The 2018 release of Universal Beings, in many ways, feels like the moment that the dam broke for both Makaya McCraven and International Anthem. On one hand, it's a four-sided communal showcase of the inter-city exchange that had started to develop in the “new jazz” hubs, collecting group improvisations from New York, London, Chicago, and Los Angeles. On the other, it is an editing and post-production masterclass – the MVP of McCraven’s “organic beat music” concept – and a landmark moment where his cut-splice-reassembly chops shine as brightly as the players themselves.

The musicians on the album were a combined who’s-who and who’s-gonna-be-who of their respective scenes: Brandee Younger (harp), Joel Ross (vibraphone), Tomeka Reid (cello), Dezron Douglas (double bass), Shabaka Hutchings (tenor saxophone), Junius Paul (double bass), Nubya Garcia (tenor saxophone), Ashley Henry (Rhodes piano), Daniel Casimir (double bass), Josh Johnson (alto saxophone), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (violin), Jeff Parker (guitar), Anna Butterss (double bass), and Carlos Niño (percussion). In our original press release, we called it “an inspiring display of the organic global inter-connectedness of the Black American music tradition in 2018.” Not in the press release, in our off-the-record conversations at the time, we said it was ‘like Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, but for jazz’.

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1 – Side A (New York Sessions)
1. A Queen’s Intro
2. Holy Lands (feat. Brandee Younger)
3. Young Genius (feat. Joel Ross)
4. Black Lion (feat. Dezron Douglas)
5. Tall Tales (feat. Tomeka Reid)

Disc 1 – Side B (New York Sessions Continued)
6. Mantra
7. Pharaoh’s Intro
8. Atlantic Black
9. Inner Flight

Disc 2 – Side C (London Sessions)
10. Wise Man, Wiser Woman (feat. Shabaka Hutchings)
11. Prosperity’s Fear (feat. Junius Paul)
12. Flipped OUT
13. Voila (feat. Daniel Casimir)

Disc 2 – Side D (London Sessions Continued)
14. Suite Haus (feat. Nubya Garcia, Ashley Henry)
15. Butterss’s Fly
16. The Way Home
17. Kings & Queens
18. The Loneliness

Internationally acclaimed drummer, producer, and sonic collagist Makaya McCraven returns to announce four distinct yet interconnected, digitally released EPs - Techno Logic, The People’s Mixtape, Hidden Out!, and PopUp Shop. The four EPs are also compiled on this 2xLP and 2xCD physical release titled Off the Record. Together they mark McCraven’s first recorded offerings since 2022’s In These Times (“McCraven’s most ambitious set of music” -GRAMMY) and a deep return to the signature “organic beat music” approach that Makaya first debuted on his 2015 album In The Moment and further developed across subsequent releases Highly Rare (2017), Where We Come From (2018), and Universal Beings (2018). Built from live recordings, the music is later reshaped by McCraven via extensive editing, overdubs, and post-production at his home studio in Chicago.

The source material from each EP is drawn from moments of pure improvisation, recorded live in performance, shaped as much by the room and audience as by the musicians themselves.

Techno Logic features Ben LaMar Gay and Theon Cross, and draws from performances in London (2017), Berlin (2024), and New York (2025), showcasing nearly eight years of developing rapport between the three musicians, starting with their very first session at Worldwide FM’s former North London studio.

The People’s Mixtape has its foundation in a live recording from Brooklyn’s Public Records in January of 2025, where McCraven celebrated the 10 year anniversary of In The Moment with an intentional return to the improvisational language he developed over that album’s sessions. For the occasion, McCraven played with bassist Junius Paul and trumpeter Marquis Hill (two musicians who are majorly present on In The Moment), as well as vibraphonist Joel Ross (who has been a regular collaborator of McCraven’s since the 2017 sessions for Universal Beings), and synthesist Jeremiah Chiu (marking the first occasion for McCraven to play with the SML co-leader and International Anthem labelmate).

Hidden Out! is built off recordings from McCraven’s June 2017 residency at The Hideout in Chicago, where he improvised weekly with a revolving cast including bassist Junius Paul, Tortoise member, International Anthem labelmate, composer and guitarist Jeff Parker, and SML co-leader, GRAMMY-award winning producer and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson.

PopUp Shop was created from recordings of McCraven’s Los Angeles debut at Del Monte Speakeasy in 2015, where McCraven took part in the King Hippo and Grown Kids Radio produced event RAWS:LA, and improvised with guitarist Jeff Parker, vibraphonist Justefan, and bassist Benjamin J. Shepherd.

The OFF THE RECORD vinyl LP and CD compilation is not just a collection of these recordings, but a tactile document celebrating creative, communal, IRL moments of musical gathering.

Speaking on the record, McCraven says, “In a time where we’re increasingly connected through phones, in a virtual world where you can’t really tell what’s real or what’s fake, there’s something special where we come together and share space, there is something special where we are sharing music, art. I want to create an energy that amplifies the magic in the underground moments where we come together and we experience something wild, different, off the cuff, human. What I’m trying to present is a dreamlike alteration of that energy, which only exists in the recorded realm. But to actually have been there, in real life, is the special thing.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: McCraven's dynamic fusion of jazz and electronic soul hits a peak of improvisational synchronicity and psychedelic interplay here for International Anthem. A masterclass in musicianship.

