Alexander William Sowinski (born October 11, 1991) is a Canadian musician, producer, and drummer for instrumental group

BADBADNOTGOOD BadBadNotGood (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian instrumental band and Hip hop production, production team from Toronto, Canada. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinsk ...

. With the band, he has released five studio albums and is noted for his

jazz drumming Jazz drumming is the art of playing percussion (predominantly the drum kit, which includes a variety of drums and cymbals) in jazz styles ranging from 1910s-style Dixieland jazz to 1970s-era jazz fusion and 1980s-era Latin jazz. The techniques an ...

musicianship.

Life and career

Alexander William Sowinski was born on October 11, 1991, and raised in

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

, Ontario. There, he attended

Lorne Park Secondary School Lorne Park Secondary School (often abbreviated as LP or LPSS) is a public high school located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It serves the Lorne Park neighbourhood, as well as a larger catchment area for the Extended French program for all of ...

, before moving to Toronto as a teenager and transferring to Humberside Collegiate Institute. He went to high school with future collaborator Charlotte Day Wilson. He is of Polish descent. Sowinski studied jazz performance at

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, rebranded as Humber Polytechnic since 2024, is a public Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has three mai ...

, where he met his future BBNG bandmates Chester Hansen and Matthew Tavares in class. Before forming BBNG, Sowinski played in a band with musician Tommy Paxton-Beesley, who performs as

River Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...

. BADBADNOTGOOD formed in 2010 and had viral success the following year after posting jazz covers of

Odd Future Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, better known as Odd Future and often abbreviated as OF or OFWGKTA, was an American alternative hip-hop Musical collective, music collective formed in Los Angeles, California in 2007. The group consisted of rap ...

online. They released their debut record in Fall 2011. Sowinski both drums and acts as the band's MC from behind his drum kit. Following the rising popularity of BBNG in 2011 and 2012, Sowinski eventually withdrew from Humber. As of 2021, Sowinski has released six full-length albums with BBNG, including a collaborative record with

Ghostface Killah Dennis David Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang ...

, and has been short-listed for the

Polaris Music Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize. The prize was inc ...

twice. Also with the group, Sowinski has produced numerous hip hop, R&B, and electronic music singles, including tracks by

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

, Daniel Caeser, and

Kali Uchis Karly Marina Loaiza (born July 17, 1994), known professionally as Kali Uchis ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Her accolades include a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award, an American Music Awards, American Music Award, two Billboard Music Awar ...

. Sowinski has also worked as a session musician and songwriter for the past decade, working with producers and musicians like

Kaytranada Louis Kevin Celestin (born August 25, 1992), known professionally as Kaytranada (stylized as KAYTRANADA, shortened as KAYTRA), is a Haitian-Canadian music producer, rapper, singer and DJ. Celestin rose to prominence after releasing a series of m ...

Frank Dukes Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Lorde for ''Melodrama'' ...

Jerry Paper Lucas Nathan (born August 7, 1990), best known by the stage name Jerry Paper, is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer. They began releasing music in 2009, with their first projects being Zonotope™ and the noise music project D ...

, and Charlotte Day Wilson, among others. In 2018, he helped form the Toronto-based design collective Arrangement Studio. With its launch in the Fall of 2018, Sowinski released a volume of experimental ambient music under the name Arrangement, titled ''Vol. 1.'', and has released a series of singles since. As part of a related collective
Group Climate
Sowinski also produced a volume of drum breaks for sample usage in late 2020. Sowinski began DJing in 2019 and has since curated a series of experimental DJ mixes under the Arrangement Studio name and co-presented on Worldwide FM. In 2019, Sowinski composed the soundtrack of the Canadian indie thriller '' Disappearance at Clifton Hill'' with BBNG bandmate

Leland Whitty BadBadNotGood (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian instrumental band and production team from Toronto, Canada. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinski. In 2016, the ...

Equipment

Sowinski plays a Ludwig Maple four-piece drumkit, generally with a 14" tom, 18" floor tom and a 26" kick, and utilizes a Roland SPDS sampler. In the early-2010s, he would often play without a rack tom and have his SPDS mounted on top of the kick drum. He has utilized both

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

and vintage

Zildjian The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded by the ethnic Armenian Zildjian family in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, the com ...

cymbals, and plays with Headhunter drumsticks.

