Bonzai Records - not what it used to be

[Quadrant]

Now then sirs, I remember Bonzai for the fantastic varied spectrum of Belgian trance it produced around the millennium and it's extensive range of lovely sublabels under the Lightning Records distribution umbrella (XTC, Camouflage, UK Bonzai, Bonzai Trance Progressive, Tripomatic etc).

Then along with the mp3 boom and vinyl's demise it went bust in 2003, re-appeared quickly as Bonzai Music (under Banshee Worx with some rather sexy new logos), maintaining some, but not all, of the sublabels.

But I think it is rather apt that a year ago this month it seems most of this was dropped and instead one of its sublabels, Bonzai Trance Progressive, is the only survivor, sitting with some new random Banshee labels. Discogs lists it as "The label takes a leap into multiple directions, with a touch of electro, minimal, house and any other style - without forgetting the main focus is to deliver a quality progressive sound." .... I'm sorry, but that sounds a bit like "sorry fans Trance is dead so we're now chucking everything under one label now - and it could be any genre!"

I haven't bought any Bonzai stuff for ages but its contraction into a smaller label now releasing any random "progressive" genre I think mirrors how the dance scene has evolved. The demand for quality, obscure, trance masterpieces is gone forever.

[Max Kane]

There are still a few other labels kicking about (Bonzai Basics and Bonzai Breaks exist - I think) but it did make sense to shed a few of them.

I was a member of the Bonzai promo pool and they had way too many labels churning out a variety of under-produced rubbish.

Putting out wave after wave of sub-standard tracks was way more damaging to the legacy than cutting back on the amount of labels in order to try and regain some semblance of quality in my opinion

[Quadrant]

You make a good point, sir Bailey. I suppose we definitely should embrace quality over quantity....

Maybe I'm old fashioned but I liked labels to stick to one box, not churn out anything vaguely "progressive". And the description of the new Bonzai label just annoyed me.

[Max Kane]

I concur wholeheartedly with the "any old genre" remarks mate - it seems a majority of labels have had no alternative but to take this approach due to good music apparently not selling in the trance market as it once did.

[MikeW]

Bonzai is quite possibly my favourite label of all time due to their early 2000s stuff - I remember a point around 2002 where my current record box at the time was literally stacked full of Bonzai tunes or remixes from Bonzai related artists (Green Martian, Airwave, Push, etc). The quality & consistency were absolutely second to none with every single release back then... Great times

For me, the label was never quite the same after it's return from going bust in 2003. There were still a handful of tunes from the label that I bought after that but nowhere near as many as before. Moving further on, I don't think I've bought a Bonzai tune since about 2006? Not really feeling their more recent stuff