Supermodified

by John BushFarther away from drum'n'bass and closer to big-beat techno (with a little turntablist mayhem thrown in), Amon Tobin's third album for Ninja Tune breaks out with a devastating opener, "Get Your Snack On." The track turns out to be just one of the highlights on Supermodified, a dense, plunderphonic kaleidoscope of an album with giant, noisy jazz breaks and groovy electronic synthwork. It's got quite a bit of the retro-sounding sampling of Permutation (orchestra strings, jazz combos, groovy psychedelic basslines) along with a wider variety of material, from driving funky-breaks productions ("Four Ton Mantis") and playful cut'n'paste numbers ("Precursor," "Chocolate Lovely"), to darkstep jungle ("Golfer Vrs. Boxer") and surprisingly touching minimalist melancholia ("Slowly," "Deo"). Tobin's again made great strides in his production skills, and the range and greatness of this material serves as proof positive.