Bonobo
Bonobo is known for albums and a live band, but Simon Green’s DJ sets have their own story: an Output residency in Brooklyn, OUTLIER nights and a label.
- Bonobo is Simon Green, an English producer born on 30 March 1976, from Brighton and now based in Los Angeles.
- Seven studio albums, all but the first on Ninja Tune; Migration reached No. 5 in the UK.
- OUTLIER: club nights since 2016, and a label with Ninja Tune since 2020.
For most of his career, Bonobo meant albums and a band on stage. The DJ side came into focus later, in a Brooklyn club, and grew into OUTLIER: a run of club nights, festival takeovers and, since 2020, a label of its own.
From Tru Thoughts to Ninja Tune
Simon Green made his debut in 1999 on When Shapes Join Together, a compilation on Tru Thoughts. His first album, Animal Magic, came out on Tru Thoughts in 2000 and was reissued by Ninja Tune in 2001. Ninja Tune has released every album since: Dial ‘M’ for Monkey (2003), Days to Come (2006), Black Sands (2010), The North Borders (2013), Migration (2017) and Fragments (2022).
Migration reached No. 5 in the UK, won Album of the Year at the 2018 Electronic Music Awards and earned two Grammy nominations, for Best Dance/Electronic Album and, with “Bambro Koyo Ganda”, Best Dance Recording. The single “Linked” was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the next ceremony, and Fragments brought two more nominations. His mix albums showed the selector early on: Solid Steel Presents: It Came from the Sea (2005), Late Night Tales (2013) and fabric presents: Bonobo (2019).
Output and the birth of OUTLIER
In 2016 Green launched OUTLIER at Output, the Brooklyn club that has since closed. There he left the band behind and played alone behind the decks. His residency at Output ran for four years and often meant extended open-to-close sets. In 2019 the series crossed to the UK and Europe, with dates in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, London and Paris.
A label for the dance floor
In September 2020 OUTLIER became a label, in partnership with Ninja Tune. The first release, “Heartbreak”, made with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, is a throwback house track sampling Class Action’s 1983 record “Weekend”. Green called it “one for the dancefloors in a time when they’re dearly missed”. Later OUTLIER releases included “ATK”, “Defender” and “Fold” with Jacques Greene, in January 2023.
OUTLIER on tour
The 2022 band tour for Fragments drew more than 750,000 people, according to its announcement, with four performances in 24 hours at Glastonbury and five nights at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2023 he was nominated for British Dance Act at the Brit Awards. In 2023 OUTLIER returned to North America, with Bonobo playing DJ sets in Austin (24 June), Los Angeles (15 July), Chicago (22 July), Queens (29 July) and Montreal (23 September), alongside guests such as DJ Seinfeld, TOKiMONSTA, Jacques Greene, Romare and DJ Boring.
For more producers who move between albums and the club, keep digging with Four Tet and Jayda G.
FAQ
Does Bonobo do DJ sets?
Yes. Simon Green tours with a band for his albums, but also plays DJ sets, notably at his OUTLIER club nights, launched in 2016 at Output in Brooklyn.
What is OUTLIER?
Bonobo’s series of club nights and festival takeovers, launched in 2016, and since 2020 also his label, run in partnership with Ninja Tune.
What are Bonobo’s albums?
Animal Magic (2000), Dial ‘M’ for Monkey (2003), Days to Come (2006), Black Sands (2010), The North Borders (2013), Migration (2017) and Fragments (2022).
