As October comes to a close, this fall season has brought us a deluge of new music and hinted at some incredible releases around the corner. The Revive Music team has put together a short playlist of the new music we can’t get enough of.
Ranging everywhere from Esperanza Spalding‘s bewitching 12 Little Spells to Ambrose Akinmusire‘s masterfully crafted Origami Harvest to the newest collaboration between Anderson .Paak and Kendrick Lamar, this playlist is a taste of the latest in jazz / hip-hop / soul music.
FEATURED PICKS:
Marcus Strickland, ‘People of the Sun’
What we’re listening to: “Timing”
The latest release from saxophonist, composer, and bandleader
Marcus Strickland is due November 9th, a thrilling new LP entitled
People of the Sun via Blue Note/Revive Music
. On
People of the Sun, Strickland blazes down that trail fully at the helm of his music—performing, writing, and producing with his outrageously able
Twi-Life band on deck—even as he sonically and socially traces the African diaspora from present to past in an effort to unpack his identity. “I’m thinking about where we came from,” says Strickland, “and how that clashes and goes hand in hand with what we’ve created here as Black Americans.” The result is an album that’s busy and beautiful, inventive and contemplative, an amalgam of influences from West Africa (griot culture, Afrobeat, percussion) and America (post-bop, funk-soul, beat music) performed in the key of revelation.
‘In Common: Walter Smith III, Matthew Stevens, Joel Ross, Harish Raghavan, Marcus Gilmore
What we’re listening to: “freefive”
The moment when spontaneity and technical expertise coalesce into a decidedly different soundscape is captured convincingly in this eponymous debut release from
In Common. Behind the ‘In Common’ moniker is tenor saxophonist
Walter Smith III and guitarist
Matthew Stevens – and together with vibraphonist
Joel Ross, bassist
Harish Raghavan and drummer
Marcus Gilmore, they fashion striking improvisations from original compositional foundations.
“Walter and I had been talking about putting a recording session together” explains Stevens, “and decided to go into the studio with music that could be quickly interpreted with an interesting group of musicians and to let it unfold naturally from there.” The success of In Common‘s informal collaboration is in creating a work that is unmistakably alive and instinctive. Their self-titled release is out now, and available to stream and purchase here.
James Francies, ‘Flight’
What we’re listening to: “Sway”
Plenty of young musicians show promise, but very few enjoy the sort of meteoric rise that Houston-native
James Francies is currently experiencing. At only 23, he’s played with jazz headliners like
Pat Metheny,
Chris Potter,
Jeff “Tain” Watts,
Stefon Harris,
Eric Harland, and
Terrace Martin, and racked up equally impressive credits in hip-hop and R&B: from gigs with
Ms. Lauryn Hill,
José James,
Common, and
Nas, to studio time for
Chance the Rapper’s Grammy-winning hit “No Problem” and
Kodak Black, to appearances with
The Roots on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
On his debut album Flight, Francies’ writing remains direct and compelling, even as stealthy twists to the production, rhythm, and harmony give the record a subversive edge.
Noname, ‘Room 25’
What we’re listening to: “Part of Me”
‘Room 25,’ the debut album from
Noname is a stunning patchwork of hip-hop, jazz, and R&B that flows with the rapper’s signature “lullaby rap.” While this is the first official we are seeing from the young artist, it is by no means passing under the radar. There was considerable excitement and anticipation following the album’s announcement, the record itself has lived up to expectations and then some. It is an incredible work that comes courtesy of
Noname and her longtime collaborator
Pheolix, with the help of special guests
Ravyn Lanae,
Smino,
Saba, and many more.
Now vs Now, ‘The Buffering Cocoon’
What we’re listening to: “Silkworm Society”
Now Vs Now is a progressively evolving live-electro-future-wave band by
Jason Lindner – a composer, electronic musician, and the keyboardist on
David Bowie‘s final album,
Blackstar – joined by founding bassist,
Panagiotis Andreou, and drummer
Justin Tyson. Their new album,
The Buffering Cocoon contains the project’s most ambitious compositions to date. Named in honor of a dear, departed friend who described the music as “a buffering cocoon,” the album is a warm collection of futuristic, electronic music, which boldly cruises through vaporwave, analog synth-pop, modern electro-R&B and apocalyptic proto-new wave.
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