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BadBadNotGood

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BadBadNotGood
BadBadNotGood performing live in 2012
BadBadNotGood performing live in 2012
Background information
OriginToronto, Ontario, Canada
GenresPost-bop, instrumental hip hop, jazz-funk, free improvisation, electronica, jazz fusion
Years active2010 (2010)–present
LabelsInnovative Leisure, LEX
Members
  • Matthew Tavares
  • Chester Hansen
  • Alexander Sowinski
  • Leland Whitty
Websitebadbadnotgood.com

BadBadNotGood (stylized as BADBADNOTGOOD) is an instrumental music group from Toronto, Ontario. The group includes keyboardist Matthew Tavares, bassist Chester Hansen, saxophonist Leland Whitty, and drummer Alexander Sowinski. They are known for their interpretations of hip hop tracks and their collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Denzel Curry, Danny Brown, Mick Jenkins, and Ghostface Killah.

History

2010–11: Beginnings and BBNG

Matthew Tavares, Alexander Sowinski, and Chester Hansen met in 2010 through the Humber College jazz program in Toronto.[1] The trio united over a shared love for hip hop music, including that of MF Doom and Odd Future.[2] Hansen plays acoustic and electric bass in the group, while Sowinski, who often dons a pig mask during performances,[1] is on drums and sampler. Tavares handles keys, playing rhythms on a Prophet '08 and electric piano.[3] The name of the band came from the tentative title of a comedy television project that Tavares was working on, which was eventually abandoned.[4][5]

One of BadBadNotGood's first collaborations was a cover of "Lemonade" by Gucci Mane.[2] They played a piece based on Odd Future's music for a panel of their jazz performance instructors, who did not find that it had musical value.[6] After they released the track on YouTube as The Odd Future Sessions Part 1, it got the attention of rapper Tyler, The Creator, who felt differently and helped the trio's video go viral.[7]

BadBadNotGood uploaded their debut album BBNG to Bandcamp in June 2011, which included covers of songs from A Tribe Called Quest, Waka Flocka Flame and several tracks from Odd Future. The trio had their first show at The Red Light in Toronto.[1] In September 2011, they released their first album, BBNG, recorded in a three-hour session. Dante Alighieri on Sputnikmusic called the album "a welcome reinterpretation of modern jazz without the pretense of snotty wine parties and thick rimmed hipster dinosaurs."[8]

BadBadNotGood recorded a live jam session with Tyler, The Creator in Sowinski's basement in October 2011.[3] Videos from the session received more than a million views between them on YouTube.[1]

The trio opened for Roy Ayers at the Nujazz Festival in January 2012 and played for Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards in London. At a February tribute to J Dilla in Toronto, their covers of "Lemonade" and "Hard in da Paint" had hundreds moshing.[1][9]

2012–2015: BBNG2, III, and Sour Soul

"CHSTR"
A sample of BadBadNotGood's "CHSTR". The song is an original composition from the 2012 album BBNG2.[10]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

BadBadNotGood released their second album, BBNG2, in April 2012. Recorded from a ten-hour studio session, it features Leland Whitty on saxophone and Luan Phung playing electric guitar. The notes to the album indicate that "No one above the age of 21 was involved in the making of this album."[11] The album has original material as well as covers of songs by Kanye West, My Bloody Valentine, James Blake, Earl Sweatshirt, and Feist.[12]

The trio was the band-in-residence at the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival[1] and backed Frank Ocean of Odd Future both weekends.[12]

Prior to the release of the album III, the first single "Hedron", became available on June 20, 2013 when it was featured on the compilation album Late Night Tales: Bonobo.[13] BadBadNotGood assisted in production and musical composition for the soundtrack of The Man with the Iron Fists.[14] On January 14, 2014, the second single from III was released titled "CS60".[15] The third single, "Can't Leave The Night", was released on March 11, 2014 with the B-Side "Sustain".[16] III was released on May 6, 2014 on CD, vinyl, and digital download.

The fourth album, Sour Soul, was released by Lex Records on Feb 24 2015 in collaboration with Ghostface Killah. Unlike their earlier works, it is more of a heavy hip hop album with light jazz accents. In December 2015, the band posted covers of some holiday classics on their YouTube channel, including a performance of "Christmas Time Is Here" incollaboration with Choir! Choir! Choir!.

2016–present: IV

Leland Whitty joined the band as saxophone player on January 1, 2016.

Both Tavares and Hansen have since withdrawn from Humber, while Sowinski remains enrolled "for the school's dental plan".[6] The group produced "Hoarse" on Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt's studio debut, Doris, and "GUV'NOR", a remix on JJ DOOM's Key to the Kuffs (Butter Edition).

