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On its own terms, a fine enough, creative but dated d&b disc introducing everyone to Tobin's particular jazzy fusions, but for almost all who have heard his sequential work, a shallow appetizer.
Finally, we get Mission, that takes the whole thing down (and I swear that I hear the flute from Sequent C from Phaedra). Yasawas starts with single chimes, and builds with a throbbing bassline, cool textures, and looping breakbeats vs. While it may not be as brilliant in other senses, this is the best form of the drum and bass sound. Stoney Street features jazzy rhythms and samples, and you can just visualize a dark city, or maybe a light city, or maybe a city through the eyes of a drunk.
The New York Editor impresses with a unexplainable pulse of a beat, a jazzy shuffle. On top of that, when you add Tobin's still great use of, uh, everything else he sticks on top of the rhythms, this is why Bricolage is so great when I give it a whirl. I won't get started on why Defocus is bad@$$, but take the title of the song into context. Chomp Samba is a drum and bass tour de force. Easy Muffin has brilliantly soothing electronic warmth that reminds me of Autechre (like Amber), and of course, the drums. Song wise.
He does go to other beats as well to, but a lot of chaotic drums are intact that go like ________ peanut butter and jelly over everything else. I found his debut, Bricolage, fantastic. Listen to those tracks and their drums. His music is so brilliant and amazing that sometimes I have a bit of trouble taking it all the way through (laughs). There's a groove of jungle dense drums right after thumps of percussion, and it fills with dark, dark, dark ambiance.
Wow, where to start. Reccomended. Creatures is another delicious drum groove with ether sounds and creepy noises. I love this guy, but I find his later work kind of fatiguing. Bitter and Twisted. Wires and Snakes. One Day In My Garden, with it's light brazillian rhythm, evolves into more of the drum and bass mayhem, and once again brings you out on a breezy note.
Dream Sequence is very abstract goodness, and One Small Step is the best drum and bass song ever. Like, now. It doesn't have the mindless repitition of it, but still has those rhythms that I love about D and B. I would say this album is a drum and bass tour de force. Drum and Bass. A great ode to the creatures of the night. So even with Permutation and Supermodified, this album stands out on it's own.
That alone is enough.10/10
Me. I first discovered Tobin while listening to a co-volunteer's radio program at KSVR-FM in Mount Vernon, WA.Tobin is decidedly different in his down-tempo, semi-lounge, avant-garde Jazz style, blending electronic production and sampling with a layering of drum'n'bass raunchiness that is very eye-opening if you've come expecting traditional or soft Jazz.Not a "happy" album, not a "relaxing" album, this work definitely has niche appeal for those of us who consider ourselves electronic music fans, with occasional Jazz crossover. I love it. I've yet to throw this disc in the CD carousel at a social gathering and not have the whole room stop dead and say, as a whole, "Who is this."Some love it. Some do not love it. Both this, and the later disc, "Permutation". I've featured Tobin on my radio programs at both KSVR-FM and KSER-FM, and will always recommend Tobin to anyone bored with the usual pop Jazz or traditional Jazz offerings.
Have you ever wondered what it was like to watch a movie completely visualized in your head by means of musical influence. You can't classify this guy, he is all over the place. The spectrum of music is displayed within this work of art. BUT, if you are into instrumentals, much like I am, and ORIGINAL sounding instrumentals, this is perfect. The way he explodes the combinations into a structurally accurate form amazes me. There are so many sounds and emotions going on that you can picture a scene for every song.
It's not just a composition, its a visualization. The intensity levels can peak to a point you wouldn't think could be reached by music. Some people may brand him as electronic, but I have to thoroughly disagree. Listening to it leaves me speechless. This creation in particular has a lot of creepy, desolate, isolated sounds pouring through your speakers while at the same time exploding with some form of insane serenity. If you are for anything vocal, he is not for you. It's truly a vacation in musical format, and I highly reccomend it.
Being a musician, I have a deep respect for music that takes you somewhere just through your ear drums. This, and most other works by him will do the trick. It's not just music, its art. He fuses Jazz with Drum and Bass with Ambience with Jungle with just plain creepy noises, and it feels as though you are somewhere. This does the trick. Its a display of what you can do musically if you really sit down and THINK about it. If you don't at least ive it a shot, I think you are missing out on a potentially epic piece of art.
This CD starts with a track (Stoney Street)that is completely off track from the rest. Overall, the best track is the second (Easy Muffin) and afterwards it somewhat flows, but never really finds on overall style between jazz overtones and dark dub-step. Still enjoyable to listen to, but only randomly in a large playlist. It seems a little rushed to production.
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