Mantodea Temporal range: 145–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Cretaceous–Recent
Sphodromantis viridis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Subclass:	Pterygota
Infraclass:	Neoptera
Superorder:	Dictyoptera
Order:	Mantodea Burmeister, 1838
Families
Acanthopidae Amorphoscelidae Chaeteessidae Empusidae Eremiaphilidae Hymenopodidae Iridopterygidae Liturgusidae Mantidae Mantoididae Metallyticidae Sibyllidae Tarachodidae Thespidae Toxoderidae
Synonyms
Manteodea Burmeister, 1829 Mantearia Mantoptera

Mantodea (or mantises) is an order of insects that contains approximately 2,200 species in 15 families^[1] worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae. Historically, the term mantid was used to refer to any member of the order because for most of the past century, only one family was recognized within the order; technically, however, the term only refers to this one family, meaning the species in the other 14 recently established families are not mantids, by definition (i.e., they are empusids, or hymenopodids, etc.), and the term "mantises" should be used when referring to the entire order.

A colloquial name for the order in the United States is "praying mantises", because of the typical "prayer-like" stance, although the eggcorn "preying mantis" is sometimes used since mantises are predatory.^[2] In Europe and other regions, however, the name "praying mantis" refers to only a single species, Mantis religiosa. The closest relatives of mantises are the orders Isoptera (termites) and Blattodea (cockroaches), and these three groups together are sometimes ranked as an order rather than a superorder. They are sometimes confused with phasmids (stick/leaf insects) and other elongated insects such as grasshoppers and crickets.

Etymology[link]

The scientific name Mantodea comes from the Greek words μάντις meaning a prophet, and εἶδος for form or shape. The name was coined in 1838 by the German entomologist Hermann Burmeister. The common term mantis is also from the Greek word μάντις for prophet.^[3][4]

Systematics[link]

The systematics of mantises have long been disputed. Mantises, along with walking sticks, were once placed in the order Orthoptera with the cockroaches (now Blattodea) and rock crawlers (now Grylloblattodea). Kristensen (1991) combined Mantodea with the cockroaches and termites into the order Dictyoptera.^[5]

Anatomy and morphology[link]

Close-up image of a mantis' face (Archimantis latistyla) showing its compound eyes and labrum

.

The foreleg modifications.

Wing arrangement of a typical mantis.

Mantises have two grasping, spiked forelegs ("raptorial legs") in which prey items are caught and held securely. Located at the base of the femur are a set of discoidal spines, usually four in number but ranging from zero to as many as five depending on the species. These spines are preceded by a number of tooth-like tubercles, which, along with a similar series of tubercles along the tibia and the apical claw near its tip, give the foreleg of the mantis its grasp on its prey. The foreleg ends in a delicate tarsus made of between four and five segments and ending in a two-toed claw with no arolium and used as a walking appendage.^[6]

The mantis thorax consist of a prothorax, a mesothorax, and a metathorax. In virtually all species the prothorax, to which are attached the head and forelegs, is much longer than the other two thoraces (the sole exceptions are the seven members of the Mantoididae family). The prothorax is also flexibly articulated, allowing for a wide range of movement of the front limbs while the remainder of the body remains more or less immobile.

The articulation of the head is also remarkably flexible, permitting nearly 300 degrees of movement in some species, allowing for a great range of vision (their compound eyes may contain up to 10,000 ommatidia and have a large binocular field of vision). The dark spot on each eye is a pseudopupil. As their hunting relies heavily on vision, they are primarily diurnal, but many species will fly at night, especially males in search of less-mobile females whom they can detect through pheromones. Flying at night allows these males to avoid many diurnal bird predators, and many mantises also have an auditory thoracic organ that assists them as they attempt to avoid capture by bats by detecting the presence of the bat's echolocation sounds and responding evasively.^[7]

Mantises have a wide range of wing morphologies and can be loosely categorized as being either macropterous (long-winged), brachypterous (short-winged), micropterous (vestigial-winged), or as apterous (wingless). If not wingless, a mantis will have two sets of wings: the outer wings, called the foreseeing or tegmina, are usually narrow, opaque, and leathery and function as camouflage and as a shield for the inner wings, or hindwings—it is this much more delicate, broad, and transparent set that is actually used for flight, though in many of the brachypterous species these wings are only capable of producing minimal and very temporary lift and in the micropterous species they have no flight-related function at all. Also, in many macropterous species, the female will have much shorter wings than the male and will only rarely take flight.

