Defender by Bonobo
Bonobo is having a tremendous 2022 and has surprise-released a new single called “Defender” that was built for the dancefloor and is out on his label OUTLIER in partnership with Ninja Tune.
“Defender” features a thumb piano riff over a thumping, 4-on-the-floor beat, sprinkled with synths.
Green also released another surprise single last month. “ATK” features a sample of Ghanaian musician Atakora Manu and was described by This Song Is Sick as “a dancefloor number shaking with worldly, kinetic energy.” Both “ATK” and “Defender” will be released on a hand stamped and numbered white label limited to 1500 units.
The new music and tour come on the heels of Fragments, Bonobo’s first full album since 2017, which came out in January on Ninja Tune. Fragments hit #3 on Billboard’s Top Dance / Electronic Albums chart and #5 on the Official UK Albums Chart this year. The album features Jamila Woods, Joji, Kadhja Bonet, Jordan Rakei, O’Flynn and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and was covered by The Fader, Mixmag and print cover stories at DJ Mag and Electronic Musician. The Observer deemed it a “brilliant, wondrous work,” giving it 5 out of 5 stars. He also made his NPR Tiny Desk debut in March and earned two nominations for the 64th GRAMMY Awards, making him a five-time nominee.
The album tour has been seen by an audience of 750,000 across four continents. Bonobo recently played Royal Albert Hall in London where his 5-night residency became the longest continuous run of performances for a solo musician, and the longest run ever for an electronic artist. He also performed four times in just 24 hours at Glastonbury Festival in June, headlined Warehouse Project and Lost Village Festival in the UK, completed a tour of Australia, North America, performed at Sonar Barcelona and at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. In November the band head to Europe for shows across 9 countries, which also takes in a headline DJ set at Printworks, London on November 19.
