artist: Bonobo country of origin: UK style(s): Trip hop, soundtrack, lounge, funk, ethno-ambient essential releases: Animal Magic (2001, Ninja Tune/Tru Thougts) Dial M For Monkey (2003, Ninja Tune)

The one-man project of British DJ/composer/producer Simon Green aka Bonobo is a uniquely personal and intimate brand of instrumental hip hop (oh alright, trip hop then). It's original, intelligent, a little exotic, at once stimulating and soothing and 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 separates them. As it is they are both masterworks of eclectic instrumental mood music, more hip hop in their sampling and looping techniques rather than in their actual sound. Bonobo doesn't just simply nick sounds from other people's records anyway; he also plays loads of instruments himself which allows him to fashion exactly the sounds he no doubt hears inside his considerable head.

His remarkable and always tuneful music really sounds like no one else, which makes singing its praises a little difficult. A roll call of instruments doesn't really tell you much; countless downtempo artists do drum loops with guitars, piano, flute, sitar, strings, subtle synth 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 space for colouring and subtlety and there perhaps lies the key to his music. Its a muted, lo-fi pastoral sound where the elements of light and shadow constantly move and flicker, a bit like standing beneath a large tree and looking up at the sky through the leaves as they ripple in the breeze. Or at the risk of sounding awfully pretentious, if you can imagine sound visually Bonobo's music has some of the dappled colours, blurred edges and mystery of an impressionist painting.

It's ambient groove music in the strongest sense of the word and Green's beguiling sound is consistent across both these albums 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". Two classics, both unmissible. Another must-have in a very similar style is Music By Cavelight (2004, Ninja Tune) by New York hip hop producer Blockhead.

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