fabric presents Bonobo

In contrast to the sleepy, jazzy meanderings of Bonobo’s Late Night Tales DJ mix, this is a dance floor-targeted collection of house, techno and electronica. It’s a DJ mix, so although available to listen to as a collection of individual tracks, listening to it in its mixed version ties them all together as a whole. Bonobo opens up with a couple of his own intricately programmed house tracks — “Flicker” and “Boston Common” — both of which possess that distinct Bonobo aesthetic, as though he turned up the ‘rustic’ setting on his synths, set his samplers to ‘Arcadian’ and used the ‘pastoral’ drum machine template. It’s a mood that is continually referred back to throughout the course of the mix, notably via Alex Kassian’s lush, restrained “Hidden Tropics,” the soaring, single chord riff of Âme’s “Nia” and TSHA’s reverential “Sacred.”

Like his own productions, the selections are detailed, sophisticated, melodic and with plenty of heartstring-pulling moments. This is a DJ mix album that really reflects the sound and aesthetic of the DJ’s productions.