Amon Tobin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amon Tobin
Amon Tobin before his 7.1 Surround Sound DJ set at Rotonde 2 in Luxembourg City, 8th December 2007
Amon Tobin before his 7.1 Surround Sound DJ set at Rotonde 2 in Luxembourg City, 8th December 2007
Background information
Birth name Amon Adonai Santos de Araujo Tobin
Also known as Cujo
Born February 7, 1972 (1972-02-07) (age 36)
Origin Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Genre(s) Electronic, drum and bass, breakbeat, IDM
Occupation(s) DJ, producer, Musician
Instrument(s) Synthesizer, Percussion, Drum Programming, sampler
Years active 1996-present
Label(s) Ninja Tune
Associated acts Twofingers, Quadraceptor
Website amontobin.com

Amon Tobin (born Amon Adonai Santos de Araujo Tobin on February 7, 1972) is a Montreal-based Brazilian musician, DJ, and producer of sample-based music.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Amon Adonai Santos de Araujo Tobin was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He acquired the surname Tobin from his Irish stepfather. After travelling back and forth between Brazil and Portugal, he eventually relocated to England at an early age, where hip hop, jungle, blues and jazz caught his interest.

In his adolescence, he would prepare his version of the top 40s that he recored and mixed on a twin-cassette deck.

He released four EPs and an album, Adventures in Foam, under Cujo moniker which he borrowed from a Stephen King novel, before he signed with Ninja Tune in late 1996. He has since released six critically acclaimed albums under his own name.

He gained a wider recognition by the song "Saboteur" in 2003, which was featured as the main theme for the movie The Italian Job, along with the opening credits theme 'Slowly' in éS Footwear's 2000 skateboarding epic Menikmati.

After a three-year hiatus from releasing any major original work, he was contracted by video game company Ubisoft to compose the soundtrack for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, released in 2005.[1]. Subsequently, Amon scored the music for the Hungarian film Taxidermia experimenting with samples.

Recently in a radio interview, filmmaker Luc Besson briefly discussed his upcoming film Transporter 3 and talked about how impressed he was with Tobin's music (most notably the album Supermodified and his work on Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory soundtrack), thus hinting that he could be scoring the upcoming Transporter sequel starring Jason Statham. The film is due for a November 2008 release.

[edit] Techniques and Releases

Tobin is perhaps best known for his creative use of sampling. He uses everything from old recordings to motorcycles (Foley Room) and even the acoustics of buildings (Out From Out Where) and stretches and skews them often beyond recognition. Resonances, delays, reverbs and a wide variety of sound effects also contribute to transform what was once familiar into something grotesque and unnatural. Psychedelic ambiences are frequently blended with retro-jazz beats, creating a barrier of apparently incoherent sound layers. This uniqueness and complexity make the task of categorizing his music a difficult one. Each of his albums introduces new polyrhythms and soundscapes.

[edit] Live Shows

In his live shows, Tobin is mostly concerned about the sonic experience rather than the stage performance.[2] Thus he uses a 7.1 surround system, which works only indoors. By layering different textures to the respective channels, he makes his records sound superior to the ones on the albums.[3] His typical set list, apart from the enhanced versions of his album tracks, involves remixed third-party tracks that were the source of inspiration for the newest album. He is fond of Boxcutter, Spank Rock, Noisia and is a big fan of Dom&Roland. Also the latest unreleased tracks can be presented on special occasions.

Currently, Amon put live show off until September, to concentrate on music making in the studio

[edit] Discography

Aside from the albums and collaborations, Amon Tobin has also produced the composition to the Hungarian film, Taxidermia. Amon Tobin's music has also been used in other movies as well as advertisements. A three-track single "Bloodstone" was released in January 2007. On February 20, 2007, the iTunes Music Store released an exclusive pre-release for the "Foley Room" album.

[edit] Albums

[edit] Collaborations & Live Recordings

[edit] Singles & EPs

  • Curfew (1995) (as Cujo)
  • The Remixes (1996) (as Cujo)
  • Creatures (1996)
  • Chomp Samba (1997)
  • Mission (1997)
  • Pirahna Breaks (1997)
  • Like Regular Chickens (Danny Breaks & Dillinja Remixes) (1998)
  • 4 Ton Mantis (2000)
  • Slowly (2000)
  • East To West (2002)
  • Verbal (2002)
  • Angel Of Theft (2004) (as Player)
  • The Lighthouse (2005)
  • Bloodstone EP (2007)
  • Kitchen Sink Remixes (2007)

[edit] B-Sides/Other Tracks

  • Shiny Things (From Creatures)
  • Daytrip (From Creatures)
  • Tabukula Beach Resort (From Mission)
  • Piranha Breaks (From Piranha Breaks)
  • Sub Tropic (From Piranha Breaks)
  • Hot Pursuit (From Piranha Breaks)
  • Melody Infringement (From Ninja Cuts: Funkungfusion compilation)
  • Yards (From 4 Ton Mantis)
  • Bad Sex (From Slowly)
  • Down & To The Left (From Xen Cuts compilation)
  • East To West (From East To West)
  • Sirens (From East To West)
  • Cougar Merkin (From Verbal)
  • The Whole Nine (From Verbal)
  • El Chimi (From Verbal)
  • The Last Minute (From The Last Minute Soundtrack)
  • Here Comes The Moon Man (From Bloodstone)

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

The following trivia comes from various interviews and the answers posted by Amon Tobin himself in "Ask Amon" section on the official forum. Actual references are hard to point out as the forum has been temporarily shut down.

  • In his youth worked as a street tout.[5]
  • His first sampler was from Casio.[6]
  • The names of his tracks are sometimes secret messages to his friends, otherwise they may point to the source of the sampled material.[7]
  • Lives in an industrial area of Montreal in order to avoid noise complaints from neighbors.[8]
  • Although he lived most of his life in England, he definitely regards himself as Brazilian.[9]
  • He has performed in front of more than sixty thousand people.[10]
  • Usually, at least one of his tracks is used in the British motor show Top Gear.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ninjatune Releases - Chaos Theory - Splinter Cell 3 Soundtrack
  2. ^ Current TV interview
  3. ^ Current TV interview
  4. ^ MySpace.com - Two Fingers - Hip Hop - www.myspace.com/2wofingers
  5. ^ Amon Tobin official forum: answer in linguistic question topic
  6. ^ Nuziq 2007 interview
  7. ^ Amon Tobin official forum: answer in question topic
  8. ^ Current TV interview
  9. ^ 4DJ interview
  10. ^ 2007 radio interview

[edit] External links

[edit] Video links

[edit] Interviews

[edit] Official Music Videos

Persondata
NAME Tobin, Amon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Amon Adonai Santos de Araujo; Cujo
SHORT DESCRIPTION Brazilian musician
DATE OF BIRTH 7 February 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH