BadBadNotGood: That Grey Area Between Tyler and Jazz Music

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  in Detonate
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Odd Future fans would have heard of instrumental band BadBadNotGood before, and for a lot of listeners that’s probably the 1 degree of separation in which they were led to the band. Can’t fault them really, these guys have been covering those rap delinquents (mainly Tyler, the Creator) on videos for a while now — even collaborating with Tyler for a studio jam session at one point. It would be a music taste faux pas to mistake this jazz trio as just an Odd Future cover band and dismiss them just for that association though, as exemplified even in those covers, these kids have some serious ear for composition (and Odd Future is still cool, you late-to-the-party party poopers).

BBC1’s tastemaking DJ Gilles Peterson has personally invited them to perform at his award show, which saw the trio covering James Blake’s ‘CYMK’ to instrumental perfection, and they’d be heading to Coachella next as purported by the music blogosphere. Recently, the band released their LP BBNG2 (“eleven songs, sixty-one minutes, twenty-six seconds” of music, as per the concise text says on its backcover) for free download on their website.

BBNG2 showcases some original compositions, such as the epic ‘Vices’ that proves these kids aren’t just some odd future sideshow act. A dark ensemble of bass, keys, and drums, the track starts off serene enough before the blaring drums take over. The rest of the album maintains their modus operandi of taking existing songs and morphing them into gothic free jazz jams. BBNG2 sees the likes of James Blake’s, Kanye West’s, and again, Tyler, the Creator’s creations getting the BadBadNotGood metamorphosis treatment — which is not bad at all, really.

Download BadBadNotGood’s free LP BBNG2 here. Listen to ‘Vices’ off the record below, in case you needed some convincing…