Bonobo launches OUTLIER imprint with new single with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

by: Mitchell Rose Sep 23, 2020

After a decades-spanning career, Bonobo is launching his very own imprint, OUTLIER. In partnership with Ninja Tune, OUTLIER borrows its name from the club shows and festival stage takeovers hosted by Bonobo over past years. Bonobo says the new imprint will “reflect the more club-focused side of what I’m building with OUTLIER,” and the imprint’s first release surely drives that point home.

OUTLIER’s inaugural single is “Heartbreak,” an ’80s style breakbeat track made in collaboration with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (TEED). In a press release, Bonobo described the inspiration behind the track and why he chose it to launch OUTLIER:

“Orlando (TEED) was playing me a fairly stripped-back idea he had for something last year. We spent a few afternoons in his studio trying ideas out and eventually, ‘Heartbreak’ was the end result…’Heartbreak’ seems like a good starting point and was the track that became the catalyst to start the label. One for the dance floors in a time when they’re dearly missed.”

The single samples Christine Wiltshire’s lyric “I can’t take the heartbreak” from the ‘83 disco anthem “Weekend” by Class Action. TEED is mindful of the timing of the track, saying, “Now more than ever, it feels important to be putting out dance music with deliberate acknowledgment of its history.”

“Heartbreak” follows a busy release schedule for TEED this year, most notably his comeback EP, Leave a Light On. In contrast, “Heartbreak” marks Bonobo’s second track of 2020, succeeding his stellar remix of Michael Kiwanuka‘s “Final Days.”