For all the acclaim Turnstile's GLOW ON received, there was some inevitable, minor rankling of punk and hardcore's older guard — making the band's collaboration with BADBADNOTGOOD much less a "Mystery" if you recall a flashpoint moment of the Canadian group's breakout. In an interview given following major co-signs from Tyler, the Creator and Gilles Peterson, the young Toronto trio poked at an educational establishment they found culturally staid, who were reportedly unmoved by their nascent exploration of jazz and hip-hop. Taking particular exception was a jazz piano-playing arts writer at my hometown daily, who felt the "disrespectful hip-hop-jazzers" gave the genre "a drive-by dissing" (?!) in a blog that also doubled as an exercise in "How many modern jazz talents can I name?" While some salient points were made, it was all very "get off my lawn."
Not only have BBNG and Turnstile come to find audiences beyond their respective root genres, they've also been embraced by celebrated modern stylists: the former's most recent record is highlighted by work with cult Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai and leading lights of jazz present like Karriem Riggins, Terrace Martin and Brandee Younger; the latter now play arenas on tour with blink-182 and My Chemical Romance. These New Heart Designs have always beaten as one, and this three-song team-up eschews musical purism in the name of pleasure.
Where the opening take on "Mystery" may recall Turnstile's NPR Tiny Desk performance, it benefits from a more engaging arrangement here, highlighted by atmospheric flute trilling in place of the original's scene-setting synth, vocalist Brendan Yates's embrace of his upper register and the steady bassline holding everything together. "Alien Love Call" puts new emphasis on percussion, charting paths through grooving reggae and jazz-funk galaxies before giving way to "Underwater Boi." The set's standout rework is also its most drastically altered inclusion, swapping out its sunny guitar lead and burly power chords in favour of a nervy funk jam whose melodic steps feel much more befitting of one "swimming through the seasons of cold," "living with a pain he don't know."
(Roadrunner Records)Not only have BBNG and Turnstile come to find audiences beyond their respective root genres, they've also been embraced by celebrated modern stylists: the former's most recent record is highlighted by work with cult Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai and leading lights of jazz present like Karriem Riggins, Terrace Martin and Brandee Younger; the latter now play arenas on tour with blink-182 and My Chemical Romance. These New Heart Designs have always beaten as one, and this three-song team-up eschews musical purism in the name of pleasure.
Where the opening take on "Mystery" may recall Turnstile's NPR Tiny Desk performance, it benefits from a more engaging arrangement here, highlighted by atmospheric flute trilling in place of the original's scene-setting synth, vocalist Brendan Yates's embrace of his upper register and the steady bassline holding everything together. "Alien Love Call" puts new emphasis on percussion, charting paths through grooving reggae and jazz-funk galaxies before giving way to "Underwater Boi." The set's standout rework is also its most drastically altered inclusion, swapping out its sunny guitar lead and burly power chords in favour of a nervy funk jam whose melodic steps feel much more befitting of one "swimming through the seasons of cold," "living with a pain he don't know."