Somewhere back in the mid-90′s a fresh faced Brazilian ex-pat living in the UK decided he was going to put down his harmonica, pick up a sampler, and name himself after a Stephen King novel. The resulting album, Cujo’s ‘Adventures In Foam’ (released on Ninebar records, later reissued on Ninja Tune) signaled Amon Tobin’s entry into the world of music. Well actually there’s a pre-Cujo project also, but everybody knows not to talk about it… but if you get Amon really drunk… actually no, even then he won’t play it for you.

Immediately upon hearing this record, the powers that be at Ninja Tune signed him up to record as Amon Tobin, and he quickly went to work on his debut ‘Bricolage’. If you’ll recall, these were the ‘trip-hop’ years for electronic music, where any clown with a sampler and a collection of Blue Note records could knock off some half-baked boutique hotel background music. But ‘Bricolage’ shone above all that. Although employing a marriage of jazz and beats, it stretched it further by bringing in elements of bossa-nova, batucada, and jungle, and combining it with a sense of song-writing that elevated it above the standards of that aforementioned scene. I mean hell, it has a song on it which was inspired by Amon taking a piss on his neighbors bike after some domestic living dispute (‘A Day In My arden’)…this was clearly no good vibes jazzy beats guy Ninja had signed.

Next up came ‘Permutation’. Although stylistically a logical follow up to ‘Bricolage’, it was also on this album where things starting taking a noticeable turn to a much darker output. In fact you can actually trace Amon’s career based on coffee shop & dinner party accessibility…and let’s just say that this record signaled the end of anyone being able to use Amon records as background music.

Call it end of millennium tension, but while the rest of us were out stockpiling food for the 2000 apocalypse, Amon was channeling all that into his third release ‘Supermodified’. Treating it like if this was the end of the human race as we knew it and computers would never work again (or god forbid, if we were to be ruled by apes), than damn if he wasn’t going make this banger before the lights went out. The record was an experiment in sound. Marking the point where Amon become more and more obsessed with unheard but felt bass frequencies, and where he allowed a few collaborators into the mix (mainly Chris Morris of Brass Eye & Blue Jam fame, and Montreal beatboxer Quadraceptor). The record where the bossa-nova/jazz Amon Tobin was for the most part laid to rest and the dark/electronic/soundtrack Amon Tobin came into form.

In 2002, Amon decided to relocate to Montreal. As Ninja Tune’s North American headquarters is based there he’d spent a lot of time soaking in the culture and summer sunshine of the city, never once thinking that he’d never actually visited during the winter… So somewhere around the time he felt the sensation of his nose hairs freezing for the first time, he settled into his new studio armed with a fresh set-up and an A La Carte Express menu by his side (Montreal’s bible of food for shut-ins) to put the finishing touches on ‘Out From Out Where’. This was the logical conclusion of what the previous records had hinted at. It was a cohesive and banging record, but one with no obvious reference points. It just sounded like Amon Tobin, and Amon (more so than a lot of artists) can actually say his sound is very much recognizable as his own. The accompanying tour for this album also resulted in Amon’s entry into the Solid Steel mix series, with a tough ass Final Scratch DJ set captured in Australia released in June 04.

In 2004 video game developers Ubisoft decided to approach Amon to compose all the music for the 3rd installment of their enormously popular Splinter Cell series. Seeing as he wasn’t able to get past the second level of Splinter Cell 1, he thought that making the soundtrack would clearly be an easier way to interact with this game. This was a chance for Amon to experiment with different ways of composing and to finally realize a teenage ambition (although the soundtrack in no way reflected his love for Galaga…even though that was a hot game). Also composing a proper soundtrack allowed him to be a little more progressively excessive, with the inclusion of extended string arrangements and over the top Hammond organ solos woven into his sounds. Like Italian prog sensation Goblin composing for a Bond film would be an apt comparison for this work. A love of soundtracks has always been a key influence in his work, and it clearly showed here. The game was released in March 05. An accompanying soundtrack on Ninja Tune was released soon after on CD/LP/ and 5.1 DVD-Audio. The surround element was pushed even further on the handful of live dates he did for this release. The thing about an Amon show is that you could always escape the immense volume by going to the back of the room… in surround there is no escape folks.