Their fifth studio album, titled IV, was released by Innovative Leisure on July 8, 2016. It features several guest collaborations including Future Islands front-man Sam Herring, saxophonist Colin Stetson, Kaytranada, hip hop artist Mick Jenkins, and singer-songwriter Charlotte Day Wilson. In December 2016, the album was picked as BBC Radio 6 Music's #1 album of the year.[17]

Reception

Paula Mejia, in a Prefix magazine review, called BadBadNotGood "a jazz trio on paper -- but often strange, forever imaginative, and ultimately revolutionary hip-hop and electronic beatmakers at heart."[18] NOW magazine's Anupa Mistry has lauded BadBadNotGood's "spastic, sonorous, genre-fucking rap covers."[9] Jerell Tongson, in describing BadBadNotGood's hip hop influences, wrote that the group "deconstruct the four bar loops, understanding how to work crescendos by stretching out and reshaping the music into their own vision of silky smooth key progressions, pounding drums, and tasty bass lines."[1]

Band members

BadBadNotGood live in 2012
touring members

Discography

Studio albums

DJ mixes

  • DOOM MIX (2013)[21][22]
  • LateNightTales (2017)

Live albums

  • BBNGLIVE 1 (2011)
  • BBNGLIVE 2 (2012)

Singles

  • "BBNGSINGLE" (2011)[23]
  • "Flashing Lights / UWM" (2013)
  • "Hedron" (2013)
  • "CS60" (2014)
  • "Can't Leave The Night / Sustain" (2014)
  • "Six Degrees" (with Ghostface Killah, featuring Danny Brown) / "Tone's Rap" (2014)[24]
  • "Velvet / Boogie No. 69" (2015)
  • "Here & Now / Timewave Zero" (2016)

Remixes

  • "Lavender feat. Kaytranada & Snoop Dogg [Nightfall Remix]" (2017)

Production discography

2012

JJ Doom - Key to the Kuffs
  • 19. "Guv'nor (BadBadNotGood Version)"
Various - The Man with the Iron Fists

2013

Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
  • 14. "Hoarse"
Danny Brown - Old
  • 19. "Float On" (featuring Charli XCX) [produced with Frank Dukes]

2015

Kali Uchis - Por Vida

2016

Kaytranada - 99.9%
  • 06. "Weight Off" (featuring BadBadNotGood) [produced with Kaytranada]
Mick Jenkins - The Healing Component
  • 06. "Drowning" (featuring BadBadNotGood)
Hodgy - Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide
Snoh Aalegra - Don't Explain

2017

Freddie Gibbs - You Only Live 2wice
  • 02. "Alexys" (produced with Kaytranada)
Kendrick Lamar - Damn
Daniel Caesar - Freudian

2018

Various artists - Black Panther
Kali Uchis - Isolation

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Tongson, Jerell (April 13, 2012). "Rotten Decay: BADBADNOTGOOD Is Re-Defining the Genre". Huffington Post.
  2. ^ a b Mistry, Anupa (September 15, 2011). "Odd jazz covers". NOW Magazine.
  3. ^ a b Lester, Paul (April 18, 2012). "BADBADNOTGOOD (No 1,252)". The Guardian.
  4. ^ Josephs, Brian (July 28, 2016). "BADBADNOTGOOD Got the Props". Spin. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  5. ^ Martin, Andrew (May 5, 2012). "Who Is BadBadNotGood". Complex. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Mistry, Anupa (March 22–29, 2012). "BADBADNOTGOOD Toronto jazz futurists rewrite the rule book". NOW Magazine.
  7. ^ Tyler, The Creator (April 28, 2011). "I Love Jazz, This Is Fucking Sick! Dave Brubrek Trio Swag". Twitter.
  8. ^ Alighieri, Dante (October 31, 2011). "BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG (album review)". Sputnikmusic.
  9. ^ a b Mistry, Anupa (February 10, 2012). "BadBadNotGood, great When jazz makes perfect party music". NOW Magazine.
  10. ^ Dart, Chris (April 24, 2012). "Sound Advice: BBNG2 by Badbadnotgood". Torontoist.
  11. ^ "BBNG2 by BADBADNOTGOOD". Bandcamp. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
  12. ^ a b Barton, Chris (April 17, 2012). "The Odd Future-endorsed sound of BadBadNotGood comes to the Mint". Los Angeles Times.
  13. ^ "NEW TRACK". Facebook. June 20, 2013.
  14. ^ "blog post BADBADNOTGOOD: behind the scenes of The Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack". Music.cbc.ca. November 2, 2012. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "2nd single from III". Facebook. January 14, 2014.
  16. ^ "Album release date and 3rd single from III". Fader. March 5, 2014.
  17. ^ "BadBadNotGood: IV in full with commentary from Gilles Peterson". BBC Radio 6 Music. December 23, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  18. ^ Mejia, Paula (April 9, 2012). "Album Review: BADBADNOTGOOD: BBNG2". Prefix.
  19. ^ "Stream Jerry Paper's Latest LP, Toon Time Raw!". AdHoc.fm. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  20. ^ "REVIEW: Jerry Paper - Toon Time Raw!". ThrdCoast. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  21. ^ "BADBADNOTGOOD DOOM Mix at Discogs.com". discogs.com.
  22. ^ "BADBADNOTGOOD DOOM Mix on Soundcloud". soundcloud.com/lexrecords/.
  23. ^ "Bbngsingle | Badbadnotgood". Badbadnotgood.bandcamp.com. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  24. ^ Minsker, Evan (May 27, 2014). "Ghostface Killah, Danny Brown, BADBADNOTGOOD Team for "Six Degrees"". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
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