The abdomen of all mantises consist of ten tergites with a corresponding set of nine sternites visible in males and seven visible in females. The slim abdomen of most males allows them to take flight more easily while the thicker abdomen of the females houses the reproductive machinery for generating the ootheca. The abdomen of both sexes ends in a pair of cerci.

Evolution[link]

One theory for the evolution of the species is that mantises evolved from proto-cockroaches, diverging from their common ancestors by the Cretaceous period, possibly from species like Raphidiomimula burmitica, a predatory cockroach with mantis-like forelegs. Possibly the earliest known modern mantis is Regiata scutra, although more common (and confirmed) is Santanmantis, a stilt-legged genus, also from the Cretaceous. Like their close termite cousins, though, mantises did not become common and diverse until the early Tertiary period.

Behavior[link]

Diet and predatory behaviour[link]

Tenodera sinensis preying on a cricket

Mantises are exclusively predatory. They will only eat meat that they have caught themselves. Insects form the primary diet, but larger species have been known to prey on small scorpions, lizards, frogs, birds, snakes, fish, and even rodents; they will prey upon any species small enough to be successfully captured and devoured. The time that the praying manits' diet expands the most is during the time when the female is carrying her eggs. Then she will become large and aggressive enough to eat these larger creatures. Most species of mantis are known to engage in cannibalism which happens most frequently during mating season. As is the case with sexually cannibalistic creatures, it is the female that eats the male after mating. This is done to provide nutrients for the developing young, and in many species the male is willing to let it occur, although in some species the male may still retain its natural instinct to escape.^{[citation needed]}

The majority of mantises are ambush predators. They camouflage themselves and stand perfectly still. Then they just wait for their prey to stray too near. When a target does get close enough, the mantis then lashes out at remarkable speed, in fractions of the time it takes people to blink. Some ground and bark species, however, pursue their prey. Prey items are caught and held securely with grasping, spiked forelegs. The praying mantis usually holds its prey with one arm between the head and thorax, and the other on the abdomen. Then, if the prey does not resist, the mantis will eat it alive. However, if the prey does resist, the mantis will eat its head first, and then carry on with the body in peace. Unlike some exoskeleton predators, the praying mantis does not suck the fluids out of its victims body, but chews it in a manner similar to the way mammals do though its jaws close sideways, and not from the top or bottom like mammal mouths. It will devour most of its victim but is known to leave a few limbs. Chinese praying mantises have been found to gain benefits in survivorship, growth, and fecundity by supplementing their diet with pollen.^[8]

Defense and camouflage[link]

Species in genus Choeradodis have laterally expanded thoraxes for leaf mimicry

Generally, mantises protect themselves by camouflage and concealment. When directly threatened, many mantis species stand tall and spread their forelegs, with their wings fanning out wide. The fanning of the wings makes the mantis seem larger and more threatening, with some species having bright colors and patterns on their hind wings and inner surfaces of their front legs for this purpose. If harassment persists, a mantis may strike with its forelegs and attempt to pinch or bite. As part of the threat display, some species also may produce a hissing sound by expelling air from the abdominal spiracles. When flying at night, at least some mantises are able to detect the echolocation sounds produced by bats, and when the frequency begins to increase rapidly, indicating an approaching bat, they will stop flying horizontally and begin a descending spiral toward the safety of the ground, often preceded by an aerial loop or spin.^[9][10]

Mantises, like stick insects, show rocking behaviour in which the insect makes rhythmic, repetitive side-to-side movements. Functions proposed for this behaviour include the enhancement of crypsis by means of the resemblance to vegetation moving in the wind. However, the repetitive swaying movements may be most important in allowing the insects to discriminate objects from the background by their relative movement, a visual mechanism typical of animals with simpler sight systems. Rocking movements by these generally sedentary insects may replace flying or running as a source of relative motion of objects in the visual field.^[11]

