Bonobo The Keeper ft. Andreya Triana

2009
Nina Tune records
12”
45 rpm


A
The Keeper
The Keeper (Instrumental)

B
The Keeper (Redeyes Remix)


The Keeper (And instrumental) - Ok, I’ve been a fan of Bonobo for years now. This kid is insane. He hops into the chilled out electronica scene with his album “Dial “M” for monkey” when this cat was fucking 18 years old. And, in my opinion, created his own little niche in the spectrum of electronic music. Listen to ANY song of this guys, and you’ll be blown away. His production, his choice of sounds, the ways he makes them play together, and most of all HIS BEATS. Dear god can this buy program a drum sequence! I dream of the day i can even conceptualize and fully understand what goes through people like this heads. But to the song, not only is it Bonobo, who’s sound only gets better with time, but it’s again, Ninja Tune. I really can’t hype this label enough. Everyone go buy everything they make! Anyways, The song starts out with a super jazzy and moody vibraphone, with a head bumping classic bonobo beat. the bass kicks in and perfectly compliments it all. This is a whole song right here, and Andreya hasn’t even blessed the mic yet! And then there she is. A sweet, more medium pitched voice. Just as soulful as the likes of Nina Simone if you ask me. The song carries on in Bonobo’s usual head bumping, brain orgasming demeanor, with classic early 90’s hip hop style beat and layer dropping. The lyrics are perfect. The amount of syllables, the person singing, the meaning; this is songwriting at it’s absolute perfection. The only think i dislike in the entire song, is right when everything is at it’s mellowest and the song it as this small plateau, he breaks it with a high pitched descending ping noise. which you can faintly hear throughout the latter part of the song. The noise is great, when used with more going on. It really broke the mellow moment for me. But he makes up for it with the rest of the song continuing on as before. It’s a very pleasant mix of mild progression, layer dropping and retrieving, that dwindles into silence very easily. The fact he provides just the instrumental is a blessing indeed. I’m tempted to have a friend sing over it and re-work the song. I love artists that leave instrumentals to encourage creativity, and to listen to it if your not in the mood for the vocals. It’s safe to say, if you’ve listened to bonobo before and enjoyed him, you’ll like this. His skills really are developing and maturing, I'm VERY EXCITED to hear his new material whenever it is bestowed upon us.



Redeyes Remix - You can tell it’s the same song, same scales and everything as it starts. But there is a fast little percussion noise in the background. within two measures it turns into a full fledged, quickly paced drum n’ bass drum sequence! What a surprise, and a huge difference from the original mix. Redeyes plays with introducing and bringing back layers and sort of teasing you, then a break down comes, and the vocals really start to come out. It picks back up and a HUGE bass line kicks in. This is straight cocaine music! So upbeat and crazy, but still within Bonobo’s insanely different world somehow. I’m usually not a fan of drum n’ bass, It’s just to much for me, I enjoy more progressive slower music where I can really absorb every note and sound. But I actually really like this. Its light on the vocal work present in the original, but it works out surprisingly well. The rest of the song is playing with, what sounds like about 5 major layers, just moving about one another, with one more big break ahead, and that classic drum n’ bass drop. The bass line is seriously so good though, not only do the notes carry the song well but the first note is light, lets say 50 percent volume, but the next is 100 percent, then a 80ish and then finally a 70ish. It loops very well.



One of my favorite things is not only that it’s 45 rpm, so we get that amazing vinyl quality that just isn’t quiet there in 33rpm, but its 180 gram vinyl also. This stuff is so thick! I can see the record out living me! if you like Bonobo, you’ll like this. I can’t really say you’ll for sure enjoy the remix, but it’s always nice to break your musical bias’ and just let something flow over you. If you like the previews, buy the music! People like Bonobo truly deserve the money they earn for blessing us with this gorgeous music!