About this episode
John sits down with English musician, producer, and DJ Simon Green, better known as Bonobo, to talk about how he wrote, recorded and produced works from across his back catalogue. Bonobo first caught attention with his 1999 debut. Over the years, his evolving sound, often including elements of world music, nu-jazz and electronica, have earned him a devoted following. This popularity surged with the release of critically acclaimed albums including 'Black Sands' and 'The North Borders ', released via Ninja Tune, which earned him multiple Grammy nominations and solidified his status as one of the biggest names in dance music. His latest work, the single, ‘Expander’ released in August 2024, is a slice of fresh yet unmistakable Bonobo, weaving organic vocals and instrumentation with vibrant dance floor energy. Catching up at Baltic Studios, not too far from where Simon recorded his early work, the conversation digs into Bonobo’s creative process, discussing how he builds his unique drum patterns as well as exploring the essential plugins and sounds that shape his distinctive style. Tracks discussed: Expander, Sapien, Cirrus, Black Sands TAPE IT Thanks to our friends at Tape It for supporting the podcast. Visit tape.it/tapenotes or use the promo code TAPENOTES in the app to get 50% off. (Valid until 29th November) ROLAND Get 10% off Roland Cloud Ultimate Membership with the code TAPENOTES RC-1024 at rolandcloud.com MUSIVERSAL Skip the waitlist and get your 25% discount HERE LISTEN to ‘ Expander’ here. LISTEN to ‘Fragments’ here. LISTEN to ‘Black Sands’ here. Ninja Tune LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES linktr.ee/tapenotes Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective GEAR MENTIONS Knock Drum Buss Plugin Soundtoys Decapitator Soundtoys Little Alterboy Valhalla Room Valhalla Vintage Verb Miroslav Philharmonik Strings Slate & Ash Landforms Slate & Ash Cycles Slate & Ash Choreographs TB Reelbus Intellijel Plonk Module Make Noise Optomix Noise Engineering Basimilus Oberheim Xpander Oberheim OB8 Roland TR-808 Ableton Operator Ableton Logic X OUR GEAR https://linktr.ee/tapenotes_ourgear HELP SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to help support the show you can join us on Patreon , where among many things you can access full length videos of most new episodes, ad-free episodes and detailed gear list breakdowns. KEEP UP TO DATE For behind the scenes photos and the latest updates, make sure to follow us on: Instagram: @tapenotes Twitter: @tapenotes Facebook: @tapenotespodcast YouTube: Tape Notes Podcast Discord: Tape Notes Patreon: Tape Notes To let us know the artists you’d like to hear, Tweet us, slide into our DMs, send us an email or even a letter. We’d love to hear! Visit our website to join our mailing list: www.tapenotes.co.uk TAPE NOTES TEAM Will Brown Tim Adam-Smith Will Lyons Nico Varanese Guy Nicholls Jessica Clucas Katie-Louise Buxton Seb Brunner-Stolovitzky