BadBadNotGood is a music trio from Toronto, Canada.
The group includes Matthew Tavares on keys, Chester Hansen on bass, and Alexander Sowinski
on drums.
They are known for their interpretations of hip hop tracks and their collaborations with
Tyler, The Creator and Frank Ocean.
Career Beginnings
Matthew Tavares, Alexander Sowinski, and Chester Hansen met in 2010 through the Humber College
jazz program in Toronto.
The young threesome united over a shared love for hip hop music, including that of MF DOOM
and Odd Future.
Hansen plays acoustic and electric bass in the group, while Sowinski, who often dons
a pig mask during performances, is on drums and sampler.
Tavares rounds out the trio, banging out rhythms on a Prophet '08 and electric piano.
One of BadBadNotGood's first collaborations was a cover of "Lemonade" by Gucci Mane.
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.
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.
BBNG BBNG uploaded their debut album 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.
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."
BBNG recorded a live jam session with Tyler, The Creator in Sowinski's basement in October
2011.
Videos from the session received more than a million views between them on YouTube.
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.
BBNG2 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."
The album has original material as well as covers of songs by Kanye West, My Bloody Valentine,
James Blake and Feist.
The trio was the band-in-residence at the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
and backed Frank Ocean of Odd Future both weekends.
Other projects BADBADNOTGOOD assisted in production and musical
composition for the soundtrack of The Man with the Iron Fists.
In November 2013, the single "Hedron" from the band's third album III was featured on
the compilation album Late Night Tales: Bonobo.
Future Both Tavares and Hansen have since withdrawn
from Humber, while Sowinski remains enrolled "for the school's dental plan."
BBNG plans to release their third album in 2014.
They are also planning a tour of the East Coast that Spring.
They have also announced that one of their future releases will be on vinyl.
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.
On June 20, the band released the first single from III, "Hedron".
On January 14th 2014, the second single from "III" was released titled "CS60".On March
5th 2014, the release date of "III" was announced as May 6th and the third single, "Can’t
Leave The Night", was revealed.
The Single for "Can't Leave The Night" was released on March 11th with the B-Side "Sustain".
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."
NOW magazine's Anupa Mistry has lauded BBNG's "spastic, sonorous, genre-fucking rap covers."
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."
Band members
Matthew A. Tavares - keyboards Alexander Sowinski - drums, sampler
Chester Hansen - bass guitar, upright bass Discography
Studio albums BBNG
BBNG2 III
Sour Soul Live albums
BBNGLIVE 1 BBNGLIVE 2
Singles BBNGSINGLE
"Hedron" "CS60"
"Can’t Leave The Night / Sustain" "Six Degrees" b/w "Tone's Rap"
Productions Idle Warship - "Get Your Way" from The Man
with the Iron Fists Wu-Tang Clan & Kool G Rap - "Rivers of Blood"
from The Man with the Iron Fists Earl Sweatshirt - "Hoarse" from Doris
Danny Brown - "Float On" from Old Black Milk x BADBADNOTGOOD - "Now or Never"
from CONS EP Vol. 2 Remixes
Soulja Boy - "Pretty Boy Swag Remix" JJ DOOM - "Guv'nor" from Key to the Kuffs
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - "Shame" from III References
External links Official website
BADBADNOTGOOD on Tumblr BADBADNOTGOOD on Bandcamp