After his foray into the video game world Amon stepped back and took a hard look at what the next record would be comprised off. Having made several albums from reconstructed vinyl sources it was time to look at what else could be pulled apart and reassembled. The focus now has shifted from the source material altogether and placed squarely on the manipulation of sound regardless of it’s origin. Armed with a sound engineer (Vid Cousins) and a collection of microphones he set out to find source material in pretty much everyplace possible. Robotics, animals, insects, musicians, utensils, motorbikes, and about a thousand other things that made interesting noises were all mic’ed and fashioned into the tracks that make up his new album ‘Foley Room’. It should be noted that although the process was quite experimental that the record isn’t an exercise in avant-garde music. Rather the end result is still pure Amon Tobin but pushed miles forward in sonics and melody due to the depth of source material. Also Amon isn’t claiming to have invented the wheel here but rather is paying a certain hommage to a long history of musique-concrete composition, at the same time satisfying his love for pushing the envelope of his output and knowledge of the recording process. The process itself is documented on a short film/documentary that was included with the CD & LP release of this record in March 2007.

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Amon tobin At the end of the day

Amon Tobin – The Taxidermist

Amon Tobin “El Cargo”

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“It never fails to amaze me how swiftly a moment of fortune can so easily become a noose round the neck. Especially in the oh so fickle world of the music biz.”

In the case of Bonobo the moment, or perhaps the year, of fortune came when he released his debut album ‘Animal Magic’, at the precise time that ‘chill’ was the buzz word on everyone’s lips. Never mind the fact that, even on the evidence of those first efforts, he was a truly gifted producer, you can’t beat the power of the buzz. As is the way of these things, the buzz became the murmur, and soon became the background hum, as endless chillout comps, ads, and media campaigns swamped the shore of our consciousness.

A young Simon Green (for it is he who is the monkey king) refused to be dragged down by the lazy journalistic prose that labeled him ‘chillout’ and ‘downtempo’. Far from it. He upped the stakes, and indeed, even stuck his neck out, moving from his original label Tru Thoughts to Ninja Tune, and set about taking things to the next level.

Cos it’s all about the levels with Bonobo. Not in a techy, studio kinda way, but in the levels of involvement with his music. On the surface there are the organic, pastoral atmospheres, the catchy melodies, the elements that caught people from his first album. You can engage with a Bonobo tune in that way if you wish, and will be well rewarded for it. But it’s the deeper, slightly hidden levels that you should investigate, for they bring the greatest prize. It’s these elements that he explored on ‘Dial M For Monkey’, as a greater focus on live instruments, the intricacies of rhythm, the darker shades of the soul, and almost a sleight of hand, that meant that you could be in one mood one minute, and the next you would somewhere different.

‘Dial M For Monkey’ showed the set of brass balls that Bonobo (like his namesake) had, and these would be tested again as he set about building his live band. He duly found the right musicians, self financing rehearsals, and fine tuning a live show that brought out the elements of his music that had hitherto gone largely unnoticed, as the band swung and rocked their way through shows at Glastonbury, The Big Chill, Jazz Cafe, and internationally exotic settings from Italy to Russia.

He set about building his DJ style in the same way, refusing to conform to the preconceived ideas of a laid back style, and aiming headlong for the dancefloor, with a heavy mixture of hip hop, weighty jazz, broken beats, Latin, funk, and soul, with the occasional cheeky bit of psyche rock and drum and bass thrown in. Just to keep you on yer toes right? Now a DJ of international repute, Bonobo has played all over the world, including playing to huge audiences in the USA and Canada with Amon Tobin, a progress culminating in Ninja Tune asking him to put together a Solid Steel mix album. Bugger the lounge, lets dance.

Now, with the expectations duly dispatched with the good hiding they deserve, the field is wide open for Bonobo to push himself even further, and we await the next album, due late 2005 / early 2006, with our minds well and truly opened to the possibilities.

“Lots of live shit”, says Bonobo.”Strings, horns, drums and vocals. More energy and a bigger, heavier sound”.

Come on then son.

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Bonobo – Flutter

Bonobo – The Plug

Bonobo – Kota