3 out of 5

Label: Ninebar

Producer: Amon Tobin

See, I always want to like Ninja Tune albums, because they look cool and I like what I read about them, but whenever I actually give ’em a listen (” ’em” obviously equals a representative sample, I’m sure), they end up being funkier than I generally go for – and more geared for booty shakin’. Which unfairly suggests there can’t by deeper layers to such music, but yes, very subjectively, a lot of Ninja Tune I’ve sample doesn’t move my brain very much when I’m listening to it, and my booty shakes all on its own; I don’t need a soundtrack for that.

So although Amon Tobin’s work seemed to poke its head into the fringes of my collection – connected to various other artists I enjoy – I stayed away ’cause he’s mostly on Ninja Tune.  Finally, though, I made the plunge at some point (thanks, Taxidermia soundtrack!) and quickly found his work to be so much darker and more jungle-jazzed up than I was assuming from my label bias. Then working my way through his catalog, forward and back, I get to Cujo, his – I think? – earliest album.  No less polished than his later work, but the different name is fitting, because this is definitely distinct from his releases under his own name, and more what I would’ve expected from Ninja Tune*.

Don’t get me wrong – there are some great beats on this album.  A lot of the tracks start out with a jazz-funk vibe but, alas, they trail off into a more mindless groove town and I sort of lose my connection.  A lot of Tobin’s work I’ve listened to also works in how it’s paced and sequenced – he seems to have a good ear for how long a song should be to keep you grounded, and where to place his up and downbeat tracks on the album.  “Adventures…” though, sort of gets blasé after your ear warms up to it.  Tracks wander on for a bit too long, and it just feels like a long album. If you dig groove, you’ll love this.  If you’re a Tobin collector, you already have this.  If you like his more experimental / jungle stuff, though…?  Meh…?

*Yes, the original version of this was not on NT, but Amon Tobin’s stuff was, and eventually Cujo was reissued by them too.