TRACK LISTING

PopUp Shop EP
1. YoYoYo Intro
2. Venice
3. Imafan
4. Los Gatos
5. Sweet Stuff

Hidden Out! EP
1. Battleships
2. Away
3. Dark Parks
4. Awaze
5. News Feed
6. Braddas

Techno Logic EP
1. Gnu Blue
2. Technology
3. Boom Bapped
4. Prime
5. Strikes Again

The People’s Mixtape EP
1. Choo Choo
2. The Beat UP
3. What A Life
4. Lake Shore Drive Five

Makaya McCraven’s International Anthem debut 'In The Moment' is the album that properly introduced the then-burgeoning drummer/producer to the world. In many ways, it also laid the groundwork for a working method that both McCraven and the label have returned to again and again over the years: nearly 48 hours of live improvised performance recorded by IARC house engineer Dave Vettraino at 1 venue over 12 months and 28 shows - culled, cut, rendered, and remixed into 19 potent pieces of organic beat music by McCraven.

This early exploration of the concept is based in the nightlife—in relaxed and unostentatious gatherings of prodigious Chicago musicians letting loose one moment at a time. That the individual stature of the musicians involved has risen dramatically in the years since is only proof positive that these sessions in a renovated bank vault were a casually high-level convention of some of the city’s best.

TRACK LISTING

1. Exploration Intro
2. The Jaunt
3. Slightest Right
4. First Thing First
5. Lonely
6. Gnawa
7. On The Spot
8. Butterscotch
9. TomTom
10. Three Fifths A Man
11. In The Moment
12. Quartz
13. Just Stay Right There
14. Untitled
15. Requests
16. Time Travel
17. The Encore
18. The Drop
19. Finances

In These Times is a collection of polytemporal compositions inspired as much by broader cultural struggles as McCraven’s personal experience as a product of a multinational, working class musician community. With contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators – including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill – the music was recorded in five different studios and four live performance spaces while McCraven engaged in extensive post-production work at home. Featuring orchestral, large ensemble arrangements interwoven with the signature “organic beat music” sound that’s become his signature, the album is an evolution and a milestone for McCraven, the producer. But moreover, it’s the strongest and clearest statement we’ve yet to hear from McCraven, the composer.

TRACK LISTING

In These Times
The Fours
High Fives
Dream Another
Lullaby
This Place That Place
The Calling
Seventh String
So Ubuji
The Knew Untitled
The Title

A new project by Chicago-based drummer/producer Makaya McCraven. An addendum to his critically-acclaimed 2018 release Universal Beings, which The New York Times said "affirms the drummer and beatsmith's position as a major figure in creative music," Universal Beings E&F Sides presents fourteen new pieces of organic beat music cut from the original sessions, prepared and produced by Makaya as a soundtrack to the Universal Beings documentary film.

Directed by Mark Pallman, the Universal Beings documentary follows Makaya to Los Angeles, Chicago, London and New York City for a behind the scenes look into the making of the artists breakthrough album, taking the viewer through the story of Makaya's life, his process and the community of musicians that helped bring this project to life. The Universal Beings documentary and Universal Beings E&F Sides album will be released on International Anthem.

Named one of the best jazz albums of 2018 by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, Stereogum, Billboard, SPIN, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, and more, Universal Beings was recorded at four sessions in New York, Chicago, London and Los Angeles, and features some of the best "new" jazz players from those hot bed cities: Brandee Younger, Tomeka Reid, Dezron Douglas, Joel Ross, Shabaka Hutchings, Junius Paul, Nubya Garcia, Daniel Casimir, Ashley Henry, Josh Johnson, Jeff Parker, Anna Butters, Carlos Niño and Miguel-Atwood Ferguson - all of whom are on the forthcoming Universal Beings E&F Sides.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Everybody Cool
A2. Half Steppin'
A3. Mak Attack
A4. The Hunt
A5. Beat Science
A6. Dadada
A7. Isms
B8. Traveling Space
B9. Kings And Queens
B10. The Loneliness
B11. Her Name
B12. Universal Beings Pt 2
B13. Butterss Fly
B14. The Way Home

To mark the tenth anniversary of the release of "I’m New Here", the thirteenth - and last - studio album from the legendary US musician, poet and author Gil Scott-Heron, XL Recordings release a unique reinterpretation of the album by acclaimed US jazz musician Makaya McCraven. Titled "We’re New Again", the album's release comes exactly a decade after the release of Scott-Heron’s original Richard Russell-produced recording. Following in the footsteps of Jamie xx’s highly acclaimed 2011 remix album "We’re New Here", this is McCraven’s first release of 2020, following the huge global acclaim heaped upon his 2018 album "Universal Beings". One of the most vital new voices in modern jazz, McCraven is described by the New York Times as a "Chicago-based drummer, producer and beat maker, [who] has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz’s vitality".

TRACK LISTING

Special Tribute (Broken Home Pt. 1)
I'm New Here
Running
Blessed Parents
New York Is Killing Me
The Patch (Broken Home Pt. 2)
People Of The Light
Being Blessed
Where Did The Night Go
Lily Scott (Broken Home Pt. 3)
I'll Take Care Of You
I've Been Me
This Can't Be Real
Piano Player
The Crutch
Guided (Broken Home Pt. 4)
Certain Bad Things
Me And The Devil