Late Night Tales: Bonobo

Bonobo’s 2013 Late Night Tales DJ mix is a collection of jazz, electronica, broken folk and all sorts of post-club and club-adjacent music, and manages to encapsulate much of the spirit of his recorded music with many tracks directly linking to his sound. 

The bittersweet piano and strings of opener Dustin O’Halloran’s “An Ending, a Beginning” is close in mood to much of Black Sands-era Bonobo and similarly “A Calf Born In Winter” from Khruangbin and “Places” by Shlohmo all share a similar fuzzy, warm, glowing feel with acoustic samples twisted via sampling alchemy into new electro-emo shapes. There are also some sublime jazz selections, including the delicate waltz of harpist Dorothy Ashby’s “Essence of Sapphire,” a gorgeous string ensemble piece from UK jazz don Matthew Halsall, and (the inspiration for Miles Davis’ “Flamenco Sketches”) Bill Evans’ gorgeous “Peace Piece.” Some lovely selections, expertly programmed.