amon tobin - chaos theory
as you may or may not know this new album from amon tobin is a soundtrack for a whizzy-bang computer game. its not a compilation full of banging techno blipverts, its not some large piece of ambient swooshathon but instead it's a proper soundtrack, like david arnold would make for a big hollywood blockbuster, if he hadn't gone all piano cafe boring. and as an added bonus the album carries the extra weight of the catalogue number zen100. gosh. zen100. a landmark release for any label.
good job it's bloody ace.
basically (ha!), amon has created an electronic album out of samples of so-called proper acoustic instruments lie bass, guitars and drums. so the overall sound is consistent and very familiar. there's cinematic strings, subsonic bass booms, twanging guitars and all sorts added to varied moodpieces.
as i don't have time to indulge in the cyberworld of games i cannot advise how the music fits in with the oh-so cutting edge game (based on a tom clancy book .. factoid freaks), but i can say that as this is the very first soundtrack in my archive i am somewhat impressed. the music is both dark and funky, especially on the atmospheric opener 'the lighthouse' incorporating a choppy bass guitar line, scary sounds, and an fantastic hammond organ backbone with a smattering of full on jazz drum breaks screetchy strings. i guess unsettling the nerves is all part of the game plan, 5 minutes in and mission most definitely accomplished.
opening the album with such a dramatic opener can lead to a follow on lull in most cases. not so here, tension and excitement are keep taut with the fantastic 'ruthless', featuring a funked up guitar line, and hard edged beats which recall the classic dirty harry soundtracks when you just knew that there was going to be some nasty full on 70's cop violence. the stylistic connection towards lalo schiffrins funk doesn't go unnoticed, nor is it unwanted as this is a brilliant sonic update.
thankfully things do settle down a little, as 'theme from battery' is all high alert ambience, with a slow impeding doom drum loop, and hitchcock strings. the spookiness is continued in the opening of 'kokubo sosho stealth' combining distant voice samples and clunks like some lost cabaret voltaire demo, the echoed deep piano note is superb and recalls many a tense tv drama moment. in fact, somewhere during this track it become obvious that this album is like a modern megamix of all the sound effects and styles that tv and film producers have used over the last 20 or 30 years to increase the jump factor in their productions. amon has obviously lovingly studied the genre closely, and extracted all the necessary vital ingredients into his repertoire, as he has a natural affinity towards soundtrack style music.
other highlights include the vocal choir sample on 'el cargo' (another deeply funky drum driven track), the creaky violin sounds that provide the chill factor in the epic 7 minute 'displaced', the "over the top"-ness of the sonics of 'kokubo sosho battle', and the somewhat pleasantly titled finale piece 'the clean up' (as in the ultra cool movie 'leon' where the job description is 'the cleaner' perhaps ?) which encapsulates many of the various components that have been offered up in the last 48 minutes, in other words more chopped up guitar funk than you can shake your stick at, and some superb fast-n-furious percussion that leaves you completely worn out at the end.
all in all this is something else for amon tobin and ninjatune to be chuffed to bits about. while the album breaks the mould for the label, the music pays homage to the classics of the soundtrack genre and subtly pushes the envelope of sound manipulation that little bit further than a normal soundtrack score would do, creating an album that is still highly enjoyable and listenable in its standalone state.
just keep a gun nearby for safe listening to be ensured.
nb : for all you hi-fi funky dory's there will be a 5.1 surround sound special edition released in march.