''Sour Soul'' is a collaborative

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

from Canadian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

instrumental hip hop Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "s ...

band

BadBadNotGood BadBadNotGood (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian instrumental band and production team from Toronto, Canada. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinski. In 2016, they wer ...

and

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...

member

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

. 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 Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Camila Cabello ("Havana ...

, with additional production from

and Wayne Gordon.

MF DOOM Daniel Dumile ( ; July 13, 1971October 31, 2020), best known by his stage name MF Doom or simply Doom (both stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and ...

, Elzhi,

Danny Brown Daniel Dewan Sewell (born March 16, 1981), better known by his stage name Danny Brown, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He has been described by MTV as "one of rap's most unique figures in recent memory". In 2010, after amassing s ...

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 Thomas "Tommy" Brenneck is an American guitarist, record producer, and engineer. He became known as the leader of the Menahan Street Band and a member of The Budos Band, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, and El Michels Affair. He is the founder of ...

's Dunham Sound Studios in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the s ...

with contributors from New York soul revival scene including sessions musicians from

The Budos Band The Budos Band is an American instrumental band from Staten Island, New York, formed in 2005. AllMusic describes the group as a "doom rock Afro-soul big band with a '70s touch" that joins "musical universes from trippy psychedelia and Afro-funk to ...

and

Daptone Records Daptone Records is a funk and soul independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. Best known as the home of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley, the label boasts a roster which includes Menahan Street Band, The Budos Band, T ...

engineer Wayne Gordon. Other recording sessions took place in Frank Dukes' Kingsway Studios with contributions from Toronto artists

River Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Riv ...

and David Lewis.

''Sour Soul (Instrumentals)''

As a companion record, Lex Records simultaneously released an instrumental version of the album.

Critical reception

''Sour Soul'' has received generally favorable reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

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! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', 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 ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

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 The 2015 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 21, 2015 at The Carlu event theatre in Toronto, Ontario.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. BADBADNOTGOOD and Ghostface Killah *

Matthew Tavares Matthew Adam Tavares (born September 15, 1990), also known as Matty, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and music producer. He is best known as a founder of the instrumental group BADBADNOTGOOD, with whom he released five studio albums and prod ...

– guitar, keyboards, synthesizers; producer, engineer, mixing *

Chester Hansen Chester Anton Mathias Hansen (born May 1, 1992) is a Canadian musician and songwriter, best known as bassist of instrumental group BADBADNOTGOOD. As a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, Hansen often works with his bandmates and producer Frank Dukes ...

– bass guitar, keyboards; producer *

Alexander Sowinski Alexander William Sowinski (born October 11, 1991) is a Canadian musician, producer, and drummer for instrumental group BADBADNOTGOOD. With the band, he has released five studio albums and is noted for his jazz drumming musicianship. Life and c ...

– drums, percussion, synthesizer,

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

; producer *

– rapping Additional contributors *

– producer, engineer, mixing, vibraphone *

Leland Whitty BadBadNotGood (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian instrumental band and production team from Toronto, Canada. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinski. In 2016, they wer ...

– saxophone, viola * Tommy Paxton-Beesley – cello, violin, trombone, guitar, organ *David Lewis – tuba *

– 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

References

External links

BadBadNotGood website

BadBadNotGood on Tumblr

BadBadNotGood on Bandcamp

Lex Records website
{{Authority control 2015 albums BadBadNotGood albums Ghostface Killah albums Collaborative albums Albums produced by Frank Dukes