All about this artist
Biography:
Born 7 February 1972, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Tobin visited Europe as a child and returned to the UK in his teens when he developed a passion for hip-hop, blues and jazz, including the music of Grandmaster Flash, Lightnin' Hopkins, Eddie Palmieri and Thelonious Monk.
When he was 17 he began experimenting with his own sounds with a sequencer and a "horrible little Casio sampling keyboard". After spending two years making music in Portugal and Madeira he settled in Brighton and made a number of recordings for Ninebar Records as Cujo.
His first EP, Curfew, came out in June 1995 and was followed by the Salivate, Breakcharmer and Adventures In Foam EPs in 1996. Cujo also featured on Ninebar's compilation Joint Ventures (1996).
Later that year he signed to Ninja Tune Records to record a number of tracks and consequently released the Creatures EP in November. In 1997, he produced two singles ("Chomp Samba" and "Mission"/"Tubukula Beach Resort") that were taken from his first album, Bricolage.
After the Pirahna Breaks EP towards the end of 1997, he did not release any new material until "Like Regular Chickens" in May 1998, which was the opening track from Permutation. Here, Tobin drew on a wide variety of musical sources, including drum 'n' bass, jazz, hip-hop and samba as well as the lesser-known South American-style batucada.
"People Like Frank" begins with a lazy, double bass-led hip-hop groove, supporting ethereal string textures and a noodling trumpet, before an onslaught of frantic, Latin-influenced drums reminiscent of jungle. "Nightlife", meanwhile, blends jittery drum 'n' bass with exotic orchestral textures that demonstrates Tobin's preference for abstract, listenable "soundtracks" that develop through various textures and ideas, rather than big, danceable numbers.
Two years later Tobin collaborated with controversial "comedian" Chris Morris on "Bad Sex", which was released as the b-side of the vinyl-only single "Slowly".
