I straddle between various genres, I don't want to be a part of anything: Bonobo

Q&A with English DJ and producer

Sui generis barely begins to describe the music of Simon Green, an English DJ and producer, who performs under the name of Bonobo. His multilayered dance music, which he describes as downtempo, can be heard live this Saturday as part of the second edition of Johnnie Walker-The Journey at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai. His entire discography (five albums) is so addictive thanks to its club beats and meditative sounds that you will be constantly hitting "repeat". Two standout tracks that you ought not to miss if you happen to be there are "Flashlight" and "Cirrus". Earlier this week, Simon Green had an e-mail conversation with J Jagannath. Edited excerpts:

How did this solitary gig to Mumbai happen?
I don’t know really, it’s crazy because I have loved India all my life, I wanted to take a year off from college and travel to India. So India was on the top of my list, somewhere I always wanted to go. It’s just that we’ve been going nonstop with the live shows since last April. We’ve pretty much gone twice around the world. I’m just glad, we are finally making it to India. It’s going to be exciting.

Can your dozen band members, including singers, strings, a brass section and drums be expected on the 13th?

Well, we are coming in with a six-piece band and it’s going to be quite a varied set. We’re going to go from a very downtempo, jazzy set and progress into a more electronic dance vibe.

Will any Indian instruments be employed at your gig?
No, not this time around, I’ve heard Indian music in bits and pieces, especially classical, hoping to get to hear a bit more when I’m down. I have self-taught myself a couple of instruments and used the sitar in some of my work in the album Animal Magic.

You had five amazing albums in last ten years. How do you manage to be so prolific while touring most of the time?

I’m not too good at that whole working on the laptop on the road thing. I mean I do it if I have to, but I prefer to have time at home. I shut the door and I’m in the room with a bunch of instruments and machines. I need that space to sit back and listen to stuff through speakers. So I started making it whenever I had time, whenever I was at home. It’s been about two years. I had a year of straight touring and I wasn’t really making much music. I was putting little ideas down, but not really getting anything to the point. So when I got back to New York I really sat down and got back into it.

What do you expect of the Indian audience? You think your multilayered dance music and organic electronic sounds be lapped up by everyone?
Ok firstly, I just think the whole electronic dance music scene is terrible. Its commercial and I’m hoping things change. I do believe it’s going to crash soon, everything is breaking out into sub genres. I straddle between various genres, I don’t want to be a part of anything or be defined by anything. I just like to make things on my own. When you’re dealing with genres it can get quite tricky.  I’m excited to play in India,  it definitely depends on the city and crowd. The more I trust a city the more progressive and deeper I'll go, where as if it's a crowd I think it's not up for new music I'll just stick to a safer playlist.

                                                                  — Johhnie Walker-The Journey begins at 5 pm, December 13