for experimental techno producers to inhabit continually expands. The self-released “Basement” EP by Rkss, a young producer from Berlin, was unexpectedly released on 18th April. The title track from his debut EP barely contains a cavernous bass line that growls underneath clattering percussion and a deep, thumping bass drum, it makes for a seriously dark techno track. Following ‘Basement’ are two lighter and melodic cuts but the title track is a true stand-out and a strong introduction to a fledgling career.
Finally found a stream of the Quakers album, check out what I (Liam, Sonic Fiction editor) thought of it below:
Quakers – “Quakers” (Stones Throw Records)
Geoff Barrow’s hip-hop side project delivers a slap in the face to the majority of underground hip-hop acts out there. They achieve this simply by returning to what a majority of 90’s hip-hop music so good, a raw sound that begins together analogue synth bass-line, stabs of brass, guitar and strings, deep piano chords and plinking lead lines and a host of MCs keeping it punchy on these all too brief tracks. For the majority of the second half of the album the beats slow down and there’s a more atmospheric and emotive vibe that recalls both movie soundtracks and classic Wu-Tang Clan tracks. The other great about this project is that the recruitment of MCs was on-line via the posting of downloadable demos that MCs could rhyme over and then send back to Barrow, DJ Katalyst and 7STU7 for their consideration. There’s too much material and too many highlights to pick out particular tracks for analysis and that would miss the point of album that’s centred around a concept and should be played as whole piece as it every track links into the next and has something to offer every hip-hop fan.
Biggest Disappointment of the Month
Spiritualized – “Sweet Heart, Sweet Light” (Double Six Records)
The new album from Spiritualized is slightly disappointing, feeling rather earthbound (though I guess that could also apply to 2008’s “Songs In A&E”) compared Jason Pierce’s finest moments. The songs just don’t have astral glide that they had before feeling stranded on earth, held firmly in place. In a recent interview Pierce revealed he’d been very ill during the recording and mixing of album, the medication often leaving him feeling like he didn’t know what he was doing. This may go some way to explaining the feeling I’ve described, I do feel for Pierce as this has impacted on what could have been another solid enter in his back catalogue. It’s not all doom and gloom though closer ‘So Long You Pretty Thing’ has a couple of surprises mainly a twanging banjo as lead instrument and that it manages a rousing ending that had eluded so many tracks before it. ‘Get What You Deserve’ comes close to capturing the psychedelic magic of previous records and ‘Hey Jane’ adds a motorik twist to the typical Pierce formula. So down but not out, let’s hope the Spiritualized record is a return to form.
oOoOO – “Our Loving Is Hurting Us” (Tri Angle Records)
The new EP from oOoOO is another disappointment showing no real progression in his sound in the 18 months or so since his debut self titled EP. What’s worse is that none of the tracks come close to measuring up to the haunting and affecting tracks that stayed with the listener long after the music had finished playing. This EP has none of that, feeling like a detached retread, in fact the tracks within EP sound too similar to each other and it all becomes an amorphous and anonymous whole. oOoOO’s peers such as Balam Acab and Toro Y Moi have subtly evolved and improved their sound since their debut releases but “Our Loving Is Hurting Us” just plumps for the same old same old, a shame as oOoOO had shown so much potential.
Santigold – “Master of my Make-Believe” (Atlantic Records)
The new album from Santigold is a mixed bag, on the one hand she’s overcome the biggest problem with her debut album – that it was too clean and grossy, lacking the grit of her demos but on the other hand a lot of ‘Master of my Make-Believe’ sounds the same. Here Santi calls on a lot of the same elements distorted electronic drums, glassy synths and huge pop chorus and though there’s nothing wrong with this is isolation over the course of the album each repetition dulls the formula. As a consequence of this the highlights are mostly the tracks that deviate from the formula in some way though ‘God From The Machine’ and ‘Go’ are great new wave and electro inspired pop tracks in their own right. The other highlights include the strings and splashy breakbeat, post-punk guitar and delayed reggae piano of ‘Disparate Youth’, the sombre ‘This Isn’t Our Parade’ and the clattering party starter that is ‘Big Mouth’. It’s odd that the formulaic songs actually feature some very strong melodies and hooks and are well written songs that just need a different set of sounds. “Master of my Make-Believe” reaches for cutting edge pop record and gets halfway there. Maybe next time Santigold can learn to produce a fully formed set of songs that aren’t full of generic sounds.
