Punk rockers Turnstile have collaborated with jazz crossover band BadBadNotGood for a joint 3-song EP, and it has the potential to be a genre-bending hit.
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The new EP, New Heart Designs, reimagines three songs from Turnstile’s Glow On album: “Mystery,” “Alien Love Call” (featuring Blood Orange), and “Underwater Boi.” Rather than just remixes with an added beat, these songs are truly new and almost unidentifiable -- in a refreshing way. That’s where BadBadNotGood comes in. The Canadian instrumental band, which floats around Hip-Hop, Jazz, and Alternative music, brings a whole new arrangement to Brenden Yule’s lyrics and strong vocals.
“Mystery” is now transformed into an easygoing, lo-fi ballad with flute runs and a windchime-like keyboard. “Alien Love Call” focuses on the drums in a chill Hip-Hop mix and jazzy breakdown section, and “Underwater Boi” experiments with the Techno-Jazz side of things. Yet, none of these changes affect the original songs' messages and core emotions -- which makes the EP perfect for all their fans.
Though the collaboration may seem disjointed for listeners, the two bands each operate in rather vague and crossover genres themselves. Speaking with Metal Magazine, BadBadNotGood called themselves, “really adaptable” and says there isn’t a collaboration they couldn’t make work. “Even if somebody has a totally different method we will adapt to them,” said keyboardist Matthew Tavares, with drummer Alexander Sowinski adding, “I think just getting to be around all these creative people who have such different ideas, but yet were open to coming into our world and working with us… gave us confidence in what we were doing and helped put the material in motion.”
As for Turnstile, their punk music career has been an act of balancing what they “should” and “shouldn’t” sound like- so why not throw in a Hip-Hop/Jazz collaboration? “I think that all of us enjoy life more when there’s no concept of ‘traditional’,” drummer Daniel Fang told HypeBeast just last month. “Our band will always be rooted in certain sounds, cultures, communities, and histories. But sometimes, we love to follow our feelings toward what scratches a certain itch. Tethering yourself to what’s traditional only limits what feelings are out there to discover.”
In addition to the three songs, the band also released a full EP accompanying video. With shots from their greater-than-life concerts, the video itself is like its own collaboration, as Basement musician Alex Henery lended his film and editing skills. Check out the New Heart Designs EP below to see how you feel about hardcore/punk mixed with jazz!
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