Amon Tobin - Foley Room

This record is like every Amon Tobin record other than the exceptional (and basically flawless) score he did for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory: it's about 35% mind-blowing songs, 35% average songs and 30% complete and utter crap. That makes it a hard record to review, since the final score could probably swing +/- 1.5 points depending on what song's currently playing.

The album opens very strongly. At first I was a bit thrown by the motorcycle sounds in 'Esther's', but ultimately I was won over by the sheer beauty of the recording quality; I sincerely hope he releases this album in DVD-A like he did with the Splinter Cell score. I don't care if I sound like some sort of die-hard vinyl purist: the bike sounds are incredibly warm.

The next track, 'Keep Your Distance', is one of my favorites. I don't know if he's using tympani, but the in-tune drums really add a lot of badass swagger to the song. It's got all the atmosphere I've come to expect from Tobin, and at this point the record's going swimmingly. The next track is a bit of a slow jam meltdown, but it's all good. It's got a nice groove (almost reminiscent of Supermodified's 'Chocolate Lovely'), so I'm still with it.

So far so good.

Then comes 'Kitchen Sink' and the beginning of the end. Oh my God, congratulations on discovering....microphones. This record is aptly, literally and uninspiringly named, as Tobin has been moving more and more toward live instrumentation and "found sounds" recently. For those who don't know, a foley room is a room in which sound engineers record sound effects for films and the like. Tobin lives up to his reputation as a prolific weed-smoker here; I'll honestly say that 'Kitchen Sink' is probably pretty rad when you're high. But when you're sober (or even merely drunk) it's just an uncompelling show-off session where he tries to forge a song with non-conventional sound effects and fails. I can't skip this audio masturbation session fast enough.

The next track, 'Horsefish', is a nice and relaxing atmospheric drum-free interlude, but it's immediately followed by 'Foley Room', which is basically 'Kitchen Sink' on steroids and no more enjoyable.

Thank God that he's done with the really out-there stuff, as the rest of the album is comprised of enjoyable but uninspiring songs up until the very last track, 'At The End Of The Day'. Clocking in at only 3:12, it feels like a much longer song (in a good way). It has all the grand epic feel that Tobin's capable of, and it closes the record in fine style. It's a nice endcap to an ambitious but ultimately flawed effort.

Let me say this: I predict that Amon Tobin's next album is going to be The One.

He's gotten his "OH MY GOD I DISCOVERED MICROPHONES" stage out of the way, and now that he's powered through an inconsistent but promising record he's ready for perfection. I feel like his next effort is going to be much more measured. There's nothing wrong with using interesting sounds and live instrumentation, but it's like he was bipolar on this one, throwing most of the "found sounds" onto two tracks and leaving the rest of the songs standard and old-school. Now that mics are just one piece of his impressive repertoire, I bet that his next one is going to be his masterpiece, the one that brings it all together and executes with delicacy what he tried to do somewhat clumsily here.

Rating: 3/5

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