Kompakt boss and techno pioneer Wolfgang Voit and fellow German minimalist Jörg Burger continue their long friendship with Mohn, a new project that comes with a self-titled album. Synchronising the styles of the two artists, the self-titled album barely contains nine tracks that sound like an aural representation of a Casper David Friedrich painting: barren landscapes and colossal, other-worldly forces of nature erupting or the sound of the unnamed apocalypse that dominates Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. This is most apparent on ‘Schwarzer Schwan’, which begins with a ghostly synth and an immense bass drum that thunders under a delayed, drifting melody. The intensity rises as a second synth melody comes in and out of view. Male and Female voices enter singing held notes all the while that heavily reverbed bass drum thunders. Others are moments of fragility and beauty; any abrasive edges have been erased. Neatly sitting alongside GAS (Voigt) is ‘Ambientöt’, thanks to the long reverb tails that seep out into soft, sparkling atmospherics meanwhile ‘Saturn’ evolves into a track of delicate percussion and textures that flutter like a bird’s wings, recalling Cluster’s “Sowiesoso”. Flickers of the style of techno Voigt and Burger bred can be heard in the sensual, slowly unfolding ‘Seqtor 88’ or ‘Ebertplatz 2020’, a wonderful decelerated ambient/techno track with a beautiful synth part that drifts in and out, gradually building to an intense yet sombre climax; full of atmosphere and emotional resonance. On the haunting and unearthly ‘Wiegenlied (lullaby), the listener is brought back to an uneasy sense of dystopia: a lone cavernous bass drum signals the album’s end, it is a final death-knell of a human-inhabited world and the beginning of a post-human one. Added together, “Mohn” couldn’t be anything other than a Kompakt release – possessing fleeting tension strong enough to upset the glistening ambient clouds and expansive minimalism.
Battles – “Dross Glop” (Warp)
Battles have put together a remix album that achieves two simultaneously acting as both a companion piece to “Gloss Drop” and expanding on its core musical themes. Four of the remixes (by Gui Boratto, The Field, Silent Servant and Kangding Ray) taken the implied techno influence on Battles sound and make it explicit, elsewhere the Caribbean influences are played on and with by Gang Gang Dance, Hudson Mohawke and EYE (of the Boredoms). The two hip-hop reworks by The Alchemist and Shabazz Palaces manage the balance act of incorporating much of the originals melodic material while creating whole new grooves and atmospheres underneath them. The only real disappointment is Pat Mahoney and Dennis McNany’s dull and predictable disco remix of ‘My Machines’. Despite these many different generic strands ‘Dross Glop’ hangs together as cohesive work highlighting the strength of the Battles originals and suggesting new directions for the band.
Olafur Arnalds & Nils Frahms – “Stare” 10″ (Erased Tapes)
This exclusive Record Store Day 10” (also available for download via Boomkat) features three great new ambient based tracks from Erased Tapes main stays Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm with a guest lot from Frahm’s collaborator Anne Muller on ‘B1’. All the tracks are long form and so develop slowly across their entire lengths keep the listener on their toes while never disturbing the ambient quality of the music. ‘A1’ combines a gentle analogue synth arpeggio with perfectly poised processed piano eventually revealing a watery processed under belly. ‘A2’ is the most sparse of the three tracks with plenty of space for its ambient synth and reverb heavy guitar melody to roam in before breaking down to a single mournful synth part for its final quarter. ‘B1’ has a misleading beginning in which an uptempo arpeggio prods the listener but halfway through the tempo and atmosphere change to dark and dank the opposite of what’s come before. If you didn’t get a copy on Record Store Day we’d highly recommend buying the download via Boomkat.
Clark’s new album “Iradelphic” occupies similar sonic territory as the music put out by the Ghost Box label, especially the most recent album by The Belbury Poly, so it seems appropriate that Ghost Box co-founder Julian House produced the artwork for the album. The album combines folk elements such as acoustic guitars, double bass, acoustic drums and strings with synth drones, arpeggios, electronic drums and percussion and psychedelic effects. The icing on the cake is the vocals of Martina Topley-Bird who provides vocals on ‘Broken Kite Footage’, ‘The Pining Part 2’, ‘Secret’ and ‘Open’. The album divides itself into two song types of track more song based and more drone based soundtrack music/palette cleansers and Clark switches effortlessly between the two showing his diversity as an artist. Another string to his bow is that even the song based material features unexpected twists and turns to keep the listener on their toes. With “Iradelphic” Clark confirms himself as deserving of a place among Warp’s most vaulted artists, his varied career to date has rarely seen a drop in quality, he is the equal of Aphex Twin, Autechre and Boards of Canada.
King Felix – “Spring EP” (Liberation Technologies)
The “Spring EP” picks up where Laurel Halo left off with the “Hour Logic EP” last summer, though she has some tricks up her sleeve and the music is a lot harder to pin down. Here the rhythms wiggle and squirm restless and constantly shifting not settling into a smooth groove, this is one of the things that makes the EP so exciting you’re never quite sure what’s coming next. The first three tracks are all a variation on the same theme, Halo is so inventive within this limitation that the listener is never bored by the central theme. I won’t pretend to be an expert on techno but it seems to me that Halo has carved out her own style while referencing the glory years of early Nineties Detroit techno. The other crucial difference between this EP and “Hour Logic” is that whereas many of the tracks on the previous EP sound submerged beneath water this is Halo least veiled work to date, she lets the tracks reveal themselves and breathe all the elements able to exhibit themselves equally. The “Spring EP” is a fantastic addition to Halo’s discography and whets the appetite ahead of her debut album out in May.
