Bonobo (musician)

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Bonobo
Bonobo performing a DJ set for the Remix All-Nighter at SeOne Club in London on 20 March 2008
Background information
Origin	England
Genre(s)	Downtempo Trip hop
Years active	2000–present
Label(s)	Tru Thoughts Ninja Tune

Bonobo (real name Simon Green) is a British musician, producer and DJ.

Green has recorded and performed solo DJ sets under the name Barakas, and together with Robert Luis from Tru Thoughts as Nirobi and Barakas.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Style 3 Discography 3.1 Studio albums 3.2 Other releases 3.3 DVD 4 Songs appearances 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

At 18, he moved to Brighton where he released his debut album Animal Magic on the Tru Thoughts label in 2000^[2]. With this album, completely self-produced and mainly self-instrumented, he became one of the "new downtempo pioneers"^[3] and his chilled, beat-driven music captivated press as well as many major labels.

In 2001, Bonobo decided to sign for Ninja Tune and in 2003, after one album of remixes on Tru Thoughts in 2002, he released Dial 'M' For Monkey. In 2005, Bonobo contributed to the Solid Steel series, with his Bonobo Presents Solid Steel: "It Came From The Sea", the release date was scheduled for October 10, 2005, but was released a week early^[4], the mix features several exclusive tracks as well as remixes and re-edits.

His latest album, entitled Days to Come, was released on October 2, 2006, the first single from the album was "Nightlite", featuring vocals by Bajka^[5]. Following the success of "Days to Come" his tracks have appeared in a number of media-related items. Days To Come was voted Best Album of 2006 by Gilles Peterson's listeners^[6].

[edit] Style

Bonobo uses a wide variety of samples in his music combined with heavy, often complex basslines. His music generally develops linearly - with new elements such as basslines or percussion coming in one after the other. In Days to Come, he mixes this sonic background with the clean yet distinctive vocals of Bajka, who often uses harmony to build up a multifaceted sound.

Whilst often touring solo, and performing DJ sets, in 2004 Bonobo opted to follow the growing trend amongst electronic acts of playing with a full band. The band plays live renditions of studio material, with a singer, keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist, string section, Electronics, and drummer. Simon Green mainly plays bass guitar, and leads the band from the middle.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

• Animal Magic (2000, Tru Thoughts; 2001, Ninja Tune)
• Dial 'M' For Monkey (2003, Ninja Tune)
• Days To Come (2006, Ninja Tune)

[edit] Other releases

• One Offs... Remixes & B-Sides (2002, Tru Thoughts)
• Sweetness (bootleg) (2002)
• Bonobo Presents Solid Steel: It Came From The Sea (03 Oct 2005, Ninja Tune)
• Live Sessions EP (2005, Ninja Tune)
• The Shark EP (2001, Tru Thoughts)
• Scuba EP (2000, Fly Casual)

[edit] DVD

• Live at Koko (24 March 2009, Ninja Tune)

[edit] Songs appearances

• The tracks "Pick up" and "Flutter" from the Dial 'M' For Monkey album, were featured in the snowboarding game SSX on Tour^[7].
• The track "Nightlite" appeared on the soundtrack of the game UEFA Champions League 2006-2007^[8].
• In 2007, Bonobo's track "Ketto", was featured in a Citroën C4 Picasso advertisement^[9].
• Bonobo's track "Flutter" is the opening title theme to CBC Television's sitcom jPod.
• "If You Stayed Over" appeared in the 3rd episode of Season 4 of the TV show Lost, "The Economist"^[10].
• The fifth episode in the third series of the BBC Two show A Taste of My Life featured Bonobo's track "Terrapin".
• In the autumn of 2008, Cartoon Network used the instrumental version of the title track from Days To Come in a commercial for their Adult Swim programming portion.
• The track "Silver" was used in The L Word in the Season 4 episode, "Luck be a Lady".
• In 2008, the episode "Last Resort" of US series House featured the song "Between The Lines" from the Days To Come album.
• The track "Between the Lines" was featured in Season One of the Showtime series Californication and appears on the soundtrack Temptation: Music From The Showtime Series Californication
• The track "Terrapin" was used recurrently in the musical score on Benjamen Walker's radio drama Your Radio Nightlight (later renamed Theory of Everything) on the alt.NPR network. "Terrapin" was first featured under the opening act of the episode Noa Noa, Part II.
• In May 2009 Film4 used the track "Flutter" in an advertisement advertising a series of films due to air on the channel.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Bonobo homepage
• Bonobo (musician) at Discogs
• Pictures of Bonobo Live, 2007
• Bonobo interview for Clash magazine, September 2006