1. Bloodstone
2. Esther's
3. Keep Your Distance
4. The Killer's Vanilla
5. Kitchen Sink
6. Horsefish
7. Foley Room
8. Big Furry Head
9. Ever Falling
10. Always
11. Straight Psyche
12. At the End of the Day
Amazon.com
With Foley Room, Montreal's Amon Tobin throws his torch in with the blazing tradition of full-length works composed in the majority with found sounds. Having formerly made his name as a craftsman of vinyl samples into towering rhythmic dynamos like his fin-de-siècle LP, Supermodified, Tobin tries sampling the world for himself. With microphone in hand and his tape console slung over his shoulder, he captures the timbre of factories, a massive satellite dish, and local avant-garde improvisers with equal zest. One loping highlight comes early in "Big Furry Head," when during a token trip-hop lead-in--all reverb, squiggle, and over-compressed drumbeat--a tiger's hungry growls tears new life across the frequency spectrum, signaling the abyss-deep thump of Tobin's next new groove. Whether he's wandering through lush, meandering string workouts ("Bloodstone") or more aggressive avenues toward beauty ("Ever Falling"), Tobin's gait is ever informed by the beat. But where some contemporary found-sound sculptures like Matthew Herbert's Plat du Jour keep a more strident sampling ethos in the service of musical politics, Tobin's approach clearly reeks with a love of sound manipulation as its own reward: every process an adventure, each completed work a revelation. --Jason Kirk
Album Description
Electronic beatmaking legend Amon Tobin reinvents himself on Foley Room, an album meticulously created from field recordings and other found sounds. Still very much an Amon record, but with fresh new underlying sounds. Includes bonus DVD documenting the process.
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The Foley Room
- Audio CD: 0 pages (2007-03-06)
- Publisher: Ninja Tune
- Label: Ninja Tune
- Format: Enhanced
- Studio: Ninja Tune
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 14 reviews
- Sales Rank in Music: #82776
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Sound landscape 2008-10-23
Comment: This is such an interesting album. I listen to it to try to catch all the little details Tobin has put in his music. I am addicted already. Enjoy!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: my favorite tobin 2008-08-25
Comment: I have all the Amon Tobin releases, and I have to say that this one is my favorite. At times it is raucous and hard (big furry head), at times it is beautiful and soft (at the end of the day), at times it is dark and haunting (bloodstone), and at times it makes you wonder how in the world the sounds are being generated... it is a great trip. I think some listeners might be a little caught up in the project concept, or are just unable to deal with a slightly different sound. Maybe others just don't like any of the softer stuff... probably the same ones that don't like Amon's jazzier tunes as well. It is a shame for them, cause they are missing out. Try to appreciate an artist taking risks and keeping his sound fresh, rather than lamenting that each recording doesn't sound the same. It would be easy for Amon to pump out the same sound every CD... but that wouldn't be very entertaining.
This is a great 5 star CD.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: In the midst of an evolution 2008-06-05
Comment: The Foley Room is his first attempt at the realm of found sounds, and that's his only basis (His other one: Chaos Theory, really doesn't fall into the same way of sampling like this one). It's intriguing for what this guy does, but I feel that he has a bit of a way to go before he can make a found sound recording and it be as intriguing as his first four albums.
What do I mean? I mean that this album isn't as engaging or as good as his other stuff. However, he is fairly new at this kind of stuff. But if you look at how much he evolved during his work prior to the found sounds (around Chaos Theory), it's very exciting. Who knows what this guy will do in the future now that he has embraced a microphone and can record anything and do anything with that sample. It's going to bloom sometime, and I can't wait to see what he does with that in the future. He might even move away from electronic altogether. He might even make a good hip hop album (the next Paul's Boutique? Be awesome, but
If anything, this might get points because it's cool to watch an evolution, and just to ponder "how did he get THAT sound?!". Well, for some, because for me it's a waste of time. While it's a step down, naturally (see above), it's still a cool listen.
1.Bloodstone-The beginning with the Kronos Quartet is eerie, and reminds me of a vampire's lair, or a church, or something really cool. Awesome, but I think Tobin would have been better if he eased on the beats in the second half.
2.Esther's-Sometimes a cool listen, sometimes not. But his use of wings and motorcycles on this one is thrilling. Surf's up...in hades!
3.Keep Your Distance-Killer track, creepy with an infectious beat.
4.The Killer's Vanilla-Interesting track, but nothing to special. Gets a lot better in the second part.
5.Kitchen Sink-This song is killer. Best use of his sounds.
6.Horsefish-Another killer track! Focused, interesting, moody. The best one on here.
7.Foley Room-Mediocre. The beat is pretty dark, but it's not much of a thrill.
8.Big Furry Head-Meh.
9.Ever Falling-I like the falling vibe to it. It's still above average
9.Always-Excellent beat. Texture isn't as good, but who cares?
10.Straight Psyche-Lot's of cool twists in this one. Still, not killer.
11.At The End of The Day-Good closer. Not as good as Nova or Natureland, though. Like the bursts of light and darkness.
The album I got came with a DVD that highlights some of the making, and I think the cd is enhanced. While this is the only Tobin album that's I see in most stores, don't start with this one. Get his earlier albums first.
7.5/10
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Headphone Commute Review 2008-01-13
Comment: If Ninja Tune was entirely in its own music genre (and I'd like to claim that it is), then it would be hard for its roster to compete with its staple artist, Brazilian born Amon Adonai Santos de Aravjo Tobin, who for over a decade has graced our ears with abstract downtempo trip hop and experimental jazzy breaks. Such is the case with Foley Room, an organic and at times dark album, that swirls and loops through filtered sweeps and broken beats. For his sixth release, Tobin abandoned his perfected technique of sampling from dug up vinyl, and built an ambitious collage of field and studio recordings with the help of The Kronos Quartet, Stefan Schneider (To Rococo Rot) and harpist Sarah Pagé. The elaborately cut up bits and pieces of familiar every day sounds form into an organized chaos of dissonant elastic melodies powdered with bouncy rhythms and dropped into a chamber, which the sound effect designers call "the foley room".
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Certainly not the best from Tobin .. 2007-08-06
Comment: I've been a die hard Amon Tobin fan for many years. Also, being into music production for about 6 years, means that I have a LOT of respect for the man and what he does with sounds.
This album is probably in my opinion the least musical of all his albums. It still has that dark and edgy Amon Tobin vibe that he is so famous for, but some of the tracks on the album just miss the point a bit, with too little musicality. Sure it's interesting out of an "experimental" perspective, the rhythmic work is complex and inspired etc., but some of the tracks have little direction and no real tune to them, which I personally find a bit bothersome and hard to listen to. Tracks like "Big Furry Head" and "Always" make the album more worthwhile though.
I think this album will mostly appeal to real muso's, that can fully appreciate the idea of the use of foley sounds, the recording of them, how he incorporated them into this album, the arrangements etc.
If you don't have all his other albums, I would rather recommend some of his earlier work like Supermodified, Bricolage etc.
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The Foley Room
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