Innovative Leisure and Ninja Tune put their heads together for this joint-released 7”, pitching their grooviest acts into a vacuum to stunningly silky results. Not a big surprise given the pedigree of BADBADNOTGOOD and Little Dragon, two of the hardest-working acts in modern soulful independent music. In reality, its as effortless a collaboration as you’d hope for from the two pedigree acts, borne out of mutual respect and friendship rather than any sort of A&R posturing. Says Lil’ Drag: "We first met BADBAD at SXSW several years ago and were struck by their raw sweaty energy. We got really excited when they sent us an instrumental idea, it had a beautiful fragile mood that felt reminiscent of a classic but still new." “Tried” oozes with the same sort of laidback cool as Erykah Badu’s Dilla-produced “Didn’t Cha Know”, and the strings and flute that creep into the hook lend some Blue Lines-grade urgency. This’ll hold us down while we wait for BADBAD #5, and LD’s last one is still getting plays in the office. Big-hole 45 housed in pic sleeve, instrumental version on the flip, recommended.

• black vinyl 7"
• includes vocal + instrumental
• full color pic sleeve
• music label: Ninja Tune / Innovative Leisure 2019

reviewed by sugar mightnot 03/2019