Late Night Tales: Bonobo

Late Night Tales and Bonobo were pretty much made for each other, it just took them a while to both realize it. Stepping forward into the compilers spotlight for the 33rd edition is Simon Green aka Bonobo a musician, producer and DJ perfectly suited to soundtrack an evening spent reclining to some parallel beats.

Six albums to the good, Green has been on a winning streak since 2010 s breakthrough Black Sands. His music has aided the sales of Citroen cars and Olay creams, as well as soothing the puzzlement of Lost. Wrapped in delicately programmed drums, Green s music is at once both somber and reassuring. If what comes out the other end is the music of Bonobo, then this is the fuel that keeps the engine running: soul, jazz, classical, pop, funk, leftfield, rock. Pianos and brass are abundantly present. Our ivories are warmed and tickled by the classic, Bill Evans, and new school, with Matthew Bourne s mournfully beautiful "Juliet" and Dustin O Halloran s "An Ending A Beginning. " The brass section comes courtesy of Menehan Street Band s jazzy "The Traitor, " "Flipside" by the Hypnotic Brass Band. Exclusives include YouTube sensation "One Thing" by Peter & Kerry. Not only that, but there s Bonobo s special LNT cover version, a brilliant reading of Donovan s "Get Thy Bearings, " As the light dims, the unsettling sounds of Lapalux or maybe even Shlomo pierce the misty evening air, before giving way to the ethereal splendour of Eddi Front s "Gigantic" or even Nina s paean to an imagined rural idyll "Baltimore. " Amble down to the riverside. It could be the Great Ouse, as willows weep into the water; it could even be in Brooklyn overlooking the Lower East Side, as the sun slides down the sides of the skyscrapers. Take a notepad for inspiration. Maybe even a hipflask for a slug of something warm. Sit down and reflect and let those beautiful pianos skim the water s surface. Sometimes, you think, life is good. You can t play a symphony alone, it takes an orchestra to play it: Simon Green is your conductor.