Malaysian orchid mantises are usually colored pink or yellow to match the coloration of orchid flowers in their region, showing the camouflage mantises are well known for

Mantises are camouflaged, and most species make use of protective coloration to blend in with the foliage or substrate, both to avoid predators, and to better snare their prey. Various species have evolved to not only blend with the foliage, but to mimic it, appearing as either living or withered leaves, sticks, tree bark, blades of grass, flowers, or even stones. Some species in Africa and Australia are able to turn black after a molt following a fire in the region to blend in with the fire ravaged landscape (a type of adaptive melanism referred to as fire melanism). While mantises can bite, they have no venom. They can also slash captors with their raptorial legs (which is often preceded by a threat display wherein the mantis will rear back and spread its front legs and wings (if present), often revealing vivid colors and/or eyespots to startle a predator). Mantises are without chemical protection; many large insectivores will eat a mantis, including Scops owls, shrikes, bullfrogs, chameleons, and Milk Snakes.

Reproduction and life history[link]

Mantis religiosa mating (top male, bottom female)

A recently laid mantis ootheca

In some species of mantis, nymphs survive with the help of ant mimicry

Newly-hatched baby mantises

Sexual cannibalism is common among mantises in captivity, and under some circumstances may also be observed in the field. The female may start feeding by biting off the male’s head (as they do with regular prey), and if mating has begun, the male’s movements may become even more vigorous in its delivery of sperm. Early researchers thought that because copulatory movement is controlled by a ganglion in the abdomen, not the head, removal of the male’s head was a reproductive strategy by females to enhance fertilisation while obtaining sustenance. Later, this behavior appeared to be an artifact of intrusive laboratory observation. Whether the behavior in the field is natural, or also the result of distractions caused by the human observer, remains controversial. Mantises are highly visual organisms, and notice any disturbance occurring in the laboratory or field such as bright lights or moving scientists. Research by Liske and Davis (1984)^[12] and others found (e.g. using video recorders in vacant rooms) that Chinese mantises that had been fed ad libitum (so that they were not hungry) actually displayed elaborate courtship behavior when left undisturbed. The male engages the female in courtship dance, to change her interest from feeding to mating. Courtship display has also been observed in other species, but it does not hold for all mantises.

The reason for sexual cannibalism has been debated, with some considering submissive males to be achieving a selective advantage in their ability to produce offspring. This theory is supported by a quantifiable increase in the duration of copulation among males who are cannibalized, in some cases doubling both the duration and the chance of fertilization. This is further supported in a study where males were seen to approach hungry females with more caution, and were shown to remain mounted on hungry females for a longer time, indicating that males actively avoiding cannibalism may mate with multiple females. The act of dismounting is one of the most dangerous times for males during copulation, for it is at this time that females most frequently cannibalize their mates. This increase in mounting duration was thought to indicate that males would be more prone to wait for an opportune time to dismount from a hungry female rather than from a satiated female that would be less likely to cannibalize her mate. Some consider this to be an indication that male submissiveness does not inherently increase male reproductive success, rather that more fit males are likely to approach a female with caution and escape.^[13][14]

The mating season in temperate climates typically begins in autumn. To mate following courtship, the male usually leaps onto the female’s back, and clasps her thorax and wing bases with his forelegs. He then arches his abdomen to deposit and store sperm in a special chamber near the tip of the female’s abdomen. The female then lays between 10 and 400 eggs, depending on the species. Eggs are typically deposited in a frothy mass that is produced by glands in the abdomen. This froth then hardens, creating a protective capsule. The protective capsule and the egg mass is called an ootheca. Depending on the species, the ootheca can be attached to a flat surface, wrapped around a plant or even deposited in the ground. Despite the versatility and durability of the eggs, they are often preyed on, especially by several species of parasitic wasps. In a few species, the mother guards the eggs.

