BADBADNOTGOOD has somehow attracted co-signs and collaborations from some of hip hop’s biggest personalities while lacking charisma themselves.
On Feb. 20, the Toronto-based jazz/hip hop trio played at Mavericks with Estan, Cabaal, and Zoo Legacy. I missed the first two opening acts while watching the Raptors’ game and showed up sometime in the middle of Zoo Legacy’s set of Gym Class Heroes knock-offs. By the time BBNG took to the stage, I was looking forward to being placed in the hands of a band that could confidently work a crowd.
Alas, I was disappointed.
BBNG started out their set by playing a few of the cuts from last year’s III, an album that won the band a spot on the Polaris Music Prize long-list. It is a record that I really liked. However, as much as I enjoy songs like “Triangle” and “Can’t Leave the Night” on BBNG’s recorded projects, they didn’t translate well into the live setting.
First off, the band’s well-worn songwriting recipe of the ominous build-up leading into a punishing breakdown then moving into minutes of virtuosic soloing gets tired so fucking quickly.
Secondly, and really most importantly, the trio’s lack of a frontman means their music is hard to engage with in a bar.
Alex Sowinski, the band’s drummer and de facto voice of the band would pipe up awkwardly after every few songs and say something like, “Who here loves music?” when he felt the crowd waning, but that didn’t really do the trick.
Without an emcee or singer fronting the group, they seemed to struggle to hold the attention of the audience when they were not thrashing the living shit out of their instruments.
The show was also a homecoming for the band’s bassist Chester Hansen who grew up in Ottawa or something, who cares?
Most of the time I was hoping that Wu-Tang Clan alumnus and recent BBNG collaborator Ghostface Killah would make a surprise appearance and perform with the band, as he did the night before in Toronto. BBNG and Ghostface Killah put out a collaborative album, Sour Soul, on Feb. 24 so I was hoping we would get to hear those songs.
In keeping with the night’s theme of being let down, Ghostface did not show up. In his stead, BBNG brought out Leland Whitty, a friend of the band who appeared on a few tracks on III, and invited him onto the stage to perform.
Probably the highlight of the set was the band’s cover of Flying Lotus’ “Putty Boy Strutt” with Whitty playing Flylo’s synth melody on their tenor saxophone. Whitty’s presence—while not quite what I was hoping for—did improve things.
BADBADNOTGOOD is a group made up of very good musicians. Hopefully the next time they come through, they will have learned how to pull off a live performance.
