Migration

Critic Score
Based on 21 reviews
2017 Ratings: #358 / 966
User Score
Based on 414 ratings
2017 Ratings: #389
January 13, 2017 / Release Date
LP / Format
Ninja Tune / Label
Full Credits
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Critic Reviews

100
The Skinny

Migration is the acid test for electronic music in 2017, and sets a standard that will be undeniably difficult to beat, let alone match.

90
Clash
Jazz-heavy, experimental but rooted in beats, ‘Migration’ plays with your emotions in a way that befits a post-break up period — and is yet another fine offering from the Ninja Tune mainstay.
84
GIGsoup

A wonderful trip into Green's mindset, the beautiful and evocative nature of the album speaks on a personal level to those who have migrated or seen first hand the highs and lows that come from moving to another part of the world.

80
Exclaim!

An extremely reflective record, just a few shades more tranquil than his last two albums, but easily matching their well-produced splendour.

80
XLR8R

Migration is an intricate, fine-tuned return to form, one that both soothes and thrills.

80
The Guardian

Inspired by his experiences as a nomadic musician rather than global issues surrounding migration, the record shares the same melancholic intensity of Jon Hopkins’ Immunity, but its head remains in the clouds rather than the club.

80
musicOMH

Migration represents another step forward in Bonobo’s musical development, keeping what was already strong in his music but adding more colour and depth.

73
Pitchfork

All told, Migration is an impressive improvement over The North Borders, and easily the most listenable record of Bonobo’s fifteen-plus year career. It’s a record with equal appeal for electronic music fans and general listeners, something you could put on anywhere.

70
The Line of Best Fit

Bonobo's ability to immerse the listener in a gorgeous electronic escapism is better than ever.

70
No Ripcord

Migration is a sparkling, crisp display of Green’s ability to completely immerse a listener, and it’s strong as it’s ever been.

70
AllMusic

With Migration, Green blends the unexpected with the familiar and emerges with some of his most affecting work yet.

70
PopMatters

At its best, Migration pushes up against if not quite transgresses the boundaries of a genre that holds tranquility in too high a currency, managing at times to be totally arresting in spite of such limitations.

70
Drowned in Sound
The record will likely serve newer fans of Bonobo better than those that maintain a stronger fondness for his earlier work, but his journey is a fascinating one and only time will judge its permeance.
60
DIY
For an album centred on migration – inspired by the many people, places and things he’s has experienced over the past three years – you’d hope there’d be more new ideas injected in to Simon’s music. As it is however, ‘Migration’ feels disappointingly close to home.
60
God Is in the TV

Migration is not an edgy, crunching album. It’s soundtrack-like, slick and touches many bases with an LA gloss reflecting the current location of our emigre; it will be massive.

48
Resident Advisor
It keeps Bonobo afloat without doing anything new that might alienate fans. In that sense, it's like a faded photocopy of its predecessor, with hints of what made it great along with a lot of grainy grey.
TheCarioca
85

Migration - 5/5 ❤
Break Apart - 4/5
Outlier - 5/5 ❤
Grains - 4/5
Second Sun - 4/5
Surface - 3/5
Bambro Koyo Ganda - 5/5 ❤
Kerala - 5/5 ❤
Ontario - 3/5
No Reason - 5/5 ❤
7th Sevens - 3/5
Figures - 5/5 ❤

KingIsCole10
73

Bonobo's 2017 album is a real mix of styles and sounds. It's an interesting listen but not a very consistent one. Most of what he does on the album is good, I'm just not sure it blends together the best on this thing. Favorite tracks are Migration, Kerala and Ontario.

EMR
41

Bonobo is quite the widely known name in the downtempo/electronica world for some time now, not incorrectly acknowledged as one of the most consistent artists in that music spectrum. On Migration, though, the producer sounds a bit out of hand. Sure, most of the songs here do present a considerable ammount of emotion and life to his instrumentals, but not rarely do we get a handful of tracks that, honestly, don't fall far from the countless soundcloud works from anonymous producers out there, as ... read more

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blickrosssssss
75

this is nice, nothing too special on here, nothing to really sit through and listen while doing nothing, this really just feels like background music, its def listenable, just not something ground-breaking however there are def some tracks to come back and listen again on here yes def, such as the title track and outlier, those are amazing and bambro koyo ganda is pretty neat, and other tracks on here are also pretty fire but in all honesty these tracks feel really background, like i would play ... read more

Toamea
89

oxi, pensava que era o bbno$, -11 pontos por isso >:(

700eternalwsdm
60

Bonobo's latest project is pretty diverse in styles, but most tracks suffer from genericness. It ends up having a few good tracks beside many neutral ones. A pretty reminiscent quality of this record is the weird directions Bonobo takes in some tracks, that being tempo-wise or even with some of the instrumentals. Overall, it didn't strike me as much as his other works but it still gave me some good impressions.

Favorite tracks: Migration, Bambro Koyo Ganda, Kerala, Ontario, 7th ... read more

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