{"title":"CD","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"resavoir-resavoir","title":"Resavoir - Resavoir (2019)","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eRiding the ripples of their debut single “Escalator” (which BBC’s Gilles Peterson called “a winner,” and Supreme Standards’ Tina Edwards likened to “Radiohead on a Jazz trip”), Chicago collective Resavoir return with their first full length effort. The self-titled album presents a juicy suite of elegantly-orchestrated lo-fi jazz instrumentals germinated from home recording experiments by the group’s producer\/arranger Will Miller.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eApplying a compositional approach attributable to his experience producing hip-hop beats as much as his studies at Oberlin Conservatory, Miller built melodic sketches on foundations of samples \u0026amp; loops before bringing pieces to the group for collective development. After integrating recordings of the full band into his home-produced impressions (not unlike IARC predecessors Jeff Parker and Makaya McCraven), he over-dubbed another dozen friends into the mix (including Brandee Younger, Sen Morimoto, Carter Lang, Knox Fortune and Macie Stewart) before finalizing the arrangements.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Miller’s modest editing room, Resavoir grew from experiment into epic opus recalling the lush, psychedelic soul jazz orchestrations of David Axelrod \u0026amp; Charles Stepney… but in the sampled-laden style of Yesterday’s New Quintet, Broadcast, or Thundercat, with a lyrical affinity for minimalism \u0026amp; texturalism, like trumpeter\/composers Jon Hassell \u0026amp; Justin Walter.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased June 28, 2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten, Arranged, and Produced by Will Miller.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003efeaturing (in order of appearance):\u003cbr\u003eAkenya Seymour – voice, piano, wurlitzer, sampler,\u003cbr\u003eWill Miller – sampler, trumpets, synth, piano, wurlitzer, B3 organ\u003cbr\u003eMacie Stewart – violins\u003cbr\u003eLane Beckstrom – bass\u003cbr\u003eColin Croom – synth\u003cbr\u003eJ.P. Floyd – trombone\u003cbr\u003eMira Magrill – flute, bamboo flutes\u003cbr\u003ePeter Manheim – drums, percussion\u003cbr\u003eZoe Miller – violin\u003cbr\u003eIrvin Pierce – tenor saxophone\u003cbr\u003eBrian Sanborn – guitar\u003cbr\u003eBrandee Younger – harp\u003cbr\u003eJeremy Cunningham – drums, electronic drums\u003cbr\u003eWills McKenna – flute\u003cbr\u003eLuke Sangerman – electronic drums\u003cbr\u003eKnox Fortune – drum programming\u003cbr\u003eSen Morimoto – voice, saxophone\u003cbr\u003eCarter Lang – wurlitzer drum machine, additional production\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded (mostly) at the Armitage apartment (2018\/19), the coach\u003cbr\u003ehouse (2015), and Decade Music Studio (2019).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracks 1, 4, 5, 7, 9 mixed by Will Miller.\u003cbr\u003eTracks 2, 3, 6, 8 mixed by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDesign and Layout by Crystal Zapata.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":45160089256210,"sku":"IARC0026LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"Translucent Blue in Clear\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121007751442,"sku":"IA-R-ITBI","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121007784210,"sku":"IA-IARC0026CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121007816978,"sku":"IARC0026","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3483430988_16.jpg?v=1774062562"},{"product_id":"makaya-mccraven-in-these-times","title":"Makaya McCraven - In These Times","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eIn These Times is the new album by Chicago-based percussionist, composer, producer, and pillar of our label family, Makaya McCraven.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough this album is “new,\" the truth it’s something that's been in process for a very long time, since shortly after he released his International Anthem debut In The Moment in 2015. Dedicated followers may note he’s had 6 other releases in the meantime (including 2018’s widely-popular Universal Beings and 2020’s We’re New Again, his rework of Gil Scott-Heron’s final album for XL Recordings); but none of which have been as definitive an expression of his artistic ethos as In These Times. This is the album McCraven’s been trying to make since he started making records. And his patience, ambition, and persistence have yielded an appropriately career-defining body of work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs epic and expansive as it is impressively potent and concise, the 11 song suite was created over 7+ years, as McCraven strived to design a highly personal but broadly communicable fusion of odd-meter original compositions from his working songbook with orchestral, large ensemble arrangements and the edit-heavy “organic beat music” that he’s honed over a growing body of production-craft.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith contributions from over a dozen musicians and\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ecreative 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 5 different studios and 4 live performance spaces while McCraven engaged in extensive post-production work from home. The pure fact that he was able to so eloquently condense and articulate the immense human scale of the work into 41 fleeting minutes of emotive and engaging sound is a monumental achievement. It’s 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn These Times is an almost unfathomable new peak for an already-soaring innovator who has been called \"one of the best arguments for jazz's vitality\" by The New York Times, as well as recently, and perhaps more aptly, a \"cultural synthesizer.\" While challenging and pushing himself into uncharted territories, McCraven quintessentially expresses his unique gifts for collapsing space and transcending borders – blending past, present, and future into elegant, poly-textural arrangements of jazz-rooted, post-genre 21st century folk music.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased September 23, 2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMakaya McCraven - drums, sampler, percussion, tambourine, baby sitar, synths, kalimba, handclaps, vibraphone, wurlitzer, organ\u003cbr\u003eJunius Paul - double bass, percussion, electric bass guitar, small instruments\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - guitar\u003cbr\u003eBrandee Younger - harp\u003cbr\u003eJoel Ross - vibraphone, marimba\u003cbr\u003eMarta Sofia Honer - viola\u003cbr\u003eLia Kohl - cello\u003cbr\u003eMacie Stewart - violin\u003cbr\u003eZara Zaharieva - violin\u003cbr\u003eGreg Ward - alto sax\u003cbr\u003eIrvin Pierce - tenor sax\u003cbr\u003eMarquis Hill - trumpet, flugelhorn\u003cbr\u003eGreg Spero - piano\u003cbr\u003eRob Clearfield - piano\u003cbr\u003eMatt Gold - guitar, percussion, baby sitar\u003cbr\u003eDe’Sean Jones - flute\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music composed by Makaya McCraven; except “Lullaby” composed by Makaya McCraven based off a song originally written by Péter Dabasi and Agnes Zsigmondi. All music published by Makaya McCraven Music (ASCAP) \u0026amp; International Anthem Publishing (ASCAP), administered by Domino Publishing Company USA (ASCAP).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In These Times\" contains an excerpt of audio from the Studs Terkel Radio Archive, used with permission, courtesy of Chicago History Museum and WFMT.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded at Co-Prosperity Sphere Chicago; Symphony Center Chicago; JAMDEK Studios Chicago; Palisade Studios Chicago (fka Decade Music Studios); Shirk Studios Chicago; Makaya Music Studios; Walker Arts Center Minneapolis; Submerge Studios Detroit; Sholo Music Studios LA.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Makaya McCraven.\u003cbr\u003eEngineered and Mixed by Dave Vettraino, David Allen, and Makaya McCraven, with recording assistance from Najee-Zaid Searcy.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Mastering.\u003cbr\u003eExecutive Production by Scott McNiece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Image \u0026amp; Insert Photos by Sulyiman.\u003cbr\u003eArt Direction by Caroline Waxse.\u003cbr\u003eDesigned by Jake Simmonds.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":45170704318738,"sku":"IARC0059LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"Cymbal Sheen\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52108985237778,"sku":"IARC0059LPS","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Ivory Color Vinyl LP (Exclusive Warehouse Find)","offer_id":52108985303314,"sku":"IARC0059LPI","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52108985270546,"sku":"IARC0059CD","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121006473490,"sku":"IARC0059","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3992958598_16.jpg?v=1773341821"},{"product_id":"makaya-mccraven-universal-beings","title":"Makaya McCraven - Universal Beings","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eParis-born, New England-raised, long-time Chicago-residing Makaya McCraven has been at the forefront of genre-redefining movements in jazz since 2015, when he introduced the world to his unique brand of ‘organic beat music’ on the breakout album In The Moment. Culled, cut, post-produced \u0026amp; re-composed by Makaya using recordings of free improvisation he collected over dozens of live sessions in Chicago, through incubation \u0026amp; experimentation In The Moment established a procedural blueprint that he has since been sharpening \u0026amp; developing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHoning this process on narrower sets of source material, Makaya followed up In The Moment with 2 mixtape releases – 2017’s Highly Rare, a lo-fi free-jazz-meets-hip-hop suite he made from a live 4-track recording, and June 2018’s Where We Come From (CHICAGOxLONDON Mixtape), which he produced using live recordings from London jazz hub Total Refreshment Centre (captured at a showcase called CHICAGOxLONDON).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, after 4+ years of refining his approach, Makaya McCraven puts forth an ambitious new work – Universal Beings – a culmination of concepts conceived by In The Moment, and his most elegant \u0026amp; articulated\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ework yet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpurred by a desire to connect with old friends \u0026amp; new collaborators in places where similar spirits \u0026amp; diasporic jazz innovations are thriving, Makaya worked with International Anthem across late 2017 \u0026amp; early 2018 to setup intimate live sessions in New York \u0026amp; Chicago, and pop-up “studio” sessions in London \u0026amp; Los Angeles. Though the contexts and logistics were D.I.Y. (as they almost always are with IARC), the friends \u0026amp; friends-of-friends that Makaya was able to enlist are top tier players across the board. Some might call them super groups of “new” jazz musicians from their respective cities, with Makaya as a common denominator. But more importantly, collectively they make an inspiring display of the organic global inter-connectedness of the Black American music tradition in 2018.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePhysically spanning national \u0026amp; international borders to create an album that musically spans deep spiritual jazz meditations, pulsing post-bop grooves \u0026amp; straight-ahead boom-bap, Makaya McCraven defies the simplifications of revisionism \u0026amp; regionalism while celebrating the sounds, settings \u0026amp; stories that define the provenance of his work. Universal Beings projects an all-encompassing message of unity, peace \u0026amp; power by embracing transcendence in all its expressions.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased October 26, 2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracks 1-6 (New York Side) recorded live @ H0L0,\u003cbr\u003eRidgewood, Queens, NY, August 29th, 2017.\u003cbr\u003eBrandee Younger (harp)\u003cbr\u003eJoel Ross (vibraphone)\u003cbr\u003eTomeka Reid (cello)\u003cbr\u003eDezron Douglas (double bass)\u003cbr\u003eMakaya McCraven (drums)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracks 7-11 (Chicago Side) recorded live @ Co-Prosperity Sphere,\u003cbr\u003eBridgeport, Chicago, IL, September 2nd, 2017.\u003cbr\u003e*Shabaka Hutchings (tenor saxophone)\u003cbr\u003eTomeka Reid (cello)\u003cbr\u003eJunius Paul (double bass)\u003cbr\u003eMakaya McCraven (drums)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracks 12-16 (London Side) recorded @ Total Refreshment Studios,\u003cbr\u003eStoke Newington, London, UK, October 19th, 2017.\u003cbr\u003eNubya Garcia (tenor saxophone)\u003cbr\u003e**Ashley Henry (Rhodes piano)\u003cbr\u003eDaniel Casimir (double bass)\u003cbr\u003eMakaya McCraven (drums)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracks 17-22 (Los Angeles Side) recorded @ Jeff Parker's house,\u003cbr\u003eAltadena, Los Angeles County, CA, January 30th, 2018.\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson (alto saxophone)\u003cbr\u003eMiguel Atwood-Ferguson (violin)\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker (guitar)\u003cbr\u003eAnna Butterss (double bass)\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño (percussion)\u003cbr\u003eMakaya McCraven (drums)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*Shabaka Hutchings appears courtesy of Verve Label Group\u003cbr\u003e**Ashley Henry appears courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded \u0026amp; Mixed by David Allen \u0026amp; Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eArtwork by Damon Locks\u003cbr\u003eInsert Portrait by Fabrice Bourgelle\u003cbr\u003eInsert Design by Craig Hansen\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Makaya McCraven\u003cbr\u003eExecutive Production by Scott McNiece\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":45170774475026,"sku":"IARC0022LP","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"\"Black in Bone\" Color Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":52121006637330,"sku":"IA-UB-IBVD-BONE","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc (2xCD)","offer_id":52121006670098,"sku":"IARC0022CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121006702866,"sku":"IARC0022","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121006735634,"sku":"IARC0022LP-1","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a1027816009_16.jpg?v=1774059766"},{"product_id":"alabaster-deplume-to-cy-lee-instrumentals-vol-1","title":"Alabaster DePlume - To Cy \u0026 Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eIn the words of Emma Warren:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlabaster DePlume is not doing things properly, and this makes him very happy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDePlume is a Manchester-born, London-based bandleader, composer, saxophonist, activist and orator. He’s a resident at the legendary London creative hub Total Refreshment Centre, a recording artist for the off-grid, Scottish Hebridean island label Lost Map, and now the latest arrival into Chicago-based International Anthem’s growing family of progressive musical explorationists. Whilst much of his music contains vocals – often whispered imperatives – this is a collection of instrumentals, drenched in feeling and recorded over four albums and eight earth years in cities across the UK.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe music of \"To Cy \u0026amp; Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1\" contains naturally elegant orchestration wrapped around something visceral and primordial. Swirled inside the 11 pieces are shades of Japanese Min’yo folk, Celtic folk, the Ethio-jazz of saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya and hints of the pan-human ‘ancient music’ that sat underneath Arthur Russell’s melodies on First Thought, Best Thought. The music is filled with space, inspired, he says, by computer games and Japanese animation, particularly Joe Hisaishi’s\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003esoundtrack for Studio Ghibli’s Castle In The Sky.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe record combines new compositions alongside bygone instrumentals and understated lullabies that feel like they’ve been picked from between the cracks of civilisation. These songs were collected from albums \"Copernicus,\" \"The Jester,\" and \"Peach\" – under-the-radar records that preceded his critically acclaimed 2019 release The Corner of a Sphere. The new tunes feature Dan ‘Danalogue’ Leavers of The Comet Is Coming and Sarathy Korwar alongside a host of London’s finest musicians.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo Cy \u0026amp; Lee… has a suitably individual genesis. DePlume was working for Ordinary Lifestyles, a charity in North Manchester which supports people with disabilities to live in their own homes and to live fulfilling lives. Specifically, he was working with the titular Cy and Lee. His job was to get the guys socialising and he did this by making up songs with them. They’d make up melodies together, humming tunes in the house when they needed something calm, or when they were haring round the city in a battered car. DePlume would record these impromptu sessions in his phone, then go to the studio and use the material as starting points for songs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe also ran music sessions for Cy, Lee and their friends. “People would focus on a central point, tuning in to one another. There are things we can’t put into words, which can be expressed with sound and music. These guys have fewer words than us, some of them have none. When we put some feelings into a music expression – that’s liberation.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s a method he uses in live shows wherever possible, placing himself and the musicians in the round. The aim is to maximise the creative benefits that a community of players and listeners can bring to the music. It’s a collectivist and humanist approach to making music that sits underneath everything he does. This is music made for a reason, and those reasons include – to paraphrase some of the catchphrases he uses both on stage and in conversation – mixing people up, asking everyone to be as much themselves as they possibly can and the hardcore encouragement expressed in his most popular line, shouted back at him by audiences wherever he goes: “You’re doing very well!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePractically, he purposefully brings together players of different skill levels and different backgrounds so they have to interact differently, placing them in unusual situations in which to record. “I wanted to destroy the idea of correct so we were playing it different ways for fun. We had a very magical time playing the tunes”. This is activism expressed through gorgeous music that breaks down barriers by encouraging that most powerful emotion: connectedness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne source of these gorgeous instrumentals is \"Peach,\" an album that later bestowed a name upon legendary monthly sessions he’d run once he’d moved to London. The music was recorded in the middle of the room at Antwerp Mansion, around a big dinner cooked for 60 people.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The dinner made the air vibrate in the way it did. We did it a certain way, for fun, getting people to shout out instructions – ‘make it like a hangover!’ ‘Make it like a barrel rolling down the ice!’ And we did it that way. You’ve got people eating and drinking around you and they might shout out anything. You can let go and respond.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe two new pieces were recorded at London’s now-famous Total Refreshment Centre with Danalogue (on piano) Sarathy Korwar (drums), Chestnutt (of Snapped Ankles, on synth), Donna Thompson (voice) and James Howard (guitar). They had a day to record, and DePlume was in post-gig exhaustion. His saxophone was as battered as he was and was failing to play certain notes. “When something is broken or absent or missing, you go around it and that’s what makes it good,” he says. “Then it belongs to that moment. I want to make things that belong to the moment.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDePlume’s politics might be more evident in vocal songs from his live repertoire when he’s reshaping advertising slogans into a call to arms or encouraging activism on “I Was Gonna Fight Fascism,” but his commitment to the cause is as palpable through the instrumentals of Cy \u0026amp; Lee... This is music designed to respond to what Russian revolutionary poet Mayakovsky described as a “social command.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I like the idea that we’re not just doing frivolous decoration. We’re doing work for society. I like to listen for what needs to be said.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Years ago I played a bit of sax in other people’s gigs. I realised I was waiting for someone to give me permission to do my own thing. I noticed that no-one will ever give you permission to do your awesome shit, because they don’t know what it is. It’s impossible for them to give you permission. Who gave me permission to talk to you like this? I gave myself fucking permission.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlabaster DePlume is not doing things properly. Hallelujah.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eReleased February 28, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":45171119816978,"sku":"IARC0030LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"\"Winter Hibiscus\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52115723714834,"sku":"IA-TCLI-IWHC","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52115723747602,"sku":"IA-IARC0030CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121291686162,"sku":"IARC0030","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52115723780370,"sku":"IARC0030LP-1","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3666438350_16.jpg?v=1773693977"},{"product_id":"gold-by-alabaster-deplume","title":"Alabaster DePlume - GOLD","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eThe lightning rod for Alabaster DePlume’s luminous follow up to the widely-acclaimed 2020 release To Cy \u0026amp; Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1 was personal. “Someone was going through a thing,” says the Mancunian poet-performer. “I said, ‘go forward in the courage of your love’. And then I thought 'yeah, that's what I need to hear as well’.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGold is a sonorous double album that celebrates the communal act of making music and the relationships that can be explored when you purposefully avoid the standard way of doing things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt contains filmic pieces that oscillate between the otherworldly and the trenchantly grounded, rendered maximally human through the recording process. There is laughter mid-track and studio chatter. There is the music of shouting and applause generated by a handful of people who were listening from the doorframe and the corridor. Complex vocal harmonies circle the songs like small birds and there’s an undercurrent of steely toughness, necessitated by the musician’s engagement with personal vulnerability and collective politics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn late summer 2020 Alabaster DePlume (real name Gus Fairbairn) booked two weeks of sessions at the influential Total Refreshment Centre in London, recording to tape with Kristian Craig Robinson (aka Capitol K). He invited a different set of musicians\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eeach day, who would record the same tunes at the same speed so that DePlume – who produced the record – could cut them together later, like ingredients. “They didn’t have enough preparation to be able to hide behind this piece of material or skill,” he says. “They had to look up and respond to each other, and that’s what we've recorded.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere were two rules that were essential to the process: that musicians wouldn’t be given enough time to rehearse and that they wouldn’t listen back to the music they recorded. “The method is part of the mission. It wasn’t like school. We had mayhem. We were having fun. That’s the story and the process – and I want to live that way,” he says.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe singer and percussionist Falle Nioke’s solo on “Again” is an example of the album’s unusual and liberating recording process. The tune was planned as an instrumental but Falle sang out spontaneously, and stilled the room with his arresting contribution. “He was just one voice in the choir but he suddenly sang lead because he felt it,” says DePlume. “It’s one example of what we were able to record,” he says, “because people felt genuinely personally welcome. Their own voices were made welcome. That is what this album is made of and it’s what the best things in our society are made of. We can either make people welcome or we can make them unwelcome; unseen.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter the recording, the artist made a map, because frankly he needed a map after recording more than 17 hours of music. The map dictated which bits of each session to pull into the orbit of the record and it was drawn on a long scroll of paper with lines drawn across it, each line representing one analog tape. The triangles, dots and colors – red for fire, pink for beauty and blue for breath – shaped what emerged. The map has since been requisitioned for a gallery exhibition, and a photograph appears on the Gold artwork.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe music that emerged ranges from sparse understated bangers “Fucking Let Them” and the hypnotic pulse of “Visitors XT8B – Oak” to skilfully soothing instrumentals which will feel familiar to the many people who found To Cy \u0026amp; Lee a pandemic panacea (including Bon Iver, who sampled that album’s top track, “Visit Croatia”).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGold opens with the Portuguese-titled “A Gente Acaba” which itself opens with the hum of voices, rich and human. There are gentle strings, gently strummed. The saxophone leaves vibrating trails in the air. “The Sound of My Feet On This Earth Is A Song To Your Spirit” is beauty and breath, generating the kind of deep warmth and connection that requires no lyrical explanation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is circularity. One piece of music arrives and leaves repeatedly, and a phrase is repeated:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have all I need for the glory of being. I recognise you and celebrate. I am brazen, like a baby, like the stupid sun and I go forward in the courage of my love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I’m Good At Not Crying” is a self-accusatory lullaby that lists out the things he excels at (not eating much, not being the bad guy) whilst plaintive and harmonically-rich singers spill and spiral around the low tones of his voice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn “People What’s The Difference” he unpicks the selective deafness that surrounds the refugee crisis within a gentle punk-funk frame and towards the end, there’s a lament for the broken earth marked out with plucked strings and harmonies that dip in and out like sharp bells. Softness, in the hands of this Mancunian poet-performer, can be a weapon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The reason for To Cy \u0026amp; Lee was to help people have peace,” he says. “The reason to make Gold is to give people courage and love by putting myself in a situation where I had to bring courage and love. It’s how I made it, it’s what it’s about. It’s what we need next.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the sound of an artist attempting full transparency and maximum relationship. It is also the sound of an artist who has achieved the sound he hoped for. This is the sound of soft power. It’s golden.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlbum writeup by Emma Warren\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReleased April 1, 2022\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP (Gatefold)","offer_id":45171223527698,"sku":"IARC0050LP","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Obsidian Vortex\" Color Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":52115723419922,"sku":"IARC0050LPS","price":39.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52115723452690,"sku":"IARC0050CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120998314258,"sku":"IARC0050","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52115723485458,"sku":"IARC0050LP-1","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2964482710_16.jpg?v=1773457632"},{"product_id":"makaya-mccraven-where-we-come-from-chicago-x-london-mixtape","title":"Makaya McCraven - Where We Come From (CHICAGOxLONDON Mixtape)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eRecorded live at Total Refreshment Centre 18 \u0026amp; 19 October 2017 (CHICAGOxLONDON).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLive recordings mixed at Total Refreshment Studios 20 \u0026amp; 21 October 2017.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRemixed live at Total Refreshment Centre 22 October 2017 (FRESH ROASTED: Live Beat-Making \u0026amp; Battle).\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased July 27, 2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePerformed by Makaya McCraven - drums; Soweto Kinch - saxophone, voice; Theon Cross - tuba; Joe Armon-Jones - Rhodes piano; Nubya Garcia - saxophone; Kamaal Williams - keys.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRemix Production \u0026amp; Additional Overdubs by LeFtO; Don Leisure \u0026amp; Earl Jeffers (Darkhouse Family); Ben LaMar Gay; Emma-Jean Thackray; Quiet Dawn; Lexus Blondin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMixtape Production by Makaya McCraven\u003cbr\u003eRecorded \u0026amp; Mixed by Dave Vettraino \u0026amp; David Allen\u003cbr\u003eRecording Assisted by Matteo Musetti\u003cbr\u003eEdited by Makaya McCraven\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003ePhotography by Fabrice Bourgelle\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Raimund Wong\u003cbr\u003eAssociate Production by Alejandro Ayala, Tina Edwards \u0026amp; Lexus Blondin\u003cbr\u003eExecutive Production by Scott McNiece\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial Thanks: Will Savery, Steven King, Garrett Shelton, Lauren Kasper, Mark Pallman, David Burkhart, Lori Mendoza, Angel Bat Dawid, Ken Okuda, Simbad, Stella Kun, Emma Warren, Lexy Morvaridi, Oran Maneti, Will Shanahan, Kim Alpert, Junius Paul, Jaimie Branch, Tomeka Reid, Alexander Hawkins, Tina Richard, Aly Gillani, Kristian 'Capitol K' Robinson, and Gus.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP (2022 Repress)","offer_id":45189999165714,"sku":"IARC0020LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"\"Red \u0026 White\" Split Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121006965010,"sku":"IA-WWCF-IRWS","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121006997778,"sku":"IA-IARC0020CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121007030546,"sku":"IARC0020","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing (Pirates Press)","offer_id":52121007063314,"sku":"IARC0020LP-1","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/IARCvinylLPbasicmockupforShopify_Spotify_110ea593-7dbe-4d02-88d0-1f7d74248642.png?v=1695078806"},{"product_id":"resavoir-resavoir-2023","title":"Resavoir - Resavoir (2023)","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eNotes by Anton Spice:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eResavoir - the collaborative project led by Chicago producer\/composer Will Miller - presents their second self-titled album. The new 'Resavoir' is a subtly radiant symphony interweaving modern-day soul-jazz with bedroom beats, synth serenades and twilight sonatas. It represents Miller’s most assured and refined work to date.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eImagined, instigated and produced by Miller, who ties the diverse sounds into an expansive, coherent whole, 'Resavoir' features a wide and vibrant cast of collaborators, including Elton Aura, Whitney, Akenya, Matt Gold, Eddie Burns, Lane Beckstrom, Jeremy Cunningham, Irvin Pierce, Macie Stewart, Peter Manheim and more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRooted in the collaborative spirit of the early 2010s indie hip-hop scene, Miller cut loose from his training at Oberlin jazz conservatory, taking a compositional assignment to write a tune about a reservoir as his cue to explore a beats and RnB-inspired sound that could function as a literal reservoir of music to draw from. Running his trumpet through MIDI keyboards, experimenting with samplers, drum machines and synths, he began to build a sound that could seamlessly collaborate with MCs, vocalists and\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003einstrumentalists.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“With Resavoir, it’s been more about unlearning those stigmas and traumas of going through the very rigid system of learning music and coming back to making something that is going to make me feel good and reflects how I'm feeling in the moment,” Miller explains.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA longtime member of indie band Whitney, and having subsequently worked with the likes of Mac Miller, ASAP Rocky, Chance The Rapper, Lil Wayne and SZA - for whom he produced “Blind” from her 2022 album SOS which spent 10 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 100 chart - the Resavoir project allowed Miller to take these experiences into his own work - creating a sound that is deft yet deep, compositionally complex, yet finely tuned to the timbres of emotion that color life’s quieter moments.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInitially developed as a group project, Miller released his debut self-titled Resavoir album in 2019. Described by Pitchfork as “a complex, soulful album which celebrates interconnectedness,” the album received widespread critical acclaim. However, Miller’s concept for Resavoir continued to evolve as the pandemic forced everyone back onto themselves, this deep well of music now offering a return to the fundamentals of his approach. He explains: “Resavoir is a compositional practice, a place, a feeling, and a reflection of the community I have around me.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRenting a studio in the old Hammond B3 organ factory on Chicago’s NW side, Miller went back to basics, organizing open air jam sessions in the side lot of his Logan Square apartment building that would form the basis of two shimmering tracks – “Midday” and “First Light” – years before this new album came into view. As Miller remembers: “Both recordings came from the first time any of us had played music with anyone else since the onset of the pandemic so there was quite a tangible energy and emotion in the air. Folks from the neighborhood were stopping by to drop off 6-packs of beer and listen.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten over three years beginning in April 2020, the new 'Resavoir' saw Miller challenge himself to experiment with what he calls the “medicinal” daily practice of music making. Born out of a process of introversion and mindfulness, the eleven effervescent songs that ultimately made the cut are testament to Miller expanding on his breezy and melodic signature to showcase a bold new sonic direction - a beat-oriented but compositionally complex, lush and cinematic soul-jazz sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst single \"Inside Minds\" channels a João Gilberto-meets-MF DOOM whimsey – stripped back, spontaneous yet orchestrated. Capturing the moment of discovery, other tracks like \"Sunset\" are like vignettes of Miller’s process - music as an exercise in letting go, embracing the organic imperfections of their creation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDiscussing his approach to the work, Miller says: \"a single chord change has the power to completely divert my entire day and provide me with a feeling of peace and wonder. Those are the best moments when creating music, the moments of transformation and healing. The feeling of this new album to me is meditative, peaceful, serene, quiet, introspective, intentional, patient, calm, awe-filled and loving. If I was truly writing to how I was feeling in the moment I think it would sound a lot different. So I wanted to speak to the transformational power of music.