Matt Wilkinson sits down with UK electronic producer and DJ Simon Green, otherwise known as Bonobo, to discuss his latest release ‘Expander’. He also opens up about The Warehouse Project and its importance to the UK clubbing calendar, Manchester’s wider musical heritage, his love for Radiohead and his plans to create new music across the USA, UK and Japan next.
BONOBO TELLS APPLE MUSIC ABOUT HIS LATEST TRACK ‘EXPANDER':
I got that one out quite quickly actually. I think Glastonbury was maybe the first time I played it. I just got back from tour and had a little bit of time at home and I just sort of made that tune very quickly and it's quicker than I would normally work, honestly. Because it's going to be a little while until there's a new record, so I didn't want to just have this big space, so I wanted to just put something out. And I felt like, especially doing a lot of DJ stuff over the summer, this tune felt like the right thing to do. Yeah, and it's really interesting working on music with a view to playing it out and DJ’ing because you're in a different mindset. If I'm at home and I'm thinking about an album, I'm probably focusing on different aspects, but if this is like, "I want to make something to play out this summer," you can go in with a completely different approach of what you want that thing to be.
And that's kind of what Expander was. It was just like, "Let's just make something that's got some big sort of club energy that's going to be really fun to play out."
BONOBO ON THE SIGNIFICANCE THE WAREHOUSE PROJECT PLAYS IN THE UK CLUBBING CALENDER:
It's a season of parties that runs for a few months a year and in my personal opinion, I think it's one of the best parties in the world. The curation is incredible every time and it's like a series. The line-up is always impeccable. It's just always a really exciting thing to be a part of.
I can't remember how many years it's been running now, but it's been a really long time. But it is one of those parties that you always take note of whenever the line-ups released and it's always an exciting moment. It feels like an event. It's kind of a big moment in the UK. Obviously the ones that I've played at, I've been to the whole night as well. I don't just show up and play the set. You're there for the whole thing. It's always such a good vibe.
BONOBO ON MANCHESTER’S RICH MUSICAL HISTORY AND THE LONGEVITY OF WAREHOUSE PROJECT:
Manchester itself has such a rich history of musical heritage, especially in dance music. It's been sort of since the mid-80s really. Manchester has been a real focal point of club culture in the UK and I just think that they keep that same principle. And Manchester and just generally the north of England, that's where the energy is.
BONOBO ON THE WAREHOUSE PROJECT SPACE BEING A REFERENCE FOR HIM WHILST MAKING MUSIC:
It's huge. Especially if you are in there for soundcheck before the doors open. It is a really mind-bending space. The production in there is not over the top, but it's just enough to really accent what an insane space you are in. So the lighting and the way that the building is featured and accented whilst the party is happening really makes you feel like you're into something special.
Sometimes when I'm making tunes and I'm thinking of the space that they could work in, especially with more club focused stuff, I've got Warehouse Project in my mind a little bit when I'm working on the music that I'm going to try and play out in club spaces. It's always like, "Will this go off at The Warehouse Project?" I think that's a kind of benchmark of what I'm trying to do with a piece of music sometimes. It's one of those kind of spaces.
BONOBO ON THE RADIOHEAD EDIT THAT FEATURES IN HIS SET:
That's an “Everything in Its Right Place” remix. It is a bit of a hybrid, that remix. It's come through various people and various people have kind of taken it and done stuff with it and passed it on. But, yeah, it always goes off, especially when that “Everything in Its Right Place” riff kind of drops.
I mean I've loved Radiohead since the beginning, since day one pretty much. I remember seeing Glastonbury 90-something when Thom York still had his peroxide cropped hair.
I think that's like Pablo Honey era. But yeah, still very consistent. Still very relevant. But that tune is having a moment as well, I feel like, on TikTok or... Everything in Its Right Place... There's the Kendrick acapella, which people have been playing out as well.
It's got a familiarity to it, I think. That synth riff is kind of very iconic, isn't it? You kind of notice it immediately, especially as it comes out of all of this quite chaotic noise and it just drops to that very recognisable synth riff.
BONOBO ON HIS PLANS FOR NEXT SUMMER:
I've got plans. There's going to be some fun stuff, actually. I'm going to take a little bit of time off of touring and now I'm just sort of making lots of new music and thinking... Yeah, I've got a couple of things planned for next summer over in the UK.
BONOBO REVEALS HIS PLANS TO MAKE NEW MUSIC ACROSS THE US, UK AND JAPAN:
A little bit of everywhere. Here at home, in LA. Then I'm going to be spending some time back in London in a studio doing some bits there with a lot of UK musicians and people.
I want to go spend a month in Japan. Just to be very rural and just edit lots of music and just work on music on my own for a little bit. It's a different energy to spending time in London in the studio, and it's a bit more of a different focus.
I'm going to spend some time on my own in the mountains and be very calm, and then I'm going to check back in with humans and stuff for a couple of days in Tokyo and then get back out to make a record in an Onsen.
