BADBADNOTGOOD played a generous 80 minutes of high-energy jazz-rock during a free show at Awake in New York’s Lower East Side, Saturday Sept. 20. The band teamed up with the vintage clothing store as part of a promotional drive for their new three-disc LP, Mid Spiral.
The mutating Canadian 5-piece came into the night off a four-night run at the Blue Note, and seemed keen to put their new material through its paces in a way they perhaps couldn’t have at the jazz institution a few blocks north. They looked to create a party atmosphere from minute one, and the revved-up crowd were happy to play along with drummer Alexander Sowinski’s high-octane crowd-work.
BADBADNOTGOOD have always provided up-tempo moments on their records, but Mid Spiral feels like a departure from their earlier work; it climbs to high altitude on opener Eyes On Me – and stays there for the duration. This makes for a charged live show: four-to-the-floor percussion, supported by a rhythm section that might be at home at a bossa nova show, drive distorted guitar turns and upbeat horns.
Listeners can detect jazz fusion influences as well as subtle notes of jazz contemporaries Thundercat and Kaytranada; indeed, at several points Sowinski made a point to recognize the band’s musical foundations. Fans of this record would do well to check out those two artists, as well as Dutch 9-man collective Jungle By Night.
This was somewhat of a bootstrap affair and the performance from BADBADNOTGOOD put the LES tenement building through its paces. During bumpier moments one couldn’t help but throw a concerned eye to the creaking ceiling; at quieter points the crowd was reminded that this vintage clothing store has the acoustics of… well, a vintage clothing store.
The performance was an interesting exercise in gig-based sensory deprivation: with no stage available, the crowd had to rely on their ears – and their feet – for the full experience. But the record makes for a compelling performance nonetheless as keys, guitar, saxophone, trumpet and drums deftly trade prominence throughout. A pared-back saxophone solo late in the day made for some light relief from the 100 mph efforts up to that point; bandmates were invited back in one by one to reach a thrilling climax to the night – the evening’s high point.
Sowinski began the show by introducing BADBADNOTGOOD as a group of people who care deeply about music, one another and the direction the world is heading. While this latter point may have felt incongruous with the boutique clothing store setting (not to mention the army of iPhones pointed towards the band), the evening was a thrilling celebration of music and those who come together to enjoy it.
The post BADBADNOTGOOD Share the Love at Free Show in the Lower East Side appeared first on NYS Music.
