ABOUT BONOBO:
A young Simon Green (for it is he who is the monkey king) refused to be dragged down by the lazy journalistic prose that labeled him 'chillout' and 'downtempo'. Far from it. He upped the stakes, and indeed, even stuck his neck out, moving from his original label Tru Thoughts to Ninja Tune, and set about taking things to the next level.

Cos it's all about the levels with Bonobo. Not in a techy, studio kinda way, but in the levels of involvement with his music. On the surface there are the organic, pastoral atmospheres, the catchy melodies, the elements that caught people from his first album. You can engage with a Bonobo tune in that way if you wish, and will be well rewarded for it. But it's the deeper, slightly hidden levels that you should investigate, for they bring the greatest prize. It's these elements that he explored on 'Dial M For Monkey', as a greater focus on live instruments, the intricacies of rhythm, the darker shades of the soul, and almost a sleight of hand, that meant that you could be in one mood one minute, and the next you would somewhere different.

with
BIG GIGANTIC and Emancipator