Since 2001, the Late Night Tales mix series has been producing turn-down compilations for night owls. Artists from across the spectrum are commissioned to create their ultimate after hours listening experience, and they’re given license to decide just what that means for themselves. There are as many ways to spend a night as there are to soundtrack one, and each host is tasked with bringing the sound of nighttime to life. Jamiroquai, Four Tet, the Flaming Lips, Arctic Monkeys, MGMT, Röyksopp, and Nils Frahm are just a handful of the artists who have assembled these mixes.
In an era of playlists, where any novice with a Spotify account can curate their own mix (or have algorithms and “experts” curate one for them), there’s reason to wonder if mixes like Late Night Tales are still necessary, and how long they’ll survive. But there’s a reason Late Night Tales has managed to hold out this long: The care with which its subjects assemble their selections, along with the rarities and exclusives they share. The mixes have often included covers by the hosts and original spoken word pieces. Ólafur Arnalds turned Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” into a sleepy, sad-eyed plea. Groove Armada interpreted “Fly Me to the Moon” by warping the Sinatra standard into a deconstructed transmission from outer space. Benedict Cumberbatch told a literal late night tale across two installments in the series. A mix is only limited by the curator’s imagination, and the hosts are music-obsessives, auteurs, and visionaries. In turn, Late Night Tales presents resourceful artists with an opportunity to really say something about themselves.
Canadian band BADBADNOTGOOD are quite resourceful—they got their break transposing rap songs by Gucci Mane and Odd Future into jazz—so it makes sense that their Late Night Tales entry is eclectic and uncompromising, yet delightful. They selected songs for their mix based on the music they've interacted with while touring the globe, whether introduced to them by collectors on the road or made by one of their friends. They’ve called the mix a “soundtrack for reflection and meditation,” designed to soothe and stimulate.
Most entries into the Late Night Tales series are geared for an evening come-down or as a guide through a sleepless dawn, a lullaby cutting into the silence of night. But the idea here is that there are many directions a late night can take someone—out somewhere to share quality time with close friends, crammed into a cabin on a red-eye, into the warm and familiar embrace of a lover, deep into the recesses of one’s own mind—and BBNG are simply looking to facilitate the process (a mix for “a quiet night by yourself or with friends,” as they put it). Their mix is intimate and pacifying; their tranquil cover of Andy Shauf’s “To You” feels like a personal dedication.
BBNG’s Late Night Tales certainly unwinds as it goes on, getting more and more hushed with each passing moment, but it never settles into any single sonic space, constantly shifting and advancing. The mix’s middle section, which blends disco, bassy funk, and contemporary R&B, builds leisurely to the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)” and Donnie & Joe Emerson’s softly cooing “Baby.” Songs across genres and generations all find their place, contributing to the whole. Young Canadian R&B crooners River Tiber and Charlotte Day Wilson fit in snugly with the American R&B old guard, Grady Tate and Esther Phillips. This is a mix filled with treasures that never loses sight of its primary objective: to enable a low-key vibe.
Mixes are about music discovery; since the days of cassette tapes, people have carefully crafted comps for friends and sweethearts hoping to share new sounds, often sending profound and personal messages with their choices. On some level, BBNG understand that layer of connectivity with this audience. Their Late Night Tales entry is packed with little surprises and new discoveries, relics of American soul and obscure funk and jazz artifacts from France and Cameroon. The mix slowly unwraps oddity after oddity: Ghanaian disco, groovy, keyboard-driven Ethiopian electronica, a feathery Estonian take on Roberta Flack’s “Feel Like Makin Love,” Erasmo Carlos’ música popular brasileira. These are gems you might not find anywhere, much less together. The sincerity can be felt in each pick; BADBADNOTGOOD introduce the sounds and musicians that have brought them solace with hopes that listeners might find the same comfort and inspiration that they have.
