Amon Tobin Solid Steel Presents Amon Tobin:Recorded Live

[Ninja Tune; 2004]

Styles: jungle/drum & bass, trip-hop, electronica, drill ‘n bass, trip-hop
Others: Cujo, Animals On Wheels, DJ Spooky, Si Begg


Normally, a DJ mix is basically graded on two key points: track selection and the quality of the mixes. But with the development of new technologies, new criteria must be formed. Amon Tobin:Recorded Live, the fourth installment in the Solid Steel series, was created using a software/hardware bundle called Final Scratch where by using two time coded records on the decks, Amon Tobin triggered music files on his laptop. Stretching out and tweaking large sections of every track, he is in a constant state of mixing for the entire set; and instead of being pushed off to the last minute of the track, the mixes themselves become the main attraction. There's barely a moment when only one song is playing.

Amon recorded this CD live in Melbourne during the tour supporting his 2002 masterpiece Out From Out Where, so most of his own tracks here are that album's completely sampled reconstructions, usually creepy drum and bass and atmospheric uptempo numbers. But in the process of mixing and with source material like UK hip-hop award winner Dizzee Rascal, electro magnate Exile, Aphex Twin's alias AFX, and prog-art-rock outfit The Velvet Underground, genres are reformed, reinvented, and glossed over. The sound then becomes more a personal form of expression, taking you in directions unanticipated and intimate as opposed to pandering to simple, dance floor filling requirements via a crossfader. So to properly judge this album, one must consider the creativity of these newly mixed/created formations and the strength of the composition as a whole. As such, Amon Tobin:Recorded Live is a work of electronic poetry. Somehow, I feel as if I know the aloof Brazilian a little better now. If you've even heard of the Fabric Live series, you have to get this or you will get scabies.

1. Amon Tobin - Intro
2. Amon Tobin - Chronic Tronic
3. DJ Food - Dark Lady
4. Tipper - Twister
5. Amon Tobin - Verbal
6. AFX - Remix By AFX
7. Mob Nation - Got Numb
8. Cherrystones - Pressure Cooker
9. As One - Soul Soul Soul
10. Danny Breaks - Science Fu (part 1)
11. Amon Tobin - Marine Machine
12. Interlude: You's A Jaco Pastorius Looking Motherfucker
13. Facs & Scythe Schmalla
14. Amon Tobin Couger Merkin
15. Silent Witness & Break Higher Rates
16. T Power - Cuba (Original)
17. Icarus - Moon Palace
18. Controller 7 - Reactionary
19. Topogigio - Nakatali
20. Amon Tobin - Yasawas
21. Amon Tobin - Night Life
22. Amon Tobin - Fear
23. Amon Tobin - Escape
24. Future Prophecies - Deep Impact
25. Exile - Spanner in the Worx
26. Deep Roots - Allergic
27. Suspicious Circumstance - Completely Real
28. Silent Witness & Break - Total Recall
29. Dizzee Rascal - Sittin Here
30. Amon Tobin - Proper Hoodidge
31. Amon Tobin - Four Ton Mantis
32. Amon Tobin - Hey Blondie
33. The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs

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