Sour Soul is a collaborative studio album from Canadian jazz instrumental hip hop band BadBadNotGood and Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah. It was released worldwide on February 24, 2015.
Production Sour Soul is the collaborative album from for which BBNG and Ghostface Killah sought inspiration from the music of the 1960s and 70s. This included the recording techniques and production of that era, eschewing sampling in favor of live instrumentation. All tracks are produced by Frank Dukes, with additional production from BadBadNotGood and Wayne Gordon. MF Doom, Elzhi, Danny Brown and Tree contributed feature guest spots. Ghostface does not appear on tracks 1, 5 and 12, which are instrumental tracks.
A majority of tracks were recorded in Thomas Brenneck's Dunham Sound Studios in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with contributors from New York soul revival scene including sessions musicians from The Budos Band and Daptone Records engineer Wayne Gordon. Other recording sessions took place in Frank Dukes' Kingsway Studios with contributions from Toronto artists River Tiber and David Lewis.
Sour Soul (Instrumentals) As a companion record, Lex Records simultaneously released an instrumental version of the album.
Critical reception
Sour Soul received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 27 reviews. In a mixed review for Exclaim!, Eric Zaworski noted that the record "hurriedly finishes without giving its concepts enough time to bloom," further explaining that "the production is top-notch, but Ghost rarely shifts into uncharted lyrical territory, holding back Sour Soul's otherwise consistent production."
In an extremely positive review, giving the album a score of 9 out of 10, Sam Moore wrote for Drowned in Sound that "Sour Soul is sublime." Adding that "rather than standing around starstruck, BBNG have more than proven their worth as Ghostface’s backing band."
The album was a short-listed nominee for the 2015 Polaris Music Prize.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
BADBADNOTGOOD and Ghostface Killah Matthew Tavares – guitar, keyboards, synthesizers; producer, engineer, mixing Chester Hansen – bass guitar, keyboards; producer Alexander Sowinski – drums, percussion, synthesizer, vibraphone; producer Ghostface Killah – rapping Additional contributors Frank Dukes – producer, engineer, mixing, vibraphone Leland Whitty – saxophone, viola Tommy Paxton-Beesley – cello, violin, trombone, guitar, organ David Lewis – tuba Thomas Brenneck – guitar (track 4) Wayne Gordon – guitar (track 3), production, engineer Jared Tankel – baritone saxophone Billy Aukstik – trumpet Nadav Same Nirenberg – trombone Freddy DeBoe – tenor saxophone Stephen Koszler – mixing Noel Summervile – mastering
Charts Chart (2015) Peakposition Australian Albums (ARIA) 54 Australian Hitseekers Albums (ARIA)1 Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)5
References
External links BadBadNotGood website BadBadNotGood on Tumblr BadBadNotGood on Bandcamp Lex Records website