As in related insect groups, mantises go through three stages of metamorphosis: egg, nymph, and adult (mantises are among the hemimetabolic insects). The nymph and adult insect are structurally quite similar, except that the nymph is smaller and has no wings or functional genitalia. The nymphs are also sometimes colored differently from the adult, and the early stages are often mimics of ants. A mantis nymph increases in size (often changing its diet as it does so) by replacing its outer body covering with a sturdy, flexible exoskeleton and molting when needed. Molting can happen from five to ten times, depending on the species. After the final molt most species have wings, though some species are wingless or brachypterous ("short-winged"), particularly in the female sex.

In tropical species, the natural lifespan of a mantis in the wild is about 10–12 months, but some species kept in captivity have been sustained for 14 months. In colder areas, females will die during the winter (as well as any surviving males).

Pest control uses[link]

Organic gardeners who avoid pesticides may encourage mantises as a form of biological pest control. Tens of thousands of mantis egg cases are sold each year in some garden stores for this purpose.

During fall, praying mantis females deposit an ootheca on the underside of a leaf or on a twig. If the egg case survives winter, the offspring, called nymphs, emerge in late spring or early summer. The nymphs have voracious appetites and typically cannibalize each other if they cannot find an adequate supply of aphids and other small insects. Egg cases are commercially available for placement in landscaping.^[15]

However, mantises prey on neutral and beneficial insects as well, basically eating anything they can successfully capture and devour.

Conservation status[link]

An adult Chinese Mantis perched in a tree in camouflage in Maryland.

An immature Pseudomantis albofimbriata in southeast Australia.

Only one Spanish species, Apteromantis aptera, is listed as Lower Risk/Near Threatened. With one exception (the ground mantis Litaneutria minor in Canada, where it is rare — though it is common in the United States), North American mantises are not included among threatened or endangered species, though species in other parts of the world are under threat from habitat destruction. The European mantis (Mantis religiosa) is the state insect of Connecticut, but the General Statutes of Connecticut do not list any special protected status, as it is a non-native species from Europe and Africa.^[16]

There is a long-standing American urban legend that killing a praying mantis is illegal and subject to a fine. The origin of this myth is unknown but may have originated due to the low number of sightings of mantis and because of how beneficial they are to gardens in which they live.^[17]

Introduced species[link]

The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and Canada and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (November 2011)

About 20 species are native to the United States, including the common Carolina mantis, with only one native to Canada. Two species (the Chinese mantis and the European mantis) were deliberately introduced to serve as pest control for agriculture, and have spread widely in both countries. Additionally, there is a strong market in the exotic pet trade for mantis species from Asia and Africa, and many species are bred in captivity for this purpose.

Cultural references[link]

One of the earliest mantis references is in the ancient Chinese dictionary Erya, which gives its attributes in poetry (representing courage and fearlessness), as well as a brief description. A later text, the Jingshi Zhenglei Daguan Bencao 經史證類大觀本草 ("Bencao of the Daguan period, Annotated and Arranged by Types, Based upon the Classics and Historical Works") from 1108, is impressively correct on the construction of the egg packages, the development cycle, the anatomy and even the function of the antennae.

Western descriptions of the biology and morphology of the mantises had become relatively accurate by the 18th century. Roesel von Rosenhof accurately illustrated and described them in the Insekten-Belustigungen (Insect Entertainments). Aldous Huxley made philosophical observations about the nature of death while two mantises mated in the sight of two characters in the novel Island (the species was Gongylus gongylodes). The naturalist Gerald Durrell's autobiography My Family and Other Animals includes an account of a very evenly matched battle between a mantis and a gecko. Based upon empirical evidence, the Australian mantis has been known to strike fear amongst the native Australian gecko causing great avoidance tendencies as it marks its territory.

M. C. Escher's woodcut Dream depicts a human-sized mantis standing on a sleeping bishop.^[18]

The character Kamen Rider Chalice from Kamen Rider Blade has a design loosely based on the praying mantis, hence the reason Chalice's human guise, Hajime Aikawa, uses the form of the Mantis Undead in order to assume the Rider identity while hiding that of the Joker's.

Mythology[link]

This section requires expansion.