Rafael Anton Irisarri (The Sight Below) and Benoit Pioulard’s (aka Thomas Meluch) new collaboration as “Orcas” blends sad, twinkling pop songs with shuddering masses of electronic sounds; a fusion of song-writing with ambient minimalism that stands somewhere between the piano-based modern compositions of Peter Broderick, the Field’s highly emotive techno and GAS’ subdued beats and stately atmospheres. ‘Pallor Cedes’ sets the tone of the self-titled album with rising and falling drones and a clipped guitar rhythm sitting under softly picked acoustic guitar and Pioulard’s aching repetition of the phrase “like coming up for air”. “Arrow Drawn”’s clever use of vocal double tracking and harmonies slowly seep into the listener’s ears as quiet acoustic guitar and piano merge into “Standard Error”’s floating loop of sighs. Calling to mind GAS and Irisarri’s work as The Sight Below is “Carrion”, an unhurriedly evolving hymn that encompasses a distant beat, echoed piano parts, an irregular guitar chord and Pioulard’s gauze-covered sad-eyed voice. A standout is their sublime, glacial cover of Broadcast’s ‘Until Then’, a poignant tribute to the untimely passing of singer Trish Keenan. Continuing “Orcas” use of piano, the track is built on a close-mic’d delicately played piano which frames Pioulard’s reflective vocals. Dark tones that lurk beneath the surface surge to the fore three minutes in compacting everything under coarse static until a sudden drop back to a solo piano, making for an emotionally charged song. Across the album Benoit Pioulard’s vocals glide along amid quiet piano and guitar notes and backing textures that rise and fall in gentle interplay, vinyl crackle and natural reverb adding an important touch of atmosphere. “Orcas” is a beautiful dignified album that summons a sense of space, understated progression and immense depths.
“Reform Club” sits in a foggy haze; it is full of serene melodies and reflective emotion. As well as being warmer than Claro Intelecto’s previous releases “Neurofibro” and “Metanarrative”, the album is both comforting and inviting while deeply tender and rich. Its production is thick and meaty. The nine tracks sit together in a cleverly unified way; avoiding homogeneity – a result meticulous compositions and the freedom Claro Intelecto’s new label Delsin has offered. Opener ‘Reformed’ matches ‘Voyeurism’ (from the “Second Blood” EP) in pace and style. Metronomic hi-hats push the tempo to 120 BPM (‘Reformed’ is the fastest of the nine tracks) while a bouncing bass line and snatches of strings top a driving bass drum. A standout is the next track ‘Blind Side’, which sounds like a Basic Channel track for this decade: a deep bass drum pushes forward a mysterious melody that is submerged under churning dub-techno percussive elements and metallic slivers of hi-hats. ‘Still Here’ takes the tempo down to 96 BPM. Reverbed percussion sits upfront, striking the listener and melancholic, dreamy strings are embraced by the bass drum; a theme through the album is the depth and warmth in the low end frequencies. Legato emphatic strings provide a contrast to the flashes of acidic arpeggios on ‘It’s Getting Late’ while a submerged bass drum thumps. ‘Second Blood’, the title track from the wonderful “Second Blood” EP released earlier this year, sits in the album perfectly. Static, a vast low end, sparkling hats and serene, emotionally resonant pads and strings provides one of “Reform Club”’s most affecting moments. The beautiful, fluttering synth that appears at 3:25 in “Night Of The Maniac” is something to behold as it flickers above sonorous beats and a dark melody that is set against a counterpoint bass line. Album closer ‘Quiet Life’ features piano and fluctuating sheer pads to form a delicate, touching conclusion.
This mix was inspired by the random/shuffle function on my MP3 player. Every so often to plays back two or three tracks in a row that suggest they might work well mixed together/played back to back. Some of these are obvious combination for instance the final three tracks LCD Soundsytem into Justice vs Simian into DJ Touche and some less so e.g. ‘Yippie’ by Mouse on Mars into “I Would Die 4 U” by Prince. So after writing a lot of these combinations into my mobile and saving them for later I decided to attempt to put some of them into a mix in Cubase and this mix is the result. I’m a DJ just a music producer and music fan putting some disparate tracks together and seeing if it gels together. Would great to hear what people think of the mix.
This month’s Classics Critiqued comes from ones of the most unusual artists working in electronic music, Brazilian producer Amon Tobin who is to drum ‘n’ bass what Bach was to classical music of the 17th Century. Tobin is a true innovator who has been able to see past the limitations of his genre and created a style so unique that no-one has been able to imitate it.
