Disquiet

Bless the BBC, whose Mixing It show on December 12 interviewed Amon Tobin, the revered Ninja Tune Records artist (Out from Out Where), and put the whole conversation up as a web stream (here). Can’t say how long it’ll be available. The Tobin interview begins about 15 minutes into the show. The BBC’s audio player allows the listener to skip ahead in five-minute intervals, but don’t miss the fine opening tracks by Chicago Underground Trio, Jo Shapland and Piano Magic. Tobin — born in Brazil, raised in the UK, now living in Montreal — talks patiently about his initially “militant” attitude about not using any live instruments, having chosen to build his tracks from pre-existing sound recordings. He discusses his record-hunting expeditions and the “morality” of sampling, and describes how audio filters function. After the Tobin interview, the Mixing It show plays tracks by In Vitro, Califone and Magnetic Fields (the latter from the Pieces of April soundtrack).

By Marc Weidenbaum