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)

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