Bonobo – Flutter (Ninja Tune)
November 13th, 2003 by susanna
21:07 Waterloo Station
″Platform 13 for the delayed 20:50 train to Poole. Calling at Clapham Junction, Woking……″
Travel problems seem to be a way of life in London. Or is it just every time I visit? Whatever the truth, the 17 minute void in my life created by the inefficiency of South West Trains has given me time to sit down, get a pen and pad out, stick on the latest Bonobo single and begin to write this review.
Flutter opens as if the track had already begun a couple of minutes back and you’ve just walked into a room where it’s playing. Smooth keyboard sounds, briefly and intricately mix with chiming bells before the drums and infectious groove kick in and drive us past Clapham Junction and onwards to the South Coast.
Indeed the track sounds at home on Ninja Tune, its jazzy undertones paying homage to early 9 Lazy 9 with a pinch of DJ Food Jazz Breaks style thrown in for good measure. Top this off with a luscious, fruity dessert of xylophone and sitar and it’s easy to see how Simon Green has become one of the best and most consistent producers around.
Track 2 on the single is a Fourtet remix of Pick Up, a track also taken from Bonobo’s latest album Dial M For Monkey.
This begins somewhat serenely. A didgeridoo tinted double bassline over an atmospheric background smothered in lazy chords. It’s gorgeous. But just when you thought it was safe, in true Kieren Hebden style, unsettling, almost Spooky sounding industrial effects slowly creep in before a barrage of drums are unleashed on the unsuspecting listener.
Strangely the whole demented mess of noises begin to make sense as Hebden incorporates all manner of layers into the mix, prompting me to remove one earphone to check the train wasn’t derailing somewhere just shy of Woking.
The final track on the single is an extended version of another effort from the latest album called Something (Longer) For Windy. This is an altogether more straightforward affair after the Fourtet remix, and is blessed with a bassline that wouldn’t have been out of place on some of The Cure’s mellower efforts.
Carried along on a melodious whistle that sounds as if it’s been running round Simon Green’s head for years, Something transports the listener to a far more welcoming, beautiful place than Woking station at 21:45 on a Tuesday evening.
The cd single also includes a CD ROM video by Conkerco that will also be included on a Ninja Tune DVD which is due for release in January.
The Gaffer
Bonobo’s Flutter is out now on Ninja Tune