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased November 3, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePRODUCED BY WILL MILLER\u003cbr\u003eMIXED BY DAVE VETTRAINO\u003cbr\u003eMASTERED BY DAVE COOLEY\u003cbr\u003eARTWORK \u0026amp; DESIGN BY CRYSTAL ZAPATA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWILL MILLER: PIANO, EVI, TRUMPET, FLUGELHORN, WURLITZER, SYNTHS, SAMPLER, 808\u003cbr\u003eLANE BECKSTROM: DOUBLE BASS, BASS GUITAR\u003cbr\u003eMACIE STEWART: VIOLIN\u003cbr\u003eEDDIE BURNS: DRUM PROGRAMMING, DRUMS\u003cbr\u003eMATT GOLD: GUITAR, VOICE\u003cbr\u003ePETER MANHEIM: DRUM KIT, CONGAS, PERCUSSION\u003cbr\u003eAKENYA SEYMOUR: VOICE, WURLITZER\u003cbr\u003eELTON AURA: GUITAR, VOICE\u003cbr\u003eJULIEN EHRLICH: GUITAR, VOICE\u003cbr\u003eMAX KAKACEK: GUITAR\u003cbr\u003eKENNETH LEFTRIDGE JR.: FLUTE, SAXOPHONE, CLARINET, BASS CLARINET\u003cbr\u003eWILLS MCKENNA: ALTO FLUTE\u003cbr\u003eJEREMY CUNNINGHAM: SPD DRUMS, DRUMS\u003cbr\u003eIRVIN PIERCE: SAXOPHONE\u003cbr\u003eELLA WILLIAMS: VOICE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*Whitney appears courtesy of Secretly Canadian\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":46274242576658,"sku":"IARC0072LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Dusk Cloud\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":46274242543890,"sku":"IARC0072LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121007915282,"sku":"IARC0072CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121007948050,"sku":"IARC0072","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121007980818,"sku":"IARC0072-TP","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/coverartIARC0072Resavoir.jpg?v=1774062684"},{"product_id":"alabaster-deplume-come-with-fierce-grace","title":"Alabaster DePlume - Come With Fierce Grace","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn order to record the compositions in his critically-acclaimed 2022 release\u003cem\u003e GOLD\u003c\/em\u003e, Alabaster DePlume instilled a culture of creativity by leading his ensembles in spontaneous composition and development. To allow them to be present, he kept the musicians constantly creating across several weeks of sessions at London creative hub Total Refreshment Centre. This process resulted in an abundance of material, much more than he could fit onto the initial double LP.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAfter spending most of 2022 touring in support of\u003cem\u003e GOLD\u003c\/em\u003e, Alabaster spent much of early 2023 revisiting the additional material from those Total Refreshment Centre sessions – adding, subtracting, producing and arranging – resulting in an entirely new album, \u003cem\u003eCome With Fierce Grace\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eCome With Fierce Grace\u003c\/em\u003e is an album made of authentic and unstipulated – yet welcomed – human interaction. It is for the most part an album of instrumentals, with exception of a few vocal features by Momoko Gill (aka MettaShiba), Falle Nioke, and Donna Thompson. However the instrumentals on this album are much more embryonic and unfiltered than the lush orchestrations heard on Alabaster’s breakout 2020 album \u003cem\u003eTo Cy \u0026amp; Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003cem\u003eCome With Fierce Grace\u003c\/em\u003e is perhaps the most raw and candid portrait of Alabaster’s creative compositional process we’ve yet to hear, as he’s captured vividly in the room with his collaborators – stretching, exploring, working to deepen and expand the emotions underlying his melodic and poetic frameworks.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRegarding the process, Alabaster cites a similarity to how elements in nature contribute to shared work and beauty without a collective motive – a bee’s own motives result in the delivery of pollen. As he says: “The great thing wants to happen, let us allow it to happen.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRegarding the origin of the album’s name: On his first trip to perform in the US in March 2022, Alabaster collected messages from individuals, as he asked them if there is anything they would like him to share with his audiences. One message (from a person who preferred to remain anonymous) asked Alabaster to encourage people to “come with fierce grace.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReleases September 8, 2023\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProduced and arranged by\u003c\/strong\u003e Alabaster DePlume.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRecorded onto tape by\u003c\/strong\u003e Kristian Craig Robinson at Total Refreshment Centre, London.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMixed by\u003c\/strong\u003e Dave Vettraino at International Anthem Studios, Chicago.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMastered by\u003c\/strong\u003e David Allen.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlbum Art by\u003c\/strong\u003e Raimund Wong.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInsert photo by\u003c\/strong\u003e Chris Almeida.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLayout by\u003c\/strong\u003e Craig Hansen.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eComposed in the act of performance by and with:\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlabaster DePlume \u003c\/strong\u003e– tenor sax, guitar, synths and voice\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFalle Nioke \u003c\/strong\u003e– voice, percussion\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRozi Plain \u003c\/strong\u003e– guitar\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSarathy Korwar\u003c\/strong\u003e – drums, tabla\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTom Skinner\u003c\/strong\u003e – drums\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKenichi Iwasa\u003c\/strong\u003e – percussion\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJames Howard\u003c\/strong\u003e – guitar\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTom Herbert\u003c\/strong\u003e – double bass\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNatalie Pela\u003c\/strong\u003e – voice\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRosa Slade\u003c\/strong\u003e – voice\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eElly Condron\u003c\/strong\u003e – voice\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLuisa Gerstein\u003c\/strong\u003e – voice\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatt Webb\u003c\/strong\u003e – double bass\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMichael Chestnutt\u003c\/strong\u003e – synths\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUrsula Russell\u003c\/strong\u003e – drums\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConrad Singh\u003c\/strong\u003e – guitar\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHannah Miller\u003c\/strong\u003e – cello and voice\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDonna Thompson\u003c\/strong\u003e – voice\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew Bourne\u003c\/strong\u003e – piano\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMomoko Gill\u003c\/strong\u003e – lead vocal\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRuth Goller\u003c\/strong\u003e – bass\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll rights reserved\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":46274399207698,"sku":"IARC0070LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Greek Honey\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52115723288850,"sku":"IARC0070LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52115723321618,"sku":"IARC0070CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120998248722,"sku":"IARC0070","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing (Pallas)","offer_id":52115723354386,"sku":"IARC0070LP-2","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Test Pressing (Smashed Plastic)","offer_id":52115723387154,"sku":"IARC0070LP-1","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3957026135_10.jpg?v=1773448388"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-forfolks","title":"Jeff Parker - Forfolks","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003ealbum liner notes by Matthew Lux:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYears ago when Jeff and I were in a band together, I always insisted that our records could not have any liner notes. I was enthralled with the idea that imparting any information beyond the music itself was heresy. As if whatever the sound didn't convey needed to be left to the listener. Somehow, I was able to hold this opinion while simultaneously voraciously consuming every record jacket, CD cover, cassette J card and whatever else I could get my hands on regarding any music that interested me. Many years and finally the making of my own album forced me to confront my cognitive dissonance and recognize context can help the audience find their place in the art that they enjoy. That context is especially necessary when the artist is as under-appreciated yet influential as Jeff Parker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I met Jeff, he was the first adult (24 years old to my 18) whose musical taste was as broad as mine and my friends. He liked Eric Dolphy, De La Soul, ‘70s Miles, and Donny Hathaway. We first played together in the living room of my parents’ apartment. We agreed to each bring a friend to round out a group. He brought the amazing and criminally under-represented Sara P. Smith on trombone, and I brought my high school band mate Chad Taylor on drums. Chad\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand I were certainly outclassed that day, but nevertheless we all became fast friends. A few weeks later, at our regular jam session at the Bop Shop, I told my girlfriend (now wife) to pay attention to Jeff. \"He's going to be important,\" I said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Chicago that Parker had moved to was ripe with young musicians eager to push at the boundaries. There weren't many venues catering to these new attempts at mixing things up, but slowly a number of great bands coalesced out of a group of like-minded friends, mixing everyone's backgrounds whether punk, disco, jazz or whatever. I clearly remember going to see New Horizons Ensemble at the Hothouse with Jeff, then a few weeks later going to the Empty Bottle to see Tortoise. Within months he'd be in both those bands. He was instrumental in forging a link between players with different styles that helped define the sound of creative music in ‘90s Chicago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's a particular thing to hear Jeff play solo. He is an unusually selfless improviser, often times laying out and highlighting the contributions of his band mates. He's never been one to play three notes where none would suffice. On this recording however he is by himself, joined only by his own ideas, looped or frozen, to flesh out the music he's creating in his mind. Hearing him craft entire sound worlds on these eight selections gives us an opportunity to really see how Parker orders sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe has been ordering sound with an amazingly diverse array of artists and collaborators for the past three decades. While it's common for a professional musician to be versed in many styles, that normally means a succession of genre tropes deployed to ensure the listener knows exactly where they are and what's supposed to be happening. A guitarist, for example, might play a Nile Rogers type rhythm on Disco or Funk, a favorite B.B. King lick on a blues or a Wes Montgomery phrase over a standard. Parker rarely does anything this overt. While perfectly capable (Once, in the studio, at the behest of a musician we were working with, I heard him take a solo that could have been an outtake from a Steely Dan album), he eschews genre playing and chooses a painterly approach to coloring the music, maintaining a deeply personal voice without weighing down the music with obvious stylistic maneuverings. His unique approach fits so well into so many contexts precisely because SOUND is his main focus and concern. One can clearly hear the breadth of Black Music in Parker’s playing. He is part of a continuum of musicians extending back to antiquity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe structures here challenge our preconceptions of background and foreground. ALL the layers are primary. We are presented with fully integrated sonic developments rather than accompaniment, melody, or \"soloing\". Often times a solo album is an excuse for an artist to display their virtuosity. The idea being, possibly, that unencumbered by other musicians, the soloist is free to ride off on flights of fancy. But a career spent in the practice of subtlety is thankfully apparent in every song here. On Forfolks, a standard of the Great American Songbook fits comfortably next to multi-layered improvisations, a Thelonious Monk tune, and several compositions of Parker’s own, dating back twenty-five years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMonk, I find to be an apt comparison. Both men were deeply involved in some of the most progressive musical movements of their respective generations, neither gaining much renown at the time, but both kept on doing things in their own quietly iconoclastic ways until the world caught up with them some twenty years later. I was fortunate enough to recognize the first time I heard Jeff Parker thirty years ago that I was witnessing something very special.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased December 10, 2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered by Graeme Gibson at Sholo Studio in Altadena, California on June 28th \u0026amp; 29th, 2021.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Graeme Gibson in Cypress Park, Los Angeles, California on July 15th \u0026amp; 16th, 2021.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSequenced by Scott McNiece.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePhotography by Lee Anne Schmitt.\u003cbr\u003eLiner Notes by Matthew Lux.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Jeremiah Chiu.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Scott McNiece.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":46870248685842,"sku":"IARC0052LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"\"Cool Mint\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121003819282,"sku":"IARC0052LPCM","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"Cookie \u0026 Creme\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121003852050,"sku":"IARC0052LPCC","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121003884818,"sku":"IARC0052CD","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121003917586,"sku":"IARC0052","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121003950354,"sku":"IARC0052LP-1","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2972278449_16.jpg?v=1773342547"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-suite-for-max-brown","title":"Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e“I’m always looking for ways to be surprised,” says composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker as he explains the process, and the thinking, behind his new album, Suite for Max Brown, released via a new partnership between the Chicago–based label International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. “If I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, with staff paper and a pencil, I’m eventually going to fall into writing patterns, into things I already know. So, when I make music, that’s what I’m trying to get away from—the things that I know.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker himself is known to many fans as the longtime guitarist for the Chicago–based quintet Tortoise, one of the most critically revered, sonically adventurous groups to emerge from the American indie scene of the early nineties. The band’s often hypnotic, largely instrumental sound eludes easy definition, drawing freely from rock, jazz, electronic, and avant-garde music, and it has garnered a large following over the course of nearly thirty years. Aside from recording and touring with Tortoise, Parker has worked as a side man with many jazz greats, including Nonesuch labelmate Joshua Redman on his 2005 Momentum album; as a studio collaborator with other composer-musicians, including Makaya McCraven, Brian Blade, Meshell N’Degeocello, his longtime friend (and Chicago\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eUnderground ensemble co-founder) Rob Mazurek; and as a solo artist. Suite for Max Brown is informally a companion piece to The New Breed, Parker’s 2016 album on International Anthem, which London’s Observer honored as the best jazz album of the year, declaring that “no other musician in the modern era has moved so seamlessly between rock and jazz like Jeff Parker. As guitarist for Chicago post-rock icons Tortoise, he’s taken the group in new and challenging directions that have kept them at the forefront of pop creativity for the last twenty years. As of late, however, Parker has established himself as one of the most formidable solo talents in modern jazz.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough Parker collaborates with a coterie of musicians under the group name The New Breed, theirs is by no means a conventional “band” relationship. Parker is very much a solo artist on Suite for Max Brown. He constructs a digital bed of beats and samples; lays down tracks of his own on guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion, and occasionally voice; then invites his musician friends to play and improvise over his melodies. But unlike a traditional jazz session, Parker doesn’t assemble a full combo in the studio for a day or two of live takes. His accompanists are often working alone with Parker, reacting to what Parker has provided them, and then Parker uses those individual parts to layer and assemble into his final tracks. The process may be relatively solitary and cerebral, but the results feel like in-the-moment jams—warm-hearted, human, alive. Suite for Max Brown brims with personality, boasting the rhythmic flow of hip hop and the soulful swing of jazz.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In my own music I’ve always sought to deal with the intersection of improvisation and the digital era of making music, trying to merge these disparate elements into something cohesive,” Parker explains. “I became obsessed maybe ten or fifteen years ago with making music from samples. At first it was more an exercise in learning how to sample and edit audio. I was a big hip-hop fan all my life, but I never delved into the technical aspects of making that music. To keep myself busy, I started to sample music from my own library of recordings, to chop them up, make loops and beats. I would do it in my spare time. I could do it when I was on tour—in the van or on an airplane, at a soundcheck, whenever I had spare time I was working on this stuff. After a while, as you can imagine, I had hours and hours of samples I had made and I hadn’t really done anything with them\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“So I made The New Breed based off these old sample-based compositions and mixed them with improvising,” he continues. “There was a lot of editing, a lot of post-production work that went into that. That’s in a nutshell how I make a lot of my music; it’s a combination of sampling, editing, retriggering audio, and recording it, moving it around and trying to make it into something cohesive—and make it music that someone would enjoy listening to. With Max Brown, it’s evolved. I played a lot of the music myself. It’s me playing as many of the instruments as I could. I engineered most it myself at home or during a residency I did at the Headlands Center for the Arts [in Sausalito, California] about a year ago.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis New Breed band-mates and fellow travelers on Max Brown include pianist-saxophonist Josh Johnson; bassist Paul Bryan, who co-produced and mixed the album with Parker; piccolo trumpet player Rob Mazurek, his frequent duo partner; trumpeter Nate Walcott, a veteran of Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes; drummers Jamire Williams, Makaya McCraven, and Jay Bellerose, Parker’s Berklee School of Music classmate; cellist Katinka Klejin of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and even his seventeen-year-old daughter Ruby Parker, a student at the Chicago High School of the Arts, who contributes vocals to opening track, “Build A Nest.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRuby’s presence at the start is fitting, since Suite for Max Brown is a kind of family affair: “That’s my mother’s maiden name. Maxine Brown. Everybody calls her Max. I decided to call it Suite for Max Brown. The New Breed became a kind of tribute to my father because he passed away while I was making the album. The New Breed was a clothing store he owned when I was a kid, a store in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where I was born. I thought it would be nice this time to dedicate something to my mom while she’s still here to see it. I wish that my father could have been around to hear the tribute that I made for him. The picture on the cover of Max Brown is of my mom when she was nineteen.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is a multi-generational vibe to the music too, as Parker balances his contemporary digital explorations with excursions into older jazz. Along with original compositions, Parker includes “Gnarciss,” an interpretation of Joe Henderson’s “Black Narcissus” and John Coltrane’s “After the Rain” (from his 1963 Impressions album). Parker recalls, “I was drawn to jazz music as a kid. That was the first music that really resonated with me once I got heavily into music. When I was nine or ten years old, I immediately gravitated to jazz because there were so many unexpected things. Jazz led me into improvising, which led me into experimenting in a general way, into an experimental process of making music.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eColtrane is a touchstone in Parker’s musical evolution. In fact, Parker recalls, he inadvertently found himself on a new musical path one night about fifteen years ago when he was deejaying at a Chicago bar and playing ‘Trane: “I used to deejay a lot when I lived in Chicago. This was before Serrato and people deejaying with computers. I had two records on two turntables and a mixer. I was spinning records one night and for about ten minutes I was able to perfectly synch up a Nobukazu Takemura record with the first movement of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and it had this free jazz, abstract jazz thing going on with a sequenced beat underneath. It sounded so good. That’s what I’m trying to do with Max Brown. It’s got a sequenced beat and there are musicians improvising on top or beneath the sequenced drum pattern. That’s what I was going for. Man vs machine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It’s a lot of experimenting, a lot of trial and error,” he admits. “I like to pursue situations that take me outside myself, where the things I come up with are things I didn’t really know I could do. I always look at this process as patchwork quilting. You take this stuff and stitch it together until a tapestry forms.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Michael Hill\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased January 24, 2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBuild a Nest (feat. Ruby Parker)\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - drums, vocals, piano, electric guitar, Korg MS20\u003cbr\u003eRuby Parker - vocals\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eC’mon Now\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - sampling, editing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFusion Swirl\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, bass guitar, samplers, percussion, vocals\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter the Rain\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - electric piano\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar and percussion\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams - drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMetamorphoses\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - glockenspiel, sequencer, sampler, Korg MS20\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGnarciss\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - alto saxophone\u003cbr\u003eKatinka Kleijn - cello\u003cbr\u003eRob Mazurek - piccolo trumpet\u003cbr\u003eMakaya McCraven - drums and sampler\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, JP-08, sampler, midi strings\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLydian, Etc\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, pandeiro, midi programming, etc.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDel Rio\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, mbira, sampler, Korg MS20, drums, electric piano\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3 for L\u003cbr\u003eJay Bellerose - drums and percussion\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, Korg MS20\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGo Away\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar and vocals\u003cbr\u003eMakaya McCraven - drums\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, vocals and sampler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMax Brown\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - alto saxophone\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - guitar, Korg MS20, JP-08\u003cbr\u003eNate Walcott - trumpet\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams - drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll songs composed by Jeff Parker (umjabuglafeesh music, BMI);\u003cbr\u003eexcept “After The Rain” by John Coltrane, and “Gnarciss” which contains elements of “Black Narcissus” by Joe Henderson.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“C’mon Now” features samples from the Otis Redding recording “The Happy Song (Dum-Dum).\" Produced under license from Atlantic Recording Corp. By Arrangement with Rhino Entertainment Company, a Warner Music Group Company.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll arrangements by Jeff Parker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered and edited by Jeff Parker at Headlands Center For The Arts, Sausalito, California and at home in Altadena, California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered, edited and mixed by Paul Bryan in Pacific Palisades, California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters, Los Angeles, California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Paul Bryan and Jeff Parker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDesign \u0026amp; Layout by Craig Hansen.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Color Vinyl LP (2026 Repress)","offer_id":52611532161298,"sku":"IARC0029LPX","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":46870280241426,"sku":"IARC0029LPUS","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"\"Fusion Swirl\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121004212498,"sku":"IA-SFMB-IFSC","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121004245266,"sku":"IA-IARC0029CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121004278034,"sku":"IARC0029","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0572868824_16.jpg?v=1773342541"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-the-new-breed","title":"Jeff Parker - The New Breed","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eBest known as a multi-instrumental member of Tortoise and a pillar of the Chicago jazz and experimental music scene, Jeff Parker has been incomparably prolific over the last 20+ years while merely producing 5 albums as a “lead artist” (just 2 since 2005, including 2016’s duo recording with Rob Mazurek on Rogue Art). “Lead artist” is in quotes here, because though his name is seldom seen in marquees, his distinctive guitar sound has been essential to every project he’s been part of. It was in that sense that we at International Anthem came to work with Parker during the production of Makaya McCraven’s In The Moment, an album which ultimately showcased said essentialness (of Parker’s “side man” sound) on 9 of its 19 tracks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the course of the In The Moment sessions in 2013 and 2014, Parker was slowly transitioning his personal belongings from Chicago to a new home in Los Angeles. It was when finally settled that he found opportunity to re-open some home recordings and beat projects that had been dormant on his hard drive for years (early versions of some could have been heard in the late ‘00s on his Myspace page). Parker had long been in silent study of vinyl sampling and beat conduction, but perhaps it’s no coincidence that new residence in a city aflame with experimental R\u0026amp;B, jazz and\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eelectronic fusers (i.e. L.A., e.g. Brainfeeder, Leaving Records, Low End Theory) spurred him to dig back in to the practice and produce with more purpose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy early 2015 Parker had refined several compositional ideas around his samples, and enlisted local friend Paul Bryan (Aimee Mann, Meshell Ndegeocello) to engineer and play bass guitar in sessions with Chicago ex-pat saxophonist, Thelonious Monk Institute protégé Josh Johnson (Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Esperanza Spaulding)and drummer Jamire Williams (Robert Glasper, Carlos Niño. The recordings were conducted to capture composed passages as well as free playing that used Parker’s beats and sample suites as improvisational criterion. After completing 7 songs with the band, the last of which with vocals from his daughter Ruby Parker recorded in Chicago by John McEntire, Parker named the project The New Breed (after a clothing store his late father Ernie owned and operated in the ‘70s)and finished the album by stitching the band tracks together with intermittent pieces of beat memories from his archive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe final presentation is a retrospective tapestry that explores Parker’s past both musically – as a potent compositional tribute to his influences (J Dilla, Thelonious Monk, Charles Stepney)held together by literal fragments of his life’s work – and patrilineally – as a collaboration with his kin held together by clippings from the family photo album. The New Breed is Jeff Parker’s most vibrant and comprehensively personal work yet, appropriately the first in 11 years with only his name in the “lead artist” column.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased June 24, 2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Paul Bryan and Jeff Parker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, Korg MS20, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, loops and samplers, MIDI and drum programming\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - electric bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams - drums\u003cbr\u003eJay Bellerose - drums and percussion (“Visions” only)\u003cbr\u003eRuby Parker - vocals\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered, edited and mixed by Paul Bryan intermittently from February to December, 2015 in Santa Monica CA. Vocals recorded by John McEntire at SOMA E.M.S., Chicago. Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters, Los Angeles.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll songs and lyrics composed and arranged by Jeff Parker (umjabuglafeesh music, BMI), except “Visions” by Bobby Hutcherson\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":46870289645842,"sku":"IARC0009LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"\"Tokoname Clay\" Color Vinyl LP (Japanese Import)","offer_id":52121238831378,"sku":"IARC0009LPS","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121238864146,"sku":"IARC0009CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121238896914,"sku":"IARC0009","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121238929682,"sku":"IARC0009LP-1","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a1291284488_16.jpg?v=1773342534"},{"product_id":"damon-locks-rob-mazurek-new-future-city-radio","title":"Damon Locks \u0026 Rob Mazurek - New Future City Radio","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eNew Future City Radio is the first duo collaboration of longtime creative partners Damon Locks \u0026amp; Rob Mazurek. In a hyperactive 40-minute, 18-track suite that runs like a boombox mixtape, the two prolific multi-media artists contemplate community, transformation, and the future through the programmatic format of a pirate radio station for the people.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese two artists have worked together from the peak days of the late 90s \/ early 00s Chicago music scene up through the present day, which has seen Locks featured as lead vocalist of multiple critically-acclaimed Exploding Star Orchestra (ESO) albums composed\/produced by Mazurek and released by International Anthem (IARC) in 2020 (Dimensional Stardust) and 2023 (Lightning Dreamers). In recent years, Locks has also earned great renown from his revolutionary, expansive latter-day gospel\/jazz project Black Monument Ensemble (BME), with which he’s released two albums on IARC (2019’s Where Future Unfolds and 2021’s NOW). New Future City Radio finds the artists creating a natural but innovatively-assembled blend of the sounds of those two projects, with Locks’s BME-style sample-based sound collage creating compositional beds underneath the signature Orson Welles-like vocal\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003edelivery he’s developed through his work with ESO, alongside Roland SP flourishes and arresting brass improvisations by Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThemes both sonic and text based were predetermined but improvisation leads the journey. The music these two have devised may sound hyper-charged one moment and gently transportive the next, and often somewhere in between. When asked about New Future City Radio the duo exclaim in one voice: \"I'm talking post, post, post, future. I'm talking resilience and levitation. I'm talking beauty and structural integrity for my people. I'm talking light beams that tell stories and educate. Let's talk about that if you wanna talk new future!\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased July 28, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDamon Locks - voice \u0026amp; sampler\u003cbr\u003eRob Mazurek - trumpet, piccolo trumpet, sampler, modular synthesizers, voice, flutes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMauricio Takara - electronic percussion, percussion on “The Beat” and “Flitting Splits Reverb Adage”\u003cbr\u003eRoberto Carlos Lange aka Helado Negro – voice on “Flitting Splits Reverb Adage”\u003cbr\u003eBrandi Augustus – vocals on “New Future”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnnouncers:\u003cbr\u003eRosetta Carr – “The Sun Returns”\u003cbr\u003eAndres Hernandez – “The Concord Hour”\u003cbr\u003eAlain 'Fusion' Clapham – “10mins Past The Hour”\u003cbr\u003eBrenda Hernandez – “Las Niñas Estan Escuchando (The Children Are Listening)”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded \u0026amp; Engineered by: Dave Vettraino at International Anthem Studios, Chicago.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by: David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlbum Art by: Damon Locks\u003cbr\u003ePhoto of Rob Mazurek by: Ziga Koritnik\u003cbr\u003ePhoto of Damon Locks by: Petra Cvelbar\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":46926425194770,"sku":"IARC0068LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"New Future City Shimmer\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121000575250,"sku":"IARC0068LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121000608018,"sku":"IARC0068CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121000640786,"sku":"IARC0068","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2024789163_10.jpg?v=1773342529"},{"product_id":"asher-gamedze-and-the-black-lungs-constitution","title":"Asher Gamedze \u0026 The Black Lungs - Constitution","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e“Members of the dispossessed, won’t you lend me your ears!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the repeated call and the rallying chorus of the nearly 40-minute centerpiece to composer and percussionist Asher Gamedze’s new album Constitution. The expansive double album, a minoritarian fellowship in breath, is Gamedze’s follow-up to 2023’s Turbulence and Pulse (IARC0057\/M3H013), and his first with The Black Lungs, a ten-piece ensemble. The album – recorded in one day at Cape Town’s Sound and Motion Studios – is an elaboration of the possibilities of autonomous constitution in and through polyrhythmic, modal, large ensemble music.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGamedze holds down duties on the drum kit, joining with Ru Slayen (percussion), Sean Sanby (bass), and Nobuhle Ashanti (piano) breathing together to cohere in what would otherwise be called a rhythm section. The ensemble is expanded by more breath - horns and voices. Tumi Pheko (cornet), Garth Erasmus (alto saxophone), Jed Petersen (tenor saxophone), Tina Mene (vocals), Athi Ngcaba (trombone) and Fred Moten (words) collectively explore and deconstruct the conceptual, tonal and atonal possibilities of themes which are at once of old and new dreams - curious and instantiative, melancholic and\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eemergent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Moten puts it, “this polyrhythmic but also always polyphonic critical joining – this re-assemblage of ensemble, this loving violation – lets the nightmares of individuation all unravel.” The Black Lungs join a tradition of sound, struggle and thought that is constituted by this very process of unraveling the isolating questions of isolated philosophers: “Is Socrates happy?”; “Does the dialectician have a sound?” On Constitution, the power of the question, the possibility of an improvised answer and the celebration of being together exists not in the solo but in the group, the ensemble.