MAKAYA MCCRAVEN RELEASES UNIVERSAL BEINGS E&F SIDES ALBUM & DOCUMENTARY

Today, Chicago-based drummer and producer Makaya McCraven is releasing his new album, Universal Beings E&F Sides, and the accompanying documentary, Universal Beings. The album follows previously-released singles ‘Mak Attack,’ which Stereogum described as “a two-minute drum clinic that builds from a halting, off-kilter rhythm to a full-scale barrage,” and ‘Beat Science,’ which Consequence of Sound called “a range of thumps and thuds, some wispy and casual, others pointed and moving at breakneck speed.”

The Universal Beings documentary also arrives after its premiere yesterday on a Twitch livestream on LIVE on LUMPEN alongside a conversation between McCraven and writer Tej Adeleye. Watch it here.

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 McCraven to California, 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. Universal Beings documentary and Universal Beings E&F Sides album will be released this July 31st on International Anthem with a physical album release set for September 25th.

Makaya McCraven by David Marques

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 Nin?o and Miguel-Atwood Ferguson – all of which feature on the forthcoming Universal Beings E&F Sides.

Listen to Universal Beings E&F Sides project (full album details below), and watch Universal Beings above. Both are also available on Apple Music here.

Earlier this year Makaya McCraven released a commemorative project in Gil Scott-Heron’s We’re New Again, a reimagining of Gil’s final album I’m New Here. Pitchfork herald the project, “a stirring meeting between two great soup poets.” Renowned and revered as a musician, drummer, sampler, beat-maker and producer, Makaya is widely regarded as one of the most exciting and original voices in modern jazz via a run of records that were at once genre-defying and redefining such as Universal Beings, Highly Rare and Where We Come From (CHICAGOxLONDON mixtape) all released via Chicago label International Anthem. As the New York Times states: “Makaya McCraven has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz’s vitality.”