John sits down with English musician, producer, and DJ Simon Green, better known as Bonobo, to talk about how he wrote, recorded and produced works from across his back catalogue. Bonobo first caught attention with his 1999 debut. Over the years, his evolving sound, often including elements of world music, nu-jazz and electronica, have earned him a devoted following. This popularity surged with the release of critically acclaimed albums including 'Black Sands' and 'The North Borders', released via Ninja Tune, which earned him multiple Grammy nominations and solidified his status as one of the ..read more

John sits down with Rex Orange County and producers Jim Reed and Teo Halm, to talk about how he wrote and recorded his latest album ‘The Alexander Technique’.  Alex O'Connor, better known as Rex Orange County, is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Teaching himself music production at 16 years old, within a year he released his debut album ‘Bcos U Will Never B Free’. Since then, Alex has been consistently releasing successful music, including his fourth album, ‘Who Cares?’, which became his first to top the UK album charts, alongside platinum-certified hits like ‘Sunfl ..read more

In this episode, John is joined by Olivia Dean and producer Matt Hales to talk about how they wrote, recorded and produced Olivia’s Mercury-nominated debut album ‘Messy’. Taking us back to the very start of their story, the pair discuss the inspiration for the album, sharing their approach to marrying different musical cultures and the importance of the chats they had before writing. As well as playing their writing session voice notes showing the exact moments each song took shape, we hear stories of mouth trumpet demos, creating artefacts to make instruments sound sampled, and the thought pr ..read more

John is joined by Jack Patterson and Grace Chatto of Clean Bandit to talk about how they wrote, recorded, and produced some of their early hits. Clean Bandit are an English electronic group formed in 2008, known for blending classical music with electronics and pop. While they gained early attention with the track ‘Mozart’s House,’ their 2014 hit ‘Rather Be,’ featuring Jess Glynne, won a Grammy and earned the band global recognition. Now pop mainstays, they have released numerous chart-topping collaborations, including ‘Rockabye’ and ‘Symphony.’ With two studio albums to their name and new mus ..read more

John is joined by Alex Cook, better known as A. G. Cook, to talk about how he wrote, recorded and produced the album ‘Britpop’. A. G. Cook, is a London-based artist and producer. After studying at Goldsmiths University, he founded PC Music, a label shaping hyper pop with artists including Hannah Diamond and Danny L Harle. His debut solo albums, ‘7G’ and ‘Apple’, arrived in 2020. In addition to his own music, Alex has shared his production talents with numerous pop icons, including Jonsi, Madonna, and Caroline Polachek, and Charli XCX. In May 2024, he released his third studio album, ‘Britpop ..read more

We’ve been having a look back through the Tape Notes archive to bring back some of our favourite early episodes that you may have missed. This selection is our conversation from November 2019, with Sam Shepard, Floating Points. EPISODE NOTES In this episode John heads to EMS4 studios in Shoreditch to chat with Floating Points a.k.a Sam Shepherd, about how he recorded and produced his latest release, Crush.  Talking from deep within Sam’s musical laboratory, we peer behind the curtain and find out how Floating Points music is created and crafted, pulling apart some of the tracks from his s ..read more

John is joined by singer, songwriter, and producer Charli XCX, as well as producers A.G. Cook and George Daniel, to discuss how they wrote and recorded the album ‘Brat’. Charli XCX first saw success collaborating on Icona Pop's 2012 smash hit ‘I Love It’ and Iggy Azalea's chart-topping single ‘Fancy’. Since releasing her debut album in 2013, she has continued to innovate and energise the music scene, earning a Global Impact Award in recognition of her contributions to pop. More recently, Charli released her sixth album ‘Brat’ working alongside George Daniel and PC Music pioneer A.G. Cook. Si ..read more

John is joined by singer, songwriter, and producer Charli XCX, as well as producers A.G. Cook and George Daniel, to discuss how they wrote and recorded the album ‘Brat’. Charli XCX first saw success collaborating on Icona Pop's 2012 smash hit ‘I Love It’ and Iggy Azalea's chart-topping single ‘Fancy’. Since releasing her debut album in 2013, she has continued to innovate and energise the music scene, earning a Global Impact Award in recognition of her contributions to pop. More recently, Charli released her sixth album ‘Brat’ working alongside George Daniel and PC Music pioneer A.G. Cook. Si ..read more

John is joined by IDLES' Bowen, along with producer Kenny Beats, and producer and engineer Mikko Gordon, to talk about how they wrote, recorded and produced the album ‘TANGK’. Idles are a British post-punk band who gained recognition with their 2017 debut album ‘Brutalism’. Known for their gritty, powerful sound and explosive live shows, their five albums to date have earned them nominations for the Mercury Prize, BRIT & Grammy Awards. Their latest record, ‘TANGK’, sees the band team up with producers Nigel Godrich and Kenny Beats, and digs into topics of love and gratitude, all while mai ..read more

We’ve been having a look back through the Tape Notes archive to bring back some of our favourite early episodes that you may have missed. This selection is our conversation with Matty and George of The 1975, recorded back in March 2019. EPISODE NOTES John ventures up to Spitfire Audio to meet with Matty and George from The 1975 to talk about how the album 'A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships' was recorded and produced. Somewhat bleary eyed after a massive night at the Brits (scooping two awards), the boys reveal the inner workings of The 1975's production methods and writing techniques ..read more