Ninja TuneThe fourth release from Amon Tobin, under his own name, once againtends to lead more in the direction of last year's 'Supermodified' inthat the use of a lot of those "go cat, go!" drum licks and uprightbass samples have been eschewed in favour of some heavier groove-stylednumbers, with the odd drum 'n bass licks thrown in for good measure.The frenetic "Back From Space" kicks the disc into high gear with itsbusy rhythmic layers, compressed bass lines and monster low-end synthpatterns that leave fingerprints all over the scene. The solid "Verbal"has enough of a pop element to come close to getting airplay on majordance radio (if it hasn't already), thanks in part to it's strummyacoustic guitars, pumping bass and the cut 'n paste vocals provided byMC Decimal R. The stand out, "Hey Blondie," is a great, spacy bed ofsynths, subtle 70s bass lines and arpeggiated guitar held together witha deep pocket, down-tempo groove that's a mile wide. Who sayselectronic music has no feel? "Cosmo Retro Intro Outro" builds fromprocessed funk guitar squelches and fleeting melodic synth lines tosome heavy drum 'n bass-styled rhythms which blend perfectly with thebackdrop. "Triple Science" will have your ears doing pinwheels with itsuptempo barrage of bips and bleeps, held together by a half-time bassline that sounds like an upright being whacked with a stick. Theremainder of the disc's eleven tracks tends to be a lot more grooveoriented, making for some great space and choices of sounds in thecompositions.
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