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is a theme present not just throughout Constitution, but in all of Gamedze’s work. “The ensemble experience of study and struggle is the basis of my thought and everything I try to do in this mad world,” he says in the album’s liner notes. Further situating the sound and the impulse of the ensemble within the multitudinous terrains of the historical and ongoing struggles of the dispossessed, he explains that “The Black Lungs is inspired by the revolutionary thought and practice of the Black Consciousness Movement. In particular, the relationship between antagonism – constituting a united front of all the oppressed against white supremacy and racial capitalism – and the possibilities for resistance and elaboration - the creative militant capacities of those assembled – enabled and unleashed by that process of constitution.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased August 30, 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTumi Pheko – cornet\u003cbr\u003eGarth Erasmus – alto saxophone\u003cbr\u003eJed Petersen – tenor saxophone\u003cbr\u003eRu Slayen – percussion\u003cbr\u003eAthi Ngcaba – trombone\u003cbr\u003eTina Mene – vocals\u003cbr\u003eFred Moten – words\u003cbr\u003eNobuhle Ashanti – piano\u003cbr\u003eSean Sanby – bass\u003cbr\u003eAsher Gamedze – drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll compositions, concepts and arrangements by: Asher Gamedze\u003cbr\u003eWords by: Fred Moten\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover and insert artwork by: Leila Khan (Kanaladorp Press)\u003cbr\u003eLayout by: Craig Hansen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by: Carl Roberts and Finn Esterhuizen at Sound and Motions Studios, Cape Town, 15 June 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by: Asher Gamedze\u003cbr\u003eMixed by: Carl Roberts\u003cbr\u003eMastered by: David Allen\u003cbr\u003eA\u0026amp;R by: Scott McNiece\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":50238219387154,"sku":"IARC0084LP","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120910004498,"sku":"IARC0084CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999133458,"sku":"IARC0084","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2170149126_10.jpg?v=1773342501"},{"product_id":"cassie-kinoshis-seed-gratitude","title":"Cassie Kinoshi's seed. - gratitude","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eIn March of 2023 composer, arranger \u0026amp; alto saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi premiered a commissioned suite of music in front of a sold out crowd at London’s Southbank Centre. She wrote the piece – gratitude – for her flagship large ensemble seed., in a special augmented formation that also featured turntablist NikNak and the London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFollowers of UK Jazz know Kinoshi from her previous work with seed. (including the Mercury Prize-nominated album Driftglass, released by jazz re:freshed in 2019), or as a former member of Kokoroko. But her compositional résumé also extends deeply into orchestral work for concert hall, contemporary dance, film, visual art, and theatre, with high profile collaborators including London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra. That depth of experience is on full display on gratitude, with the textural and dynamic flexibility of her large ensemble covering musical ground from groove-focused modal melancholia to anthemic brass and string themes. Striking upon first listen and even richer on repeat visits, gratitude scores the soul of contemporary Black London with philharmonic craftwork in the tradition of legendary jazz arrangers like Mary Lou Williams, Oliver Nelson, and\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eCarla Bley.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSimilar to those keystone writer-arrangers, here Kinoshi wields the power of a large ensemble to convey nuanced human emotion. “gratitude was written as a means of guiding my own healing,” says Kinoshi. “My mother told me that she keeps a gratitude book where she writes one thing, no matter how big or small, every day that helps to re-focus her mind on practicing gratitude. The examples that she gave were seeing the flowers that she'd recently planted in her garden bloom and a kaleidoscope of butterflies that she saw flitting about a tree in her garden.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInspired by her mother’s focus on natural beauty and the meaningful minutiae of everyday life, Kinoshi was driven to work through her own relationship with mental health and to pour that into composition. “I was spending a lot of time on my own, often at my desk writing continuously,” says Kinoshi. “At 3pm everyday, the winter sun would be positioned opposite my window and shine directly onto my face. The task of writing this piece was one of the most difficult I've endured – because of the headspace that I was in at the time – and this would be the one thing in the middle of the day that would bring me a very deep sense of contentment… my first attempt at consciously practicing gratitude for something that I so often take for granted.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“At this point in my artistic career, highlighting the often overlooked subject of mental health and what it means to move towards creating healthy, positive and introspective practices in regards to both understanding and regulating one's own mental health is of the utmost importance to me.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThroughout the writing process Kinoshi had the privilege of knowing that her composition would eventually be interpreted by seed. — an ensemble of players she founded in 2016 and whose collective talents she knows through and through. “The binding concept of seed. has always been to have a creative outlet that allows me to express and highlight subject matter important to me alongside musicians that I deeply respect, admire and enjoy spending time with,” explains Kinoshi. “It is the one environment where I feel extremely comfortable being able to experiment with sound authentically. Over the years, it has evolved in the sense that the more comfortable the band members get with interpreting my music, and the more we develop a creative language together, the more honest the music sounds.” That profound musical and personal trust helped make the ensemble a perfect vehicle for a composition augmented by new collaborators — in this case the LCO and NikNak.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKinoshi and seed. first met turntablist NikNak at the Marsden Jazz Festival in 2019. After spending some time talking politics and sharing jokes it was clear that a creative relationship was possible. “I find that working with formidable artists that I get on well with on a personal level always leads to my best work, and knew as soon as I met NikNak that I wanted to work with them.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the genesis of her collaboration with the LCO, Kinoshi says: “I have always wanted to combine seed. with electronics and orchestral elements, as I have always envisioned the band performing multi-disciplinary works. I have long admired the members of the LCO and their way of successfully melding orchestral arrangements and improvisation with more contemporary artists. I was introduced to them via Lexy Morvaridi during his time at the Southbank Centre. It was through his support, creative insight and trust that we were able to make this project happen.” The beauty and harmony of these communal connections plus the depth and deftness of all the musickers involved truly made Kinoshi's dream of this composition a reality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRunning confidently at 21 minutes and 33 seconds (not including the album’s B Side \/ final track “Smoke in the Sun,” which was recorded separately at Total Refreshment Centre) and going straight for the heart, gratitude is an evolved, emotionally attuned, creatively ambitious and compositionally exquisite philharmonic expression of post-millennial UK jazz.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 22, 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracks 1-6 recorded live at the Southbank Centre, Purcell Room, London, March 2023. Additional Recording at Livingston Studios, London, November 2023. Live Engineering by Tony Birch. Additional recordings engineered by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCassie Kinoshi - alto saxophone and composer\u003cbr\u003eNikNak - turntables\u003cbr\u003eJack Banjo Courtney – trumpet 1\u003cbr\u003eJoseph Oti-Akenteng – trumpet 2\u003cbr\u003eDeji ljishakin – tenor saxophone\u003cbr\u003eJoe Bristow – trombone\u003cbr\u003eHanna Mbuya – tuba\u003cbr\u003eMaria Chiara Argirò – piano\u003cbr\u003eShirley Tetteh – guitar\u003cbr\u003eKarl Onibuje – double bass\u003cbr\u003eRio Kai – double bass\u003cbr\u003ePatrick Gabriel-Boyle – drums\u003cbr\u003eClare Bennett – flute\u003cbr\u003eAlastair Penman – clarinet and bass clarinet\u003cbr\u003eEllie Consta - violin 1\u003cbr\u003eGillon Cameron – violin 2\u003cbr\u003eJordan Bergmans – viola\u003cbr\u003eJames Douglas – cello\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTrack 7 recorded at Total Refreshment Centre, London, April 2021. Engineered by Kristian Craig Robinson.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCassie Kinoshi - alto saxophone\u003cbr\u003eJack Banjo Courtney – trumpet 1\u003cbr\u003eSheila Maurice-Grey – trumpet 2\u003cbr\u003eDeji ljishakin – tenor saxophone\u003cbr\u003eJoe Bristow – trombone\u003cbr\u003eHanna Mbuya – tuba\u003cbr\u003eDeschanel Gordon – piano\u003cbr\u003eShirley Tetteh – guitar\u003cbr\u003eRio Kai – double bass\u003cbr\u003ePatrick Gabriel-Boyle – drums.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll tracks mixed by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArtwork by GURIBOSH.\u003cbr\u003ePoetry by Belinda Zhawi.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":50256363028754,"sku":"IARC0081LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Smoke in the Sun\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120911085842,"sku":"IARC0081LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120911118610,"sku":"IARC0081CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121000280338,"sku":"IARC0081","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120911151378,"sku":"IARC0081LP-1","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3893985235_10.jpg?v=1773342443"},{"product_id":"ibelisse-guardia-ferragutti-frank-rosaly-mestizx","title":"Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti \u0026 Frank Rosaly - MESTIZX","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eMESTIZX is Bolivian-born singer and multi-medium performer Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and renowned Chicago expat jazz drummer Frank Rosaly's debut album as co-composers, arrangers and musicians.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePartners in both marriage and art, the Amsterdam-based Ferragutti and Rosaly dove into the sounds of their respective ancestral roots in Bolivia, Brazil, and Puerto Rico to create a deeply personal meditation on decolonization and the defiant power of ritual and protest. They chose the title MESTIZX – a non-gendered version of the sometimes slurred Spanish colonial word for a “mixed person” - as a means of both challenging and embracing the liminality of their identities and artistic practices.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRosaly says: “I grew up quite Puerto Rican in my home, but was taught to mask it outside my home. I wasn’t allowed to speak Spanish, so the drums eventually became my language, secretly tying together my own feeling of connection to mi tierra. This record is the first time I actively give voice to the nuance within myself, allowing me to take ownership of this in-between, which is what this album communicates for me… There is this unusual place that exists between these two cultures, of which I am both. There is a complex story in that sliver of in-betweenness, worthy of giving voice\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eto all of us that live in-between.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFerragutti adds: “My personal understanding is one that stems from being placed in between lineages that carry the colonizer and colonized, the oppressor and oppressed, the demon and the angel… thus by definition is tied to post-colonial social constructs which we as Bolivians have to step in, like a 500 year novel that goes on and on… We have access to many memories and traditions, but not really, because we don’t fully belong to any of those… This makes us feel we're in a constant state of being the “visitors” and “outsiders.” On one hand, we are never truly part of one lineage. On the other hand, it makes us a travelers of worlds, storytellers in between multiple languages, cultures, and worldviews. We chose MESTIZX for this work as an act of recognizing the mixed state of being as a difficult and yet powerful one.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album was produced and recorded primarily at International Anthem Studios in Chicago, where Ferragutti and Rosaly were joined by a community of musicians and beloved friends including Matt Lux, Avreeayl Ra, Ben LaMar Gay, Daniel Villarreal, Bill MacKay, Rob Frye, and Mikel Patrick Avery, with addditional contributions from Chris Doyle, Guilherme Granado, Viktor Le Givens and Fredy Velásquez.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe music creatively infuses Latin rhythmic patterns and oblong swing from pre-and post-colonial Latin America into a collision of avant jazz, art punk, Chicago post-rock, bomba, plena, cumbia, Andean, minimal, electronica, and folk. A wholly original but undeniably universal sound – both of-the-moment and alluringly futuristic - MESTIZX contains points of reference and resonance for fans of Juana Molina, Café Tacvba, Max Roach \u0026amp; Abbey Lincoln, Liquid Liquid, Arto Lindsay, As Mercenarias, The Ex, Tortoise, Tom Zé, Elza Soares, La Mecanica Popular...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s a vast, vibrant and encompassing spectrum of sounds, but at its core MESTIZX is a lucidly conscious collection of auto-biographical statements from Ferragutti \u0026amp; Rosaly on the deeply personalized effects of colonialism on geography, history, and identity. Despite its heavy subject matter, however, MESTIZX finds a lifeline in communal, celebratory, soul-bearing and movement-inducing music.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eReleased May 3, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":50256381313298,"sku":"IARC0079LP","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Red Moon\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121002148114,"sku":"IARC0079LPI","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121002180882,"sku":"IARC0079CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121002213650,"sku":"IARC0079","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121002246418,"sku":"IARC0079LP-TP","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a1116156932_10.jpg?v=1773342421"},{"product_id":"carlos-nino-and-friends-placenta","title":"Carlos Niño \u0026 Friends - Placenta","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003ePlacenta is the fourth collection of broadly imaginative and highly collaborative Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Friends music released on International Anthem in the last four years. It is also the first new music to be released by Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Friends following the November 2023 release of André 3000’s New Blue Sun – an album which Carlos produced alongside André, while co-writing, co-creating\/playing, and co-mixing every song.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlacenta is announced on April 11th, 2024, a date chosen because it is the 1st solar return of Moss Niño (a new being in human form, who Carlos and his partner Annelise are Earth parents of). Their experience of pregnancy, labor and delivery were all profoundly impactful for Carlos. Becoming a father again (a whole 24 years after the birth of Azul Niño, who has become a regular artistic collaborator with Carlos) he felt total Inspiration for this set of recordings, and hence it is perhaps the most conceptually-grounded Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Friends album we've yet to present – fully connected to the spirit of family, birth, and \"how we get here.\"\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased May 24, 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced, Mixed, Edited, and Arranged by Carlos Niño.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBells, Chimes, Collage, Cymbals, Drums, Field Recordings, Gongs, Kalimbas, Keyboards, Leaves, Plants, Rattles, Shakers, Sound Design, Synths, Voice, and Whistles throughout by Carlos Niño.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis Album is Dedicated to Mothers, Children, Babies, Aunties, Doulas, Midwives, Birthworkers, and especially Haize Hawke, Maia, Aleksandra Evanguelidi, Meaghan Snider, Doctor Phabillia Afflack, Amy Tinney, Doctor Dani, Constantia Tielbeke, Shelly Girard, Davi Kaur Khalsa, Marsha Connor, Tiffany de Leon, Destefano DeLuise, Grace Oh, Mia Doi Todd, Cavana Lee, V.C.R, Rosamond Goulet, Jill Townsend-Sorel, my Sister Claudia Niño, my Mom Carla Niño, Azul Niño and their Mom Andrea Flores, Moss Niño and his Mom, my great Partner Annelise, and her Mom Denise . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1) Love to all Doulas! (featuring Nate Mercereau)\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Nate Mercereau\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - French Horn and Collage\u003cbr\u003eNamed for Haize and Tiffany, and made with Alyssa and Juniper, Banch and Nes Abegaze, Thandi Ntuli and Doctor Graeme Gilfillan, in Heart and mind . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2) Some rest for the Midwives . . . (featuring Jamire Williams and Sam Gendel)\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams - Drums, Painting and Dancing\u003cbr\u003eSam Gendel - Alto Saxophone and Pedals\u003cbr\u003efrom a Live Trio Concert at Ojai Rancho Inn\u003cbr\u003eon Sunday, July 29, 2018, hosted by Kenny, Serge and John.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3) Real Vital Organs (featuring Jamael Dean)\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Organ\u003cbr\u003eOrgan Recorded by Jesse Peterson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4) Surges, Expansions (featuring Dexter Story and Nate Mercereau)\u003cbr\u003eDexter Story - Drums\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eBrandon Eugene Owens - Bowed Bass\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e5) In Appreciation of Chico Hamilton’s Vast Influence on the West Coast Sound (featuring Nate Mercereau)\u003cbr\u003e( ) - Drums\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e6) Birthworkers Magic, and how we get hear . . . (featuring Maia, André 3000 and Jesse Peterson)\u003cbr\u003eMaia - Concert Flute and Voice\u003cbr\u003eAndré 3000 - Quetzacoatl Flute and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eJesse Peterson - Guimbri and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eRecorded and Mixed by Ken Oriole at Groove Masters\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e7) This “I” was not (featuring Ariel Kalma, Surya Botofasina and Annelise)\u003cbr\u003eAriel Kalma - Voice\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina - Organ\u003cbr\u003eAnnelise - Percussion\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e8) Placenta, Nourishment, New Home, The Galaxy (featuring Haize Hawke, Surya Botofasina, Aaron Shaw, Devin Daniels, Tiffany de Leon, Michael Bolger, Michael Alvidrez, Jesse Peterson, Annelise and Moss)\u003cbr\u003eHaize Hawke - Voice\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina - Synths\u003cbr\u003eJesse Peterson - (sped up) Aerophones\u003cbr\u003eAaron Shaw - (sped up) Tenor Saxophone\u003cbr\u003eDevin Daniels - Alto Saxophone\u003cbr\u003eTiffany de Leon - Voice\u003cbr\u003eMichael Bolger - Accordion\u003cbr\u003eMichael Alvidrez - Bass\u003cbr\u003eAnnelise and Moss - Voices\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e9) Carla’s Beads (featuring Iasos)\u003cbr\u003eIasos - Celestial Instruments\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e10) Moonlight Watsu in Dub (featuring Nate Mercereau and Photay)\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003ePhotay - Drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e11) Generous Pelvis (featuring Sam Gendel, Deantoni Parks, Nate Mercereau and Adam Rudolph)\u003cbr\u003eSam Gendel - Alto Saxophone and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eDeantoni Parks - Drums\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eAdam Rudolph - Dubbed Hindewhu and Voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e12) Bi-Location (featuring Aaron Shaw, Andres Renteria and Nate Mercereau)\u003cbr\u003eAaron Shaw - Tenor Saxophone\u003cbr\u003eAndres Renteria - Hand Drums and Percussion\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003efrom a Live Quartet Concert at The World Stage\u003cbr\u003eon Friday, February 10, 2023, hosted by Dwight Trible\u003cbr\u003eand Mama Nene.\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by Tomoaki Soto\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Nate Mercereau\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e13) “Play Kerri Chandler’s RAIN” (featuring Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau and Cavana Lee)\u003cbr\u003eConceived by Carlos Niño\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Nate Mercereau\u003cbr\u003eMixed and Arranged by Nate Mercereau\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina - Electric Piano, Synth Bass,\u003cbr\u003eLead Synth, Electronic Strings. “The vamp landed on after acknowledging the original composition was purely a two-chord celebration of the Spirit Driven collective we all are.”\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Multi-Instruments as part of the Live Trio\u003cbr\u003eperformance, and many more added to his post Arrangement\u003cbr\u003eCavana Lee - Voice, Dancer, Traveler\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Percussion and Cosmic Guide, Narrator\u003cbr\u003eBased on a Live Concert Recording of Surya Botofasina,\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau and Carlos Niño with Special Guest Cavana Lee, from King Georg in Köln, Germany on Thursday, November 17, 2022.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Art by Bernard XOLOTL.\u003cbr\u003eDesign \u0026amp; Layout by Craig Hansen.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThank Yous:\u003cbr\u003eJeff Stabenau, Alex Kelman, Third Side Music, Scottie, Francesca and Cosmo, David Allen and Family, Alejandro Ayala, Dave Vettraino, all International Anthem Family, Ben LaMar Gay, Matthewdavid, Diva and Love, Leaving Records, Justin Hansohn and Anandamide, Noah, May, Sam, Adrian and floating, Laraaji, Luis Pérez Ixoneztli, Phil Ranelin, Michael Gregory Jackson, Matthew, Augustina and the kids, Endless Color, Aztlan Unearthed, Jimetta Rose \u0026amp; The Voices Of Creation, Diego Gaeta and V, Pablo Calogero, Alex Cline, Dntel, Louie \u0026amp; Netty Ryan, Travis, Helen and Cy, Idris Ackamoor, Nep Sidhu, Ishmael Butler, all Botofasina-Reyes Familia, Kamau and Badia Daaood, Joey Ector, Pharoah Sanders, The Village x Preference Records, 2220 Arts + Archive, Quelle Chris, Liv.e, Devin Morrison, Mndsgn, Knx., Greg Paul, Sudan Archives, Qur’an Shaheed, Sharada Shashidhar, Aankha Neal, Green-House, N Kramer, Colloboh, Alex Rita, Touching Bass, Aparna Sarkar, Arji, Cindy Aikman, Ellie Torres, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Jada Rose, Will Logan, Novena Carmel, Linafornia, Madlib, Josh Johnson, Rush Hour, Mark Maxwell, Don Hernandez, Kate Magic, the Families of everyone that contributed to this Album, to Bandcamp, to Nathan \u0026amp; Michelle Vinson, CJ and EZ, Doctor Mike De Napoli, Hashim and Akiko Bharoocha, Niki and Yusuke Tsukamoto, Stephen, Tracy and Dylan, Solar Return, Shabaka Hutchings and Marwa, Kamasi Washington, Saul Williams, Terence Nance, Roba El-Essawy, Miles Spilsbury, Ariel Spilsbury, Celia Hollander, Lionmilk, Jason Lader, Bruce Schachne and Family, April Bombai, Duval Timothy, J Rocc, Falle Nioke, Sibusile Xaba, David Keady, Q-Tip, DJ Premier . . .\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":50256407036178,"sku":"IARC0080LP","price":31.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Placental Purple\" Color Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":52120999723282,"sku":"IARC0080LPI","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120999756050,"sku":"IARC0080CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":52120999788818,"sku":"IARC0080Cassette","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999821586,"sku":"IARC0080","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120999854354,"sku":"IARC0080LP-TP","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3331746881_10.jpg?v=1773342393"},{"product_id":"tom-skinner-voices-of-bishara-live-at-mu","title":"Tom Skinner - Voices of Bishara Live at ''mu''","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eIn January 2023, Tom Skinner and his ensemble performed material from his recently-released album 'Voices of Bishara' (Brownswood, IARC \u0026amp; Nonesuch, 2022) at London club “mu”— a venue founded by the curators at Brilliant Corners and named after the seminal Don Cherry live album. Their performance was augmented by three pieces by Abdul Wadud, whose 1977 self-released solo cello album, By Myself, was a primary inspiration for Voices of Bishara.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe woodwinds featured on Skinner's original Voices of Bishara album — Shabaka Hutchings and Nubya Garcia — had already been replaced in Skinner's live ensemble with Robert Stillman (who also plays with Skinner in The Smile) and Chelsea Carmichael; with the extended rhythm section of Tom Herbert (double bass) and Kareem Dayes (cello) still rounding out the lineup with Skinner on drums.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the opening moments of Voices of Bishara Live at \"mu\", which was recorded on that legendary January 2023 night, it's clear that this band’s aim is to excavate the deep corners of the repertoire, kicking things off with an extended rendition of Skinner’s own composition “Bishara” that employs the same relationship to rhythmic and tonal freedom found in the Abdul Wadud cello work that inspired it. That aesthetic connection is even more clear by the time the\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003egroup moves into their 20-minute exploration of Wadud’s “Oasis,” the stunning centerpiece of the set that culminates with a scorching 5+ minute sax solo by Carmichael.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHearing Skinner’s compositions - flexed and stretched with extended improvisation, and in context with works by Wadud - both places them and this band firmly in the creative music continuum they honor, and provides us with an unobstructed view of where that continuum is leading us.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased May 10, 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTom Skinner – drums\u003cbr\u003eKareem Dayes – cello\u003cbr\u003eChelsea Carmichael – tenor saxophone and flute\u003cbr\u003eTom Herbert – bass\u003cbr\u003eRobert Stillman – tenor saxophone\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded live at “mu” London by Juan Blanco on January 18th and 19th, 2023.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Dilip Harris.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSleeve design and artwork by Paul Camo for Studio Camo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Bishara,\" \"The Journey,\" and \"The Day After Tomorrow\" composed by Tom Skinner (Warp Publishing).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Red 2\" is a version of \"Two Pieces of One: Red,\" composed by Anthony Tillman Williams (EMI Music Publishing Ltd\/EMI Blackwood Music Inc\/Tillmon Music Co. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oasis,\" \"Camille,\" and \"Happiness\" composed by Ronald Earsell DeVaughn (Bisharra Music).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMade with gratitude, love, respect, and admiration for the great Abdul Wadud.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":50256419848466,"sku":"IARC0076LPI","price":44.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition Deluxe Compact Disc","offer_id":52121240830226,"sku":"IARC0076CDI","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition Cassette","offer_id":52121240862994,"sku":"IARC0076CS","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121240895762,"sku":"IARC0076","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121240928530,"sku":"IARC0076LP-TP","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a1081356019_10.jpg?v=1773342364"},{"product_id":"sml-small-medium-large","title":"SML - Small Medium Large","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eSML is the quintet of bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, percussionist Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir debut album 'Small Medium Large' began as a collection of long form improvisations recorded during two separate two-night stands at beloved Highland Park, Los Angeles venue ETA. Unfortunately, this major development site for the burgeoning new West Coast jazz \u0026amp; improvised music sound closed its doors permanently at the end of 2023.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe venue, perhaps best known outside of LA for Jeff Parker's 2022 album 'Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy', was the perfect location for the start of SML, especially given that both bassist Anna Butterss and saxophonist Josh Johnson are part of Parker's quartet that held down a regular gig at ETA since the venue's early days (and hence thoroughly documented, heard on Parker's album). 'Small Medium Large' was engineered and recorded in stereo direct to Nagra by Bryce Gonzales and compiled, arranged, and edited with additional production, recording, and studio composition by SML across their various home studios.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile editing, chopping, and rearranging stereo mixed\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eimprovisations is hardly a new idea (for a modern and relevant example we can look to Makaya McCraven's output on IARC) these results are a stunning expansion of the Teo Macero \/ Miles Davis editing concept explored on classics like 'In a Silent Way', 'On The Corner', and 'Get Up With It'. Stylistically though, these recordings have more in common with the proto-trance repetitions of Harmonia, and with Holgar Czukay's re-assembly technique used in his work with Can. Throw in a supremely intuitive utilization of polyrhythmic floating patterns (a la Susumu Yokota), and the result is a truly innovative take on time-clocked electronic rhythms augmented with live instrumentation that never loses that elusive human sway.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Small Medium Large' is a sublime assemblage of circulatory grooves and textural anomalies, at different moments recalling the synth-laced improvisations of Herbie Hancock's Sextant, the jagged dance punk of Essential Logic, the rhythmic revelry of Fela Kuti, the low-end elasticity of Parliament\/Funkadelic, or the glitchy dub techno of Pole. Taken in totality, the album captures a euphoric creative synchronicity between some of today's most exciting musicians.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased June 28, 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music composed by Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum, Gregory Uhlmann. Performed live by SML.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnna Butterss - Electric Bass\u003cbr\u003eJeremiah Chiu - Synthesizers, Live-sampling, Aux Percussion\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - Saxophone, Electronics\u003cbr\u003eBooker Stardrum - Drums, Percussion\u003cbr\u003eGregory Uhlmann - Guitar, Effects\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered and recorded in stereo direct to Nagra by Bryce Gonzales at ETA, Los Angeles (October 12–13 2022 \u0026amp; April 8–9 2023). Overdubs by SML (2024).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Jeremiah Chiu \u0026amp; SML.\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Dave Vettraino \u0026amp; SML.\u003cbr\u003eSequenced by Scott McNiece \u0026amp; SML.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover art by Miranda Javid.\u003cbr\u003eInsert photos by Brian Guido.\u003cbr\u003eLayout by Jeremiah Chiu.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":50256434594066,"sku":"IARC0085LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Sedimentary Orange\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121009324306,"sku":"IARC0085LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121009357074,"sku":"IARC0085CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121009389842,"sku":"IARC0085","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121009422610,"sku":"IARC0085LP-1","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3892331806_10.jpg?v=1773342295"},{"product_id":"ariel-kalma-jeremiah-chiu-marta-sofia-honer-the-closest-thing-to-silence","title":"Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu \u0026 Marta Sofia Honer - The Closest Thing to Silence","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eIn August 2022, Australia-based, French born fourth-world music legend Ariel Kalma was invited to participate in BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction series of special collaborations. The program pairs artists who have not previously worked together to create new music cooperatively.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKalma was quick to suggest working with two musicians whom he had never met – International Anthem recording artists Jeremiah Chiu \u0026amp; Marta Sofia Honer, whose critically-acclaimed duo debut 'Recordings from the Åland Islands' had been released just a few months earlier. An invitation was sent to Chiu and Honer, which was received with great enthusiasm, as Chiu had long been a fan of Kalma’s work, even citing him as a major influence on his approach to electronic music composition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe essential structure of the Late Junction collaboration was that the artists would work together to create around twenty minutes of music. They began passing music back and forth, some that Kalma had started, and some that Honer \u0026amp; Chiu had started, with each adding to or editing the track before returning it to the other. The music would only go back and forth a few times before being finalized.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter meeting their twenty minute goal for the program\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(four pieces total), the three musicians were satisfied in what they would present and sent along their work to the producers of Late Junction. However, there was a nagging suspicion that this wasn’t the end of the story. There were several pieces that they had nearly completed but that weren’t sent for inclusion in the radio program, and there were many ideas for refining those pieces that had. With this in mind Kalma, Chiu and Honer agreed that they would continue to work together to try to push the music further. The freshly minted trio felt like there was much more to be said and more work to be done. The Late Junction program was broadcast in September of 2022. Simultaneously, Kalma, Chiu and Honer began expanding upon the music they had started for the purpose of the broadcast, working diligently on the music for several months.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir collective approach to this work was born in improvisation and realized via collage-based editing. The end result brings several distinct musical moments — recorded sometimes decades apart — into conversation with one another, forming new narratives from building blocks of old ones. There are snippets of improvised playing from each musician, edited together with recordings that Kalma had made in the 70s at GRM, and even moments of audio notes — like Kalma explaining his ideas — that would make it into the final mixes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUltimately, the collection of music highlights the work of all three musicians, intertwining the contextual immersion heard on Chiu \u0026amp; Honer’s 'Recordings from the Åland Islands' with an intergenerational reverence for (and the undeniable presence of) Kalma’s decades-spanning body of work. It is work that has definitively enshrined him as one of the true, transcendent pioneers and sages of new age and fourth-world music. That reverence is affirmed by the album title chosen by the group — \"The Closest Thing to Silence\" — which is taken from a quote by Kalma included in a documentary by RVNG Intl (as part of their release of the 2014 compendium\/retrospective An Evolutionary Music). Perhaps coincidental, Kalma’s quote was a slight modulation of a legendary ECM Records motto, as he said: “Music is the closest thing to silence.