TOTT 2016 #7: BONZAI

BONZAI, the Dublin-born electronic/hip-hop talent, is a hurricane. She will blow you away effortlessly with her awesome, and sometimes terrifying, synthetic beats.

The British and Irish Modern Music Institute graduate has gone from strength to strength in the past year or so and her 2015 single KBG is a perfect introduction to what the artist is all about with the pop-like hook on this song dragging you into Bonzai’s crazy, colourful, drum and bass filled world.

2015 also saw the release of her first full EP: Royah. This effort is a collection of four songs, with Doses and Noise being a testament to Bonzai’s wide stylistic spectrum… the former kicking the EP off like a warehouse rave, while the latter sees us through to the end of night chill out session.

A promising 2015 quickly transitioned into 2016, and Bonzai raised the game with two more brilliant EPs: Lunacy and Sleepy Hungry. Lunacy boasts tracks like 2B, I Did, and Bodhran; showcasing her wide repertoire. ‘2B’ comes at you like a Scooter or Basshunter anthem as the electronic beat bounces alongside a dripping, sexy voice. ‘Bodhran’ mixes smooth afro-caribbean beats with what is fast becoming Bonzai’s signature disjointed beats; and ‘I Did’ allows her to fully spread her wings. The EPs first track is definitely the fullest song, as Bonzai sings gracefully about succeeding by any means, before seemingly allowing an over-excited Skrillex to take over the decks.

The Sleepy Hungry EP pulls out all of the stops once again and is by far the most ‘rave-y’ album yet (there’s a track called Ravemeister for God’s sake!). Stepping, Daniel Gets it Wrong, and No Rest set the bar incredibly high. A mixture of rave madness (‘Stepping’), dirty basslines and repetitive beats (‘Daniel’) is essentially what this album is-and it does it well. Bonzai even comes extremely close to emulating Dance and Electronic gods Daft Punk on ‘No Rest’.

This is very early stuff from Bonzai. It’s also very good! That’s why this female artist has strolled into this year’s Top 10. If this is what two years’ worth of EPs sound like, then I can’t wait for her next chart-topping single…or full album…or worldwide tour.

Words by Ben Bowes and Tipped by Kier from The Monitors

BONZAI was originally featured on January 19th with words by Adam from Alphabet Bands

View the full TOTT 2016 countdown HERE