{"id":54523,"date":"2021-10-14T12:48:51","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T16:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/?post_type=records&p=54523"},"modified":"2021-10-14T12:48:55","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T16:48:55","slug":"badbadnotgood-talk-memory","status":"publish","type":"records","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/records\/badbadnotgood-talk-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"BADBADNOTGOOD – Talk Memory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Multi-instrumentalist jazz virtuosos, BADBADNOTGOOD, may not have started the modern wave of instrumental jazz bands dominating the radio charts, but they certainly helped lead it. After BBNG\u2019s 2016 album, IV<\/em>, artists like The Comet Is Coming, Moon Hooch, and Kamasi Washington began skyrocketing in international popularity. Not that any of those acts needed help (each is in the same league as BBNG.) But IV<\/em> united mainstream crowds from a number of genres\u2014including hip hop, jazz, indie rock, and EDM\u2014due to the fact that BBNG\u2019s record had a little bit of everything. It opened the modern jazz floodgates and will go down as one of the most influential albums of that decade. It\u2019s a difficult album to follow up, and BBNG\u2019s latest, their first in five years, Talk Memory<\/em>, doesn\u2019t really have the same lasting impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not to say Talk Memory<\/em> is a bad album. BBNG have never really made a bad album. They\u2019re superb, multi-talented musicians and know what they are doing in a studio, but there are only a few tracks that really stand out on this eight track LP and that\u2019s because it feels like more of a jam album. And that\u2019s because it is. Talk Memory<\/em> is made up of improvised jams whereas IV<\/em> was more of a studio album (derived from jams) that was meticulously crafted to feel like a cohesive masterpiece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each track on IV<\/em> hooked you (just refer to \u201cChompy\u2019s Paradise\u201d or \u201cSpeaking Gently\u201d) and you couldn\u2019t help but hum the main themes hours after listening to them. Talk Memory<\/em> is full of themes but they sometimes get lost in the over-instrumentation, never having time to really breathe.

\u201cSignal From The Noise,\u201d begins with static-filled bass line and trippy synth building up to a fast-paced bass synth solo. Then the saxophone makes an entrance with its pillowy, ascending\/repeating scale, slowly bringing down the intensity. It\u2019s a dirty, atmospheric jam that truly resembles the groups live show\u2014a show that has inspired moshing\u2014which is unheard of for jazz bands.\u201dUnfolding (Momentum 73)\u201d continues the jam style but never really finds its footing, much like the later angst-ridden \u201cTimid, Intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a group of multi-talented jazz musicians that gained recognition for making hip-hop beats for guys like Ghostface Killah and Tyler, The Creator, BBNG sure know how to write progressive cinematic scores. \u201cCity of Mirrors\u201d feels like it could be the main theme to a dystopian desert film by Alejandro Jodorowsky, and the string arrangements by Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai are a standout moment on Talk Memory<\/em>. The drumming on the track and the following \u201cBeside April\u201d also deserve some spotlight. \u201cBeside April\u201d, however, feels like more of a teaser leading to something huge that never makes an appearance. The track also has a reprise, further emphasizing the string mastery of Verocai. How BBNG plans to grasp the over-encompassing\u00a0 euphoria of the strings live is a mystery.\u00a0

BADBADNOTGOOD have never been ones to listen to what the masses demand and their following is already so vast, they can really do whatever they want. Is it fair to compare Talk Memory<\/em> to IV<\/em>? IV<\/em> was lightning in a bottle, so no, not really, and since BBNG are now a three piece (without founding member Matthew Tavares), Talk Memory<\/em> will always feel different. It will gain them new fans, but old ones will most likely pick their favourite tracks and keep going back to IV<\/em>.
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