Album Review: BadBadNotGood - III

Canadian band Badbadnotgood put the jazz back in hip hop. The genres go together like butter on toast and the trio spread a fluid layer of melodic elements over a repetitious base, replacing the flowing diatribe of a rapper with a fresh instrumental spontaneity. The piano on Differently, Still gives the album a tender moment, Kaleidoscope has celebratory horns, and danceable Since You Asked Kindly has electronic elements. The meandering saxophone on Confessions approaches a lyricism of its own. This new diversity keeps III from growing stale, but the album occasionally gets stuck in its downbeat mood.