All hands on Black Sands

British DJ/producer Bonobo reinterprets, remixes and reflects the times

Bonobo (aka Simon Green) has multiple ways of relaying his fine mix of funk, chill beats and orchestral majesty to you. His 2010 Ninja Tune release, Black Sands, has been reinterpreted live with a band that features vocals, keys, drums and more, with Mista Green himself helming it all on bass. But the stage sound never affects the studio process.

“I don’t let how it’s going to be played live inform how it’s going to be produced,” Green explains from his Brooklyn studio. “If anything, I keep making music the same way I always have, as a solo project. So that’s sort of the challenge really, to deconstruct it, stand back and see how the record will be played live. The band kind of evolves anyways; the line-up is constantly chang­ing to reflect the sounds that the record has.”

The reinterpretation process isn’t a departure, only a growth into newer, different works. The same goes for an upcoming remix album of Black Sands featuring remixes by Machinedrum, Floating Points and FaltyDL, to name a few. “We wanted to bridge it between Black Sands and the next record. I try to never repeat myself too much, and move forward with stuff I’m into at the time. We’ll be coming with a whole record later on in the year.”

Green is back in studio-rat mode, only seeing the light of day on the weekends, hitting up two or three cities DJing. But sticking to a studio view doesn’t deny outer forces affecting his output, especially world events.

“I think your music’s gotta reflect the times around you. A lot of the time, music can be a celebratory escape,” he says. “There’s two ways to approach it: you can either affect it and reflect it or you can try to make it with more of an escapist attitude. But if you look at any big revolution, be it punk or acid house, it’s always come out of struggle—acid house was a hedonistic reaction to Thatch­er’s Britain; people went out on the weekends and had a big party. The same thing with punk. It was a kick against what was happening at the time.” ■

WITH THE SJU HOMIES DJ CREW, DOOZE JACKERS, CONSTRUCT, HENWARD, VNDL AND DJ BRACE AT LE BELMONT ON FRIDAY, DEC. 9, 10 P.M., SOLD OUT

 

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