Bonobo | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Simon Green |
Also known as | Barakas [1] |
Born | 30 March 1976 |
Origin | Brighton, England |
Genres | |
Years active | 1999–present |
Labels | Ninja Tune, Tru Thoughts |
Member of | Nirobi and Barakas [1] |
Website | Official website |
Simon Green (born 30 March 1976), known by his stage name Bonobo, is an English musician, producer, and DJ based in Los Angeles. [2] He debuted with a trip hop aesthetic and has since explored more upbeat approaches as well as jazz and world music influences. His electronic sound incorporates the use of organic instrumentation and is recreated by a full band in live performances.
Green debuted in 1999 on the Tru Thoughts compilation When Shapes Join Together. [3] His stage name Bonobo is a reference to the great ape species. [4] Following the release of the EP Scuba, on the Brighton-based label Fly Casual Recordings, and the single "Terrapin", Bonobo was offered label deals with XL Recordings and Mute Records, but he chose to remain with Tru Thoughts. [2]
His first album, Animal Magic , was published on the same label in 2000, to mixed reviews. [5] [6] Paul Cooper of Pitchfork stated that it "breaks no new ground for chill-out", [7] while PopMatters said Bonobo "[showcases] smooth breakbeat loops, synth sounds, and aforementioned dub effects. [And his] electronic music draws on live playing." [8] Reviewer Dean Carlson also said that the album "slowly takes shape as a solid debut of narcoleptic downtempo". [9] In spite of these reactions, Animal Magic has gained Bonobo a cult following. [6] Its accompanying compilation album, titled " One Offs... ", was issued in 2002 and contains reworked songs and rarities.
In 2001, Bonobo was signed to Coldcut's label Ninja Tune, [2] and in 2003, he released Dial 'M' for Monkey . John Bush of AllMusic stated in a review that Bonobo's influences were drawn more towards alternative rock and world music rather than hip hop or trip hop. [10] The album tracks "Pick up" and "Flutter" were featured in the snowboarding game SSX on Tour . [11]
In 2005, Bonobo contributed to the Solid Steel series with It Came from the Sea . [2] The mix features several exclusive tracks as well as remixes and re-edits. His third album, entitled Days to Come , was released on 2 October 2006. An AllMusic review states that "[Bonobo] breathes new life into a well-worn genre." With the album as well as his future work, he featured vocalists such as Bajka, thus "adding [an] organic and vibrant musicality that's rare in electronic music." [12] Days to Come was voted Best Album of 2006 by Gilles Peterson's listeners. [13] The song "Nightlite" appeared on UEFA Champions League 2006–2007 , [14] and "Recurring" was used in a surfing film broadcast on Fuel TV. [15]
The song "The Keeper", featuring vocals by Andreya Triana, was issued in September 2009 as the lead single from Bonobo's fourth album, Black Sands , released in March 2010. [16] A BBC review by Paul Clarke stated that "Green has progressed from predominantly sample-based production to more live instrumentation [and] has become equally adept at mastering [...] multi-layered atmospheres." In the same review, Clarke also commented that the song "We Could Forever" "saddles an Afro-inflected guitar and skittish flute to deep sub-bass" and "Kiara" combines "oriental strings with cut-up beats". [17] After their collaboration for Black Sands, Green produced Triana's debut album, Lost Where I Belong . [18] The Bonobo song "Kong" was used during a scene in an artist's studio in the eighth episode of the second season of House of Cards . [19]
In February 2012, Black Sands Remixed was released on Ninja Tune, featuring tracks from the original Black Sands record remixed by electronic producers such as Machinedrum, Lapalux, Floating Points, and Mark Pritchard.