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReleased February 2, 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Mullumbimby Blue\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52611336470802,"sku":"IARC0077LPX","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":50256495902994,"sku":"IARC0077LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Silent Gray\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120909840658,"sku":"IARC0077LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120909873426,"sku":"IARC0077CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999067922,"sku":"IARC0077","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3064571280_10.jpg?v=1773342339"},{"product_id":"angel-bat-dawid-requiem-for-jazz","title":"Angel Bat Dawid - Requiem for Jazz","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eComposer, clarinetist, singer and educator Angel Bat Dawid announces the release of a new work, Requiem For Jazz. A 12-movement suite composed, arranged, and inspired in part by dialogue from Edward O. Bland’s 1959 film The Cry of Jazz, the album is a wide-ranging treatise on the African American story from one of its most astute narrators.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eItself an incisive critique of racial politics in the USA, The Cry of Jazz draws formal comparisons between the structure of jazz music and the African American experience - as one of freedom and restraint, of joy and suffering - that manifests in the triumph of spirit over the crushing prejudice of daily life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCutting together archive reels from Black neighborhoods in Chicago with live performance footage from Sun Ra and his Arkestra among others, the film remains a radical and prescient evocation of Black pride and its roots in the history of jazz, from spirituals to blues and beyond.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs South African writer Nombuso Mathibela captures in the album’s liner notes:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Music is our weapon of struggle]\u003cbr\u003ethat radiantly holds our positive aspiration\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e, group pride and determination as Black people. Sonics! our beautiful fire that gave light to the world.\u003cbr\u003eAnd a world that gave us blues. The blues that gave us Black in jazz\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing a through line to today’s vibrant avant-garde, Angel Bat Dawid’s Requiem For Jazz picks up the liberation work laid out by Bland’s film, taking the message of joy and suffering within the Black classical tradition into a contemporary setting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMusic from the project was originally premiered at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in Chicago in 2019, where Angel conducted a multigenerational fifteen-piece instrumental ensemble of Black musicians from across Chicago’s creative community, alongside a four-person choir (featuring singers from Black Monument Ensemble) as well as dancers and visual artists.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecordings from the performance were then mixed and post-produced by Angel, who added interludes, vocals and additional sounds. As well as transcribing a piece from the film, Requiem For Jazz also alludes to The Cry of Jazz through contributions from the Sun Ra Arkestra’s Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott on the album’s final movement, which were recorded remotely at the historic Arkestral Institute of Sun Ra in Philadelphia in late 2020.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I want us to have this very wonderful conversation that Ed Bland started over 50 years ago and I want to continue the conversation; because this is a loving conversation that we need to have with each other” - Angel Bat Dawid, Feb 2023\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 24, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRequiem for Jazz Composed, Arranged, Conducted \u0026amp; Mixed by Angel Bat Dawid\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eexcept “My Rhapsody,” from the 1959 Ed Bland film “The Cry of Jazz,” composed by Paul Severson \u0026amp; Norman Leist (Glenayre Publishing Co. BMI), arranged by Angel Bat Dawid.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLyrics include extracts from “The Cry of Jazz” and the Roman Catholic Liturgical Requiem Missal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRequiem for Jazz Intros\/Interludes Composed, Produced, Mixed \u0026amp; Performed by Angel Bat Dawid\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRequiem for Jazz premiered Sept, 30th 2019 at the Reva \u0026amp; David Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago, IL. Commissioned for the 2019 Annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded Live by Najee-Zaid Searcy \u0026amp; Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Najee-Zaid Searcy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTha ArkeStarzz:\u003cbr\u003ePiano - Dr. Charles Joseph Smith\u003cbr\u003eContrabass - Jeremiah Hunt\u003cbr\u003ePercussion - Vincent Davis\u003cbr\u003eAuxiliary Instruments - Xristian Espinoza\u003cbr\u003eElectronics - Norman W. Long\u003cbr\u003eFlute - Dr. Adam Zanolini\u003cbr\u003eClarinet - Hannah Washington\u003cbr\u003eTrumpet - Sam Thousand\u003cbr\u003eSoprano Saxophone - Isaiah Collier\u003cbr\u003eAlto Saxophone - Fred Jackson Jr.\u003cbr\u003eTenor Saxophone - Kwesaiah\u003cbr\u003eViolin - J’Niya Blunt\u003cbr\u003eViolin - DaJour Smith\u003cbr\u003eViola - Michelle Manson\u003cbr\u003eCello - Olula\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTha Choruzz:\u003cbr\u003eSoprano - Tramaine Parker\u003cbr\u003eAlto - Monique Golding\u003cbr\u003eTenor - Deacon Julian Otis Cooke\u003cbr\u003eBaritone - Phillip Armstrong\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial Cosmic Guests on “Lux Aeterna- Eternal Light\/My Rhapsody”:\u003cbr\u003eMarshall Allen - Alto Sax, Ewi\u003cbr\u003eKnoel Scott - Percussion\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDancers:\u003cbr\u003eViktor Le Givens\u003cbr\u003eAquarius\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSet Design:\u003cbr\u003eViktor Le Givens\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVisualz:\u003cbr\u003eJonathan Woods\u003cbr\u003eLiz Gomez\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":50256734093586,"sku":"IMRC0061LP","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Thy Kingdom Come\" Purple Color Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":52120908890386,"sku":"IMRC0061LPI","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120908923154,"sku":"IMRC0061CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120998412562,"sku":"IMRC0061","price":11.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120908955922,"sku":"IMRC0061LP-1","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3348922210_10_069a66f4-25bc-4750-9b9a-89741a536e3b.jpg?v=1773691930"},{"product_id":"rob-mazurek-exploding-star-orchestra-lightning-dreamers","title":"Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra - Lightning Dreamers","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eLightning Dreamers is new work by composer, trumpeter, interdisciplinary abstractivist and modern music mogul Rob Mazurek, who wrote the music for a compacted version of his long-running Exploding Star Orchestra. A follow-up to the acclaimed 2020 Mazurek\/ESO release Dimensional Stardust, the album features guitarist Jeff Parker, vocalist Damon Locks, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and pianists Angelica Sanchez and Craig Taborn, among others. It was recorded mostly at the remote Sonic Ranch studios in West Texas, not far from Mazurek’s current home in Marfa, in the days leading up to a debut of the music at Trans Pecos festival in September 2021. Mixing and post-production was headed by Dave Vettraino from IARC studios in Chicago across 2022.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album’s opener “Future Shaman” was co-produced by Parker and features added percussion by Mazurek’s longtime São Paulo Underground collaborator Mauricio Takara, as well as synth bass from\u003cbr\u003eCathlene Pineda. The track finds Mazurek and ESO where they left off with Dimensional Stardust – deep in a chromatic beat fantasy of outer-space grooves and Bartok-ian riffs. Vocalist\/MC Locks brings the Orson Welles via Deltron 3030 energy while Taborn and Sanchez face-off from behind Wurlitzer pianos and Moog\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003esynthesizers. On “Dream Sleeper” Locks’s poetry is swirled in drifting storm clouds of fractured atmospherics, both improvised and composed. “Shape Shifter” finds Mazurek recalling a past life of Isotope 217 – not just for the swinging grooves anchored by Moog basslines, but also in that he returns to the trumpet after years of playing cornet. Once the soaring melodic theme is established the ensemble shifts into On The Corner mode, creating a mangled rhythmic base for Taborn’s Wurlitzer runs and clean guitar soloing from Parker, before shapeshifting yet again under Mazurek’s rising polytonal electronics as Locks’s scattered vocal embellishments take us to the promised land.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album’s whole B-side is an immersive trip that spans two tracks – “Black River” and “White River” – for which Mazurek interwove takes from the Sonic Ranch sessions with live material from an expanded ESO performance recorded in February 2022 at Sons d’Hiver in Paris, France. In the liner notes for Lightning Dreamers, Mazurek writes that the music is “an evocation of a theme from the “Black River Suite,” which I have been revisiting and reimagining over time.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe elaborates: “I spent 3 years of my life on the great Rio Negro in Manaus, Brazil, where the Black and White Rivers meet. It is custom and a kind of rebirthing to take a boat to the dividing\/divining line of these 2 great rivers and dive into and through, as an affirmation of the simple premise (although We All Come from Somewhere Else) that we all come from the same place... the stars. The feeling of moving between and through these great bodies of water is etched in my soul forever. The visual and sonic material (both thematic and imagined) evokes the spirits past, present and future along this mighty river. The undercurrents of time, the movement of storm systems in the sky, the gentle sway of a boat moving upriver, the power and intensity when the wind decides to blow and the torrential rains fall. The sound of the electric eels below, the melodies of the inhabitants along the way, the\u003cbr\u003eshattering blasts from lightning in the sky. The river flows on and on and on.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmong the artists featured in the recording from Sons d’Hiver is the late jaimie branch, playing synthesizers \u0026amp; electronics behind the guiding trumpet improvisations of Mazurek (whom she long considered a mentor in multiple mediums). She passed away in August 2022, and her earthly absence has since imbued an otherworldly presence into the chaotic riptide of sound on “Black River.” As production wrapped on the album that Fall, Mazurek was moved to present Lightning Dreamers as a dedication to branch’s memory.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 31, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music composed by Rob Mazurek (OLHO, ASCAP). Words by Damon Locks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded at Sonic Ranch, Tornillo, TX, September 23rd \u0026amp; 24th, 2021.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRob Mazurek - director, composer, trumpets, voice, launeddas, electronic treatments\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - guitar\u003cbr\u003eCraig Taborn - wurlitzer, moog matriarch\u003cbr\u003eAngelica Sanchez - wurlitzer, piano, moog sub 37\u003cbr\u003eDamon Locks - voice, electronics, samplers, text\u003cbr\u003eGerald Cleaver - drums\u003cbr\u003eMauricio Takara - electronic percussion, percussion\u003cbr\u003eNicole Mitchell - flute, voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Future Shaman\" co-produced by Jeff Parker, with additional synth bass played by Cathlene Pineda.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Black River” and \"Dream Sleeper\" include samples of Exploding Star Orchestra recorded live at Sons d’hiver in Paris, France, on February 3rd, 2022, featuring: Rob Mazurek, jaimie branch, Tomeka Reid, Thomas Roher, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Julien Desprez, Pasquale Mirra, Angelica Sanchez, Damon Locks, Mikel Patrick Avery, Chad Taylor, and Mauricio Takara.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered by: Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eAdditional Recording by: Jeff Parker, Mauricio Takara, Nicole Mitchell, and Rob Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003eProduced and Mixed by: Dave Vettraino \u0026amp; Rob Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by: David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlbum art by: Rob Mazurek Radical Chimeric #1 #2 (mesh, screen, mylar, canvas, video projection) 2022.\u003cbr\u003eInsert Photo by: Britt Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by: Craig Hansen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThank You Britt Mazurek.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis album is dedicated to jaimie branch.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":50256736387346,"sku":"IARC0065LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Silver Lightning\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121008406802,"sku":"IARC0065LPS","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121008439570,"sku":"IARC0065CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121008472338,"sku":"IARC0065","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0713357999_10.jpg?v=1773342278"},{"product_id":"asher-gamedze-turbulence-and-pulse","title":"Asher Gamedze - Turbulence and Pulse","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eCape Town, South Africa-based drummer Asher Gamedze explores relationships of time between music and history on his new album Turbulence and Pulse, out May 5th 2023.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGamedze’s critically-acclaimed debut album Dialectic Soul was released at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in July 2020. Around the release of that record, with friend and writer Teju Adeleye he organized and participated in a joint online discussion “Poesis,” with historian Robin D.G. Kelley and others. One of the notable comments made in this session was by the poet and scholar Fred Moten, who described Gamedze’s drumming as an “amazing interplay between turbulence and pulse. Pulse is supposed to regulate and also be regular, but the turbulence underneath it and on top of it, it’s just extraordinary.” Moten added that this concept is a fundamental element of the percussive approach in Black music more broadly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTurbulence and Pulse takes its title from this moment of synchronicities. Inspired by this description, Gamedze developed the metaphor further, expanding the concept of turbulence and pulse through the lens of history. “Time in music is a metaphor for thinking about time in history and how time moves,” he says. “The way we’re taught history is generally in a way that robs people of\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eagency in imagining themselves as part of history and how it unfolds. It is something that happens to us. I think there's a productive metaphor in that because the sense of time in music is created by musicians playing together. If we can use that to think about history and time in history, you can see that, actually, history is created by people in a whole range of ways. At the heart of it, historical motion is created by people organized and acting together, whether for progressive or reactionary ends.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Gamedze, the underlying message of Turbulence and Pulse is “to claim a form of historical agency and realize that the future is not a foregone conclusion. As people we can organize, to transform our world in small and big ways.” This concept comes out of Gamedze’s involvement in radical cultural work and political organizing. He adds: “One of the ideas that I've had for a long time is to unsettle the way that people think about culture as something static or as something fixed. There’s this tension in Africa, because of the way that the colonists have constructed visions of African culture, where people speak about this need to conserve culture and document it. I think that's important, but you also have to understand that these things are moving. And we are the people who have to participate in that movement.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the album artwork, Gamedze extends the visual aesthetic of his previous release with a hand-drawn illustration. “I feel like my drawings represent the inside of my mind. It’s very free and improvisational,” he says. Friend and designer Naadira Patel worked with Gamedze to design the final cover layout, which includes liner notes penned by his sister, writer and artist Thuli Gamedze.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTurbulence and Pulse comes via the partnership of Chicago-based International Anthem and Johannesburg-based Mushroom Hour Half Hour, as the first collaborative release by the two labels. - album writeup by Atiyyah Khan\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReleased May 5, 2023\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":50256739238162,"sku":"IARC0057LP","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"One Drop\" Color Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":52120909938962,"sku":"IARC0057LPI","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120909971730,"sku":"IARC0057CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999100690,"sku":"IARC0057","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0792804420_10.jpg?v=1773342246"},{"product_id":"jaimie-branch-fly-or-die-fly-or-die-fly-or-die-world-war","title":"jaimie branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eI\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003en July of 2022, just one month before jaimie branch’s death sent shockwaves around the world, the trumpet player and composer was in Chicago at International Anthem studios putting finishing touches on an album. It was a suite of music she had composed and then recorded with her flagship ensemble, Fly or Die, over the course of a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska. In her wake, the album was near complete, with only mixing tweaks, final titles, and artwork to be fully realized. In the months following, her family (led by sister Kate Branch), her band (Jason Ajemian, Lester St. Louis, and Chad Taylor), and her collaborators at IARC banded together to gather memories, texts, emails, photographs, artwork and fragments belonging to jaimie to light the path forward. The goal was always to do what jaimie would have done. Packaged in stunning artwork by John Herndon, Damon Locks, and branch herself, Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) is jaimie’s final album with her Fly or Die quartet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the album's liner notes, written by jaimie's Fly or Die bandmates:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“jaimie never had small ideas. She always thought big. The minute you told her she couldn’t do something, or that something\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewould be too difficult to accomplish, the more determined and focused she became. And this album is big. Far bigger and more demanding — for us, and for you — than any other Fly or Die record. For this, jaimie wanted to play with longer forms, more modulations, more noise, more singing, and as always, grooves and melodies. She was a dynamic melodicist. jaimie wanted this album to be lush, grand and full of life, just as she was. Every time we take a listen, we feel the deep imprint of her all over the music, and we see all of us making it together.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003eReleased August 25, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ejaimie branch – trumpet, voice, keyboard, percussion, happy apple\u003cbr\u003eLester St. Louis – cello, voice, flute, marimba, keyboard\u003cbr\u003eJason Ajemian – double bass, electric bass, voice, marimba\u003cbr\u003eChad Taylor – drums, mbira, timpani, bells, marimba\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-with special guests-\u003cbr\u003eNick Broste - trombone (on track 5 \u0026amp; 6)\u003cbr\u003eRob Frye - flute (track 5), bass clarinet (track 5, 6 \u0026amp; 7)\u003cbr\u003eAkenya Seymour - voice (track 5)\u003cbr\u003eDaniel Villarreal - conga and percussion (track 2, 5, 6 \u0026amp; 7)\u003cbr\u003eKuma Dog - voice (track 5)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll compositions by jaimie branch; except \"and kuma walks” composed by jaimie branch, Lester St. Louis, Jason Ajemian \u0026amp; Chad Taylor; and “the mountain” composed by Curt Kirkwood (originally performed by The Meat Puppets as “Comin’ Down”).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE, April 25-29, 2022. Edits, overdubs and mixing at International Anthem Studios in Chicago, IL, July 18-23, 2022. Additional mixing at International Anthem Studios, August \u0026amp; December 2022.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by: Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eEdited by: jaimie branch \u0026amp; Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eMixed by: Dave Vettraino \u0026amp; David Allen\u003cbr\u003eMastered by: David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Art by: jaimie branch \u0026amp; John Herndon\u003cbr\u003eCover Design by: Damon Locks\u003cbr\u003ePhotography by: Ben Semisch; courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts\u003cbr\u003eLiner Notes by: Jason Ajemian, Lester St. Louis, and Chad Taylor; edited by Kate Branch.\u003cbr\u003eLayout \u0026amp; Insert Design by: Craig Hansen\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"\"Limousine Black\" Vinyl LP","offer_id":50256800743698,"sku":"IARC0066LP","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"Peacock Couture\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121003098386,"sku":"IARC0066LPS","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121003131154,"sku":"IARC0066CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121003163922,"sku":"IARC0066","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0938416696_10.jpg?v=1773342206"},{"product_id":"carlos-nino-friends-im-just-chillin-on-fire","title":"Carlos Niño \u0026 Friends - (I'm just) Chillin', on Fire","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eLiner Notes by Marcus J. Moore:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the past few years, concert patrons have stopped the musician Carlos Niño after gigs to ask two simple questions: “Are you a shaman?” “I hear the medicine in your music, can I come to your next ceremony?” The queries are fair enough: Looking at Niño, a tall man with a wild beard and kind eyes, one would think he’s from some faraway time and could maybe cast spells. Once you get to know him, you find that he’s just an incredibly sweet guy with a laid-back demeanor, and that he isn’t some guru claiming to have an all-access pass to the otherworld.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo what does he say to those wondering if he’s a spiritual teacher?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I’m just chillin’, on fire,” he declares. “I'm not rolling with or out any kind of religious or traditional focus, rules or doctrine. I'm just presenting something that has a lot of energy, and is intended to be an opening for those of us who are journeying, creating musically, and for those who gather with us.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIndeed, there’s a communal essence to Niño’s self-described Energetic Space Music. As leader of Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Friends, he encourages his collaborators to improvise without preconceived ideas of what the sound is supposed to entail. His new album\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e, (I’m just) Chillin’, on Fire, features more than a dozen musicians and includes a who’s who of sonic experimentation — everyone from guitarist Nate Mercereau and saxophonist Kamasi Washington, to New Age cornerstone Laraaji and hip-hop legend André 3000 playing his now trademark flute. On purpose, Niño lets the music drift and the unity ensue, making (I’m just) Chillin’, on Fire another highlight in a recent run of sublime work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut where albums like 2020’s Chicago Waves (with multi-instrumentalist Miguel Atwood-Ferguson) and last year’s Extra Presence hovered in the speakers, (I’m just) Chillin’ forges ahead in certain spots through energetic drums equally indebted to jazz and electronic funk. It eschews genre, but the tenets of ‘70s underground jazz are present. Fifty years ago, acts like Brother Ah, the Ensemble Al-Salaam and Mtume Umoja Ensemble crafted music that scanned as Spiritual Jazz yet flared in many different directions. They leaned into the transcendence of the music overall, not artificial terms used to market it. (I’m just) Chillin’ emits the same emotion: On “Mighty Stillness,” when the experimental violinist V.C.R proclaims her “ancestral right” to rest, she evokes Black women like Jeanne Lee, Jayne Cortez and Beatrice Parker, innovative vocalists from indie scenes who embodied the same freedom. Then on “Love Dedication (for Annelise),” Niño uses subtle bass (from Michael Alvidrez) and a serene piano loop (from Surya Botofasina) to speak of endearment in broad terms. “Love is unconditional — everywhere, everything, flowing always,” he observes. “Totally alive, no upper limit.” Though he hesitates to embrace comparisons to the spacious arrangements heard on indie labels of the ‘70s like Strata, Strata-East and Tribe (only because of how much he respects their legacies, not wanting to claim any space in their fields), there’s no denying his stature as an anchor in the jazz, hip-hop and beat scenes in Los Angeles over the last nearly 30 years, and how his influences are alive in what he makes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“All of those labels to me are hugely influential,” Niño says. “When I think about Strata-East, I immediately think of Pharaoh Sanders, and I think of one of my favorite albums of all-time, Live at the East (on Impulse!), and how The East and that movement is a huge influence. I'm not from that community. I don't claim any direct connection to it, but my awareness of it and my appreciation of it is gigantic.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe vocals for (I’m just) Chillin’ were compiled unconventionally. “I was like, ‘I'm going to turn on the mic, and you're going to listen all the way through the album and record anything you're feeling at any moment,’” Niño says of the creative process. “It was completely open to their interpretation.” He found that the vocalists Cavana Lee, Maia, Mia Doi Todd, and V.C.R interpreted the music in similar ways: “People who are not even in the same room, who did not hear what the other person did, they all created these really cool weavings — and it was so fun.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile the album compiles live and studio arrangements recorded in places like Venice, Leimert Park and Woodstock over the past three years, it feels harmonious, as if captured in one space with all musicians present. This highlights Niño’s ability as a conductor and producer. That he could winnow such vast experimentation into a seamless set is a worthy feat on its own. Much like Niño’s other LPs, (I’m just) Chillin’ is an immersive listen that requires attentive ears to fully absorb. In a world dominated by social media and the 24-hour news cycle, it seems we’re all in a hurry for no reason in particular. By creating music with tender messages and leisurely pacing, Niño nudges listeners to slow down and appreciate life’s natural wonders, to savor the journey and not rush so quickly to the destination. In turn, his art conjures pastoral images — endless fields, boundless oceans, ripples crashing along the shoreline. It urges you to simply look up: notice the wind rustling through the trees, listen to the birds sing a glorious song. This is real life, the stuff you can’t quite capture with a smartphone camera. As a conduit, Niño embodies the water he cherishes so deeply. He’s not just the bandleader, but a vessel for everyone’s ideas to shine through.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Creativity, to me, is an expression of a being's state, and their states of being,” he says. “It's really reflecting or reporting how they feel. The deeper ‘why’ is what I'm getting to with all this, what is inside that feeling, and it's not uncharted territory. I'm one of these people who's very into organizing, curating and offering; it's a deeply sharing kind of thing. It's a living thing; it grows. Sometimes it gets sculpted. Sometimes it gets rocked by forces outside of its maneuvering. Sometimes it looks one way. Sometimes it looks another way, but it's alive.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased September 15, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced, Mixed, Edited, and Arranged by Carlos Niño.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBells, Chimes, Cymbals, Drums, Field Recordings, Flutes, Gongs, Kalimbas, Keyboards, Leaves, Plants, Rattles, Shakers, Sound Design, Synths, Voice, and Whistles throughout by Carlos Niño.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Photo by Annelise.\u003cbr\u003eOn The Cover and Insert: Tile VI (Fall in or Fly Away), Ceramic, by Aparna Sarkar.\u003cbr\u003eArt Direction and Original Elements by Nep Sidhu.\u003cbr\u003eGraphic Design and Layout by Craig Hansen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e01) Venice 100720, Hands In Soil\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams – Drums\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - Alto Saxophone and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eAndres Renteria – Congas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded Live in The Townhouse Courtyard in Venice, California by Don Hernandez, on Wednesday, October 7, 2020. Congas added in January 2021.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e02) Mighty Stillness\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams – Drums\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - Alto Saxophone and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eV.C.R – Voice\u003cbr\u003eCavana Lee – Voice\u003cbr\u003eMia Doi Todd – Voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded Live at The World Stage in Leimert Park, California by Tomoaki Soto on Friday, November 6, 2020. Voices added in December 2022.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e03) Love Dedication (for Annelise)\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina – Piano\u003cbr\u003eMichael Alvidrez – Bass\u003cbr\u003eAnnelise – Voice\u003cbr\u003eCavana Lee – Voice\u003cbr\u003eMaia – Voice\u003cbr\u003eMia Doi Todd – Voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe basis of this piece was Recorded by Jesse Peterson during the Sessions for Surya's Album Everyone's Children. Bass and Voices added in December 2022.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e04) Flutestargate\u003cbr\u003eDeantoni Parks – Drums\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar, Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e05) Maha Rose North 102021, Breathwork\u003cbr\u003eLaraaji - Electric Kalimba and Voice\u003cbr\u003ePhotay - Buchla and Drum Machine\u003cbr\u003eLionmilk – Flute\u003cbr\u003eArji - Chimes and iPad\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded Live at Maharose North, in Woodstock, New York by Stu Pender on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. Thanks to Luke Simon, Diego Gaeta,\u003cbr\u003eMekala Session, and V.C.R. for their additional Vibes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e06) Transcendental Bounce, Run to it\u003cbr\u003eDeantoni Parks – Drums\u003cbr\u003eThe Growth Eternal – Synth Bass\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau – Electric Guitar, Guitar Synth and Effects\u003cbr\u003eSibusile Xaba – Acoustic Guitar\u003cbr\u003eJesse Peterson – Synthesizer(s)\u003cbr\u003eMaia – Voice\u003cbr\u003eCavana Lee – Voice\u003cbr\u003eMia Doi Todd – Voice\u003cbr\u003eV.C.R – Voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e07) Taaaud\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Piano and Wurlitzer\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eSibusile Xaba - Voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eContains a Sample of \"Duat\" by Jamael Dean, from his Solo Piano Album Ished Tree, used with permission from the Artist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e08) Spacial\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean – Piano and Wurlitzer\u003cbr\u003eSibusile Xaba – Voice\u003cbr\u003eJesse Peterson – Synthesizer(s)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e09) Am I Dreaming?\u003cbr\u003eDntel - Modular Synthesizer\u003cbr\u003eLuis Pérez Ixoneztli - Aerophones, Drums and Percussion\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina – Keyboards\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Maya Luma for her energy toward this piece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e10) Etheric Windsurfing, flips and twirls\u003cbr\u003eAdam Rudolph - Drum Machine, and Gimbre\u003cbr\u003eJesse Peterson – Synthesizers\u003cbr\u003eMaia – Voice\u003cbr\u003eAlakoi Peete – Percussion\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina – Keyboards\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e11) Boom Bap Spiritual\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina - Keyboards and Piano\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on the piece \"Beloved California Temple.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e12) Woo, Acknowledgement\u003cbr\u003eMark Ives – Clarinet\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau – Zither\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina – Keyboards\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis piece originated as the second half of a Remix made for the Woo piece \"Paradise In Pimlico\" (from the Album of the same name, released by Quindi Records). Clive and Mark added to the Remix, then Carlos decided to focus on and develop this part.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e13) Sandra’s Willows\u003cbr\u003eAaron Shaw - Tenor Saxophone and Flute\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina – Keyboards\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese pieces were recorded by Jesse Peterson at Carlos Niño’s Home Studio, Composed in the moment for a Film Project by Sandra de la Loza. She and her partner William were present in the Studio.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e14) One For Derf\u003cbr\u003eAaron Shaw - Tenor Saxophone and Flute\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina – Keyboards\u003cbr\u003eMichael Alvidrez – Bass\u003cbr\u003eMaia – Voice\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean – Piano\u003cbr\u003ePablo Calogero - Bass Clarinet\u003cbr\u003eAndres Renteria - Hand Drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDedicated to The Great Derf Reklaw.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e15) Conversations\u003cbr\u003eAndré 3000 - Flute and Voice\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar, Sampler and Synthesizers\u003cbr\u003eMaia – Voice\u003cbr\u003eCavana Lee – Voice\u003cbr\u003eMia Doi Todd – Voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Recording Engineer Ken Oriole and to Jesse Peterson who can be heard playing Gimbre through Pedals for a few moments.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e16) Essence, The Mermaids Call\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Electric Guitar\u003cbr\u003eClive and Mark Ives - Multi-Instruments and Voices\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCo-Produced by Woo. Thanks to Laraaji and his piece \"Essence\" - the inspiration for the genesis of this one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e17) Eightspace 082222\u003cbr\u003eAaron Shaw – EWI\u003cbr\u003eAndres Renteria - Hand Drums\u003cbr\u003eAnnelise – Percussion\u003cbr\u003eDiego Gaeta – Keyboards\u003cbr\u003eKamasi Washington - Tenor Saxophone\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eSurya Botofasina - Keyboards and Piano\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Linafornia, Banch Abegaze, Nes Abegaze, Scottie McNiece, Alejandro Ayala, and Andrew Maxwell for their support of this Concert.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"info license\" id=\"license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":50256895410450,"sku":"IARC0067LP","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Etheric Pink\" Color Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":52120910692626,"sku":"IARC0067LPI","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc (2xCD)","offer_id":52120910725394,"sku":"IARC0067CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition Cassette","offer_id":52120910758162,"sku":"IARC0067CS","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999624978,"sku":"IARC0067","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0903648781_10.jpg?v=1773342181"},{"product_id":"daniel-villarreal-lados-b","title":"Daniel Villarreal - Lados B","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDescription:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eOn October 15th and 16th, 2020, drummer Daniel Villarreal was joined by guitarist Jeff Parker and bassist Anna Butterss for two afternoons of recording in the backyard of Chicali Outpost in Los Angeles. For all three musicians, it was the first ensemble recording session they’d done in-person since the pandemic locked the world down just seven months prior. Some choice moments from these sessions made it onto Villarreal’s critically-acclaimed 2022 album Panamá 77, but most of the music remained unreleased.