When Amon Tobin moved to Montreal, there was a buzz in the air; People were talking about it. What is he doing here, and why has he come? Has anyone bumped into him yet on St Laurent? There was a fascination with the fact that an infamous musician of Brazilian heritage, formerly living in the UK, would come to this city—our city— to make it his home. “Well, you know actually it was all about this girl to begin with,” he says a bit shyly over the phone, “It was to do with Ninja Tune being here, but I had also been here many times on tour, and I had always like this city. If I had to think of somewhere else to live, this is really where I thought of.”

As the conversation continues, it becomes more and more apparent that Amon Tobin, like most who emigrate here from other places, has simply fallen in love with Montreal for all the right reasons, yet reasons that those native to this city (or those who have simply been here for too long) sometimes easily forget about. ”Compared to other places I have lived, there seems to be a genuine enthusiasm for music, or an enthusiasm for other things as well that aren’t necessarily that successful."

"I went to a super 8 movie type thing at Sala Rossa a couple of months ago, and there were all these amateur movies, only a few seconds long some of them, but there’s a forum for that, you know? And fair enough, with most of the movies it was hit and miss, but just that there was even a forum for that, and that there’s support. People will go out to support their friends stuff here, and I think that’s quite rare. Or for instance Picnik Electronik, it’s the middle of the winter and you’ve got this festival. And there is all these people out there in their winter coats, and they’re ravin’ it!! (laughs) I think that’s a great thing. You guys are tuff out there.” he says in a tone which can only suggest a deep admiration for the inhabitants of Montreal

Amon Tobin’s newest album entitled Foley Room, due out this March, is possibly his best work yet. Foley Room is what fans would expect in terms of the use of unconventional sampling and sound. What differs is the transition from the darkness of some of his past albums. Instead, it rests as a demonstrative expression of mere emotion. Each track seems to exit with an appropriate set up for the next, something which can only come with the experience and knowledge of several full length albums. The finished CD is a melodic, well thought out piece of work that is touching, poignant and haunting all at the same time. “It was emotional music for me. I’m not just about processes, production and techniques and all of that. I’m around music in a sort of very emotional and intuitive way.” The album is also unmistakably Amon Tobin.

He has created exceedingly multi-layered sounds from very different sources. This is achieved by breaking each sound into parts and isolating various frequencies, then using which part or parts apply specifically to the sound he is trying to create. The trailer for Foley Room shows Amon recording everything from violins, to toy cars, to the bouncing sound of a spring.

“The thing I tried to do a lot throughout the record was find different sounds that had different origins, yet shared some sort of similar properties. In a lion roaring, you’ve got incredible bass, and you’ve also got the high end of the frequencies. It’s the same with a motor bike, you know? With my favourite synth, like a real Jungle Bass, you’ve got this kind of breaking up at the top end, that sort of rave bass sound. So I was trying to take things from different places and put them together in hopes that the similar qualities in each one would add to it, and make a new sound which had all the properties I needed. I might take just the high end of one, like the high end of the motorbike, but put that sub underneath it. I’ve recorded these wasps to put with these surf guitars. I was wondering whether that kind of very fast strumming you get in that surf sound, if I could find something similar with these wasps. So I put them together, to kind of make a heightened surf sound.”

If you have been on internet forums at all lately, you may have heard the recent rumour of an Amon Tobin/Noisia collaboration, which seemed to be much welcomed by those discussing it. After a bit of hesitation, we go ahead and ask. Is it true? Luckily, he is happy to satisfy those with enquiring minds. “I was over there to see those guys in Holland a few months ago, and we started on a collaboration. I’m a huge fan of theirs, and they are really cool guys. To be honest, it was bit confusing working with 3 other guys. But we got it to a stage where I took it back to finish it off. I’m working on it now, and then I’m going to send it to them and I’m sure they will change it a bit, and we will have something in not too long. “Amid the production work of 4 evil geniuses’ in the studio there was still time for jokes and fun.”They are hilarious, they put me up in this little room at the back, and they got me three different types of slippers (laughing) so I had these sort of animal slippers, and these camo slippers, little Drum N Bass slippers.”

Labour Day Weekend. Osheaga Music Festival, Montreal.

The weather is horrible. It’s been raining off and on all day, and it’s quite cold for the time of year. The festival seems to be lacking in organization and in some ways, over all attendance. With the exception of a one or two, most performances are mediocre at best. The crowd seems generally unimpressed or just plain lacking energy for the most part. There’s no real vibe to tell of. Even the diversity of the line-up seems to be hurting rather then helping, and creating a sort of segregation in the stage area. I’m starting to feel good I only paid for a single day ticket.

Soon after dusk falls, a scaffold platform with two turntables and mixer set very high above the two main stages is lit up. As pounding bass, and cut up break beats begin to echo out of the system, the crowd instantly comes alive. Those who seemed divided and lifeless earlier suddenly become vibrant. This jolt appears to be just what they needed.

Half way through the set, as Noisia’s Messiah Remix bellows from the sound system and into the field behind me, I am blown away at the way Amon Tobin has been able to amalgamate the diverse crowd into unison. I realize at that moment that these amazing results could in the end only come from an artist as distinctive as he is. “I’m not in the Drum N Bass scene, and I’m not in the Breakbeat scene or anything like that, so maybe people from different musical backgrounds find things that they like about what I do, and probably leave behind things that they don’t like. I don’t really think too much about specifically who I might appeal to, because it just confuses me. I try and just do what interests me and what satisfies my own curiosity and hope that people will find something in it.”