Today Chicago-based percussionist, composer and producer Makaya McCraven has released his new album In These Times via XL Recordings / Remote Control Records. Also released today is a music visualizer for ‘So Ubuji,’ the third in a series (‘Seventh String,’ ‘Dream Another’) directed by Nik Arthur, featuring hand-drawn, digital and photographic animations composed and laser-etched into stone in the style of a ‘zoopraxiscope.’
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. It’s the recording that he’s been trying to create for seven plus years, as it’s been consistently in process in the background while he’s put forth a prolific run of releases including: In The Moment (2015), Highly Rare (2017), Where We Come From (2018), Universal Beings (2018), We’re New Again (2020), Universal Beings E&F Sides (2020), and Deciphering the Message (2021).
Makaya McCraven – ‘The Fours’ (Official Visualiser)
Purchase / Download: https://
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.
McCraven has had a prolific period. He teased the first offerings of his ambitious new album, releasing music visuals for album singles ‘Seventh String,’ ‘Dream Another’ and ‘The Fours.’ He toured the global jazz-festival circuit, with Paste Magazine noting that his “boundary-pushing free improvisations” have categorised him as one of the “new generation of jazz masters.” He headlined performances at NYC’s Central Park Summerstage, the opening of Chicago’s Salt Shed and Public Records in Brooklyn and played to some of the largest crowds at Newport Jazz Festival and Montreal Jazzfest, with WBGO noting of his recent appearance at Montreal: “(McCraven) showcased the many sides of his music, from hip-hop to the avant-garde. Whatever you call it, it’s music you can dance to, and definitely connects with the audience.”
Profiled in the New York Times, Vice, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, and NPR, among other publications, McCraven, who has been aptly called a “cultural synthesizer” and “beat scientist,” has a unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders and blending past, present, and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st century folk music. In These Times encompasses his artistic ethos, his experiences, identity and lineage, while pushing his music to new heights. While In These Times is McCraven’s eighth album, in some sense, he’s only just arrived.
Stream / Download In These Times: https://makayamccraven.
Makaya McCraven – In These Times
1. In These Times
2. The Fours
3. High Fives
4. Dream Another
5. Lullaby
6. This Place That Place
7. The Calling
8. Seventh String
9. So Ubuji
10. The Knew Untitled
11. The Title
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