Southern African indigenous mythology refers to the praying mantis as a god in Khoi and San traditional myths and practices, and the word for the mantis in Afrikaans is hottentotsgot (literally, a god of the Khoi).^[19][20]

Sources[link]

• Ehrmann, Reinhard (2002) (in German). Mantodea Gottesanbeterinnen der Welt. Münster: Natur und Tier-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-931587-60-4. 
• Klausnitzer, Bernhard (1987). Insects: Their Biology and Cultural History. Unknown. ISBN 0-87663-666-0. 
• O'Toole, Christopher (2002). Firefly Encyclopedia of Insects and Spiders. Firefly. ISBN 1-55297-612-2. 
• Checklist of Mantodea originally compiled by the Los Angeles County Museum
• Tree of Life — Mantodea

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mantodea

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Mantis.

• Deadlymantis.com This site have some amazing pictures of praying mantis and information on multiple species. Also, there are links to supplies for rearing and exotic live specimens.
• Mantis Study Group Information on mantids, scientific article phylogenetics and Evolution.
• Mantodea Revisionary Systematics and Phylogenetics.

v t e Orders of insects Extant Archaeognatha Blattodea (Cockroaches) Coleoptera (Beetles) Dermaptera (Earwigs) Diptera (Flies) Embioptera (Webspinners) Ephemeroptera (Mayflies) Hemiptera Hymenoptera Isoptera (Termites) Lepidoptera Mantodea (Mantises) Mecoptera Megaloptera Neuroptera Notoptera Odonata Orthoptera Phasmatodea (Sticks) Phthiraptera (Lice) Plecoptera Psocoptera Raphidioptera (Snakeflies) Siphonaptera (Fleas) Strepsiptera Thysanoptera (Thrips) Trichoptera (Caddisflies) Zoraptera Zygentoma (Thysanura) Extinct Coxoplectoptera Diaphanopterodea Glosselytrodea Meganisoptera Megasecoptera Palaeodictyoptera Wikispecies

Amon Tobin
Tobin performing live in Luxembourg City
Background information
Birth name	Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin
Also known as	Cujo
Born	(1972-02-07) February 7, 1972 (age 40)
Origin	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Genres	Electronic, IDM, drum and bass, breakbeat
Occupations	DJ Producer Musician
Instruments	Synthesizers, keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drums, saxophone, theremin, chapman stick, drum machine, sampler
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Ninja Tune Ninebar
Associated acts	Two Fingers, Eskamon
Website	amontobin.com

Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin (born February 7, 1972), known as Amon Tobin, is a Brazilian musician, composer and producer of electronic music.^[1] He is described as a virtuoso sound designer ^[2] and is considered to be one of the most influential electronic music artists in the world.^[3] He has released seven major studio albums since 1996 under the London-based Ninja Tune record label.

He is noted for his unusual methodology in sound design and music production. In 2007 he released Foley Room an album based entirely on the manipulation of field recordings. His latest album, 2011's ISAM, included "female" vocals made from his own voice synthesised.^[4] His music has been used in numerous major motion pictures including The Italian Job and 21. Tobin has created songs for several independent films, including the 2006 Hungarian film Taxidermia, and had his music used in other independent films such as the 2002 Cannes Palme d'Or winner Divine Intervention (Easy Muffin remixed by Bonobo). A selection of his tracks were also featured in the 2005 anime, IGPX. He has also dabbled in video game scores. In 2005, he created the musical score to Ubisoft's critically acclaimed and successful video game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory as well as Sucker Punch's game Infamous.

Biography[link]

Early career (1995–1997)[link]

Tobin was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the age of 2, he and his family left Brazil to live in Morocco, the Netherlands, London, Portugal and Madeira.^[1] Tobin settled in Brighton, England as a teenager which remained his permanent residence until 2002.^[5] There he began producing electronic music in his bedroom with samplers and other audio equipment such as an Amstrad Studio 100 4-track,^[6] although he was "not really involved in the [music] scene" at that time.^[7] While taking an editorial photography class at a university in Brighton, he responded to a magazine promotion for the London-based Ninebar record label asking artists to send in demos of their songs. Ninebar signed Tobin to the label in 1996 after hearing his early work, and he traveled between his home in Brighton and the studios in London to produce his first official works. He also spent some time living in Montreal before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2008.

