Recommendation: Bonobo's Black Sands

Written By: Sean

Sinking back into the musical vein, today’s article features the latest LP release by British musician/producer/DJ Simon Green, a man you’re more likely to know as Bonobo. Bonobo is signed to Ninja Tune records so needless to say his newest album is an excellent blend of nujazz, downtempo, instrumental hip-hop and ambient dance, and as such I highly recommend it to all hipsters, stoners, intellectuals and people who generally like to just chill out.

The album which is titled “Black Sands” is Bonobo’s fourth album and it comes after a four year period since Bonobo’s last release Days To come. Though Black Sands isn’t a huge change of direction for Bonobo and follows the same structural basis as Days To Come by having repeat appearances by certain vocalists on multiple songs, this LP has a more worldly inclusive sound. For example songs like Prelude and Kiara have string arrangements reminiscent of Japanese folk, while others like El Toro possess a Latin samba flavour.

The songs while indeed mellow and entrancing also have just the right amount of a dance feel to keep you bobbing your head, tapping your toe or full out grooving to the beat. As mentioned the album has found a reoccurring guest vocalist in the up and coming Andreya Triana (who just so happens to be fresh talent on the Ninja Tune roster). Andreya’s sultry voice really accentuates the songs she’s featured in giving the music an extremely homely almost smokey feel. While I thoroughly enjoyed the entire album the stand out track for me was Eyesdown (Feat. Andreya Triana) which had the perfect amount of swelling synths, grooving bass, syrupy vocals, ambience and melody to get my mind buzzing, my heart steady and body grooving.

Bonobo’s latest effort hasn’t gone unnoticed and on top of receiving relatively positive reviews from publications like The Times and BBC, he’s been featured on the cover of the June edition of iDJ magazine with an accompanying article inside. Definitely worth checking out and available for purchase now, Bonobo’s Black Sands would make an excellent addition to anyone’s music library. Check out the track Eyesdown below.


And also check out Bonobo via myspace: Here