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLados B is a deep dive into the high-level spontaneous music made by Villarreal, Parker, and Butterss across those two days in 2020. Villarreal is heard leading the group through various rhythmic modes and structures for improvisation – flow as informed by the Latin funk of Fania Records as it is by the otherworldly humanity trance of Brain Records – while Parker and Butterss draw on their extensive experience playing free together (as heard on Parker's recently-released Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, and the LA side of Makaya McCraven's 2018 LP Universal Beings) to build harmonic buoys for their spontaneous melodicism. The result is a beautifully vivid illustration of context, creativity, and collective composition from a particularly rich moment in history.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased October 6, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDaniel Villarreal – drums, percussion\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker – guitar\u003cbr\u003eAnna Butterss – double bass, electric bass\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRhodes piano on “Salute” by Neal Francis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by Ben Lumsdaine, October 15-16, 2020,\u003cbr\u003eat Chicali Outpost, Los Angeles CA.\u003cbr\u003eAdditional Recording by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Dave Vettraino and Daniel Villarreal.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Daniel Villarreal, Dave Vettraino, and Scott McNiece.\u003cbr\u003ePhotos by Carolina Sánchez.\u003cbr\u003eTitles by Natalie Miller.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Craig Hansen.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Expired Film Orange\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52611381330194,"sku":"IARC0071LPX","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":50256957309202,"sku":"IARC0071LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Cigar Smoke\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121000673554,"sku":"IARC0071LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121000706322,"sku":"IARC0071CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121000739090,"sku":"IARC0071","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a4049990247_10.jpg?v=1773342134"},{"product_id":"bex-burch-there-is-only-love-and-fear","title":"Bex Burch - There is Only Love and Fear","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eLiner Notes by Emma Warren:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn rare occasions, all the stars align. This is how it was when composer-musician and instrument-maker Bex Burch jumped into her car and drove eight hours across Europe to Utrecht in November 2021. “Mostly life isn’t like that,” she says. “We’re here to figure things out and struggle. But occasionally things just fall into place. Sometimes the world is magical.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe car trip began in Berlin, where she was living after a long stint in London, where she’d made her name in the layers that exist between jazz and improvised experimentalism. The journey ended at Le Guess Who? Festival and an invitation from International Anthem’s Alejandro Ayala. Or perhaps it ended in a ground floor studio in Chicago’s South Side with light streaming through a skylight onto her newly-finished wooden xylophone and a stream of musicians selected by International Anthem’s Scottie McNiece and Dave Vettraino. Or maybe, like a wave travelling across the ocean, the travels continued until Bex Burch finally finished editing thirty-two days of exceptionally tender improvised recording sessions into the forty gossamer minutes of this stunning debut solo record, which oscillates between modes of quiet open-heartedness and powerful\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eexpression.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is only love and fear is the sound of Bex Burch in communion with some of the finest sonic communicators in International Anthem’s extended family. These include woodwind player Rob Frye, who gave Burch a tour of the Illinois Audubon Society’s Gremel Wildlife Sanctuary the day after she arrived in Chicago. Also Tortoise drummer Dan Bitney and Ben LaMar Gay, who both took Burch through her first few days in the studio, tuning into her communicative harmonics and responding with their own. And double bassist Anna Butterss and violinist Macie Stewart, who participated separately but both became key collaborators in the album’s post-production, accenting their respective string improvisations with additional sounds remotely recorded per Burch’s direction. Everyone on this record is highly skillful, a rare talent, but drawn together by Burch they were invited to inhabit something even more extraordinary: their most open selves, requested only to bring the sounds they liked – or even needed – in the moment of recording.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What has come through in this album,” she says, “is a more domestic style of music: the simplicity of life and sound-making. The word I’m shy to use is ‘feminine’ but it’s true, and I reclaim it in all its power.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe describes her sound as “messy minimalism.” The twelve tracks evoke variously the sweet kind of zoning-in that allows the listener access to their own feelings; the generative meditations of First Thought, Best Thought-era Arthur Russell; Vivaldi or Laurie Anderson – if they’d been ultra-gentle satellite reflections of Chicago’s minimalist and avant-garde music histories.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBurch has previously released as part of Boing! with Leafcutter John, and with the critically acclaimed Strut-released Flock with Londoners including Sarathy Korwar and The Comet Is Coming’s Danalogue. She also runs the band and label Vula Viel and has collaborated with artists from Peter Zummo to Dame Evelyn Glennie.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis album also welcomes in the sound of the natural world; ‘hip as fuck’ wood pigeons and resonant nightingales recorded in Berlin parks and forests, dreamy waves lilting onto the sand on the Baltic coast of Rügen Island for the unforgettable closing track ‘When Love Begins’ – and some extreme Chi-Town weather.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“There was this ignition moment,” she says of ‘You thought you were free’, the carnival-coloured mid-point of the album. “There was a tornado warning, our phones were all going off: ‘go into the basement’.” The players collectively shrugged their shoulders – until siren sound waves began ghosting through the studio walls. “I turned one of the microphones up to catch the thunder and the rain under the skylight,” she says. “I was properly scared, not just because of the storm, but because I was nervous. I was trying to stay open and be conscious of the fact that I didn’t know what to expect – and that doing so means surrender. That knife edge of presence was really intense. We all just played through.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlaying through was possible, at least in part because of a 90-day practice Burch calls Dawn blessings, which also provided some of the ‘heard sounds’ that dance around the music generated during these collaborative recordings. The practice refers to a friend called Dawn, not daybreak, although at least one of the Dawn blessings that ended up on There is only love and fear was recorded when the sun came up. The Dawn blessings required Burch to make one piece of music daily, in answer to the question: ‘what sounds do I like today?’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“My intention was to cultivate this feeling of expansion and magic that I felt when I was invited to the US. The music is already there, and I have to let go and allow myself to be in it. The 90-day practice was to strengthen that muscle. You know if you do sit ups, you get a six-pack? Perhaps this was exercising my openness six-pack.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe was also exercising her hand-made xylophone. Burch lived in Ghana for three years, including an 18-month apprenticeship in instrument-making, in the Upper West of Ghana with master gyil player Thomas Sekgura. The new instrument isn’t of a particular tradition, indeed the harmonics are tuned to maximise the resonance and was made in collaboration with Jamie Linwood in Stroud, in the south west of England. “The question ‘what sounds do I like today?’ brought up harmonics, and this is the first instrument I’ve made because of what I want to hear. This record happens to be the first that features it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's quite a christening: a resonant, respectful, super-warm expression of asymmetry, repetitiveness and space. “It’s how the universe works, it’s how we’re all vibrating. We all resonate, literally, with these fundamentals. Tension and release, space, chaos and asymmetry in heard sounds in nature – I love it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe energy sent into the world when Bex Burch turned the ignition key of her car and drove to Utrecht has finally landed on the beach, in the shape of There is only love and fear. “It’s about choosing to act in love and choosing not to put more force or fear into the world,” she says. “Imagine it like I’m swimming: instead of just leaving a wake of love behind me, I’m pushing it ahead of me, and all around me as well, void of hierarchy, it’s beyond the linear and binary. We can lift people up when we do that.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSoak this music up – it will rejuvenate you.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased October 20, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded for International Anthem at Center for Search \u0026amp; Research (Chicago), Palisade (Chicago), Chicali Outpost (Los Angeles), Bronson Canyon (Los Angeles), Stanglerhof (Italy), Jamie Linwood’s house, and various heard sounds from Yorkshire, The Baltic Sea, Berlin, SüdTirol, Wyoming, Chicago and LA.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered by Dave Vettraino*\u003cbr\u003e*except engineered by Adrian Garcia (track 11), Ben Lumsdaine (tracks 4, 9), Dave Vettraino and Jordan Parry (track 7)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Bex Burch and Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEdited \u0026amp; Produced by Bex Burch\u003cbr\u003eExecutive Producers Scott McNiece, Dave Vettraino, David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArtwork \u0026amp; Design by Jeremiah Chiu\u003cbr\u003ePhotos by Bex Burch (front cover) and Chris Almeida (back cover)\u003cbr\u003eObi strip design by Craig Hansen\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":50256966058258,"sku":"IARC0064LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Brother Sun\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52126832296210,"sku":"IARC0064LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52718076166418,"sku":"IARC0064CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999526674,"sku":"IARC0064","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0040478415_10.jpg?v=1773342106"},{"product_id":"thandi-ntuli-with-carlos-nino-rainbow-revisited","title":"Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño - Rainbow Revisited","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eLiner Notes by Thandi Ntuli:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI travelled to Los Angeles and the USA for the first time in 2019. Although I had not met Carlos in person, we connected via Instagram where he saw a video of me playing a piano motif (titled ‘The One’ in this sequence) that he really liked and expressed a wish to record. This was around 2017. We tried a few times to get me over to Los Angeles, but the timing was always off. Through a performance organised by a creative collective called The Nonsemble at The Ford Theatre we finally got the opportunity to meet, play together and subsequently go into studio to record some improvisations as he guided the recording process.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHaving been aware of some of his work – in particular his collaborative projects as Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Friends, as well as with his friend and long-time collaborator, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – I knew that, with Carlos as producer, the artistic direction of the album would likely take me to a place I’d never considered going. A fact that had me both curious and terrified (as one tends to be when stepping into the unknown) Lol!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInitially keen to record the song that he had seen\/heard me play on Instagram, our performance a few days before the\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003esession drew him to the song Rainbow off my sophomore album, Exiled (2018). On that zen-like California afternoon in Andy Kravitz’s cozy studio in Venice Beach, he encouraged me to play around with various iterations of Rainbow. “Try it this way”, “How about adding that?”, “Can you breathe into the mic?”, “What if you focus on the last section?”, and many other explorations that eventually went through a few cuts, edits, yays and nays to become this body of work. Rainbow Revisited was birthed through that session, another session a couple of days later, and a series of many small synchronicities that led up to that moment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA particularly special moment for me was when he invited me to play something from home, which lent itself to me recording a song originally written by my grandfather that we often sing when at family gatherings. The song is called Nomayoyo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo much has happened since that session in late 2019. Many changes in our personal and collective universes. Losses and gains, births and transitions into the next life, Mother Nature’s ever-constant cycles reminding me that through all the chaos there remains, just beneath, this perfect order in Her ebb and flow. And most importantly, reminding me to feel for Her and to listen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe speaks!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf Rainbow in my initial birthing of it, expressed a discontent with what we have accepted as freedom in South Africa and, possibly, around the world, I’d like to think that Rainbow Revisited is some kind of a response. Where the idea of ‘the rainbow nation’, with all the baggage it carried, had hijacked the innocence and mystical nature of a rainbow, I now reclaim its meaning through going back, going inward, healing, and rebuilding with the hope of a less heart-breaking and more fulfilling tomorrow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLihlanzekile!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased November 17, 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThandi Ntuli: Piano, Synthesizer, Tongo, Voice\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño: Cymbals, Percussion, Plants\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by Andy Kravitz at Studio 4 West, Venice Beach, California, August 2019.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAdditional Recording by Carlos Niño.\u003cbr\u003eProduced and Mixed by Carlos Niño.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen and Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Art by Shabaka Hutchings.\u003cbr\u003ePoem by Thandi Ntuli.\u003cbr\u003eInsert Photo by Thandi Ntuli.\u003cbr\u003eGraphic Design and Layout by Craig Hansen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThandi’s Thank You’s:\u003cbr\u003eMy gratitude to you Carlos for conceiving and believing. For your\u003cbr\u003ehumanity and enthusiasm. All the years that this album was in the\u003cbr\u003emaking, and still so excited about it, if not more-so now. Scottie\u003cbr\u003eand David of International Anthem for your care and unrelenting\u003cbr\u003ebelief in this project. It is an honour to be in partnership with you.\u003cbr\u003eThank you, as well, to Shabaka for your contribution and energy\u003cbr\u003eby means of the artwork. I am so glad we were able to have your\u003cbr\u003evoice included in such a beautiful and fitting way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo Umdali… Always in all ways, I remain committed to Love\u003cbr\u003eand being in service of you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo all those who come before me, in my lineage, in\u003cbr\u003econsciousness, in deeds and musically. And to all those who\u003cbr\u003ehave just arrived and are still to come, who keep us hoping,\u003cbr\u003estriving, and dreaming.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNgiyabonga!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo all who receive this music and complete the circle by giving\u003cbr\u003ethis work meaning, thank you!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd finally, to Graeme… I dedicate my contribution to this\u003cbr\u003ealbum to Dr Graeme Gilfillan who left us just when we\u003cbr\u003econcluded the final details of the album. Like I’d always say to\u003cbr\u003eyou “not all heroes wear capes”. May you be welcomed by a\u003cbr\u003egreat party of all the artists you fought for whilst you walked on\u003cbr\u003ethis earth. There aren’t enough thank you-s for what you have\u003cbr\u003edone for me and how you have empowered me. Thank you for\u003cbr\u003ewalking the walk and being a real one!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKuyosala izibongo.\u003cbr\u003ePhambili!\u003cbr\u003eAyabonga amaPhemba, nabo bonke abahamba nami!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTill we meet again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCarlos's Thank You's:\u003cbr\u003eThandi, what an Honor and Joy to make this Album\u003cbr\u003ewith You, Scottie McNiece, Francesca and Cosmo,\u003cbr\u003eDavid Allen, Alejandro Ayala, International Anthem,\u003cbr\u003eAndy Kravitz, the Wizard, Studio 4 West, The World Stage,\u003cbr\u003eAlex Kelman, Third Side Music, Jason Sugars, Kali Malikah,\u003cbr\u003eGreg Paul, David Otis, Ken Barrientos, Siya Makuzeni,\u003cbr\u003eShabaka Hutchings, Abdullah Ibrahim \/ Dollar Brand,\u003cbr\u003eTownhouse Venice, Louie \u0026amp; Netty Ryan, Novena Carmel,\u003cbr\u003eAlix Fisher, Nate Mercereau, Banch Abegaze, Jesse Peterson,\u003cbr\u003eTravis Lett, Jason Lader, Aaron Wiggs, Laraaji,\u003cbr\u003eClaudia Niño, Je Stabenau, Annelise and Mossy . . .\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":50256971006226,"sku":"IARC0073LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Pot of Gold\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121009455378,"sku":"IARC0073LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121009488146,"sku":"IARC0073CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121009520914,"sku":"IARC0073","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2237445642_10.jpg?v=1773342080"},{"product_id":"alabaster-deplume-a-blade-because-a-blade-is-whole","title":"Alabaster DePlume - A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eAlbum Notes by Liz Pelly:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlabaster DePlume often asks a simple question: what do people need? In his work, at his shows, in his collaborations, the Mancunian singer-saxophonist and poet-philosopher poses this to the people around him. What are people looking for? In recent years, the same reply kept coming up: healing, healing, people need healing. But why, and what does it mean to heal, especially in a world where the very idea is often commodified and sold as a luxury? If people were coming to his music for something so mysterious, he ought to figure it out. Maybe he ought to try some healing himself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“For a long time, I've always tried to give responsibility for my value to someone else,” DePlume told me on a recent phone call. It seemed he’d become so caught up in the work of forging connections, and thinking about the effects of his work on others, that he’d lost a sense of himself. “I was working on that,” he explained.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis experiment in healing included slowing down, reading, reflecting, and even taking up the practice of jiu-jitsu. DePlume wrote poetry, too, including the book 'Looking for my value: prologue to a blade', seventy pages of verse rooted in its title’s great search, in finding strength of self within a community, alongside\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003emeditations on the paradox of the blade. “The blade, that divides, is whole,” he writes in the introduction. “Healing is the forming of a whole, and a whole is singular, more itself, as in more one, as in more alone.” A blade could be used to attack, to shave, to sever, but it could also be used to cut oneself loose—in the process of getting free.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What's the opposite of sleep? It’s trying to sleep,” he told me. “And so what's the opposite of looking for my value? It is knowing my value. It simply is there. My dignity is there. I don't need anyone else to know my dignity, or me, to know it. I know it first. I can't seek it from another. I stand for it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSelections from the poetry book ultimately became the lyrics across half of the tracks on 'A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole', DePlume’s latest full-length work for the reliably great International Anthem label: eleven songs of agency and survival and presence; of confronting life’s pains rather than trying to avoid them; of banishing escapism. In sum, it documents his learning of the fact that dignity and self-determination are prerequisites for becoming whole, which is to say, for healing. If a blade were broken it would not serve its purpose; it must be unbroken, it must be whole, to be of use.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the Alabaster DePlume songbook, the celestial ease of his instrumental tracks can sometimes feel like a trojan horse for a voice that is disarmingly honest about the heaviness of existence. Opener “Oh My Actual Days” is true to form in that sense, with DePlume’s tenor sax and Macie Stewart’s ghostly strings playing together like a slow march towards an inner reckoning, one that’s beautiful because it is true. The punchy and contemplative “Thank You My Pain” makes a rhythmic refrain from his titular lyric, inspired by the Vietnamese monk and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh, who urged the importance of listening to one’s own pain. “Hello my little pain, I know you are here,” Nhất Hạnh would say. “I am home to take care of you. I do not want to cover you up with consumption anymore.” While writing A Blade, DePlume “watched loads of him on YouTube.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen there’s the gorgeous swell of “Invincibility,” an ode to self-respect that feels a bit like a choir of angels led by a trickster, a group contemplating: how do we live with the forces that seek to destroy us? The whole song feels like a heavy exhale, or like the feeling of reaching the surface after a long while underwater. “If I meet with my feelings, they cannot destroy me,” he told me. “When I allow myself to embody them, physically, then I live through that feeling and I meet with it and I make peace with it and I find that my feeling is me, and I welcome it. It is a sense that I cannot be destroyed by my feeling. I am invincible.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Form a V” is the closest DePlume comes to a monologue, and also his song most indebted to his jiu-jitsu practice. “I’ve only been doing it for the past two or three years,” he told me. “But now I don’t know how you get by without it.” The song takes inspiration from a tradition where a whole dojo will stand in the shape of a V, facing just one lone individual, who is then attacked quickly and repeatedly by each of the others. “The title is a challenge to the world,” DePlume explained. “Go on, form a v—I am ready.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcross the first half of the record, when the sax comes in short phrases, it feels like a highlighter over lines in DePlume’s poetry book. Other times, it plays out like an extension of his voice. “Playing the saxophone feels like singing,” he said. A transfixing run of instrumentals on the second half of the record includes “Prayer for My Sovereign Dignity,” an anthem for self-possession. “Believing in yourself feels ridiculous,” he says. “It's ridiculous, but that's what it takes. That's what's required. To stand for yourself is absurd. Let us do the absurd that is standing for ourselves. There is this prayer going on in the background—you can't quite tell what the words are, but it's basically, I'm praying for my sovereign dignity but I don't need to pray for it. It's not going to be given to me. I already have it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhere DePlume’s previous material was drawn from collective sessions, improvisation, and editing, A Blade was tightly composed, arranged and produced by DePlume himself. From there, he brought his compositions to a cast of players and co-arrangers, including Macie Stewart (strings), Donna Thompson (backing vocals), and Momoko Gill (strings and backing vocals), for sessions at the collective arts space Total Refreshment Centre, where he has long been involved.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn Gus Fairbairn, DePlume is a man of many past lives. He played “rock band type music” as a teenager, and started playing improvised music around 2008. He is compelled by how improvising allows him to “put faith in others.” He taught himself the saxophone around the time that he became employed as a support worker assisting men with mental disabilities; he once called playing music with them “one of the best breakthroughs for me as an artist.” His debut as Alabaster DePlume came in May 2012, while he was still living in Manchester. He moved to London in 2015 and took up residency at Total Refreshment Centre, where he was encouraged to put on a monthly concert, leading to the series Peach, releasing a namesake album that year, too. His music, from the start, has been imbued with his politics and values; he was maybe arrested once during a protest with the environmental group Extinction Rebellion. His proper international breakthrough came in 2020 with 'To Cy \u0026amp; Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1', after nearly a decade of steadily releasing records.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn a phone call in the fall of 2024, we barely speak about any of this though. For at least an hour, we mostly just speak about his recent trip to Palestine, and how could we not? DePlume had traveled to Bethlehem in the spring for a conference hosted by a local Lutheran pastor, before meeting up with musicians from a community arts space, the Wonder Cabinet, and the independent radio station, Radio Alhara. “Palestine is a place where people make records,” he says. “I want to normalize the dignity of that. It's not like, oh, I'm going to make a thing about Palestine. I am just there, and I'm making a thing.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the end of 2024, DePlume prefaced A Blade with a collection of recent works: the poetry book and a three-track EP partially recorded in Bethlehem, and in collaboration with Palestinian musicians. There’s “Honeycomb” and “Cremisan,” both recorded during his “Sounds of Places” residency at Wonder Cabinet; “Cremisan” documents the conclusion of a daylong performance presented by Wonder Cabinet and Radio alHara, June 1, 2024, described as “a cry from the Cremisan Valley (Bethlehem, Palestine) to Rafah (Gaza).” The EP’s final recording, “Gifts of Olive,” references the soul-wrenching poem “If I Must Die” by Refaat Alareer, professor of English literature at the Islamic University in Gaza, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in 2023.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo suggest that dignity is a human right we are all entitled to is to say: by nature of being alive, every human life has worth. Contemplating the very concept of human dignity also raises the daily indignities that are so normalized in a world of suffering. The lack of access to clean water, air, housing, healthcare. Without the basic necessities of life, we cannot know dignity. And how can people know dignity if they are living under a constant state of military attack, if they are living as the target of a genocide?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The album was written before the genocide started, but I had Palestine on my mind all the time,” DePlume explains. “This question of dignity, sovereignty, and the work of healing. It has a relevance in what's being perpetrated there by the Israeli state, and taking responsibility for my place in that. I pay my taxes here in the United Kingdom—I am contributing to, as a white Englishman, the country that brought the Balfour Declaration, that brought the Sykes-Picot Agreement, that supports and enables the colonization and the settler-colonial project in Palestine. It is my issue, and I have a position where I can speak about it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Dignity” has roots in the Latin dignitatem: worthiness. And instilling the plain truth of every human life’s worth has been a recurring commitment in DePlume’s work. “They can’t use us on one another if we don’t forget we’re precious,” he sang in 2022, summing the emotional core of his 2022 album 'GOLD', concerns of shared humanity that play out into the new works as well.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“We make stories in our lives,” DePlume says. “Oh, I need my story. Oh, something bad happened, and I need to heal upon that. Then I will be healed and all will be good, happily ever after. But no, it is work that needs doing all the time. We all are wounded in our many different ways. And there are degrees of healed, or wounded. Basically, we are either doing one thing or we're doing the other. How do I know I am not destroying myself? I only know that when I am working on healing.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 7, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlabaster DePlume – voice, tenor and baritone sax, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, synths\u003cbr\u003eConrad Singh – electric guitar\u003cbr\u003eDonna Thompson – drums, voice, vocal arrangement for Invincibility\u003cbr\u003eHannah Miller – cello\u003cbr\u003eJohn Ellis – piano\u003cbr\u003eMacie Stewart – violin, string arrangements\u003cbr\u003eMikey Kenney – violin, voice\u003cbr\u003eMomoko Gill – voice, drums, string arrangement for Form a V\u003cbr\u003eRozi Plain – bass\u003cbr\u003eRuth Goller – bass, voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eComposed and Produced by Alabaster DePlume, except Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem, co-composed with Conrad Singh, Momoko Gill and Rozi Plain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded to analogue tape at Total Refreshment Centre\u003cbr\u003eEngineered \u0026amp; recorded by Kristian Craig Robinson, except Invincibility, Kuzushi and Too True engineered \u0026amp; recorded by Alabaster DePlume\u003cbr\u003eStrings engineered by Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Dilip Harris\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003eArtwork by Rebecca Salvadori\u003cbr\u003ePortrait photo by Chris Almeida\u003cbr\u003eDesign \u0026amp; Layout by Aaron Lowell Denton\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":51044684333330,"sku":"IARC0090LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"That Was My Garden\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52115723223314,"sku":"IARC0090LPI","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52115723256082,"sku":"IARC0090CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120998215954,"sku":"IARC0090","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2823532332_10.jpg?v=1773342050"},{"product_id":"macie-stewart-when-the-distance-is-blue","title":"Macie Stewart - When the Distance is Blue","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e'When the Distance is Blue' is Macie Stewart’s International Anthem debut. The Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser describes the collection as “a love letter to the moments we spend in-between”—a letter realized via an intentional return to piano, her first instrument and the origin of her creative expression. Here Stewart creates a striking and cinematic work through collages of prepared piano, field recordings, and string quartet compositions, one that gives shape to a transient universe all its own while tracing the line of her musical past, full circle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLong-heralded in musician circles for her versatility, Stewart stands as a distinguished, go-to collaborator across genre and style, with a collaborative CV that reads like a dream year-end list—performing strings for Makaya McCraven or Japanese Breakfast; singing harmonies with Tweedy; arranging for Alabaster DePlume, Resavoir, Mannequin Pussy, or SZA; co-leading the jagged art-rock experimentation of Finom, her duo with songwriter Sima Cunningham. This varied-yet-distinct sound has led to a name recognition that goes beyond the devoted liner note enthusiast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Macie Stewart has had a hand in making some of the best\u003cbr\u003etracks of the past five years transcendent.”\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(Pitchfork)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'When the Distance is Blue' finds her gathering those threads and focusing those sensibilities into an 8-piece song cycle. The first sessions were recorded with IARC house engineer Dave Vettraino at Chicago’s Palisade Studios in early 2023. The piano was prepared with coins and contact mics, creating harmonically and texturally rich sounds to explore and improvise alongside.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose improvisations eventually became nestled within a growing collection of Stewart’s field recordings. 2023 was a year marked with extensive touring, during which she collected dozens of aural snapshots from airports, stairwells, and crowded markets, effectively compiling an audio journal of her travels. Weaving their way throughout the record, those recordings form a collage of sound, movement, and memory.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I wanted to recontextualize these recordings and evoke a nostalgia for something I wasn’t able to name,” says Stewart. That recontextualization was deepened by further performances and improvisations by Lia Kohl, Whitney Johnson (Matchesse), and Zach Moore, all recorded at Comfort Station in Chicago. It’s fitting for such a fervent collaborator that these collaborations began to bring the musical scope of 'When The Distance is Blue' into focus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Spring Becomes You, Spring Becomes New” begins with a series of unmetered and searching prepared piano repetitions before blooming into a rhythmically pulsing waltz of ennui à la Margaret Leng Tan’s approach to the material of Cage or Crumb. Electronically enhanced sustaining notes merge with droning violins in a dense teapot upper register, then are slowly paired away to reveal the inner layer of consonance and comfort, as the metallic rhythms of the prepared piano are co-opted by pizzicato plucked strings. When the sound of the piano re-enters it’s in its natural, unprepared state and in service of a simple melody—a slow-moving earworm, the final repetition, carrying the dynamic piece to its end. “This piece reminds me of a cross country train ride through different sceneries and landscapes,” says Stewart. It’s the feeling when you’re witnessing everything pass outside your window, knowing you may never set foot there.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat’s more, this conceptual train ride is one that touches on many of the themes throughout the record—traveling through pieces like “Tsukiji”, which consists of field recordings taken during a walk through the crowded Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, or “Stairwell (Before and After)”, a serendipitous collage of piano improvisations overlaid with vocal improvisations recorded in a beautifully reverberant stairwell in Paris, France.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the album’s final piece, “Disintegration,” Stewart’s through-composed quartet arrangement bends and contorts in a microtonal descent. Raw harmonics scrape and pull, whistling flute-like across desolate valleys, as strings spiral into an unknown beyond. From this stripped, warped place, we face the inevitability of transformation, and embrace the possibilities of change.