Under his original moniker Cujo (in Portuguese, the word for whose), he released a series of original compositions on 12-inch vinyl.^[8] Allmusic called them "head-turning" in a review.^[9] Many of those tracks were later included on his first full-length album Adventures in Foam, originally released in 1996 by Ninebar to a limited release of 5,000 copies.^[10]

The larger Ninja Tune record label had been growing in the United Kingdom at the time with help from their successful artists such as DJ Food, Funki Porcini, The Herbaliser, and Coldcut.^[11] DJ Food and Funki Porcini noticed Tobin's work on Adventures in Foam and prompted the label to approach him. Ninja Tune signed Tobin in late 1996, this time under his abbreviated name "Amon Tobin".^[12] The official Ninja Tune website has said that Adventures in Foam had been re-released without permission by the US-based Shadow Records that same year and that this unauthorized version, labeled the "US release", included only 7 of the original songs, different cover art, and that some tracks were titled incorrectly.^[13] In 1997 Ninja Tune acquired the proper licenses from Ninebar and re-released the album themselves. This version included the original album in its entirety, and a second disc containing previously unreleased material. As of 2008, copies of Shadow Record's "US version" are still sold by online retailer Amazon.com.^[14] Over the course of its production, Adventures in Foam has been reviewed favorably. Ryan Schreiber of Pitchfork Media said that its break-beat style "got totally out of hand", but that it "never fails to let the listener know who's in charge."^[15] The album was released for a fourth time in 2002, again by Ninja Tune.^[16]

Defining albums (1997–2002)[link]

	Amon Tobin "Sordid" (1998) noicon "Sordid" by Amon Tobin, from the album Permutation
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Over the next several years, Tobin released three albums. Bricolage, released in 1997, was the culmination of two projects Tobin had started after his debut album earlier that year. His third album Permutation was released in 1998. In the late 1990s, sample-based music was becoming more popular with a wide range of emerging and developing genres, but Tobin himself was still largely unknown. Tobin's style of music was not seen as definitively belonging to one genre or another.^[17] The critics that commented on Bricolage and Permutation gave them positive reviews and they are often mentioned, by later reviewers and interviewers, as classic albums of the time. Pitchfork Media acclaimed the use of jazz instrument samples, comparing him to famous composers Quincy Jones and Miles Davis.^[18] In a 1999 review, they awarded Bricolage a very rare 10/10 and said that it was "one of the most inventive records of the decade."^[15]

Tobin released his fourth album, Supermodified in 2000.^[19] The album is regarded as his most commercial album to date.^[20] Critic reviews were generally positive, with Pitchfork rating the album 9.1/10,^[21] and Stylus Magazine saying, "Not many studio-bound electronic musicians could put forward such a vivid and dynamic statement or make it as entertaining and downright funky as Supermodified has managed to do."^[22]

Montreal (2002–present)[link]

	Amon Tobin "Back From Space" (2002) noicon "Back From Space" by Amon Tobin, from the album Out From Out Where
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In 2002, Tobin relocated to Montreal, Canada where he had spent time previously at Ninja Tune's North American Headquarters.^[5] Tobin lived in the industrial area of Old Montreal to avoid noise complaints from neighbors after dark.^[23] There he produced his fifth album Out From Out Where released that same year. This was his first album created primarily in a professional studio.^[24] He later released a single, Verbal, taken from Out From Out Where.^[25] Otis Hart of Dusted Magazine said that Tobin's style of producing had come into its own. He acclaimed Tobin's "refined sense of tempo".^[26]

In January 2004, Tobin was contracted by video game company Ubisoft Montreal to compose the soundtrack for the third installment of their critically successful Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. To facilitate using the music in a video game, where the level of action or plot can change in real-time, each track was broken down by Tobin into four distinct but similar parts based on their level of intensity. The game's developers could then use each section to provide music based on the actions of the player.^[27] Despite not being an official album in Tobin's discography, it was considered a ground breaking work in the world of video game sound tracks described as "an entirely new era of media" by Tiny Mix Tapes^[28]

