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Permutation | 
 enlarge | Artist: Amon Tobin
Label: Ninja Tune
Category: Music
Buy New: $15.98
New (25) Used (11) from $4.99
Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 49829
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 36
UPC: 625978103623
EAN: 6259781036232
ASIN: B000007OS2
Release Date: June 2, 1998
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Like Regular Chickens | | • | Bridge | | • | Reanimator | | • | Sordid | | • | Nightlife | | • | Escape | | • | Switch | | • | People Like Frank | | • | Sultan Drops | | • | Fast Eddie | | • | Toys | | • | Nova |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com's Best of 1998
Amon Tobin's mixing of jazz noir with breakbeats on Permutation resulted in one of the most infectious electronica discs of 1998. Using hard-bop drum samples, extended horn passages, and a constant groove, Tobin succeeded where others have fallen short: he captured the essence of jazz and made it ready for the dance floor. Thoroughly enjoyable and swinging. --Jason Verlinde
Amazon.com
With its lush strings; its deep, snaking bass tremors; and its odd patches of percussive irritants, Amon Tobin's latest album sounds at times like the kind of noir-ish drum & bass that Luke Vibert (a.k.a. Wagon Christ) has left behind. Such torch passing seems fitting since Permutation's focus on jazz sample sources grew out of Tobin's own career switch: dropping, if only for now, the Brazilian percussion and pop flavors that have long infused his home-brewed electronica. A languorous dollop of bossa nova closes this album, but otherwise it almost exclusively explores jazz: hard-bop drum solos, luscious horn lines, and mellifluous fusoid guitar. Tobin programs all this expressly analog material into his small battery of synthesizers and produces one of the strongest albums of 1998. --Marc Weidenbaum
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
 Tobin is indeed amazing February 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Amazing is right (this may be the first time I use this adjective). It's hard to believe that amazing music like this comes from the electronic genre. Tobin makes music that conjures up images in the mind, can even make you groove, and emotions on the side. This music is so dense and made that it only deserves to be played on some of the best kinds of speakers. Those damn bass heavy headphones that badly wash out treble really can't do this stuff justice. Some music is just higher class. I still can get emotional effects after digesting the sounds, so once noticed through awesome soundsytems, you can easier pick it up in cheaper headphones. So the accusations of me as one who cares more about how it's coming out of the speakers than what's coming out are clear to shut up.
These are great soundscapes that will capture and emotionalize you. Those who are comparing this to DJ Shadow's Entroducing... are coming on to something. At least in some senses. Entroducing... is laid back, haunting, beautiful, and relaxingly mesmerizing. Permutation is edgy, rather tense, the antonym of relaxing. Entroducing... conjures up images of the soul, the brain, sunsets, peace, the sky, and rainy, peaceful, urban streets. Permutation conjures up High speed urban street racing (complete with crashes), Centipede colonies watching the escape of prisoners, reanimation of the dead, and chickens running around with their heads off. Let your imagination run wild with this one. Who needs books when music like this exists.
Permutation may be his best so far, as I have been able to hear his other albums through (_________ you amazon!). Bridge and Switch are dark as ______ and jazzy. These are as black as any downtown gangster area you can conjure. You got totally twisted songs like Reanimator (that I set to the works of a necromancer who dies, goes to hell, and sets the apocalypse) and Escape (Escape can really twist your mind if you got a sick imagination). Even some of the songs that I can't quite put my finger on still appeal, such as People Like Frank. Maybe knowing what the line means (I know it refers to Frank Booth from Blue Velvet) could help, but I can't help but focus on the creepy ambiance and weirdly jazzy bass line.
Fast Eddie and Sordid remind me of cars, with chases, cruises and races, complete with slowdowns, jumps, guns, mood setters, and more! Sultan Drops reminds me of the invading of an empire in an aladdin land. Heck, you could take everything in this album and create so many scenarios it's not funny (my take on Like Regular Chickens is quite fearful, dark and disturbing). Truly, this guy's music is a work of art. And he even can make you dance, actually a lot. I have trouble sitting still.
For those who will stubbornly insist electronic music is non-talented at all, this album will, sadly, not change your mind. But for those who know that electronic music will be more interesting and pure than all of the _______ that people gloat over (Nickelback? HA HA!), this album is for you. Don't wait any longer to check out the music of Amon Tobin.
10/10
Ladies & gentleman, introducing a master craftsman. August 1, 2007
This is easily the best introduction to Tobin's back catalogue. Some of his later releases are a better demonstration of the mastery of his production, but are nowhere near as accessible (read: a challenging listen).
What is exciting about Tobin is the effort and style with which he composes his beats. An article that came out at the time of this album's release made mention of the time taken in the construction of the drum patterns, noting that Tobin spent nearly ten times longer on the process than his peers. This attention to detail is evident in the lushness and complexity of the sound produced. Moreover, his inspired choice of samples brings an extra dimension to the tracks, investing them with emotion and interest that the drums (despite his best efforts) can't accomplish.
If you like this sort of stuff, you also have to check out his label-mates DJ Food and Mr Scruff. Not as complex musically, perhaps, but a hell of a lot of fun nonetheless.
A note on the previous review: Bebel Gilberto has sampled Amon Tobin's track on her album, and he is credited in the liner notes.
Top notch March 14, 2007
Amon at his best, absolutely stonkin, great mix of heavy bass warped jazz and electronic fusion, mixed with more jazzy downtemp numbers, huge track is sordid, big nasty bass. Love it (i own all his albums, and am awaiting the delivery of my foley room CD)
Excellent (my favorite Amon Tobin album) June 9, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I got this CD upon reccomendation of a friend who is really into Tobin's work. He said this would be the best one to get as a first-time Tobin buyer.
I really love this album. The songs are both lyrical and mechanical in a way that you don't often hear. You can tell that it is DJ Jazz, but it has some emotion to it as well. I liked almost all of the songs, but my only complaint is that they do tend to drag on at times, especially when he gets into using fast drumming sequences. This is my favorite album of his.
 Nice work August 29, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This one is worlds better than Bricolage. This is a very nice blend of jazz and electronica. The first track is beautifully dark. I definitely recommend this CD.
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