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| ISAM stage set, in which Tobin is mostly hidden during the performance |
The one man act that is Brazilian
Amon Tobin has long had an industry spun out of his name. Tee shirts, ringtones, promo films, and large scale multi-media performances, the press machine whirrs on.
Yet the music since ISAM hit stages internationally as a tour a while back has been less discussed than the visuals, a familiar trap other artists have fallen into, with only a few such as DJ Shadow managing to escape.
Now however Tobin and his crew will launch a new commission from Kronos Quartet which Tobin will perform July 14 when he is set to reveal their work together at San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival, USA. Kronos formed in 1973 and now celebrate their 40th birthday with a string of worthy collaborations with artists such as My Brightest Diamond and Phillip Glass. Last year the quartet performed with ISAM in Berkley California, and before that contributed to Tobin's album
Foley Room by giving him source material for the album, and even recast his music for the 20th anniversary box set of Tobin's label, Ninja Tune.
Amon's new commissioned piece,
V838 Monocerotis, will be played/debuted by Kronos Quartet as part of their forthcoming
Kronos At 40 celebrations. Amon joins the likes of
Philip Glass, Bryce Dessner (The National), Aleksandra Vrebalov, Dan Deacon, Mary Kouyoumdjian, David T. Little, and others for this landmark initiative, which also includes two film scores and a volume of commissioned works published by
Boosey & Hawkes for the Kronos four.