The album continued the trend Tobin started with Out From Out Where, as he used more field recordings during production.^[29] In addition to being included with the game, Ninja Tune released the score as an individual album in 2005, titled Chaos Theory – Splinter Cell 3 Soundtrack, several months before the game's release. It was received well, benefiting from a wider audience of reviewers in both the music and gaming industries. Ben Hogwood of MusicOMH.com applauded Tobin's use of melody and texture, adding that he controlled the sounds with the "clarity of a classical orchestrator."^[30] He later recorded a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound version of the album with audio engineer Bobby Azinsky in a dedicated Solid State Logic studio in Los Angeles.^[31]

Tobin's sixth studio album, Foley Room, was released in 2007. The title alludes to the "foley rooms" used by recording engineers and foley artists to record sound effects in the movie industry. On this album, Tobin concluded his transition away from prerecorded source material that started with Out From Out Where. All of the samples used for production were recorded by himself using an omnidirectional microphone.^[32] Recorded primarily in Montreal, San Francisco, and Seattle, the samples came from a wide range of sources including motorbikes, tigers, insects, and water falling from a tap.^[33] Also contributing to the album were the string quartet Kronos Quartet, drummer Stefan Schneider, and harpist Sarah Pagé.^[34] Foley Room's use of field-recordings was used to help promote the album, including two official pre-release trailers posted to YouTube. Nate Dorr of PopMatters.com called it a "smooth, natural progression" from his work on Supermodified.^[35] The first single, "Bloodstone", was released to the iTunes Music Store months before the rest of the album. Ninja Tune also published a DVD titled Foley Room: Found Footage which documented the recording process.^[33]

In 2008, Tobin announced he was working on a new video game soundtrack for an "undisclosed PS3 title".^[36] This was later revealed to be the PlayStation 3 exclusive game, inFamous, and in 2010, Tobin announced that he would be working on the music for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction.^[37] Recent works include "Hey Mr. Tree" as a 'Bonus Joint' to accompany his earlier 'Monthly Joint' collection, a remix of Noisia's "Machine Gun" released alongside remixes by 16 Bit and Spor, and a collaboration with ESKMO dubbed Eskamon. Eskamon has released a single "Fine Objects". A new AT record has also been officially announced via www.amontobin.com, for which he is "researching and developing new production tools and techniques" and using "a whole new array of gadgetry from the past and the future".

Amon Tobin's sounds and samples are frequently used in the British car-based TV show Top Gear, and his song "Four Ton Mantis" has been used in a few of the more recent Nissan Qashqai and Juke advertisements.

Musical style and influences[link]

Tobin is best known for his use of audio manipulation techniques, where any given source material is transformed to produce a new sound.^[38] His use of this technique has changed over the course of his career. On his original singles under Ninebar and his first three albums, Tobin acquired all of the sound sources to produce music from his personal collection of vinyl records. He manipulates the sounds with a combination of audio hardware and software such as Cubase,^[39] often leaving the original source unrecognizable in its new context.^[40] The majority of his early work focused on reordering the break beats from jazz and blues music into faster more complex patterns.^[24][41] Guido Farnell of InTheMix.com, wrote about his use of this technique, saying that Tobin has "taken the art to new and dizzying heights."^[29] His fifth album Out From Out Where, began the gradual shift away from prerecorded material by incorporating original guitar samples. His techniques began branching into technical sound design, taking break beats or single instruments, modifying specific frequencies, and producing new sounds.^[42] This trend continued through his video game score Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Soundtrack, and by his sixth album, Foley Room, all of the source material was recorded in the field by himself. Speaking about the creativity of sample-based music compared to traditional instruments, he says that "creative input is not determined by your source material but in how you edit and manipulate the sounds."^[40]

