Not your typical modern jazz quartet, Toronto’s Badbadnotgood had long incorporated elements of hip-hop into their sound even before Sour Soul, last year’s excellent hook-up with Ghostface Killah. The follow-up continues that theme of genre-blurring collaboration – most notably with Future Islands’ Samuel T Herring on the contemplative Time Moves Slow and electronic producer Kaytranada on the echo-laden ominousness of Lavender. But they are at their most impressive when the thoughtful interplay between the four of them is unobstructed by outsiders, most notably on the dazzling Speaking Gently, and when newest member Leland Whitty’s saxophone comes to the fore, as on opener And That, Too. Innovative and imaginative, IV overflows with ideas throughout.
