Arist: BadBadNotGood
Genre: Fusion Jazz, Neo-Jazz, Hip-Hop Instrumental
SOT's: "Triangle", "Confessions", "Eyes Closed", "Differently, Still", "Since You Asked Kindly"
Skyrocketing into fame is a perfect way to describe the journey these three former Humber College students have experienced in the past three years. Hailing from Toronto, ON, BadBadNotGood, or abbreviated to BBNG, is comprised of keyboardist Matthew Tavares, drummer Alexander Sowinski, and bassist Chester Hansen. They began to create a buzz on the Internet following their collaborative jam sessions with Tyler, the Creator. Following this burst in fame, the band ended up working and touring with big names such as MF DOOM, Earl Sweatshirt, RZA, Frank Ocean, and Danny Brown. Known for their distinct fusion of hip-hop and modern jazz, BBNG comes through with their first ever fully-original LP on III, parting from the track listings on their previous albums BBNG and BBNG2, which were mainly comprised of a wide variety of jazz renditions of songs from multiple genres, including the Ocarina of Time themes, Gucci Mane, ODB, Robert Glasper, Kanye West, Feist, and many more.
Starting off the album with quick piano chord bursts and high intensity drumming is the dynamic "Triangle", which effectively showcases each member's instrumental ability as to reintroduce themselves since we last heard them on BBNG2. The song shows musical maturation, a sort of evolutionary process which took place since the last album. As mentioned before, this is their first fully original album, and therefore showcases the producing and composing talent that has been hinted in the two previous LPs. "Triangle" also shines a light on Tavares' amazing ability to improvise on the keys, which can be heard around the 1:49 mark. The abrupt tempo-transitions from a smooth, old-time jazz melody to the almost aggressive and hard-hitting phases foreshadow the two polar ends of the album, for example we'd have "Differently, Still" at the smooth end of the spectrum and "Since You Asked Kindly" on the more dynamic side.
The album then leads us to "Can't Leave The Night", the album's lead single, which starts off with an eerie piano tune reminiscent of the Harry Potter theme. One of my least favourite songs on this album due to that piano tune mentioned earlier, which I feel was mismatched with the 808 bass kicks near the climax of the song. Not to discourage listening to the song, however, for I do think that it does have some merit; Sowinski's drumming is worth taking a listen to. But what made it so dislikeable for me was that I didn't see the song fitting into hip-hop nor jazz, however an awkward and almost confusing exclusive genre in between where BadBadNotGood are exploring new grounds. Good for them, but rather frustrating for the listener.
The return of frequent BBNG collaborator Leland Whitty made me really happy, and excited to listen to "Confessions", which turned out live up to its hype. We got to experience Whitty's exceptional sax playing in their jazz renditions of "Earl" by Earl Sweatshirt and "She" by Tyler and Frank Ocean, as well as the original track "UWM". This feature was not disappointing at all, and in fact is prominent throughout the entire song. There appears to be some traces of saxophone or some other reed instrument near the end of "Kaleidoscope", however it is not stated whether it is indeed Leland Whitty or not. Sowinski and Hansen both deliver in terms of raw intensity, pairing the intense tom-tom obliteration with a short bass solo. Those disappointed with the brevity of the performance by Chester Hansen were rewarded with a track undeniably dedicated to the bassist on the next song on the album, "Eyes Closed", which features a nearly two-minute long bass solo where Hansen lays down this intense groove as he plucks with such fierceness and hunger, which possibly contained some improvisational segments as well, paired with a light cymbal track provided by Sowinski.
The two other promotional singles of the album, "Hedron" and "CS60", were good, however I thought they were underwhelming as promotional singles. "Hedron" channels a lot of the same elements found in BBNG2, which I guess is good for returning listeners, however the keyboard melody gets repetitive by the end. "CS60" has a noticeable trap rap influence, being that its entire structure is based on build-up and bass drops, and its incorporation of electronic instrumentation, which I guess is fitting for the 'epic finale' of the album.
"Differently, Still" and "Since You Asked Kindly" are probably my picks for the top tracks on III, which just conveniently happened to be back-to-back on the track list. "Differently, Still" parts from the rest of the album and channels some smooth old-school, John Coltrane-esque bebop jazz sounds, giving it individual importance on the album. Tavares' keyboard skills make it nearly impossible to tell that this is a band from 2014, and not from the early 70's. Juxtaposed to the throwback track was the very modern "Since You Asked Kindly", which really stuck out due to the cool electronic synthesizer distortion Tavares uses on the keyboard, paired with Sowinski's rapid hi-hat engagement, keeping the song cool and laid back while gradually cranking up the tempo.
III is definitely my favourite BBNG release thus far, showing the Internet and any who doubt their skill that they don't solely rely on renditions and covers to make waves in the music scene. With an original composition like this, I believe BadBadNotGood is making jazz 'cool' again, because they sure ignited my newfound passion for jazz music. We've had hints of their composing ability on tracks such as "UWM", "CHSTR", and "DMZ", however they each had their faults and weaknesses that made them merely likeable, but not worthy of an individual listen. The transitions from song to song on III are so smooth and coherent that it merits itself many front-to-back listens, each song highlighting an individual member's instrumental talent. It just shows how much polishing and touching up BBNG did in composing their own music, because the improvement was definitely noticeable on this great LP.
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