The sun was heading towards the desert horizon when Bonobo and Hundred Waters bandmates Nicole and Trayer joined host Thris Tian to record the first episode of WeTalkMusic.
It was recorded in Arizona at Form, the uniquely collaborative music festival, where Bonobo was playing and which Hundred Waters organise. Luckily despite the heat, the chemistry between our guests was there from the off as they discussed everything from the perfect desert soundtrack to NASA rocket launches. Oh, and Bonobo took the keyboard for an impromptu jam session.
WeTalkMusic explores artists' different sides through some unexpected musical selections. Explore the whole series here.
For the uninitiated, Bonobo is a British DJ and producer whose eclectic tastes and ever-expanding interests have made him one of the most pioneering figures in electronic music today. Operating both as a solo DJ and alongside a 12-piece live band, Bonobo has enamoured millions of people around the world with his hypnotic, meditative brand of EDM. Bonobo’s music is visceral, primal even, and a perfect fit for the Form crowd hungry for rhythm born out of more cerebral realms.
Hundred Waters is something of an indie-electro miracle, for their ability to elevate their brand of organic, ethereal electronic experimentation far beyond their genre’s confines. Although they officially formed in 2011 in Gainesville, Florida, bandmates Nicole Miglis, Trayer Tryon and Zach Tetreault first met in middle school, where they developed the kind of lifelong bond you need to make music as dreamy and emotionally affecting as they do. Skrillex signed the band to his OWSLA label, and since then the trio has toured with the likes of Alt-J, the XX, Jack Ü, Grimes and Julia Holter.
Here are a few key quotes from our guests gleaned from the first episode…
Nicole on the music of her home state, Florida:
We should play some Screamo, if you want Florida, we should play some Backstreet Boys. That’s like, true Florida. But we picked Sky 2 because I grew up in a place called Melbourne which is close to Kennedy Space Center which is where they would launch all the rockets up… It’s a very surreal, dreamy part of Florida… I saw a lot of the rockets from my backyard.
Trayer on trusting his local record store…
Every time I go back to Orlando I go to this record store and I buy a record. And I buy a record basically by asking them what I should buy. Because they know me and they just know what I like.
Nicole on the brilliance of Bill Callaghan…
The fact that Bill Callaghan is playing is and of special to me. I listened to a lot of Smog and Bill Callahan in High School and I remember going to his show in college in Gainesville Florida and there was like 40 people there it was like a tiny show and I was so nervous because I was such a fan. It’s just cool to come full circle and see him playing this festival. And this is like the perfect place for Bill Callaghan to play…he is very Americana, desert, very cowboy, dusty, dry, simple songs.
Bonobo on the joy of the unexpected…
It is definitely a thing when a sample jumps out and you are not expecting it. There is a sonic texture that are you familiar with.
Bonobo on the Brighton music scene…
If you talk about Brighton musically you have got the Mod scene in the early 70s and then you have the big beat thing in the early 90s, the whole Fatboy Slim, Brighton beach vibes…
There were the mods and rockers and the riots on Brighton beach, and then later the big Fatboy Slim beach party where a quarter of a million people showed up and pretty much destroyed the whole beach front. But in the background there was this other stuff going on, with all these little folk collectives.
Bonobo on his rave days…
Looking out across this field here, where they are setting up this stage, it looks very ravey, very 92 out there….This was a track that reminded me of being 15 when raves were a bit moody and a bit intimidating.
