Foley Room

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Foley Room
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 5, 2007
Recorded2006
StudioSeveral locations in Montreal
Genre
Length51:06
LabelNinja Tune
ProducerAmon Tobin
Amon Tobin chronology
Chaos Theory - Splinter Cell 3 Soundtrack
(2005)
Foley Room
(2007)
ISAM
(2011)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Beatbots link
Crawdaddy75% link
Drowned in Sound(8/10) link
NOW link
Pitchfork Media(8.1/10) link
PopMatters link
Three Imaginary Girls(8/10) link
Tiny Mix Tapes link

Foley Room is the sixth studio album by Brazilian electronic music producer Amon Tobin, released on March 5, 2007, through Ninja Tune. The album was supported by the "Bloodstone" single, which was released digitally on January 9, 2007, and physically on January 21.

Composition[edit]

The album was recorded in part at the Foley effects room at Ubisoft Montreal.[3] In the past, Tobin had created music through the sampling of old vinyl records. However, Foley Room is a marked departure from his traditional technique. Inspired by the Foley rooms where sound effects are recorded for films, Tobin decided to record and work with original samples for the record. According to the Ninja Tune website, "Amon and a team of assistants headed out into the streets with high sensitivity microphones and recorded found sounds from tigers roaring to cats eating rats, neighbours singing in the bath to ants eating grass".[4] Tobin also called upon The Kronos Quartet, Stefan Schneider and Sarah Pagé to record samples for the record.[5]

There's nothing new about field recordings of course. It's obviously been the traditional source material in sampling since the early days, so I'm really going "back to school" on this one. On the other hand, I always saw a divide between music that was based purely on sound design and tunes that were written to physically move people. A challenge for me has been to try and make 'tunes' using aspects of sound design normally associated with highbrow academic studies in this area. I don't know how successful I've been but that was a goal anyway.

— Amon Tobin, in his MySpace blog.

Among the many field recordings captured by Tobin for the album include the sounds of wild animals, "roaring motorcycles, grinding chains, the crisp clashing of automated machinery, the delicate tiptoeing of ants, dripping water and clacking train tracks."[1]

Release[edit]

The first single, "Bloodstone", was released digitally on January 9, 2007. The song was later released as a physical CD single on January 21 with the album track "Esther's" and unreleased track "Here Comes the Moon Man" also included on the disc. In promotion of the record, Ninja Tune released two YouTube "trailers".[6][7] A DVD documentary detailing the album's recording process was also released with the album.

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Amon Tobin

No.TitleLength
1."Bloodstone"4:13
2."Esther's"3:21
3."Keep Your Distance"4:48
4."The Killer's Vanilla"4:14
5."Kitchen Sink"4:49
6."Horsefish"5:07
7."Foley Room"3:37
8."Big Furry Head"3:22
9."Ever Falling"3:49
10."Always"3:39
11."Straight Psyche"6:49
12."At the End of the Day"3:18
Total length:51:06

Charts[edit]

Chart performance for Foley Room
Chart (2007) Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP)[8] 91
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[9] 87


References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Kale, Stephanie (23 March 2007). "Amon Tobin Foley Room". Exclaim!. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Amon Tobin Part 2: A Cool Acousmatic Cat
  4. ^ Ninjatune Releases – Bloodstone EP
  5. ^ "Amon Tobin Meets Kronos Quartet in Foley Room | Pitchfork". Archived from the original on 2007-01-11. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
  6. ^ Amon Tobin - Forthcoming album (trailer#1) on YouTube
  7. ^ Amon Tobin - Foley Room (trailer#2) on YouTube
  8. ^ "Lescharts.com – Amon Tobin – Foley Room". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  9. ^ "Ultratop.be – Amon Tobin – Foley Room" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 July 2022.