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'When The Distance is Blue' is a companion piece for moving through life. A source of solace when we are unsure where we will land. The album draws its title from Rebecca Solnit’s book of essays, 'A Field Guide to Getting Lost'. Stewart, too, contends with the longing for all that lies out of reach, and gives shape to that longing throughout this contemplative collection with a musical lexicon which lands somewhere between Alvin Curran’s 'Songs and Views from the Magnetic Garden' and Claire Rousay’s 'A Softer Focus'.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 21, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll compositions by Macie Stewart\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMacie Stewart - piano, prepared piano, violin, voice, field recordings\u003cbr\u003eLia Kohl - cello\u003cbr\u003eWhitney Johnson - viola\u003cbr\u003eZach Moore - double bass\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePrepared piano with dimes, contact microphones, and guitar amp, recorded at Palisade Studios, Chicago, IL | April 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePrepared piano with felt recorded at International Anthem Studios, Chicago, IL | Feb 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eString improvisations and compositions played by Lia Kohl, Whitney Johnson, Zach Moore, and Macie Stewart at Comfort Station, Chicago, IL | January 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eField recording for Tsukiji recorded at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, Japan | March 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eField recording of vocal improvisation for Stairwell (Before and After) recorded in a stairwell at the Philharmonie de Paris in Paris, France | June 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eField recording for Disintegration recorded at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan | March 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered and Mixed by Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBio contributions by Audrey Steiner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlbum Art \u0026amp; Design by Zander Raymond\u003cbr\u003eAdditional Layout Design by Aaron Denton\u003cbr\u003eInsert Photo (top) by Macie Stewart\u003cbr\u003eInsert Photo (middle) by Shannon Marks\u003cbr\u003eInsert Photo (bottom) by Dave Vettraino\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":51055496921362,"sku":"IARC0093LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Glacial Blue\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121005654290,"sku":"IARC0093LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121005687058,"sku":"IARC0093CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121005719826,"sku":"IARC0093","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121005752594,"sku":"IARC0093LP-TP","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2784680489_10.jpg?v=1773342009"},{"product_id":"gregory-uhlmann-josh-johnson-sam-wilkes-uhlmann-johnson-wilkes","title":"Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson, Sam Wilkes - Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e'Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes' is the debut album from Gregory Uhlmann (SML, Anna Butterss, Duffy x Uhlmann, Perfume Genius), Josh Johnson (SML, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet \u0026amp; New Breed, Meshell Ndegeocello, Anna Butterss, Leon Bridges), and Sam Wilkes (Sam Gendel, Louis Cole, Chaka Khan). The three improviser\/arranger\/producers’ impressive individual credits encompass such a wide stylistic pendulum swing that a collection of group music from the trio could mine any number of musical territories with masterful results. In these 11 instrumental songs, the trio explores a spacious lyrical curiosity that could be described as a jazz-informed take on progressive electro-acoustic chamber music.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConceived during two live shows at ETA and a session at Uhlmann’s house in Los Angeles, the album maintains a focus on beauty, melody, and movement as the pieces unfold, with the trio pushing their instruments and highly-dialed effects to sculpt otherworldly sounds with the collective sensibility of a rhythm section. The ethos of these instant compositions is arrangement-minded improvisation that showcases the mournful beauty of Uhlmann’s fingerpicked electric guitar, the hybrid rhythm-lead of Wilkes’ bass chording, and the textural harmonic worldbuilding of Johnson’s effect\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e-laden alto saxophone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe trio’s explorations are rooted in more than just musicality, though. The arc of the group’s story is one of friendship and mutual admiration. Uhlmann and Johnson have known each other since their formative days as teenagers studying jazz. Shortly after first meeting in an educational setting, they would connect for nascent musical probing via low-stakes get-togethers back home in Chicago. They didn’t even know at the time that they had both taken lessons from a mutual guiding light – legendary guitarist\/composer Jeff Parker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter high school, they headed in separate directions – Johnson to Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana; Uhlmann to Cal Arts in Santa Clarita, California – but reconnected quickly upon migrating to LA, where shared opportunities for studio work as well as revolving-cast free improvisation at small clubs around the city naturally cemented their loose partnership. Uhlmann was both playing and programming, creating platforms for collaboration at the Bootleg Theater, while Johnson’s transition from student-of to collaborator-with Jeff Parker was well underway via their weekly gig at Highland Park’s ETA. In the immediate periphery of all of this was bassist Sam Wilkes, a serial collaborator well known in the LA creative music scene’s cross-pollination trenches.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I was playing with some musicians who went to Cal Arts,” says Wilkes. “I started going up there regularly, and Greg had this great band called Fell Runner. A group I was in split a bill with them at the old Bootleg Theater and it really solidified my appreciation and deep respect for the band and for Greg’s playing. They were doing things that were completely unique. We’ve been friends ever since.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWilkes and Johnson’s first collaboration came after years of knowing one another in LA, but the musical connection and respect was similarly instantaneous. “It was a session for Louis Cole Big Band,” recalls Wilkes. “Everyone went around on this one tune and took 4 bars, and Josh took this really, really unique 4-bar solo that really stood out. After the session, Louis looked at me and said ‘Josh Johnson!’ and I was like ‘I know!’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 2021, even before Uhlmann and Johnson began working on what would become SML, Wilkes and Uhlmann played together on an album by Miya Folick, which left them feeling like there was more music to be made together. Uhlmann suggested booking a live date as a trio with Johnson at ETA. With engineer Bryce Gonzales at the controls, the group worked through a short list of prepared material, augmented with passages of improvisation. “We all agreed that it was important to have a nice melodic repertoire to use as a starting point to freely improvise,” says Wilkes. “Landing zones, essentially, while we’re out in the field.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose landing zones include a stunning cover of “The Fool On The Hill,” perhaps the eeriest McCartney ballad in The Beatles’ songbook. Johnson’s tender rendering of the classic vocal melody unites the raindrop-leslie-plonk of Uhlmann’s electric guitar and the quietly grooving drone thump of Wilkes’ bass so comfortably that any move could feel natural by the time the trio opens it up for improvisation at the two-minute mark. What follows is a sublime take on the purring consonance only occasionally found in the best moments of the ECM or Windham Hill catalogs. Even more incredible is the fact that this particular recording of the tune documents the first piece of music this trio played together, from the opening moments of their first performance at ETA.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat instantaneous cualidad simpático is what makes this trio special. What we’re hearing is a friendship between high-level improvisers translated into musical moments and executed with such curious precision that the lines between supposed opposites – composition and improvisation, jazz and chamber music, ennui and contentment – are delightfully blurred.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Frica” is, perhaps, the track on which that blur is most evident. The tune incorporates the staccato stutters and repetitions heard throughout the album, but doubles down with a subtly disorienting post-production chop by Johnson, which accentuates the trio’s live trance by introducing a floating phrase cut-and-mix. The fact that these concepts are employed intuitively, pre-edit, throughout Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes is precisely what makes the post-production shine. It can be difficult to discern what is a slip of the sampler and what is live, turn-on-a-dime action, and it’s exactly that mystery which draws us in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Marvis,\" the album opener, makes that clear from the jump. This fresh spin on a tune from Johnson’s solo album 'Unusual Object' checks many of the same boxes as “Frica” on the production level, but it’s all in service of a truly demented low-key groove. The trio is in lock step here, but it’s unclear how many legs are doing the stepping and just whose legs are taking which steps.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConversely, the Uhlmann composition “Arpy” is a slow-paced, descending four chord meditation teeming with the life provided by the guitarist’s causally precise reverberated triplet repetitions and held down by Wilkes’ sturdy bass chording, which occasionally wanders into flamboyant high register flourishes. Johnson’s soft alto treatment morphs in tonality throughout, eventually settling into something more aurally reminiscent of an Ondes Martenot or some gently twisted echo of Clara Rockmore.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll told, 'Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes' is a beautiful snapshot of three endlessly interesting players at the top of their game, rendered in such a skilled manner that its inherent mastery flows effortlessly, making passive atmospheric immersion as pleasant and stimulating as deep focused listening.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 14, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson: saxophone + effects\u003cbr\u003eSam Wilkes: bass + effects\u003cbr\u003eGregory Uhlmann: guitar + effects\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Marvis” by Josh Johnson; “Unsure” by Sam Wilkes; “Arpy” by Gregory Uhlmann; “The Fool on the Hill” by Paul McCartney and John Lennon; all other songs by Josh Johnson, Sam Wilkes, and Gregory Uhlmann\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Frica” and “Rewinded” arranged by Josh Johnson; “Hoedown” arranged by Sam Wilkes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11 engineered by Bryce Gonzalez at ETA (10\/25\/21 and 3\/6\/23)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracks 5, 6, 7, 9 engineered by Gregory Uhlmann (9\/12\/23 and 9\/13\/23)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Josh Johnson, Sam Wilkes, and Gregory Uhlmann\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Dave Cooley\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArt and layout by Sam Farzin\u003cbr\u003eAdditional layout by Aaron Lowell Denton\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":51056695509266,"sku":"IARC0095LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Concord Grape\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121001820434,"sku":"IARC0095LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121001853202,"sku":"IARC0095CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":52121001885970,"sku":"IARC0095CS","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121001918738,"sku":"IARC0095","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121001951506,"sku":"IARC0095LP-TP","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3549527477_10.jpg?v=1773341998"},{"product_id":"tortoise-touch","title":"Tortoise - Touch","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eThe songs on Touch, the first new Tortoise music in nine years, are dramas without words. They’re elaborately appointed and carefully mixed to enhance a familiar feeling — a distinctly cinematic uneasiness. Close your eyes and you might see cars swerving around unlit rural roads, or cityscapes at night with bells clanging in the distance, or some abandoned warehouse where spies chase each other between towering stacks of boxes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe making of Touch is an entirely different kind of film — a heartwarming story of musicians adapting to life circumstances.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTortoise operates as a collective; the five multi-instrumentalists make records by committee, seeking input on creative decisions large and small. All ideas are considered, and for most of the band’s influential three-decade run, the process has been straightforward: Each musician brings in songs or sketches, and as the group absorbs them, the players exchange ideas about the structure, instrumentation, different grooves or (more frequently, because they’re Tortoise) odd metric divisions that might stretch the initial conception of the song.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese discussions have always happened in real time, face to face. Until Touch. As guitarist and keyboardist Jeff Parker\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eexplains, over the last decade, the members of Tortoise scattered geographically, making the pre-production rehearsal sessions if not impossible, at least more complicated.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It’s the first record we’ve done where everything wasn’t based in Chicago,” says Parker. “Two of us are in Chicago. Two of us are here in Los Angeles and John [McEntire] is in Portland, OR. We recorded in several different places. But the strange thing is, in a way it’s kind of the most cohesive session that we’ve done.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMcEntire, who plays drums, percussion, and keyboards and serves as mixing engineer, had little doubt that the actual recording would be fine. His apprehension was about those more open-ended development sessions leading up to the recording, which, he says, have been known to yield moments of peak Tortoise inspiration. “We don't work remotely, unfortunately. We kind of all have to be in the room together. For me the trial-and-error stage is very important. I didn’t want to lose that.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe percussionist and multi-instrumentalist John Herndon explains one reason why: The path to a “final” version of a Tortoise tune is not a straight line. “It becomes writing and arranging and editing and orchestrating and sort of getting things into a sonic space that feels good, all at the same time.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was consensus about that; each of the musicians has a story about songs being transformed by the collaborative dynamic. Percussionist and keyboardist Dan Bitney recalls a session when they were working on one of his tunes. He wasn’t happy with it and promised to come up with a countermelody. “Right away somebody just asked “Does it need a melody? Like, why does this need a melody? And I’m like, “Yeah!” That’s the kind of thinking that can open your eyes.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the initial planning for the new record, the band arrived at what seemed like a reasonable geographic compromise: They’d set up shop at studios in three different areas — Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago. They scheduled sessions with sometimes months in between, so that everyone could sit with the material and refine it further. The plan: To shift some of the wild idea-chasing of those development sessions from group work to individual work, building on Tortoise’s deep and iconoclastic lexicon of sounds — and on the trust between musicians that’s accrued over decades of music-making.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It’s like, humans adapt,” Herndon says flatly. In order to keep making music as a group, he explains, everyone needed to be flexible then and remain so now. “If you’re used to doing something one way, and then it flips, well, you have to adapt to another way of working. I think that that's what we all were aspiring to do with this, endeavoring to kick in our adaptation skills.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStill, it wasn’t smooth sailing. “I’m going to be honest, I think that we had some doubts” after the first set of sessions, McEntire recalls. Noting that four years elapsed from the beginning of Touch to its completion, he adds that “it took a long, long time for the music to coalesce. There was some ‘what are we doing?’ questioning going on along the way.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDouglas McCombs, who plays guitar, bass, and the deep-voiced bass VI guitar that adds a noir luster to “Night Gang” and other Touch songs, believes that questioning would have happened regardless of the geographical challenges. “In the best circumstance, there’s a flow when we’re working on a tune. Everyone’s sparking ideas and inspired. It’s not work.” He adds, “In the worst moments, when we just absolutely don’t know what to do with something, it’s torturous.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHerdon points to the early versions of “Vexations,” which became the new album’s opening track, as one such slow-torture situation. “We were confounded as to figuring out an arrangement, and things were just stuck,” he recalls. During one of the long lulls between the studio sessions, Herndon says, he got an idea for the tune. “I asked John if I could have the stems [the individual track files] for the song, and then I kind of did a reworking in the garage. Re-did the drums completely and made a breakdown section in the middle. I sent it and was like, ‘I don't know if this is anything, but here.’ And those guys seemed really excited about it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHerndon quickly adds that every Tortoise record has benefitted from similar experimentation. In fact, it’s the key thing, a defining characteristic: “Sometimes doing an edit will leave a space open for something else, and we’re all into that idea of, ‘What happens next?’ It’s this attitude of ‘Let’s make some music together and see what happens.’ We're all comfortable with the not knowing, with letting an idea go through many permutations.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlong with that is the knowledge that this open-ended exploring can be time-consuming. And might possibly end in futility. McCombs says that though the band’s approach changed with Touch, the players still needed the mindset they’d used in those brainstorming rehearsals. “When I get frustrated or when we seem like we're stalling out a little bit, I just have to remember that patience is one of the things that makes this band work.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAsked to recall a moment that required patience, McCombs doesn’t hesitate. “It seems to happen a lot with the drummers,” McCombs says. “Somebody will be like, ‘Hey John [McEntire] why don’t you play this?’ And he’ll be like, ‘I don’t wanna play it cause I hear Herndon here.’ It’s like McEntire hears Herdon and Herndon hears Bitney… That happens a lot, and then they’ll come to a consensus. Sometimes half the song will be one drummer and half the song will be another drummer. That’s kind of the way it works.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt must be said: When things click into place, Tortoise is a rare force. Whether cranking out a foursquare rock backbeat or chopping time into polyrhythmic shards that defy counting (and logic), the band challenges accepted notions of what rock music can be, what moods it can evoke — that’s part of the reason the band is revered so widely, among musicians working in many genres.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTortoise’s indescribable sonic arrays have grown more intense — and more influential — over time. Early works — the 1993 debut and the 1996 Millions Now Living Will Never Die, which opens with a twenty-one-minute suite — contrast the thick harmonic schemes of Krautrock with the similarly impenetrable densities of musique concrete, adding jarring spears of electric guitar as spice accents. The commercial breakthroughs that followed, TNT (1998) and Standards (2001) found Tortoise further expanding its toolkit: Rather than orient each piece around declarative single-line melodies, the musicians let the vast, lush, inviting scenes become a hypnotic wordless narrative, built from overlapping layers and interlocking rhythms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEach step in the discography underscores a truth about Tortoise: The questions about arrangement and orchestration are foundational, defining the scope of the canvas and the density of the band’s exactingly precise soundscapes. There can, as McCombs notes, be multiple drummers on a track, and their beats can be supported by acoustic percussion or random electronic blippage. Likewise, on any given track, there can be multiple mallet parts, sometimes sustaining gorgeous washes of color, at other times pounding out intricate Steve Reich-style interlocked grids of harmony. There can be multiple guitars, each with its own earthshaking effects profile. (Parker laughs when he says “I’m kind of like the straight man with the guitar sounds.”) There can be multiple synthesizers — darting squiggles of lead lines crashing into asymmetrical arpeggios, or bliss-toned drones hovering in the upper-middle register like a cloud in a landscape painting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd there can be noise, all kinds of it: While the working method of Touch meant Tortoise sacrificed some spontaneous sparks, it encouraged the musicians to explore the thickening textural possibilities of different flavors of noise (white, pink, etc). The band recently issued a set of remixes for the single “Oganesson.” The more austere, stripped-down interpretations offer telling insights about the deployment of noise as well as the track-by-track assembly process, the ways Tortoise uses open space, textural layers, and dissonances to create drama.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMcEntire believes those little devices are essential to the sound. “Because we don't have a singer, we have to have a different vocabulary for creating interest. So we use all the little things, like dynamics, texture, orchestration.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGiven the intricacy of the music, McEntire explains, every little sound starts as a decision in the recording studio, and then, subsequently, becomes a logistical decision for live performance — after all, the many parts have to be executed by the five players.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased October 24, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music written and performed by Tortoise\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTortoise is Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, Jeff Parker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eViola on “Promenade à deux” - Marta Sofia Honer\u003cbr\u003eCello on “Promenade à deux” - Skip VonKuske\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eField Recordings on “Works and Days” - Tucker Martine\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded at Flora Recording and Playback, Portland OR; 64 Sound, Los Angeles CA; Electrical Audio, Chicago IL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMixed at Soma Electronic Music Studios, Gladstone OR\u003cbr\u003eRecorded and Mixed by John McEntire\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters, Los Angeles CA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScorpion Photography - Heather Cantrell\u003cbr\u003eScorpion Sculpture - Martin McEntire\u003cbr\u003eCollage Image - øjeRum\u003cbr\u003eLayout and Design - Jeremiah Chiu\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"info license\" id=\"license\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":51667841384722,"sku":"IARC0099LP","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Axial Seamount\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52059179221266,"sku":"IARC0099LPI","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52059101856018,"sku":"IARC0099CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52108289442066,"sku":"IARC0099DD","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2905449829_10.jpg?v=1773282196"},{"product_id":"makaya-mccraven-off-the-record","title":"Makaya McCraven - Off the Record","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"preFade fadeIn\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOFF THE RECORD\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e compiles \u003cstrong\u003eMakaya McCraven's\u003c\/strong\u003e four EPs released October 2025 \u003cstrong\u003e(\u003cem\u003eTechno Logic, The People's Mixtape, Hidden Out!\u003c\/em\u003e, and\u003cem\u003e PopUp Shop\u003c\/em\u003e)\u003c\/strong\u003e into a single physical package.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"preFade fadeIn\"\u003eTogether, the four EPs (and \u003cem\u003eOff the Record\u003c\/em\u003e compilation) mark McCraven’s first recorded offerings since 2022’s \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/intlanthem.us9.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=bdf63ba201aac3a40783dd64e\u0026amp;id=37bcdb2f61\u0026amp;e=902961715e\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eIn These Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, and a return to the signature “organic beat music” approach that Makaya first debuted on his 2015 album \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/intlanthem.us9.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=bdf63ba201aac3a40783dd64e\u0026amp;id=be5dec8dcb\u0026amp;e=902961715e\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eIn The Moment\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e and further developed on \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/intlanthem.us9.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=bdf63ba201aac3a40783dd64e\u0026amp;id=88f5d8d9da\u0026amp;e=902961715e\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHighly Rare\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e (2017), \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/intlanthem.us9.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=bdf63ba201aac3a40783dd64e\u0026amp;id=68d03ba881\u0026amp;e=902961715e\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhere We Come From\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e (2018), and \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/intlanthem.us9.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=bdf63ba201aac3a40783dd64e\u0026amp;id=90df120c73\u0026amp;e=902961715e\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eUniversal Beings\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e (2018).\u003c\/p\u003e\nOut October 17, 2025 \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"info license\" id=\"license\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":51667948241170,"sku":"IARC0103LP","price":34.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition White Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":52043718918418,"sku":"IARC0103LPI","price":39.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc (2xCD)","offer_id":52043724783890,"sku":"IARC0103CD","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a1027861878_10.jpg?v=1773341895"},{"product_id":"sml-how-you-been","title":"SML - How You Been","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eSML is the quintet of bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, percussionist Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann. Their second album, How You Been, finds the supergroup of prolific composer\/producers pushing ever further into the hyperrealist, collectivist approach to music creation nascently explored on their debut Small Medium Large, which was lauded as “awe-inspiring” by Glide, “exuberant” by the Los Angeles Times, and “an exciting milestone” by Pitchfork.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow You Been represents a breakthrough in the musical language of the group. This new work was crafted via extensive post-production of recordings from a handful of shows in a similar fashion to their debut, but whereas Small Medium Large was constructed from analog tapes of the band’s very first (and very modest) shows at bygone Highland Park LA venue ETA, How You Been was built with a higher level of self-awareness and a far deeper pool of source material.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBehind the thrust of the first album’s success, the band approached every performance in late 2024 and early 2025 as a generative opportunity to hone their sound and document their expansion across a new landscape of audiences, venues, and cities\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e. Despite the premeditation driving their commitment to record every moment, the band started every show without musical direction, improvising intuitively, completely. Within every performance is an impressive display of the band’s total trust in one another and confidence in their own instincts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs SML has evolved and spread out in space-time, their fluencies, both as an improvising unit in performance and as a production team in the studio, have sharpened. At inception the band inspired disparate but distinctive artist comparisons like Essential Logic, Oval, Herbie Hancock’s Sextant, and electric Miles Davis, as well as assorted genre touchpoints like Afrobeat, kosmiche, proto-techno and new-jazz. With How You Been their work manages to both collapse and explode such derivatives, displaying a new, high resolution version of SML, fully-flowered into a new strain of sound, bound to incite its own copycats in due time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“SML might signal a new iteration of jazz, or it might not be jazz at all, or it might not matter.” - Pitchfork\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s important to note that SML’s sound wasn’t created in a vacuum. The band is part of an extensive community of creative musicians who collaborate in a multitude of ways, and that community has proven to be essential to a growing family tree of innovative, genre-expanding music. Los Angeles in the 2020s is a musical Petri dish in the same way that Cologne \u0026amp; Dusseldorf were for the birth of Krautrock; Canterbury for progressive rock in the late 60s; NYC for No Wave \u0026amp; the Downtown sound in the late 70s and 80s; Chicago for genreless, Tortoise-adjacent sounds in the 90s. The musicians of SML represent the core of a new school within the Los Angeles jazz and improvised music scene that seems to breed infinitely overlapping combinations, including Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet and Expansion Trio, the Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes trio, Anna Butterss’s own band (as heard on 2024’s Mighty Vertebrate), and various other solo and ensemble projects encompassing every single member of the SML, respectively.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn How You Been the curatorial challenge of the capture-cut production employed by SML is met by the delightful happenstance of each member being a seasoned producer on their own merit. Accordingly, SML’s perspective on what is a moment to expand upon with the post-producer’s knife and glue is five-strong. Each member’s proclivities, penchants, and predelections get their chance to filter the always-evolving elements of the group concept.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Chicago Four” uses a live recording from treasured Chicago haunt The Empty Bottle as its foundation. It begins with interlocking synth and percussion loops before the entry of Uhlmann’s wobble-effected electric guitar melody and Butterss’s picked bass counterpoint. Stardrum’s swinging traps slide in, catching up to a couple of added percussion layers, before Johnson adds distorted chordal hits that sound like hard horn samples from a golden era Bomb Squad or Rakim beat. It all intertwines perfectly and makes an otherworldly vehicle for Johnson and Chiu’s cascading keyed melody, which soars above and between, complimenting either side of a hypnotically shifting, infectiously repeating modulation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Brood Board SHROOM” is a temporary touchdown on an alien planet where rhythm moves in timeless, breath-like undulations, with repetitions cut from a very different cloth than the lock-step polyrhythmic grooves of “Chicago Four.” The track’s opening lines evoke the soft throbs of the beloved ambient works of Aphex Twin (or perhaps a Robitussen-drenched take on Steve Reich’s Different Trains), before frothy curtains of textured sound drape into the mix, overlaying like distant, minimalist symphonies in a gentle, synthetic recreation of free time — slackening and accelerating as each layer of tonal pulses hovers to front-and-center or retreats into the distance. It’s a gut feeling rather than an academic exercise, and it’s all in the service of forward motion. “Plankton” occupies a similar space albeit in bite-sized form, centering Buterss’s low end melodicism and high-string visitations surrounded by skittering tonal chatter from their bandmates.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course, SML’s experiments with this kind of pulsating freedom are heavily balanced by muscular turns and body mechanics fit for the dancefloor. “Taking Out the Trash” is a perfect pace-setter for How You Been, a punchy nugget encapsulating the essence of SML. Chiu’s percussion synth establishes the groove before Stardrum and Butterss drop in on a heavy breakbeat. Uhlmann comes in with a searing, plucked staccato funk line on his guitar that would give Glenn Branca and Larry Coryell something to high five about. Things eventually trip into a total breakdown, with only the perc synth still looping. When the band explodes back in, the key has changed, and Johnson is letting loose on a wailing, distorted saxophone solo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Is there a way to dim the lights a little more?” Chiu asks at the start of the album’s closer “Mouth Words.” Moments later SML takes us out with a mid-tempo 4\/4 groover dressed in swelling glissandos and punctuated by insistent, rapid-fire phrases from Johnson’s alto. As the final tune dissolves into a layer of arpeggiated chirps and sampled crowd sounds, Chiu’s voice is back again to say what we’re all thinking: “Very good. Thank you.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eOut November 7, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSML is:\u003cbr\u003eAnna Butterss - Electric Bass\u003cbr\u003eJeremiah Chiu - Modular Synthesizer, Live-sampling, Percussion,Synthesizers\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - Saxophone, Electronics,Synthesizers\u003cbr\u003eBooker Stardrum - Drums, Percussion\u003cbr\u003eGregory Uhlmann - Guitar, Effects, Sampler, Electronics\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered and Recorded Live:\u003cbr\u003eZebulon, Los Angeles (July 8 \u0026amp; 9, 2024) by Bryce Gonzales\u003cbr\u003eThe High Low, Los Angeles (November 11, 2024) by Bryce Gonzales\u003cbr\u003ePublic Records, New York City (December 3, 2024) by Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eEmpty Bottle, Chicago (March 3, 2025) by Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eTractor Tavern, Seattle (March 20, 2025) by Dr. Jon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eComposed, compiled, edited, and overdubbed by SML (2025)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by SML\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Josh Johnson, SML, Bryce Gonzales, and Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eSequence by SML and Scott McNiece\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover art by Sonnenzimmer\u003cbr\u003ePhoto by David Haskell\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Jeremiah Chiu\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eAll rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":51701149401362,"sku":"IARC0105LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Plankton\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52110661583122,"sku":"IARC0105LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52110661091602,"sku":"IARC0105CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121009258770,"sku":"IARC0105","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121009291538,"sku":"IARC0105LP-TP","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/HowYouBeen-SML.jpg?v=1773341468"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-eta-ivtet-the-way-out-of-easy","title":"Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - The Way Out of Easy","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eJanuary 2nd, 2023. Aside from being the second of a new year, it was a pretty ordinary night at ETA in Los Angeles, where guitarist Jeff Parker - alongside his ETA IVtet with saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose - had been holding down a regular Monday gig since 2016. At the time, nobody knew it was the first gig of the last year that ETA would be open for business.