Tobin’s career began while living and studying at university in Brighton, he saw a magazine advert for London-based label Ninebar who wanted artists to send them demos, Tobin’s demo was the cream of crop and he signed with the label in 1996. Initially Ninebar released a series of 12” singles featuring hip-hop and drum ‘n’ bass production released under the name Cujo, the material from these 12” was later released as the Cujo album “Adventures in Foam” which attracted the attention of Coldcut’s Ninja Tune label. Though he was initially suspicious of Ninja Tune’s advances Tobin signed with the label as he could see “..all the artists on Ninja were being given free rein to be the weird, not-really-fitting-in-anywhere-else person that they were. I was not fitting in anywhere, I was allowed to breathe and develop. I felt very, very privileged to be there.” In 1997 he released his début album for the label and his first under the name Amon Tobin “Bricolage” a hyperactive adrenaline shot of epic drum ‘n’ bass. At this point Tobin was still refining his style searching for the elements that would make him stand out from the crowd. Tobin didn’t mind as he recalls in Stevie Chick’s Ninja Tune book “I remember going down to Music House to get my dubplates cut, sitting there with all these drum ‘n’ bass people in big Puffa jackets, and just feeling completely out-of-place, because my dubplates Disney voices singing on them, or some weird sound that would make everyone turn round and look at me like I was a freak. I realised I was never going to be a part of that, which ended up being a great thing.”
With “Permutation” Tobin established his artistic formula not only placing Tobin in his own space within drum ‘n’ bass but bringing him closer to the other artists on Ninja Tune while expanding the label’s reference points at the time. Stevie Chick puts the album in context, ‘“Permutation” located within drum ‘n’ bass a heart beating in jazz-time, and laced more meditative moments with bristling percussion… the likes of ‘People Like Frank’ firmly in Ninja Tune’s lineage of jazz-inflected hip-hop instrumentals, but also veers off in wild new directions, with bionic Gene Krupa snare-rolls sending supine, smoky bass-lines down inspired wormholes’.
Tobin’s music is so often considered (like a lot of drum ‘n’ bass music) on a purely technical level and, textural, in Tobin’s case. Little consideration is given to the emotional and melodic content of his music, which seems strange for music so rich in evocative sounds. In fact the man himself has said the following about this very subject, “I was just feeling my way, following my instincts…There’s no theory or formula I’m following. I respond to music on an emotional basis, and try to bypass anything too cerebral really, doing what feels good, and right”. Many emotions can be drawn from “Permutation”: dread, wonder, happiness, melancholy and wistfulness being just a few. In addition to this is Tobin’s ability to transport the listener to another place or time either through the music itself (e.g. the choral vocal sample on “Night Life” recalling childhood memories of the film “Willow”) or a well placed dialogue/vocal sample.
This ability to evoke strong emotional responses and use of film dialogue is key to understanding Tobin’s music. On “Permutation” there are references to David Lynch films throughout, opener ‘Like Regular Chickens’ features dialogue from the director’s début film “Eraserhead”, the title of ‘People Like Frank’ is taken from a line in “Blue Velvet” and the song samples from two pieces from Angelo Badalamenti’s score to the film (‘Night Streets – Sandy and Jefferey’ and ‘Akron Meets the Blues’), while its thought that the ‘Fast Eddie’s title may refer to the character Mr. Eddie in “Lost Highway”. In addition to this the album is littered with samples from film soundtracks including “Taking Judy Home” by Luiz Bonfa and Eumir Deodato from the film ‘The Gentle Rain’ sampled on ‘Nova’ and ‘Kitty with the Bent Frame’ by Quincy Jones from the film ‘Dollars’ sampled on ‘Toys’. I also suspect other soundtrack samples are included on the album as Tobin has admitted to sampling Disney soundtracks and the choral sample on ‘Night Life’ sounds uncanny like one of the main themes from “Willow”. It’s the cinematic sweep, subtler and attention to detail present on “Permutation” that separates it and Tobin from his drum ‘n’ bass peers both then and 14 years later.
After “Permutation” Tobin could do little wrong following it up with two equally classic album “Supermodified” (2000) and “Out From the Out Where” (2002) and has received critical acclaim for the found sound explorations of “Foley’s Room” (2007) and “ISAM” (2011). In addition to these album his potential as soundtrack composer has been realised with projects including the soundtrack for video game “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory”, Hungarian horror film “Taxidermia” and Hollywood films including “The Italian Job” and “21” featuring commissioned material by Tobin among others.
Though there are few artists (except his current collaborator and fellow Ninja Tune signee Eskmo under the moniker Eskamon) who could be said to be influenced by Amon Tobin he raised the stakes for what could be achieved in sampler based electronic music with “Permutation” and changed the musical landscape forever.
