Amon Tobin continued his adventures with the breakbeat on Out From Out Where, his fourth album. Darker, more complex, even more rhythmically driving and intense than ever before, this huge record cemented Tobin’s reputation as one of the most innovative and important names in dance music today.

Out From Out Where differed from its predecessor in that Supermodified was made using only found sound (most of them generated by Amon himself) while here he stepped back to utilise some slightly more traditional sources (displaying in particular, a love of guitar licks). But when Tobin takes a sample source he is never happy until he has warped, filtered and fucked with it until it sounds like something straight from his head. And not just anywhere in his head, but that dingy, cobwebbed corner where no one should go…

"Chronic Tronic" sounds like martial music for giants, listening to "Searchers" you’re gripped by a terrible sense of foreboding. "Back From Space" and the intro to "Hey Blondie" have a genuine alien sense of wonder about them. Meanwhile, the beats, as exemplified on "Triple Science", sound like an entire bloco band having a bad trip in the dirt under your fingernail. And as for "El Wraith"...well, let’s not even go there…

In fact, this remains the most straight-up nasty album that Tobin has made – music with the power to genuinely disturb. Shut the door, close the windows. Be afraid…

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