AmbientMusicGuide.com

British DJ/composer/producer Simon Green aka Bonobo creates a unique, tuneful and intimate brand of instrumental hip hop (oh alright then, call it trip hop). At once stimulating and soothing, it perfectly encapsulates breakbeat label Ninja Tune's more downtempo side.

Animal Magic and Dial M For Monkey may as well be two halves of the same album despite the two years that separate them. Both are masterworks of eclectic instrumental mood music, more hip hop for their sampling and looping techniques rather than their actual sound. Bonobo doesn't just simply nick sounds from other people's records anyway; he also plays many instruments himself which allows him to fashion exactly the sounds he no doubt hears inside his considerable head. A roll call of tools doesn't' t really tell you much; drum loops with guitars, piano, flute, sitar, strings, synths and sundry other instruments. More revealing is how he puts his drum breaks noticeably further back in the mix than most of his beat-science contemporaries. That creates more room for colouring and subtlety and therein lies the key to his music. Its a muted, lo-fi pastoral sound where light and shadow gently shifts and flickers, like looking at the sky through the branches of a leafy tree or taking in the dappled colours and blurred edges of an impressionist painting. This is what binds his music together regardless of the rhythmic patterns he chooses. From the stoned hip hop beats of "Sleepy Seven" to the menacing waltz of "Wayward Bob"...from the odd jazz-Balinese fusion of "D-song" to the lovely Euro soundtrack meanderings of "Nothing Owed".

Upon its release, Bonobo's third album Days To Come came with much ballyhoo about "songs" and vocalists, the kind of talk which sets off alarm bells among purists. It's a familiar story: bedroom DJ/hip-hop enthusiast start off making distinctive instrumental music and then "progresses" to using singers and writing "proper" songs. Result: loss of what made the music in special in the first place. Nightmares On Wax and Quantic are but two examples.

Good news, however, because Days To Come is magnificent. The mixture of songs and instrumentals is still unmistakably Bonobo's own, with most of the sounds sampled from his live playing, cut up and reassembled in his own beguiling and very organic way. Most crucially, his chosen vocalist fits like a silk glove. German poet and singer Bajka's slightly smoky tone, purry delivery and the way she curls her r's all sits perfectly here, whether or not you engage with the actual lyrics. The album's instrumentals are as beguiling as ever. "Ketto" loops a harp melody and indistinct child-like vocal byte around a solid drum break to touching effect. "Transmission 94" is a mini 8-minute epic that builds and unfolds layers of keyboard, woodwind and violin melodies with undeniable brilliance, not unlike the Cinematic Orchestra's most epic moments. The album also comes with a 2nd bonus disc which includes instrumental mixes of the vocal tracks.

If you like Bonobo's style then another must-have album on Ninja Tune in a very similar style is Music By Cavelight (2004) by New York hip hop producer Blockhead.

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