Review Summary: I guess I just really love the way it sounds.
Well ladies and gentlemen as we all know Mr. Amon Tobin from Brazil makes the amazingly great and fascinatingly good drum n bass electronic music that is just as catchy as it is moving and haunting.
Permutation is a paranoid, dark album, complete with samples from David Lynch films and jazzy breaks and samples. I would be lying if I said I knew much about Mr. Tobin except for the fact that he is a man who makes electronic music and he is in fact Brazilian. But, of course, I know that
Permutation is one of my favorite albums and should be given a listen by anyone who is interested in any sort of music at all.
And of course the fascinating album begins with a track known as “Like Regular Chickens,” which as you all know is a reference to the Mr. David Lynch film called Eraserhead yes it is. It’s a schizophrenic track, ladies and gentlemen, and quite enjoyable as well, but not quite as enjoyable as the following track “Bridge.” You see, this is one of the better tracks on
Permutation, and in fact one of the jazzier ones. It has the most infectious drum beat, yes it does, and it is difficult to listen to without nodding one’s head. “Switch,” which is remarkably well done, takes the jazzy feel of these early tracks even further.
Now
Permutation is an album for the nighttime. Whenever I listen to it I feel like I should be driving very fast in a very expensive car in the middle of the night with a cigarette burning in the ashtray (though I don’t smoke of course) and my bright lights blazing in front of me of course. This feeling especially starts to kick in during track number three known as “Reanimator,” a track that kicks your ass right at the two minute mark and makes you want to shake your head back and forth. I guess what I’m trying to say is that
Permutation is an incredibly atmospheric work that takes a bit of time to fully sink in, and is best experienced with closed eyes, I suppose.
Now despite the fact that it is quite strange in some ways,
Permutation is a wholly accessible album. Whether you’re into the drum n bass or not, chances are you can find parts of Permutation that you love. The intricate beats and the perfectly placed samples are often hypnotic, adding to the somewhat mysterious and eerie atmosphere of the album as a whole. Everything is just as it should be here; none of the tracks go on too long and all are perfectly produced and tweaked to perfection, and though it has an established sound throughout, it never wears out its welcome by becoming samey or overdone. A good example of this is “People Like Frank,” which, though being quite strange even for this album, fits in perfectly with the other eleven tracks and simply feels like an extension of Mr. Tobin’s own style. I have great respect for the man for being able to do all of this seemingly effortlessly.
So I suppose it would be very wise of everyone who hasn’t experienced
Permutation to experience it, as it is certainly worthwhile. It is also a good idea to first listen to some of Amon Tobin’s earlier records to fully appreciate
Permutation.
Why thank you.