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver seven years of holding down that residency, Parker’s ETA ensemble evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form (sometimes stretching out for 45 minutes or more) journeys into innovative, often uncharted territories of groove-oriented, painterly, polyrhythmic, minimalist and mantric improvised music.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith that musical growth, the crowds for Parker and his band at ETA grew across the years too. What started as a sparse gathering of weeknight drinkers, friends, family, and Chicago expats (coming to get a shot of nostalgia for the atmospheres Parker used to create at Rodan across the ‘00s and early ‘10s) grew into a Los Angeles nightlife staple with a packed house and a line down the block for every show.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy January 2023 interest in Parker’s music was\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003estronger than ever, coming off successes with the December 2021 International Anthem\/Nonesuch release of Forfolks – a collection of solo guitar works – and the October 2022 Eremite release of Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, a double LP chronicling the ETA IVtet’s distinct, expansive approach to improvisation across four side-length tracks recorded and mixed live by engineer Bryce Gonzales.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMondays introduced the world to the ETA IVtet’s signature sound with a gathering of unnamed recordings from dates between 2019 and 2021. Parker’s new ETA IVtet offering stays true to that formula in some ways – as he returns to Gonzales’s archive of analog captures to gather four long recordings totalling around 80 minutes – while zooming in on a more particular moment in his journey. The Way Out of Easy provides us a macro-lens view of the ever-refining, infinite organic essence of the ensemble as they stretch out across a single night of soundmaking on January 2nd, 2023.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe engineer Gonzales is well known for the high-end audio gear he builds as Highland Dynamics, and even designed a custom mixer to be able to record the ETA IVtet, specifically, while only taking up a single space at the bar. In his liner notes for The Way Out of Easy, he colors his process and approach: “There are many different ways to make recordings and they all have their place. But for this band, the most important thing to consider is: not doing anything to get in the way of what they are saying to each other.” He refers to the simple schematic he used for capturing these performances – “basically only 4 level controls for one microphone per player” – which allows us an incredibly pure, honest, transparent and transporting experience of the music as it unfolds and is created in real time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe set begins with an extended take on Parker’s composition “Freakadelic” – a tune he originally recorded for his 2012 Delmark release Bright Light in Winter. The B-side piece “Late Autumn” finds Parker swaying in alliterative, arpeggiating cycles, using just a few plucked notes as he lays the compositional foundation. At first it almost sounds like an echo of the humble tunes he wrote alone with his guitar on Forfolks, but in this space his ensemble joins him to help build a beautifully multi-textured, gently-shifting four-dimensional construction out of a simple idea. On “Easy Way Out,” Butterss’s bobbing bass line leads, paddling the ensemble into a placid expanse of tender psychedelia while Bellerose dusts off the drums like an archaeologist unearthing ancient artifacts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt had become customary for the IVtet to end their shows every week with a standard or a tune – a practice that Parker embraced for wanting to give the audience something warm and familiar to take home after a long night of taking them out on creative limbs. Some of Parker’s more common calls were “This Guy’s In Love With You” by Burt Bacharach, “1974 Blues” by Eddie Harris, or “Peace” by Horace Silver. In this set, the IVtet closes not with a familiar song, but a familiar sound in the form of a dub\/reggae groove (given the name “Chrome Dome” by Parker in post), developing spontaneously out of lyrical ad libs by Johnson on solo saxophone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn early December of 2023, ETA co-owner Ryan Julio was forced to make a sudden announcement that the venue would permanently shutter at the end of the year. On December 23rd, Parker and the band played at ETA for the last time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn July 22nd, 2024, the ETA IVtet gathered to perform together for the first time since then, playing for a sold-out crowd of several hundred listeners – a smiling Ryan Julio among them – at Zebulon in Los Angeles. Gonzales was there, recording with his compact analog setup just behind the band on stage. The space may be gone but its spirit lives and the music moves forward into new vessels.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":52109135872274,"sku":"ROW IARC0089LP","price":34.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Harvest Maroon\" Color Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":52110815691026,"sku":"ROW IARC0089LPI","price":39.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52110816608530,"sku":"ROW IARC0089CD","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121004474642,"sku":"IARC0089","price":11.11,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52121004507410,"sku":"IARC0089LP-TP","price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2139666555_10.jpg?v=1773343513"},{"product_id":"gregory-uhlmann-extra-stars","title":"Gregory Uhlmann - Extra Stars","description":"\u003cdiv id=\"customHeaderWrapper\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"band-navbar-wrapper flex\"\u003e\n\u003col id=\"band-navbar\"\u003e\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"trackView leftMiddleColumns has-art\" data-tooltips='{\"tooltips\":[],\"dash_seen\":false}'\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"trackInfo\" class=\"leftColumn\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"trackInfoInner\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eExtra Stars is a deeply beautiful expression of Gregory Uhlmann’s ever-evolving sound world, and comes at a pivotal juncture in the LA-based composer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist’s musical journey.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFollowing a long run of supporting work with artists like Perfume Genius, Tasha, and Hand Habits, alongside an eponymous recorded output largely focused on his more singer-songwriter oriented music, Uhlmann has spent the better part of the last couple years trotting out album after album of groundbreaking instrumental modern music. From the sparse melodies and hushed ambient soundscapes of Small Day, to his much-lauded duo outing Doubles with Meg Duffy, to his perhaps lesser-known but no-less-brilliant duo record Water Map with Dustin Wong, to the lush chamber-jazz interplay of his trio recording with saxophonist Josh Johnson and bassist Sam Wilkes, to the two genre-breaking albums he released as a co-leader of synth-laced trance-jazz quintet SML (2024’s Small Medium Large and 2025’s How You Been), Uhlmann has subtly, if not quietly, established himself as an essential presence in some of the most progressive recordings of our time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExtra Stars encompasses all he’s learned through all\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ethe above. A radiant sidereal serenade, the album’s fourteen miniature infinities swirl serendipitous synthesis and measured, melody-rich song into a panoramic menagerie of sound. For a record that seldom incorporates percussion instruments, the music is distinctly rhythm-forward, while Uhlmann also leans heavily into swaths of pastoral beauty. Extra care was clearly poured into the kind of harmonic depth that’s often missing from vibe-only “ambient” music, making for a delightfully refreshing take on the electronic, processing-heavy 'quiet' sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe compositions and production techniques here reflect Uhlmann’s musicality perfectly, surely the result of him being as much a seasoned practitioner as he is an avid listener. If there is a middle ground between Cluster \u0026amp; Eno, Terry Riley’s Shri Camel, and Yo La Tengo’s There’s a Riot Going On, it’s somewhere nearby. Lofty comparisons aside, Extra Stars seems to look beyond reference or imitation. Even the album’s title indicates as much—inspired by a trip to California’s Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, where the reality of the night sky’s starry expanse stretches beyond the boundaries of belief.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe can feel Uhlmann’s gaze past the horizon line from the jump. Album opener “Pocket Snail” kicks off with a slow-ambling synth bass line before opening up into a richly processed, reverberating cacophony of beautiful sliding melodies. Eyes wide open, the small world of the pocket snail begins to burst with new color after a fresh injection of sunlight, but the tonality is more akin to something of a simple torch ballad. It’s an immense clash of big and small, and sets the stage nicely for the delightful vantage point shifting to come throughout the record.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Lucia” is named after a quaint lodge nestled amongst the cliffside drama of Big Sur, and the tune’s musical rendering of an intimate yet expansive perspective perfectly fits its namesake. The steady thump and chime of Uhlmann’s guitar repetitions sit atop a field recording of the distant, heavy-winded ocean crash of the Cabrillo Highway coast, held even steadier by harbor bell metallic clank percussion and a firm yet pillowy cluster of electric organ chords and mellotron-like leads. Enter saxophonist Alabaster DePlume, the track's lone feature, with his signature breathy reed work. Here DePlume’s vibrato-heavy tenor sax wandering adds a secret-among-friends intimacy to a sonic scene that could go for miles. DePlume hums low in multitrack as Uhlmann leads the steady pulse on, encountering syncopated harmonic pings, fluttering recorder flourishes, and the little bustling sounds of the rural Pacific shoreline. Earworms must live in the ocean air, because it’s tough to get any element of “Lucia” unstuck once it’s in, and the whole thing is all tied up in a bow in just under three and a half minutes. Equally playful and introspective, “Lucia” is the potential soundtrack to a close reading or a thousand yard stare. If Jim Henson dreamt Link’s Awakening this would be the sound he heard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Burnt Toast” is an essential example of Uhlmann’s penchant for using the guitar to make non-guitar sounds. That’s not to say that what is occurring here is a simple act of processing. Rather, Uhlmann has a distinct and instantly recognizable ability to play the instrument itself in a way that lends to drastic and realtime tonal transformation. Clocking in at a lean 1:25, it’s a quick and lively skip through a blend of complimentary and warring syncopations—another hallmark of Uhlmann’s style—topped with synthetic glissandos and stereo-image warbles placed just so. What really makes it gel, though, is the harmonic simplicity that the transformative madness is serving. At the end of the day, the basic structure of “Burnt Toast” is an uncomplicated chord progression.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat essential simplicity, leaning into tonal expressions of quiet joy and deep longing, could be the most relevant throughline in Uhlmann’s work. On Extra Stars it’s likely best exemplified on “Days,” a serene 7+ minute track born in the nerve shattering confusion of 2020. “It was made in my old apartment and felt like a way of self soothing by playing the same chords over and over again,” says Uhlmann. The result is a wisping, languid, near free-time drift through a progression that manages to maintain its directness despite its slow-building reverberated accompaniment. Like a Harold Budd take on the somber fingerpicked elegance of Frantz Casseus, “Days” wanders through the speakers with an almost nostalgic air. A grandmotherly wall organ melody sings around dancing piano notes as chattering synthesis renders itself percussive amongst the steel string comfort of Uhlmann’s electric guitar. It’s the kind of recording that could go on forever and maybe, somewhere, it’s doing just that. On Extra Stars, though, it acts as a spiritual centerpiece, rejuvenating the listener as it fades out slowly, cleansing and leaving us ready for more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Back Scratch” is collage-cut from a series of piano improvisations and post-composed with pitch-shifted percussion contributions from Uhlmann’s SML bandmate Booker Stardrum. Uneven loops syncopate in chance mode while the barrage of high-register notes conflate with Stardrum’s stickwork to cement a rhythm dense enough to nearly become a drone. The impulsive comparison to the intensely rhythmic zither dance of Laraaji would be understandable, but mostly inaccurate. “Back Scratch” is produced in a markedly raw, un-reverberated manner—and it’s precisely that stark wonkiness that separates it from something like Day Of Radiance and makes it more akin to a basement DIY crack at Reich’s Drumming. That said, its brevity and singularity among the wildly diverse Extra Stars tracklist means that it might be (just maybe) more actual fun to listen to than both of those records.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe guitarless moments on Extra Stars shine as brightly as those that highlight Uhlmann’s primary instrument, but even those departures display themselves distinctively, especially when he invites and directs a collaborator. The labcoat synth silliness and percussive b-ball bounce of “Dottie,” for instance, contrasts sharply from the unbridled beeswarm rhythm composite of “Worms Eye” despite the implementation of the same tools and techniques—likely due to the co-production presence of synthesist Jeremiah Chiu (another SML bandmate) on the latter. Regardless, there’s no mistaking an Uhlmann composition and there’s no mistaking when he’s at the helm. For instance, while Chiu’s presence can certainly be felt on “Voice Exchange,” its outlandish rhythm focused take on the pitch-shifted vocals of longtime Uhlmann collaborator Tasha couldn’t be further from the other Chiu co-productions on Extra Stars.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ability to maintain a recognizable voice across vast stylistic shifts, while employing the talents of those who also possess singularly recognizable voices, is not something that is heard often and it’s Uhlmann’s ability to recognize what makes each collaborator unique that makes it work here. A great example is “Bristlecone,” which finds him directing the powerful low-end command of Anna Butterss’s bass and the multiphonic mystery of Josh Johnson’s processed alto. The composition and arrangement are supported at every turn by Uhlmann’s SML bandmates without the result ever wandering away from something we can hear as distinctly his. Like David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, or Miles Davis, Uhlmann uses collaboration to both support and transform. To reinforce and evolve. With Extra Stars he has delivered such a promising collection of instrumental concepts following an extended period of vast, high-level artistic output. There’s no doubt that it will continue to be a joy to experience that evolution in real time.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 6, 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll pieces composed by Gregory Uhlmann\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGregory Uhlmann - guitar, bass, synths, recorder, percussion, piano\u003cbr\u003eAlabaster Deplume - saxophone and voice on \"Lucia\"\u003cbr\u003eAnna Butterss - bass on \"Bristlecone\"\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - saxophone and effects on \"Bristlecone\"\u003cbr\u003eJeremiah Chiu - synth and modular on \"Voice Exchange\"\u003cbr\u003eBooker Stardrum - percussion on \"Back Scratch\"\u003cbr\u003eVoice sample on \"Voice Exchange\" is Tasha Viets-Vanlear\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Gregory Uhlmann\u003cbr\u003eAdditional Production by Jeremiah Chiu on \"Worms Eye,\" \"Voice Exchange,\" and \"View Below\"\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003eAlbum art and layout by Bucky Boudreau\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thank you to my partner Sam Kaufman for feedback on every little detail\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52110841577746,"sku":"IARC0107LP","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Star Dust\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52110849802514,"sku":"IARC0107LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52110851309842,"sku":"IARC0107CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121001787666,"sku":"IARC0107","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0100696238_10.jpg?v=1773344385"},{"product_id":"whitney-johnson-lia-kohl-macie-stewart-body-sound","title":"Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart - BODY SOUND","description":"\u003cdiv id=\"customHeaderWrapper\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"band-navbar-wrapper flex\"\u003e\n\u003col id=\"band-navbar\"\u003e\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"trackView leftMiddleColumns has-art\" data-tooltips='{\"tooltips\":[],\"dash_seen\":false}'\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"trackInfo\" class=\"leftColumn\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"trackInfoInner\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eWhitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart are a trio who utilize string instruments, voices, and manual tape effect processing to craft compositions from alternately tranquil and disquieting improvised music. The three musicians are individually rooted in deep sound exploration, multi-disciplinary composition, and all manner of cross-genre collaboration. The musical ground covered by their solo practices is correspondingly expansive, and their individual recording and performance credits read as a veritable who’s who, ranging from DIY darlings to household names of experimental avant-garde, electronic, indie rock, and more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe trio’s collective sound is based in improvisation—automatic, intuitive composition via their three voices and three string instruments (viola, cello, and violin, respectively). Their influences are vast—dispatched with more playful ease than a trio of string instruments is typically approached with, and just as likely to be found in the cloud-obscured mountains of Donegal, the low-rent cacophony of a midwestern basement, or the revelatory expanse of the Nurse With Wound list as in the storied halls of the academy. Touchstones and areas of interest aside, the main thing that Johnson, Kohl, and Stewart engage with in BODY SOUND is listening and\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ereacting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Improvisation has a special capacity to facilitate a kind of sonic intimacy,” says Kohl. “We're making choices together in the moment. We're creating time together before thought enters the equation. It's an incredibly intimate and intuitive space to share, and feels like the heart center of this music and this practice.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe trio’s approach to improvisation is very much embedded in and informed by their Chicago music community. The city’s ongoing improvised music tradition, which can envelop every genre imaginable, is one where a working musician’s ideas can evolve at a near-constant pace and where anything can be explored in the name of sound. And with sound, there’s always space to consider.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhere will the improvisation take place?\u003cbr\u003eHow will that space shape the sounds being made?\u003cbr\u003eHow will that sound resonate in the dim light of a small neighborhood bar?\u003cbr\u003eHow will it sound in the chromatic refractions of an ornate church?\u003cbr\u003eCan it feel different-yet-equally perfect?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart the answer to the last question is yes, definitely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStewart: Our quest as a crew is to explore space and every iteration of what that can mean, be it physical space, emotional space, sonic space, etc. Space is an instrument.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohnson: It’s more than the acoustic properties of the recording spaces. Our bodies, emotions, and relationships show up in those spaces with affordances and limitations for the music each time. We are vibrating beings, sensitive and expressive, an amoeba of physical and psychic pressures with specific resonances in time and space.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKohl: The space we’re in always feels like a collaborator in this trio more than in other contexts. I can always feel us all responding to where we are and the resonances that live there.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn BODY SOUND, the trio worked with International Anthem engineer and album co-producer Dave Vettraino to translate the sonic specificities of three recording locations: International Anthem studios on Iron Street (Chicago), Shirk Studios (Chicago), and Boyd’s Jig and Reel (Knoxville, TN, as part of Big Ears Festival). Vettraino also brought a deep knowledge of tape manipulation and a willingness to experiment. “All it took was for one of us to say, ‘What if that was a loop?’, and he was already setting up the reel-to-reel,” says Johnson of the album’s post-production, which leaned heavily into their shared love of saturated tape sounds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat trust, it seems, was already there. In addition to the communal criss-cross inherent in sharing their Chicago home base, the trio worked with Vettraino on Stewart’s 2025 solo effort When the Distance Is Blue. It was her debut on International Anthem but far from her first appearance in the label’s catalog as a player. Ditto for Kohl and Johnson, whose collaboration and friendship with the label goes back years. Taken as a whole, we could argue that this most recent collaboration, the tape-manipulated fried beauty documented on BODY SOUND, has been a long time coming.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the context of this work, tape sound is much more than a mixing treatment or a production tactic. Here Johnson, Kohl, and Stewart are using variations on the medium to edit and reshape the pieces themselves, employing multiple analog tape machines to reimagine their improvised material into meticulously crafted compositions (“another layer of improvisation,” says Stewart). It’s all a response to the spaces they were originally engaged with, and the use of a highly physical medium like analog tape deepens the spatial engagement of the trio’s work to striking, playful, and organically psychedelic effect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe resultant BODY SOUND is deep, melancholy, and triumphant, coming across like a kind of lost or amalgamated folk music. It’s certainly part of an ongoing creative continuum, even boasting track titles adapted from Yoko Ono’s classic book of text scores Grapefruit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album’s opener “dawn | pulse” puts a morning drone at the threshold of their sound world. This undulating slow roller is a free time drift of bowed tonal clusters respiring in long, melodic swells, and unfurling among wordless singing. Despite the time marker in the title, this piece feels suitable for any part of the day—the morning stretch skyward, the afternoon ambling respite, or the late-nite chillout. Both majorly serene and deceptively avant garde, “dawn | pulse” is a perfect entrée into BODY SOUND.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“laundry | blood” begins with a near-waltz percussive tumble created by a tape loop of Kohl’s barrette-prepared cello. Its soft and eerie triplet propels a deep and snarling viola-cello-violin drone forward à la the doomiest moments of the Berlin School canon or the repetitive outsider glory of Tony Conrad \u0026amp; Faust's Outside the Dream Syndicate. It’s a darkly cinematic take on the ambient ideal for the scarcely visible slow-moving night train chug. You can almost see it roll by.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome moments feel intentionally disconnected from the performance, instead tied more closely to the concept of LP format listenership: the disintegrated melodic pumps and clomps of “chewing gum”, the body shaking radiator hiss come-apart of “snow | touch”, the otherworldly bass and sub-bass of “stone | piece”.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcross the album’s 11 tracks, each piece manages to keep a foot in both worlds. “burning | counting (sleeping)” begins abruptly with massive bursts of heavily-bowed sawtooth strings looping in real time, creating a near-synthetic feeling. Deep stutter-step freneticism, tape-manipulated and rendered into overlapping moments of dense psychedelia give way to an oncoming long-note tranquility—an improvised cacophony evoking some long dissipated storm-paced Irish folk drone more so than a New Music exercise or a study of Kronos \/ Reich.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd that seems to be the story with all of the material within BODY SOUND. It’s music with inexplicably broad appeal while maintaining a sort of mysterious outsider quality. Johnson, Kohl, and Stewart have created a stunning album—an exquisitely textured, spatially vivid, wordlessly expressive, sonically multitudinous collection—that manages to decode a slew of high level concepts while clearly and directly speaking to the human impulse. BODY SOUND is right.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 20, 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhitney Johnson viola, voice\u003cbr\u003eLia Kohl cello, voice\u003cbr\u003eMacie Stewart violin, voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTascam 58, Revox A77, Sony TC 580, TEAC 6600, Portastudio 414mkII\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music by Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart, and Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered by Dave Vettraino at IARC studios on Iron Street (Chicago), Big Ears Festival 2025 (Knoxville), and Shirk Studios (Chicago)\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArtwork courtesy of Jovencio de la Paz and Chris Sharp Gallery\u003cbr\u003eDesign \u0026amp; layout by Matilde Santiago\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52110853865746,"sku":"IARC0108LP","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Grapefruit\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52110853898514,"sku":"IARC0108LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52110853931282,"sku":"IARC0108CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121010209042,"sku":"IARC0108","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a1705246381_10.jpg?v=1773344791"},{"product_id":"ahleuchatistas-arrebato","title":"Ahleuchatistas - Arrebato","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eGuitar + Drum duo make mammoth melodic tectonic movements that raze and reshape conventional sonic terrains.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased October 30, 2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRyan Oslance - drums\u003cbr\u003eShane Parish - guitar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMusic by Parish\/Oslance\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by David Allen\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Shelly Steffens\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArtwork by Cody Sarabia\u003cbr\u003eLayout by Craig Hansen\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52115662635282,"sku":"arrebatoLP","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52115662668050,"sku":"789397779828","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120998183186,"sku":"IARC0006","price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2759159203_10.jpg?v=1773620677"},{"product_id":"angel-bat-dawid-the-oracle","title":"Angel Bat Dawid - The Oracle","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eComposer, clarinetist, singer \u0026amp; spiritual jazz soothsayer Angel Bat Dawid descended on Chicago's jazz \u0026amp; improvised music scene just a few years ago. In very short time, the potency, prowess, spirit \u0026amp; charisma of her cosmic musical proselytizing has taken her from relatively unknown improviser to borderline ubiquitous performer in Chicago's avant-garde. On any given night you can find Angel adding aura to ensembles led by Ben LaMar Gay, or Damon Locks, or Jaimie Branch, or Matthew Lux, or even, on a Summer night in 2018, onstage doing a woodwind duo with Roscoe Mitchell. For her recorded debut on International Anthem, The Oracle, we've chosen to release a batch of tracks that Angel created entirely alone – performing, overdubbing \u0026amp; mixing all instruments \u0026amp; voices by her self – recorded using only her cell phone in various locations, from London UK to Cape Town RSA, but primarily from her residency in the attic of the historic Radcliffe Hunter mansion in Bronzeville, Southside, Chicago.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003eReleased February 8, 2019\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120908988690,"sku":"IARC0023LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"Crystal Blue\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120909021458,"sku":"oraclecrystalLP","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120909054226,"sku":"IARC0023CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":52120909086994,"sku":"IA-TO-IC","price":11.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120998478098,"sku":"IARC0023","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120909119762,"sku":"IARC0023LP-1","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2808259986_10.jpg?v=1773691494"},{"product_id":"angel-bat-dawid-tha-brothahood-live","title":"Angel Bat Dawid \u0026 Tha Brothahood - LIVE","description":"\u003cp\u003eLIVE was mostly recorded on November 1st, 2019, at Haus der Berliner Festspiele in Berlin, Germany, during the 2019 edition of JazzFest Berlin. For Angel Bat Dawid and her band Tha Brothahood – which includes Deacon Otis Cooke, Viktor Le Givens, Xristian Espinoza, Norman W. Long, Dr. Adam Zanolini, and Asher Simiso Gamedze – it was the first stop of their first European tour. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eForty-eight hours before the show, Angel and members of the band were on their way to the airport in Chicago when they received news that Viktor Le Givens had passed out on the street and subsequently woke up in a hospital with all his personal belongings missing. When they arrived in Berlin, the band’s manager Najee-Zaid Searcy reached out to the production staff of JazzFest Berlin to inform them of the situation. Their initial reply: “if you cannot find a substitute, we will have to reduce your fee.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf the cold, insensitive response to Viktor’s unfortunate situation, Angel recalls: “It really put a whole damper on my spirit to have to deal with this a few hours before performing. How the fuck is this response ever acceptable anywhere?!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAngel continues: “I have issues in general about the way artists are treated because I see a difference in how tech folks treat women and artist of color… I’m calling it out. A lot of the racism and things I’m talking about are steeped in microaggressions and are so subtle and can go unnoticed. But all those things happen a lot and it was very evident at the festival… Yes I am hyper sensitive to any infraction I ever see, feel or observe when it comes to racism, and I no longer pass it off as an over sensitivity but an opportunity to blow the whistle on intellectual and structural racism that is still a rampant and ugly beast, especially in the European music world.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAngel and her band had a handful of experiences over their two days in Berlin that contributed to her feelings, including an interaction at The Ellington Hotel (a place that’s named \u0026amp; themed in homage to the famous Black American composer), where the band was staying. The moment was recorded by Angel’s bandmate and she chose to include an excerpt at the beginning of the album’s first track, where she shouts repeatedly: “ever since I’ve been here y’all have treated me like shit!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe full story, from Angel: “The morning at the Duke Ellington Hotel was the result of a buildup of things… The insensitive way the festival dealt with Viktor… to mean stares walking down the street with my Brothers… A man came up to all of us and said he was frightened by our group. I went to another shop and they told me ‘don't go to East Berlin because they don’t like Blacks’... Berlin was leaving me feeling very isolated and angry. So the morning we were leaving this hotel, with its homage to Black musicians in every room… They had a piano in their bar area and I decided to play a tune, sing and praise, to leave on a good note. Deacon Otis was filming it as our way of just walking in love, no matter what. As I was singing someone on the staff runs up to me red face and angry saying ‘ma’am please don't do this in the lobby this is not allowed!’ And I just went the fux off. I had had enough of the reprimands... I just couldn't be my genuine Black self anywhere in Berlin without someone reprimanding me…”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother sound that Angel chose to include in the album is an excerpt from a JazzFest Berlin panel discussion she participated in, which was moderated by writer Emma Warren – a friend of Angel’s – and recorded by Searcy. Angel’s powerful declamations from the panel stage are heard on the album’s last track “HELL,” through a dense layering of effects. “The discussion was led by Emma… so I was feeling very much myself and was going to tell the honest truth about how these festivals and music scenes still operate and support intellectual and structural racism, because they are never challenged,” Angel recalls.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite, or perhaps in light of the difficulties Angel and her band faced, they performed a set at Berliner Festspiele that Angel considers to be one of their best ever. “The show was very deep, and really helped me to process all the rage, and uncomfortable things I was feeling... It made me think of all the artists of the past who endured way more than I ever will with this music industry. It was a very freeing and beautiful show… we played our ass off!!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHarlem, NY-based journalist Shannon J. Effinger, who had interviewed Angel for Pitchfork earlier in 2019, was in Berlin to cover the festival and witnessed Angel’s performance.  “I had no clue Shannon was there and I was so happy to see her... We had breakfast in the morning together and I was able to vent to her about my frustrations about being in Europe. She shared the same sentiments, because she too was experiencing all the subtle microaggressions that happen over there,” Angel says.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShortly after Angel decided to make the Berlin recording into an album, in Summer 2020 she invited Effinger to write liner notes. In her notes for LIVE, Effinger touches on Angel’s mistreatment; but for the most part her attention is paid to the music that Angel \u0026amp; Tha Brothahood made during their performance. An excerpt: \"On Sun Ra’s “Enlightenment,” Dawid’s arpeggiated chords on keys brought us all to our own hush harbor meeting, a once haven for enslaved Blacks to gather in secret and release their hardships through shout and prayer. As Dawid, Cape Town drummer Asher Gamedze and Adam Zanolini on reeds build into a tense crescendo, it is their attempt, through music, to exorcise the generational pain that has plagued Blacks for far too long.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I feel Shannon really captured the moment I was feeling. The story of my unrest with the racist undertones of the music industry isn’t why I want this album out. I want this album out because the Brothahood kicked ass on the music. Because she was there at the actual show, her notes have the purest, most authentic and accurate take on the situation,” says Angel. