Album Details

• Artist: Amon Tobin
• Album: Bricolage
• Label: Ninja Tune
• Year of Release: 1997
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: digitalbath on 2008-02-25

All I can truly say about Amon Tobin’s debut album under Ninja Tune is, well everyone has to start somewhere.  Bricolage is definitely a poor example of the magnitude of Amon’s work and it is on this basis that I will be rating this album poorly.  However, as far as the drum ‘n’ bass and trip-hop scene of 1997 goes, this album was in a league of its own.  In other words, though I feel obligated to rate this album poorly in the scope of Amon Tobin releases, Bricolage had already showed a clear progression and deviation from the typical drum and bass sound, making it one of the most important trip-hop albums of its time.

The rave scene of 1997 frequented fast-paced electronic songs that sounded like the soundtrack to a futuristic racing game.  However, Bricolage, like many other Amon albums, features unique samples and loops throughout the album with a sort of jazz feel to them.  This jazz feel makes the albums feel much more intellectual than your average electronic artist of the late ‘90s.  There are a few stand out songs on the album such as “Easy Muffin” which serves as a kind of foreshadowing to Amon’s sophomore release Permutation. The song has a much darker feel than the entire album.  The rest of the album, if it isn’t coffee-shop friendly easy-listening, simply repeats fast-paced snare-driven drum loops with no real direction.

If you are a big Amon Tobin fan, Bricolage is a great album to own if for nothing else than to hear the very noticeable progression in each of his albums.  However, I don’t feel that this album caters to the any other electronic listener enough for me to urge you to buy Bricolage.  It truly isn’t anything to marvel at within this decade.

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