New Music Mondays | 04.16.18

Whether you’re running the marathon or watching from the sidelines, we’ve got the newest tracks for you on this Marathon Monday #NMM

‘Fists of Fury’ – Kamasi Washington

“Contemporary Jazz poster boy, Kamasi Washington just dropped two singles. The one I’m focusing on is ‘Fists of Fury’ which features an incredibly funky groove similar to tracks like ‘Integrity’ off of last year’s Harmony of Difference EP or ‘Cherokee’ from 2015’s The Epic. The song also features Patrice Quinn and Dwight Trible on vocals, who are no strangers to Kamasi’s music; they were all over The Epic. Despite the disparity between the two singer’s vocal pitches, they sound perfect together on this song and deliver a pretty powerful message about injustice. Of course, Kamasi’s saxophone playing is great, but my favorite part of the song has to be the insane piano solo towards the start of the track. This song along with ‘The Space Travelers Lullaby’ are teasers towards Kamasi’s next album, Heaven and Earth due on June 22; I can’t wait.” – Spencer LaChance

‘Raye’ – John Splithoff

“I first heard of John Splithoff when I saw him open for Gabrielle Aplin a couple of months back. I was captivated by his lively stage presence and near perfect vocals. Although I was not familiar with his music then, when he played ‘Raye’ I knew it was a song I would find myself listening to all the time. Finally, he has released ‘Raye,’ an ode to a friend who had passed. Even though I had only heard it that one time at the show, the smoothness of this track was unforgettable. The song is simple in the best way possible. When you have a voice like Splithoff does there is no need to distract from it too much. With only a few songs on Spotify, Splithoff has gotten his most vulnerable yet on ‘Raye’ and it leaves me waiting for the full album.” – Emma Turney

‘Pick Up’ – DJ Koze

“Legendary German producer and artist, DJ Koze, has released another batch of tracks off his forthcoming album Knock, Knock. However, ‘Pick Up’ fails in conjuring excitement for that new project. ‘Pick Up’ is Koze at his most minimal. While he has dabbled before in creating stripped-down house tracks, ‘Pick Up’ is a seemingly endless repetition of an unoriginal beat coupled with uninspired lyrics, “It’s sad to think/I guess neither one of us/Wants to be the first to say goodbye.” The main problem with this 6-minute (or extended 10-minute) song is that Koze never gets creative with it or let it reach its full potential. Minimal house is at its best when artists craft a unique beat and flesh it out over the course of the song, allowing that process to take as long as possible to explore slight variations or tangents. ‘Pick Up,’ on the other hand, stands as a great example an artist presenting his entire idea up front and never going anywhere with it.“ – Parker Brown