Kinobe

British duo Kinobe cemented their status as the defining act in downtempo electronica upon issuing the 2000 single "Slip Into Something More Comfortable," a track built on samples from Engelbert Humperdinck that settled into wine-bar playlists and secured licenses for countless compilations, film scores, and television spots. The project maintained its run across shifting personnel, delivering further albums in the same vein throughout the following two decades.

Childhood friends Julius Waters and Mark "Blackie" Blackburn launched the group in west London in 1998, reuniting as a duo once Waters returned from Perth, Australia, where he had passed most of his teenage years. Both multi-instrumentalists steeped in retro sources such as soul, funk, blues, jazz, and R&B, they began producing material with a stripped-down rig of synth, computer, and sampler. Within months they had assembled a complete album's worth of tracks and circulated the recordings to labels seeking the next major chilled electronic act in the wake of Moby, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Fila Brazillia, and Thievery Corporation. Jive signed them, and the debut Soundphiles surfaced in 2000, its reach amplified by the massive uptake of "Slip Into Something More Comfortable," which incorporated a sample of '60s crooner Engelbert Humperdinck's "From Here to Eternity." Follow-up releases Versebridgechorus? (2001) and Wide Open (2004) introduced greater live instrumentation and guest vocalists while preserving the central approach of smooth, soulful yet dancefloor-ready pieces built around strong singalong hooks and abundant retro-R&B samples. After Wide Open, Blackburn exited and Dave Pemberton joined, appearing on just one Kinobe record, the self-released digital-only Choose Your Own Adventure in 2009. Following a long hiatus the lineup returned in 2017 with the EPs Firebird and Thought It Was You, now featuring Chuck Norman in place of Pemberton. The fifth album, The Golden Age, arrived in 2018 on New State.