Amon Tobin

This latest project from the Brazilian-born Montreal-based beat-pulveriser is a split between remixes of his "Verbal” single from his recent release, Out From Out Where, as well as unreleased production teamwork with some of his fellow Ninjas. The new material is quite excellent and working with the likes of Kid Koala and Bonobo forces Tobin to adopt his slightly more down-tempo cap in order to reach a level of agreement on the direction of their beats. "Untitled” with Kid Koala is a jazz-filled number with soothing orchestration and flowing horns over soft beats, as Koala fills in the gaps with his trademark subtle scratches. Also taking a turn to work with Tobin is Kid Koala clone P-Love on the humorously-titled "Hot Korean Moms.” The pair manages to give life to a dark mixture of distorted breaks and rumbling industrial crashes while P-Love creates a constant flow of turntable trickery. The legendary Steinski manages to help produce a production reminiscent of the Art of Noise in "Ten Piece Metric Wrench Set” with the help of shimmering synthesiser pulses and Kraftwerk-esque robotic vocal sample. As for the remixes, it was only natural for Prefuse 73 to share his take on the "Verbal” track, seeing as the MC’s words on Tobin’s original were sliced and diced in a very similar fashion to the signature technique Prefuse is now known for. His end result is a more upbeat hip-hop mix that even goes further in the mashing of whatever vocals were left to spare. Boom Bip caps the record off nicely with a very elegant remix that overhauls the original, leaving only the distinct vocals but adding a slow-paced electronic beat with snippets of acoustic guitar. Verbal Remixes & Collaborations is definitely worth your time and is more than odds and ends pieced together to hold people still until Tobin’s next record. With the new cuts from dream match-ups, including the discography-light Kid Koala, this is a record that will be rapidly consumed.