The first single off the next Bonobo album, "Cirrus", was given its worldwide debut on Gilles Peterson's BBC Radio 6 program on 19 January 2013. The album, titled The North Borders , was set for release on 1 April 2013 but came out early in its digital format after a promotional copy was leaked prior to the planned launch date. [20] The North Borders marked Bonobo's first UK and US album chart entries, where they respectively reached numbers 34 and 122. "Cirrus" was featured as the closing song of the pilot episode for the AMC show Halt and Catch Fire . [21]
Bonobo produced the song "Pulls" by DELS for his 2014 album, Petals Have Fallen , which was released under Big Dada—a sister label of Ninja Tune. [22]
Bonobo released his sixth album, Migration , in January 2017. [23] In an interview with Billboard , he stated that he conceived the album from "living and being in various locations", as he toured extensively and did not "have a home base for about a year". [24] The album and the track "Bambro Koyo Ganda" were nominated at the 2018 Grammy Awards for Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Dance Recording, respectively. [25] The record peaked at number 5 on the UK chart and 59 in the US. In 2018, it won Album of the Year at the Electronic Music Awards, and the artist was nominated for Live Act of the Year. [26]
On 1 July 2019, Bonobo released a new song, "Linked", online. [27] The track was later nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 62nd Grammy Awards but lost to "Got to Keep On" by the Chemical Brothers. [28]
The following year, Bonobo remixed Michael Kiwanuka's song "Final Days". [29]
Bonobo's seventh studio album, Fragments , [30] was released on 14 January 2022, with five singles issued ahead of its release. The first one, "Rosewood", debuted on 6 October 2021, followed by "Tides"—a collaboration with Jamila Woods—on 20 October. "Otomo"—a collaboration with O'Flynn—came out on 10 November, followed by "Shadows", with Jordan Rakei, on 1 December. The fifth and final single, "From You", with Joji, was released on 3 January 2022.
Bonobo was nominated for the Brit Award for British Dance Act in 2023. [31]
Bonobo is set to produce music for the upcoming Japanese anime television series Lazarus , directed by Shinichirō Watanabe. [32]
Bonobo's sound is oriented on beats and samples but typically "soothing", combining influences ranging from club to world music. [33] Pitchfork named him a key figure in the 2000s downtempo electronica scene, [34] while The Guardian associated him with the recent popularity of "ambient world electronica". [35] While his earliest work was firmly based in trip hop, [36] his style soon became more upbeat and delved into genres such as jazz (which has led him to be described as a nu jazz artist) and traditional Indian music. He has collaborated with various artists, including Bajka, Andreya Triana, Erykah Badu, and Rhye, who have contributed vocals to songs on several of his albums. [33]
Green has also performed with Robert Luis of the Tru Thoughts label under the aliases Nirobi and Barakas. [1]
Whilst often touring solo and performing DJ sets and residencies, in 2010, Bonobo opted to start touring with a full band for the Black Sands tour. The group plays live renditions of studio material, with a singer, keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist, string section, electronics, and drummer, often with improvisations and solos. [37]
Bonobo discography | |
---|---|
Studio albums | 7 |
EPs | 11 |
Live albums | 2 |
Singles | 27 |
Remix albums | 2 |
Other albums | 3 |
Title and details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [38] | AUS [39] | BEL (Fl) [40] | BEL (Wa) [41] | FRA [42] | NED [43] | SWI [44] | US [45] | ||
Animal Magic
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Dial 'M' for Monkey
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Days to Come
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Black Sands
| — | — | — | — | 105 | — | — | ||
The North Borders
| 34 | — | 51 | 119 | 54 | 52 | 39 | 122 |
|
Migration
| 5 | 12 | 6 | 20 | 35 | 10 | 5 | 59 |
|
Fragments
| 5 | 6 | 11 | 10 | 59 [47] | 9 | 8 | — | |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released. |
Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by Matt Black and Jonathan More, known professionally as the electronic duo "Coldcut" The label was created as an outlet for Coldcut to expand their style farther from that of the mainstream music industry.
Kevin Michael McKeehan, better known by his stage name TobyMac, is an American contemporary Christian music singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. His road band is known as Diverse City. He was first known for being a member of the Christian rap and rock trio DC Talk, staying with them from 1987 until they went on hiatus in 2000. He has since continued a successful solo career with the release of ten studio albums: Momentum (2001), Welcome to Diverse City (2004), Portable Sounds (2007), Tonight (2010), Christmas in Diverse City (2011), Eye on It (2012), This Is Not a Test (2015), The Elements (2018), Life After Death (2022), as well as five remixed albums: Re:Mix Momentum (2003), Renovating Diverse City (2005), Dubbed and Freq'd: A Remix Project (2012), Eye'm All Mixed Up (2014) and The St. Nemele Collab Sessions (2019). He became the third Christian artist to have a No. 1 debut on Billboard 200 chart with Eye on It.
Animal Magic is the debut studio album by British electronic musician Bonobo. It was released in 2000 on Tru Thoughts and re-released in 2001 by Ninja Tune.
Travis Stewart, better known as Machinedrum, is an American electronic record producer and performer from North Carolina. He is also known as Syndrone and Tstewart. He is one half of Sepalcure, with Praveen Sharma, one half of JETS, with Jimmy Edgar, as well as half of Dream Continuum with Jim Coles, a.k.a. Om Unit.