Discography

With BADBADNOTGOOD * '' BBNG'' (2011) * '' BBNG2'' (2012) * '' III'' (2014) * '' Sour Soul'' (2015) (with

) * '' IV'' (2016) * '' Talk Memory'' (2021) As Arrangement (Arrangement Studio) * ''Vol. 01'' (2018) * "Sway" (2020) Other albums * '' Disappearance at Clifton Hill'' soundtrack (2019) (with

) *''Lost Keys'' (short film; dir. Amandla Baraka) (2021) (with Leland Whitty)

Production and songwriting credits

Notable production credits as part of BADBADNOTGOOD *

: " Lust." from '' Damn.'' (2016) (Certifications – US: gold) *

GoldLink D'Anthony William Carlos (born May 17, 1993), better known by his stage name GoldLink, is an American rapper and singer from Washington, D.C. He gained recognition following the release of his debut mixtape ''The God Complex'' (2014), which was ...

: "Fall in Love" (featuring Cisero) (2016) *

Daniel Caesar Ashton Simmonds (born April 5, 1995), known professionally as Daniel Caesar, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After independently building a following through the release of two EPs, ''Praise Break'' (2014) and ''Pilgrim's Paradise'' (2015) ...

: " Get You" (2016) (Certifications: US: 2× platinum; CAN: 2× Platinum; UK: silver) *

: " After the Storm" (featuring

Tyler, the Creator Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has been cited as an influential figure in alternative hip-hop during the 2010s. Tyler beca ...

and

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s before joining the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Collins established himse ...

) from '' Isolation'' (2018) (Certifications – US: gold) *

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal". It also appears as a surname.

and

Swae Lee Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown (born June 7, 1993), known professionally as Swae Lee, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Known for his wide vocal range and genre-bending, Lee first saw mainstream recognition as one half of the Mississ ...

: "The Ways" from ''

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

'' (2018) Other credits * Down by Riverside – ''From the Ground Up'' EP (2011); drums *

– "Motives" from ''Indigo'' (2015); drums, vocals *

Mac Miller Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known by the stage name Mac Miller, was an American rapper. He began his career in Pittsburgh's local hip hop music, hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of 15. In 2010, he signed ...

– "Perfect Circle / God Speed" from '' GO:OD AM'' (2015); drums *

KAYTRANADA Louis Kevin Celestin (born August 25, 1992), known professionally as Kaytranada (stylized as KAYTRANADA, shortened as KAYTRA), is a Haitian-Canadian music producer, rapper, singer and DJ. Celestin rose to prominence after releasing a series of m ...

and

Tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and North American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal ...

(original artist) – "The Right Time (Kaytranada Rmx)" (2015); drums *KAYTRANADA – "Flippin on You" from ''0.001%'' mixtape (2017); drums * Matty – ''Déjàvu'' (2018); drums * Jaunt – "Best Case" from ''Cue'' (2018); additional drums * Charlotte Day Wilson – ''Stone Woman EP'' (2018); keys, cymbals, writing, production * Mick Jenkins – "Understood" from ''

Pieces of a Man ''Pieces of a Man'' is the debut studio album by American poet Gil Scott-Heron. It was recorded in April 1971 at RCA Studios in New York City and released later that year by Flying Dutchman Records. The album followed Scott-Heron's debut live a ...

'' (2018); drums, produced with KAYTRANADA * KAYTRANADA – "Puff Lah" and "Vex Oh" from '' Bubba'' (2019); writing, drums *FRANK LEONE & Hanni El Khatib – "Crown" (feat. Monster Mike) b/w "Solid Gold" from ''Flu Dogs'' (2019); writing, sampled drums * Jaunt – ''All in One'' (2020); engineering * Jonah Yano – "anywhere" and "what i can do to help" from ''Souvenir'' (2020); drums/drum programming *

Slauson Malone Standing on the Corner is an American avant-garde music collective led by Gio Escobar. Emerging from the New York underground art and music scene, they have been referred to as a post-genre band and praised for their use and blends of differe ...

– "The Wake Pt. 3 & 2" from ''Vergangenheitsbewältigung'' (2020); drums *

Justin Nozuka Justin Tokimitsu Nozuka (born September 29, 1988) is an American-born singer, songwriter, and actor of Japanese and Canadian descent. His debut album, ''Holly (album), Holly'', was released in 2007. He has since published four more studio album ...

– "summer night o8" single (2021); producer, writing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sowinski, Alexander 1991 births Living people Canadian jazz drummers Musicians from Mississauga 21st-century Canadian drummers BadBadNotGood members Canadian people of Polish descent