Tobin experimented with various instruments. He does not come from a music family, nor has he had any formal training in music theory.^[43] About his music in general, Tobin says that he sees it as a "genuine" expression of the time he lives in, as he says that by contrast, blues, jazz, and Brazilian genres were "genuine" expressions of the 1960s.^[44] Despite his indirect connection with Brazilian genres, Tobin collaborated with a number of artists on Bebel Gilberto's 2000 bossa nova album Tanto Tempo.^[45] Tobin's albums are often compared to soundtracks,^[5] and he says that movies by David Lynch have influenced him. In addition, he has stated to like films by the Coen brothers, Dario Argento, and Roman Polanski.^[46]

Live performances[link]

Tobin performing at l'Ososphère music festival in Strasbourg

Tobin began performing live shows in clubs with other Ninja Tune artists after releasing his second album, Bricolage.^[47] His shows generally contained music that he had produced during his career, mixed with modified songs from drum and bass, hip-hop, or other genres.^[40] Because his music was entirely produced in a studio with electronics, Tobin was not interested in adapting his music to suit a Live PA incorporating musicians. He instead used turntables which he felt had more in common with his approach to music production. He is known for building Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound speaker systems for his performances.

In 2011 Tobin has developed a live show in support of the album ISAM fitting his criteria for a performance that is both live and purely electronic. He told Wired Magazine “The idea was to integrate myself, quite literally, into an audio and visual presentation of the album,”.^[48] It incorporates the use of new video mapping techniques that are projected onto a large cubic structure from which Tobin performs. The show has been met with international acclaim described by Vice Magazine's Creators Project as "revolutionizing the live music experience".^[49]

Tobin has performed individual shows in many countries including tours in Europe, Australia, Japan, and the United States. His 2003 live performance in Melbourne, Australia was used for the fourth album in Ninja Tune's Solid Steel series because Tobin was not available to record a studio mix at the time.^[31] Many songs from the original recording were omitted because of copyright issues with the original artists, including the R&B group Destiny's Child.^[50]

A second Solid Steel album called Foley Room Recorded Live In Brussels was recorded in Brussels at the Ancienne Belgique in 2007 and was released for free in November 2008. According to Tobin's official website, "After months of back and forth and despite everyone’s best efforts the mix was in danger of being edited into the ground to accommodate big labels and publishers. Rather than release a compromised version commercially, the decision was made to give it away for free instead."^[51]

Discography[link]

Tobin has released eight major studio albums:

• 1996: Adventures in Foam
• 1997: Bricolage
• 1998: Permutation
• 2000: Supermodified
• 2002: Out From Out Where
• 2005: Chaos Theory – Splinter Cell 3 Soundtrack
• 2007: Foley Room
• 2011: ISAM

In addition, his body of work includes 21 extended play (EP) albums which contain several B-sides each, a live album for Ninja Tune's Solid Steel series, new material for various compilation albums, and original tracks available as free downloads on his website.^[52][53]

Tobin's music has been used in several major motion pictures including The Italian Job and 21.^[54][55] He has also produced tracks for a number of independent films, such as The Last Minute,^[56] and has created production music for the BMG Zomba commercial library which is used in various films.^[57] In 2006 he scored the soundtrack for the Hungarian horror film Taxidermia which was made available on his website.^[58] He also produced the score for the 2009 documentary Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space.^[59]

In 2006 he began collaborating on a hip-hop oriented project with drum & bass/jungle producer Doubleclick and a number of guest vocalists. Under the name Two Fingers, the pair have released several singles^[29] followed by their self-titled debut album in 2009.

In April 2010, a small body of work Tobin composed and produced for the video game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction was available for streaming on his website.^[60]

In January 2011, his artist page was updated on Ninja Tune's official website, announcing a new album in 2011, called ISAM, as well as a Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory remix album. Later, the official Ping Pong Facebook page suggested that ISAM would be released on May 9, 2011. After being leaked by a journalist with a press copy of the album, ISAM was instead released on April 20, 2011.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Official Amon Tobin Website
• Official Two Fingers Website
• Official Amon Tobin page at Ninja Tune website
• Amon Tobin discography at Discogs
• Amon Tobin at Allmusic
• Amon Tobin at rolldabeats
• Amon Tobin career retrospective article at PopMatters
• Video on the Infamous Soundtrack