William Holland is an English musician, DJ, and record producer. Holland records under various pseudonyms, including Quantic, the Quantic Soul Orchestra, The Limp Twins, Flowering Inferno, and Ondatrópica. His music features elements of tropical, cumbia, salsa, bossa nova, soul, funk and jazz. Holland plays guitars, bass, double bass, piano, organ, saxophone, accordion and percussion. Much of his sound is original composition, rather than sampling of other artists' material. In addition to his original compositions, he has also produced remixes of over 30 songs.
Ben Westbeech, also known as Breach, is a British DJ and record producer originating from Hertfordshire who spent his formative musical years in Bristol. Trained as cellist and vocalist, his influences include house, soul, jazz and hip hop.
Ninja Tuna is the fourth studio album by British record producer Andrew "Mr. Scruff" Carthy, released on 6 October 2008 through Carthy's personal Ninja Tune imprint Ninja Tuna.
Die Antwoord is a South African alternative hip hop group formed in Cape Town in 2008. The group consists of rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser, a male/female duo, and producers HITEK5000 and Lil2Hood. Their image revolves around the South African counterculture movement known as zef and has incorporated work by other artists associated with the movement, such as photographer Roger Ballen.
Black Sands is the fourth studio album by English producer Bonobo. It was released on 29 March 2010.
Andreya Triana is a British singer and songwriter, Red Bull Music Academy alumna and MOBO nominated artist hailing from South East London, Her debut album, Lost Where I Belong released in September 2010 on London based record label Ninja Tune and featured singles such as "A Town Called Obsolete", "Far Closer" and the title track "Lost where I belong". The album was produced by British musician, DJ Simon Green aka Bonobo. The album was later labelled as "Best Album of 2010" by Charles Aaron of Spin.
Mount Kimbie is an English electronic music group consisting of Dominic Maker, Kai Campos, Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell. Mount Kimbie was formed in 2008 by Maker and Campos. The duo expanded on the musical template of the UK dubstep scene, releasing early EPs Maybes and Sketch on Glass to critical praise the following year. Their debut album Crooks & Lovers in 2010 received further acclaim and was listed as one of the defining albums of the decade by DJ Mag.
Kieren Gallear also known as DELS, is an English art director, recording artist, rapper, graphics designer, and filmmaker born in Ipswich; he is currently based in London. Gallear signed with the Ninja Tune imprint Big Dada in May 2010.
The North Borders is the fifth studio album by British musician Bonobo. It was due for release on 1 April 2013, but was released early on 21 March in digital format after a promotional copy was leaked. The album charted at number 29 on the UK Albums Chart. As of 20 January 2017 it had sold 56,993 copies in UK.
Letherette is an electronic music production duo, consisting of Richard Roberts and Andrew Harber. They released their debut album Letherette through their current label Ninja Tune in 2013, and have previously released material on Ho Tep Records.
Odesza is an American electronic music duo originating from Bellingham, Washington. It consists of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, known individually as Catacombkid and BeachesBeaches. They formed in 2012, shortly before Mills and Knight graduated from Western Washington University.
Grasscut are a musical group featuring composer/producer Andrew Phillips and musician/writer Marcus O'Dair. Phillips writes and produces all Grasscut music; he also sings and plays various instruments including guitar and keyboards. O'Dair manages the act and contributes keyboards and double bass. They are based in Brighton, England.
Stuart Howard, better known by his stage name Lapalux or LPLX, is an English record producer from Essex. He is known for his experimental use of texture and wonky, off-kilter beats. He has released four LPs to date and has remixed works by Mirrors, The Acid, and Young Thug.
Giants is the second studio album by British singer-songwriter Andreya Triana. It was released by Counter Records on 4 May 2015. The lead single, "Gold", was released on 13 March 2015. The album was produced largely by Aqualung, with additional production from Paul Staveley O'Duffy and Mike Peden. It peaked at number 59 on the UK Albums Chart.
Christopher Comstock, known professionally as Marshmello, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. His songs "Silence", "Wolves", "Friends", "Happier", and "Alone" have each received multi-platinum certifications in several countries, and peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. His musical style includes groove-oriented, synth and bass-heavy electronic dance music.
Migration is the sixth studio album by British DJ and record producer Simon Green, performing under the name Bonobo. It was released on 13 January 2017 through Ninja Tune. The album was recorded primarily on laptops rather than in a studio. It was supported by the release of several singles, including "Kerala". The album received generally positive reviews from critics and charted internationally, reaching the top five of the UK Albums Chart.