Electronic musicians often choose to be anonymous. That is to say, they present themselves persona free in opposition to rock bands like Fall Out Boy, who are slickly marketed and have a tailor made image to consumers who frequent stores like Hot Topic. And let's be honest, a lot of electronic music is pretty generic. It sounds like it could have been made by anyone. And then there are artists like Amon Tobin who creates music that is so distinct and unique that his sound is as identifiable as his finger prints. It's like listening to 'Trane; one you him blow his sax it gets etched into your brain and from then on, you will always be able to pick out a Coltrane tune in a crowded and noisy bar. Amon first his the scene as Cujo with his 1996 release, Adventures in Foam. Amon was definitely influenced by drum and bass be he stood out, even then. Foam was laced wild horns, jazz drum breaks, Latin rhythms and a touch of exotica. Whatever the hell it was, it was great! Amon quickly followed Foam with Bricolage, Permutation and Supermodified and took those themes further and further and as he went along his music got weirder and heavier. By Out from Out Where Tobin had become a full fledged soundsmith, tweaking and twisting his samples well beyond their source material. Foley Room found Amon sampling field recordings of lions, motorcycles and wasps rather than vinyl dug from crates and transforming it all into something utterly recognizable as being Amon Tobin. I hope you enjoy the ride! Photo Credit: Bruno Bollaert Amon Tobin "Creatures" Interview with Amon Tobin Cujo "The Sequel" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "One Day In My Garden" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "Bridge" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "Nightlife" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "Four Ton Mantis" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "Chocolate Lovely" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "Hey Blondie" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "Back From Space" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "Ruthless" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "Esther's" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin "Keep Your Distance" Interview with Amon Tobin Amon Tobin Interview: Unedited When I arranged to interview Amon I figured I would get 15 or 20 minutes with him over the phone. Amon was extremely generous with his time and talked with me for nearly two hours. Amon gave me thoughtful and considered responses to my questions and it pained me knowing that there was no way I would be able to fit it all into a typical edition of solipsistic NATION. I decided to treat the interview like a movie DVD: I would use the edited version of the interview for today's show but offer the unedited interview for download for those of you who wanted to hear the conversation in it's entirety. It was a win-win scenario. I'd like to thank Amon for taking time out of his weekend to talk with me. I'd also like to thank Jonath Shedletzkey of Ninja Tune and Kim Hobbs of Envision Management for arranging the interview with Amon. I'd also like to thank Craig Ruiz, Nicolas Chevreux, Victor Chen, Dr. Toast, Mr. Fresh, Jay Dugger, Macedonia, Ben Mautner and Steve Howard for participating on today's show. I wish I could have included all their questions during the show. Download unedited interview. 1:25:49 | 78.59 MB
Licensing: Copyright 2007