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother excerpt from Effinger's notes: \"From the unwavering strength of the “Black Family” as told through her clarinet, strong and resolute, to “We Are Starzz” which allowed the members of the Brothahood to dance and explore in their respective constellations over Zanolini’s walking bassline, Dawid strives to reconcile where Black life in America presently stands today—bestrided by a glorious yet troubled past, the disillusioned promise of our future, and a present that has never truly belonged to us.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAngel Bat Dawid: “I hope that this album will uplift and raise awareness to the world that we are still not in a good place when it comes to the relationship between whites other races. Universities, festivals, organizations etc that were built over 50 years ago, even though they have changed outwardly, have not changed internally, and still uphold the principles of their founders, who were racists. We still got a long way to go. And music is a great place to start in repairing this age old, distorted reality.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOut October 31, 2020\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":52120909250834,"sku":"IMRC0037LP","price":31.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"FIRE \u0026 BRIMSTONE\" Color Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":52120909283602,"sku":"IA-L-IFBC","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120909316370,"sku":"IMRC0037CD","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120998773010,"sku":"IMRC0037","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120909349138,"sku":"IMRC0037LP-1","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0910541570_10.jpg?v=1773693569"},{"product_id":"anna-butterss-mighty-vertebrate","title":"Anna Butterss - Mighty Vertebrate","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e'Mighty Vertebrate' is the International Anthem leader debut from Adelaide, Australia-born bassist and composer Anna Butterss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eButterss has steadily become a first-call for tour and studio work since moving to Los Angeles (after a stint in Bloomington, Indiana) in 2014. They’ve racked up credits with notables across the indie, jazz, and pop worlds alike – including Makaya McCraven, Phoebe Bridgers, Jason Isbell, Andrew Bird, and Daniel Villarreal – but their most notable contributions to the burgeoning West Coast creative music scene have been as a core member of both Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet and rising proto-trance supergroup SML, who Pitchfork says “represents the thrilling next phase of a vibrant L.A. community.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir first solo album, 'Activities', was similarly hailed by Pitchfork as \"one of the most exciting, undersung jazz releases of 2022,\" but the improvise-edit-reconstruct method used on that record couldn’t be further from the foundation of 'Mighty Vertebrate', which began amid the very real challenge of threading solo work into the dense calendrical web of an in-demand collaborator.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I had just gotten off of a bunch of touring at the end of 2022 and just wanted to write music,” says Butterss. “The best way for me to do that, I’ve found, is to set myself a discrete and focused\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003etask.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- I’m going to make a song where the bass doesn’t function in the role of a bass.\u003cbr\u003e- I’m going to work on this for an hour and then I’m going to stop.\u003cbr\u003e- I’m going to make a song that uses groups of three-bar phrasing.\u003cbr\u003e- I want to sample something and make it into a song.\u003cbr\u003e- I’m going to start with a drum machine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Every song was like that,” they continue. “Then once I got started I just followed where my mind wanted to go. It was very structured.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe music itself reflects that structure beautifully, with the material being tightly composed and melodically realized by Butterss well in advance of production concerns. They eventually migrated the operation to Chris Schlarb’s Long Beach hideaway BIG EGO to track a selection of full band material. With Schlarb at the controls they reconvene a group of trusted longtime collaborators to bring their compositions to fruition: Josh Johnson (sax), Gregory Uhlmann (guitar), and Ben Lumsdaine (drums, guitar, production).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I am definitely hearing this group when I’m writing the music or thinking of how it’s going to be played live,” Butterss notes. “I’m hearing these specific people. They’re going to understand what this is supposed to feel like. We’re not going to have to talk about it much. It’s just going to feel very natural, which it was.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe results speak to the natural quality of those interactions, and their breadth and scope might have been difficult to achieve otherwise. From the Robbie-Shakespeare-in-groove-mode intro to the album opener “Bishop” to the spacious cinematic doom of “Seeing You”, there is a lot to wrangle into one cohesive concept. It’s the bedrock of the lineup which keeps the circle unbroken. Butterss’ deep rooted musical relationship with the album’s co-producer, multi-instrumentalist and IARC labelmate Ben Lumsdaine, is also an undeniable factor in the cohesion. The duo have played together since meeting as teens in music school, and worked closely with one another on every aspect of the ten tracks that make up 'Mighty Vertebrate'. That comfort level extends the confident and natural feeling of the sessions to post production, granting the internal arc of each piece the same tidy-yet-adventurous quality found in the compositions themselves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor instance, “Dance Steve” opens with overlapping samples expanding, contracting, and quickly focusing into a rhythm blended with a lo-fi bedroom beat just before the sonic scope is widened with a tuff-and-crunchy guitar riff over a straight boom bap 808 rhythm. Synth repetitions chirp dizzily while chorused guitars soften the scene and the subtly dense percussive layers build and unbuild. The song’s halfway mark finds the listener cooling down as the melodies retreat and the rhythm settles into ambient-trance mode. It’s only a chance to catch a breath, it turns out, as the last third of the track is the big reveal. Enter Jeff Parker (the album’s lone featured guest) on electric guitar along with Lumsdaine in a deep-pocket tambourine-accompanied groove. All synths, samples, and guitars have brightened and been rendered percussive – a web of tiny pulsing rhythms – and Parker uses the moment to lay down a classic JP solo. Butterss steers the ship with a dubby bass groove threaded between the beats. It’s as if the shades have been thrown open to greet the sun, but most importantly it’s a complete story. A narrative arc in under five minutes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker’s impact is hard to miss when discussing any forward-thinking, groove-oriented jazz and experimental music. Perhaps even more accurate in the case of 'Mighty Vertebrate' is the influence of Tortoise, the long running post-genre group of which Parker is a member. Butterss’ “Pokemans” echoes the band’s excellent 2001 album 'Standards' as much as it does Four Tet or any of Junichi Masuda’s 8-bit school bus classics; but this is more than just inspiration, influence, or some detached version of a musical continuum. Butterss has played with Jeff Parker for years; Tortoise’s John Herndon did the cover art for 'Mighty Vertebrate'; these artists exist within the same close-knit community. Here Butterss finds themself firmly in the protégé-to-peer pipeline.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUltimately, each track on 'Mighty Vertebrate' could be excavated and studied or simply taken at face value. It’s a solid, mature, and endlessly fun glimpse into the world of an artist whose potential for growth is seemingly unlimited.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReleased October 4, 2024\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003eAll compositions by Anna Butterss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Ben Lumsdaine and Anna Butterss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - alto saxophone, effects\u003cbr\u003eGregory Uhlmann - guitar, effects\u003cbr\u003eBen Lumsdaine - drums, percussion, guitar, lap steel, drum programming\u003cbr\u003eAnna Butterss - upright bass, electric bass, guitar, synths, flute, drum machine\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - guitar (on “Dance Steve”)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by Chris Schlarb at BIG EGO Studios and Ben Lumsdaine at Laundry Works II Recording Services.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Ben Lumsdaine.\u003cbr\u003eSequenced by Scott McNiece.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArtwork by John Herndon.\u003cbr\u003eLayout by Jeremiah Chiu.\u003cbr\u003ePhotographs by Robbie Jeffers.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eAll rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Skull\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52611374907666,"sku":"IARC0086LPX","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120909414674,"sku":"IARC0086LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Fossilized Chartreuse\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120909447442,"sku":"IARC0086LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120909480210,"sku":"IARC0086CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120998904082,"sku":"IARC0086","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3475189898_10.jpg?v=1773624111"},{"product_id":"anteloper-pink-dolphins","title":"Anteloper - Pink Dolphins","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e“We’re improvisers first and we’re bringing “moment music” into these other zones of hip hop and electronic music, drum-machine music, sound-system culture… Acoustic musicians sun-kissed by electro-magnetism, flowing out into everything. This is the shit that we want to be playing on big ass systems. Omnivorous, energy space time, mosh pit dance-music. Get it in the subwoofers so you can feel it hit, cuz the music has to begin in the body!” – jaimie branch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ejaimie branch and Jason Nazary are Anteloper. When prompted about their name, branch comes back rhyming: “An Anteloper, is an antelope, interloper,” adding in a jovial manner, “an antelope walks up to a party, but you know, people don’t want him around.” Turns out, she had the name before the band was formed, and once the duo started rehearsing, it was apparent that THIS was what an Anteloper sounds like.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnother creature pops up in the title of the duo’s new album: Pink Dolphins. branch explains that the name is in part a nod to her Colombian heritage (from her Mother). “There’s these amazing pink river dolphins that live in the Amazon - they can swim in salt water, they can chill in fresh water, or they can rock in mixed up brackish waters. They are uniquely ‘aquadelic’ in that way\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e. Aquadelic and super endangered.” In many ways branch and Nazary are like those dolphins – adaptable to varied terrain and moving in many directions through sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Pink Dolphins album artwork is by branch too, a primarily ink-and-gouache based artist who notes that this was the first time she treated her paintings with hefty digital processing. She’s collaborated, again, with John Herndon (of Tortoise fame), who she worked with on album covers for her first two FLY or DIE releases, and who has also done several tattoos for her. This isn’t the only Tortoise connection, though. Pink Dolphins is a new benchmark for the duo, not least because of the involvement of Jeff Parker whom they recruited to be producer for the record in 2019. Parker notes: “I was immediately excited... Anteloper has a very unique sound and chemistry, and I love the spirit behind everything that they’re doing.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut before we get into the new album in full, a quick recap: Nazary and branch first met musically in Boston in their late teens. Their previous two albums – 2018’s Kudu (reissued on vinyl for the first time in January 2022) and 2020’s in-progress report Tour Beats Vol. 1 – both acted as ‘proof-of-concept’ experiments, merging synths, raw experimental desktop electronics, gadgets, and efx with the energy and attitude of punk and an insatiable thirst for extended outer space jams. branch works with her band Fly or Die and has also appeared with Exploding Star Orchestra, TV On The Radio, Matana Roberts, William Parker, and many others. Nazary released a solo album, Spring Collection, on Helsinki’s We Jazz Records last year, and has appeared with Helado Negro, Bear In Heaven, Little Women, Desertion Trio, and many others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere’s something undeniably now and new about Anteloper’s current work. It channels a wide array of expressions from the kosmische musik \/ post punk sounding opener “Inia” through the seismic, spectrum-saturating album closer “One Living Genus.” Anteloper blazes rarely-trodden trails through a cross-pollinated wilderness of electronics and jazz. And though one might assume that jazz and electronics are common genre interactions these days, Anteloper’s experiments mine deep into underexplored spaces between lexicons.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere’s also a punk aspect to Anteloper – branch makes this clear when she says “I’m coming from punk. We’re both coming from punk!” – and you can really feel that energy in their DIY, do or die approach. Additionally, they embrace a bit of pre-punk, contrarian innovation energy like Miles Davis on Live Evil – a benchmark album for both musicians. Speaking of Miles – his trumpet solo on “Green Dolphin Street” (dolphins again!) was the first solo that branch ever transcribed, and Nazary says that when they first started playing together, he wanted to cover “Little Church” from Live Evil (atleast in part because of Airto’s playing). branch also notes that Parker cites Live Evil as one of his favorites. In fact, Parker played a sort of Teo Macero role for Anteloper on Pink Dolphins. Parker explains: “The source material that was initially sent to me was many, many hours of improvised sessions that needed to be sifted through. It was overwhelming! So eventually Anteloper went back in the lab and edited the source material down into smaller chunks, and we went from there. It took me a long time to find a groove with it… I spent many months experimenting with different techniques and ideas. I would send them tracks, they would add to it and send it back. It was definitely a challenging way to make a record. I learned a lot. It was worth it!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNazary notes that their growth as a duo has really come about as they have refined their relationship with electronics: “The other step for us is how we are interfacing – how I am using the drums to control electronics. I’m always looking for a different way.” branch references early influences Sun Ra, Mouse on Mars, and J Dilla, and later influences from Moor Mother, Harriet Tubman, and Sam Newsome. She cites the importance of electronics to her as exploratory instruments, both in sound and technique. Nazary notes that his drums\/electronics rig is “really a cyborg setup, the machines influence me as much as I do them.” Then he surprisingly picks one big electronic band as his key inspiration “I love Autechre! That record Confield and Draft 7.30 - that’s it - that’s how I want to sound on the drums!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpeaking of a different way, right in the middle of the album is “Earthlings,” a heady banger of sci-fi slow blues featuring branch on vocals (a first for her, in the context of Anteloper). As for how it came together, Parker and branch tell different sides of the same story. Parker starts: “I made a 4-bar loop from one of their improvisations, and it was banging.” He sent it to branch, who recalls: “I was lightly tripping on LSD and checking out Jeff’s loop when the melody came to me.” The lyrics came partly as a reaction to a fallout (‘Make you\/Make sense\/It Makes Sense’), as branch explored “knowing what time it is with somebody and trying to force it to make sense, but you know it’s not going to necessarily make sense.” Parker says when she sent the lyrics back, he had already extracted a loop from one of their improvisations and “played a little Kenny Burrell-esgue guitar on it. I smashed the two things together, and away we went. It was done right after George Floyd and everyone was in the streets, right at the height of covid, etc. I think there’s a subtle message in jaimie’s lyrics.” “Earthlings” also carries some of the raw post-Tropicalian heft of the late Brazilian samba queen Elza Soares’s later work – namely from the final album she created while of this earth, A Muher do Fim do Mundo (The Woman At The End of The World). Though branch notes it wasn’t directly an inspiration for “Earthlings,” the sonic and spiritual connections are no surprise, considering branch collaborated with Soares in a wild and illuminating experimental meeting for Rewire Festival in 2021.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntentional or not, the ghosts of Tropicalia are also conjured on Pink Dolphins album closer “One Living Genus.” It’s an expansive (nearly 15 minutes!) movement of futurist psychedelia – loud, direct, impatient, impolite, pushing for progress – that recalls the colorful, uncompromisingly creative and revolutionary spirit emanating from Brazil in the late 1960s, but vibrates more like the modern cultural diffusion of the New York city that the band calls home. Nazary feels the track sees them “fully exploring those underwater cavernous sounds, the drums dropping deep bass pillars, while jaimie's synths swim circles in and around. Jeff's production brilliantly captures both the stillness and constant motion in our sound, ever evolving but always rooted in the genus.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat makes this album special is the way that this duo bravely abandons the known as they leap forward into a path less-travelled. There’s no pre-made template here, only sound. Only a starting point, the destruction of that point, and the telepathic creation of a new way out. The electronics incorporated by both players are navigational devices, transportation sound-crafts. The resulting output is freewheeling, other-worldly, improvisational music, inspired by the unknown and at home in the astro-world. But the driving force behind Anteloper’s psychedelic space music is not escapism, rather a complete immersion in the hyperreality of the present. Their music is made for destroying concepts of past and future, for confronting and embracing the moment, for the betterment of the here and now. It's music that is as rare and bewilderingly beautiful as the aquadelic pink dolphins surfing through the Amazon River.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003eReleased June 17, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"\"Limousine Black\" Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120909611282,"sku":"IARC0056-LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"\"Aquadelic Pink\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120909644050,"sku":"IARC0056-LPS","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120909676818,"sku":"IARC0056-CD","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120998969618,"sku":"IARC0056","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120909709586,"sku":"IARC0056LP","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3941937252_10.jpg?v=1773623762"},{"product_id":"ben-lamar-gay-downtown-castles-can-never-block-the-sun","title":"Ben LaMar Gay - Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\"Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun\" is as much a 'greatest hits' as it is a 'debut album' for Ben LaMar Gay. It's a collection of music composed, performed \u0026amp; produced by the anomalous Southside Chicago-born, sometimes Brazil-residing artist, compiled from 7 albums he made over the last 7 years but never made the effort to actually release.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith its title taken from the mantra Ben repeats across several tracks on \"Grapes\" (1 of the 7 aforementioned albums), \"Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun\" is our effort to channel the rainbow of sonic expressions, art \u0026amp; poetry beaming from the ark of his unreleased catalogue into a cohesive \u0026amp; communicable compilation. It's as good of an introduction to Ben LaMar Gay as we could fit onto a single LP. To call it \"eclectic\" would only scratch the surface. This music is everything.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003eReleased May 4, 2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCompiled \u0026amp; Sequenced by Scott McNiece \u0026amp; Ben LaMar Gay.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Art \u0026amp; Photos by Maren Celest.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eAll rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52126842487058,"sku":"IA-DCCN-ICBV","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"\"Frozen Concord Grape\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120910102802,"sku":"block-the-sun-grape","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120910135570,"sku":"block-the-sun-cd","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999297298,"sku":"IARC0017","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120910168338,"sku":"IARC0017LP","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3641786439_10.jpg?v=1773696103"},{"product_id":"ben-lamar-gay-open-arms-to-open-us","title":"Ben LaMar Gay - Open Arms to Open Us","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003ePrologue by Ben LaMar Gay:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrowing up, spending summers in Alabama, one of my favorite chores was feeding the pigs that were on my great Aunt Lola’s land. Sometimes while on the path to the feeding grounds, Aunt Lola and I would stand still and listen together. We would immediately become aware of winds approaching through wavering pines, quail songs and the chatter of distant cousins just up the road.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce she told me that during a certain time of day she can hear her father hammering away in the field near the old house where she grew up. Even though her father was long deceased, she could clearly hear the rhythm and feel his presence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis was my first conscious experience with thermodynamics and its first law that states energy can neither be created nor destroyed, just transferred. The moment, environment, memory, and open listening of my great Aunt allowed a sound from the past to resonate in the present for my 7 year old ears.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe awareness of a moment, environment, memory, and open listening are also the makings of a great improviser. With the idea of freedom being a “dangling carrot” for most, my now mature and “forever learning” ears have realized that improvisation\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis the one freedom that we all have access to. I remember the clarity of my great grandfather’s hammer. The silence in between each strike was what drew Aunt Lola and me in, closer. From that moment on, I’ve carried my curiosity of the world inside my front pocket at all times.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis experience is at the root of this bundle of sound, Open Arms to Open Us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI started visualizing this music during the Spring of 2020, in the global thickness of being faced with mortality in a different way. If not mortality, faced once again with the crumbling of societal facades. Things aren’t okay. Things have never been okay, at least in this brief period of the planet where man sells and kills for ownership of the earth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlong with brief feelings of dismay and desires of survival, I began to think about future ears and the continuation of magic with or without me. I often found myself wondering: What can I leave behind for the young people in my life? These young messengers, these young creatives, these young listeners who know me or have heard about me from their parents via stories, pictures, or sounds from the house\/car stereo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll I could think about was my nieces and nephews… blood and beyond. If they ever look back and wonder what their uncle\/their messenger was thinking about during this interesting time or rotation of the earth, I want them to know that I was thinking about them, the future of this circle, the future of this curiosity, the future of this exploration. I spent my time believing in them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOpen Arms to Open Us deals with rhythm as an inheritance of information – sort of like DNA or RNA. Coping with the present-day bombardment of data and recycled ideologies from sources essentially fed by the creed “Destroy Them. Own the Earth” often leaves me with only one thing to look forward to: Rhythm. More than anything, I’d like my babies to always trust in rhythm. It’s the one trueness that travels great distances and constantly survives the crumbling of facades.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile living inside the interesting rotations of the earth, we are constantly dealing with man-made loops that often leave us with questions such as: Who constructed this loop? Who does this loop benefit? Who does this loop exploit? How can I survive in this loop? How can I destroy this loop? Maybe if we reach beyond the generic names and virtuosic execution of rhythms to better understand the dialogue between rhythms and our bodies we could release the message that has been carried for centuries inside of them. These messages sent from the ancient and future loved ones could possibly be the key to revamp, upgrade, tweak, quell, and pacify particular loops.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOpen Arms to Open Us is full of rhythm or information that will assist my young folk in dealing with the repetition of things that aim to harm them or stunt their holistic progression. The title is a suggestion of a body movement that is used in many spiritual practices and is also a gesture that represents a type of understanding that leads to touch or a hug. The music is for dancing, reflecting, celebrating, bellowing, bawling, stimulation, focus and deciphering messages from loved ones here and beyond. It was the space in between the sound of my great grandfather’s hammer that made me understand that, no matter what, We Gon Win.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e– BLG, August 2021\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003eReleased November 19, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120910233874,"sku":"IARC0051LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"Dawn Cherry\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120910266642,"sku":"IARC0051LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"Chicago Sunset\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120910299410,"sku":"IARC0051LPS","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120910332178,"sku":"IARC0051CDUS","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999428370,"sku":"IARC0051","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120910364946,"sku":"IARC0051LP-1","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3986606911_10.jpg?v=1773695586"},{"product_id":"ben-lamar-gay-yowzers","title":"Ben LaMar Gay - Yowzers","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eYowzers is a new album by Chicago composer, improvisor, instrumentalist and musical folklorist Ben LaMar Gay. The twelve track collection is a leap forward in the lexicon of Gay’s recorded output, and a veritable masterwork of ancient inner-body rhythms and intuitive melodic storytelling.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s worth mentioning that a leap forward for Gay is no small feat. The musical ground he has covered in the last decade, both as a bandleader and collaborator, is immense. His de facto debut album—the 2018 compilation Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun—properly introduced the world to Gay by placing fifteen stylistically diverse tracks from seven then-unreleased albums next to one another, letting the populace outside of Cook County in on an unintentionally best-kept-secret that Chicagoans had already been marveling at for quite some time. That secret has become even more open in the years since, with the full unveiling of those seven previously-unreleased albums, the release of his critically-acclaimed 2021 song cycle Open Arms To Open Us, and the explosive free sonics of 2022’s Certain Reveries.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn addition to being featured on a staggering number of International Anthem releases (including albums by Makaya McCraven\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e, jaimie branch, Damon Locks, Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti \u0026amp; Frank Rosaly), Gay is one of the most prolific collaborators in creative music today. He makes active contributions to Mike Reed’s Separatist Party, Joshua Abrams’s Natural Information Society, Theaster Gates’s Black Monks, and many more. He is also a long-time participant in Chicago’s legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Suffice to say, his credentials are astonishing and the scope of his interests and abilities is seemingly limitless, with Yowzers representing the latest redrawing of that ever-expanding creative borderline.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMuch of the music on Yowzers features his working quartet with Tommaso Moretti (drums, percussion, voice), Matthew Davis (tuba, piano, bells, voice), and Will Faber (guitar, ngoni, bells, voice). But the unlisted feature here is Gay’s own ability to summon and unleash the unique strengths of his collaborators. The quartet material leans into a vocabulary that the group has developed over the course of several years together on the road; and the repertoire delivers an arresting cocktail of pulsing and free rhythms that somehow swing alongside a gathering of melodic phrases that sweep the outer-reaches of harmony with nostalgic echoes of family songs from the living room.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Building a language, or taking a while to build a language—it’s like every other thing,” says Gay. “These stories are passed around through melody. You write a story and you share the story with individuals, and then you allow their individuality to embellish the story and take it on in another way. That person is a whole universe. It’s about trusting these people—trusting the people you leave something with, just like people trust their kids and their grandkids to carry a thing on. To not give it all away. To keep it in this tightly-knit body and to just keep it going.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s not a new concept for Gay. One uniting factor in his deep, multi-faceted discography is a never-ending commitment to taking the stories of the past and pushing them outward, filtered through a sense of self, to keep that information moving.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInformation moves through Yowzers via the intuitive physicality of Gay’s creative polyrhythmic constructions as he covertly delivers familiar folk tunes and tales. “It’s the most natural thing,” says Gay. “That’s how the world is. There are overlapping rhythms all around us, and so it reminds you of the reality of the world when you hear them. It’s a loop and the loop is always changing.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYowzers is ripe with the fine mash of that loop’s changes and diffusions, recalling the high-minded freedom of Liberation Music Orchestra, the abstract boom-bap balladry of Georgia Anne Muldrow, the unbridled rhythms and sandpaper bellows of Bukka White, the harmolodic cartoon glory of Arthur Blythe’s Illusions, or the oft-copped but rarely distilled patterns of Naná Vasconcelos. More amalgam than pendulum swing; a fresh thought made up of old ideas, like some imaginary Sacred Heart Ensemble led by Elvin Jones and Rashid Ali. It’s all there, filtered through an improvisational approach and a lifetime of stories and secrets embodied. For a man who has inhabited and traveled these continents so extensively, it’s safe to call this work true Americana, despite what that word might mean to the average white person in the United States.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A big part of the language this quartet has developed is spatial,” says Gay. “It’s seeing and hearing it live.” Translating that language to a studio situation is a tough task, even for a seasoned crew. “You’re dealing with a thing that is older than the industry that sells it, and if you’ve never experienced those bodies in a room there can be a disconnect.” Striving to document the magic of those live moments, to great end, Gay chose to track the quartet pieces (“the glorification of small victories,” “there, inside the morning glory,” “I am (bells),” and “cumulus”) for Yowzers live, in real time, seated with his bandmates in a small circle at Palisade Studios in Chicago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe spectrum of the album is widened by a batch of music created via Gay’s highly successful approach to composing in-studio, augmented with contributions from his bandmates, instrumentalist Rob Frye, and a mini-choir comprising vocalists Ayanna Woods, Tramaine Parker, and Ugochi Nwaogwugwu. This straying from the quartet material throughout the course of the record acts as an expansion of detail rather than an interruption of continuity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll together, the pacing and flow of Yowzers is proof-positive of Gay’s practiced grasp on how the album format can traverse such a breadth of atmospheres. The titular album opener “yowzers” is a simple, soulful, three-chord piano and vocal repetition nestled in the hypnotically swelling effect of the Woods\/Parker\/Nwaogwugwu choir. The undecorated lyrics leave ample room for a listener to comprehend references to the binding existential crises of our times. It’s a Blues that everyone in the world should feel in their bones:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAin’t gon snow no more x4\u003cbr\u003eRain gon pour and pour x4\u003cbr\u003eFire don’t stop no more x4\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“for Breezy”, a could-be New Orleans dirge, straddles the deep sigh of a heavy sadness and the sweet lift of a fond look back, echoing the most contemplative moments of Duke Ellington’s small group arrangements. Gay’s clustered synth chording sets the scene while Frye’s breathy flute and Moretti’s delicate brushwork are positioned front-and-center along with a synthetic static—the nagging question of darkness even as beauty blooms. Gay’s flugelhorn enters at the 1:35 mark, maneuvering slowly around Frye and locking the vibe into place. It’s a gorgeous and fitting tribute to an old comrade.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“John, John Henry” begins with doomy oscillations and click-clack electronic rhythm loops hovering atop a contextually disjointed swing beat from Moretti. Enter Gay and his choir, digging into a take on the dusty-yet-timeless tale of man versus machine, an update we didn’t know we needed and an entrance we didn’t know we wanted. The way the group’s vocal rhythms hit here is a classic example of the Gay conundrum: an idea that reads as challenging on paper but sounds simple to the ear and feels intuitive to the body. With spectacles underfoot and charts out the window, the listener sings along, unencumbered by know-how. It’s all in service of Gay’s ongoing exploration and expansion of folklore in his work—arguably the one concept that bridges the gap between all of the disparate elements of his oeuvre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis bottomless bag of tricks never induces fatigue, instead allowing for breaths and bites as needed—the quick-vibe banana peel windup of “rollerskates”; the endlessly psychedelic metallic rhythm chant of the album’s centerpiece “I am (bells)”; and the triumphant free-folk shouts of “the glorification of small victories,” which is a drastic and collaborative quartet rework of a composition originally recorded for Gay’s album Grapes that serves as further evidence of his steady crew’s interpretive powers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow, though, does Gay end a collection that covers so much ground? The sweetest sendoff is often the one that sounds like a beginning. The album closer “leave some for you”—a balladeer’s kiss as the sun comes up—pairs a deeply disintegrated series of rhythmic loops with a diddley bow shuffle, ushered by the sturdy-yet-understated swing of Moretti’s kit. Gay’s sweetly intoned low-register lilt is front and center with an affirmation delivered as an earworm. The simple melody carries it home:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou look brand new today\u003cbr\u003eNot cause you need it\u003cbr\u003eJust cause you want it\u003cbr\u003eNew\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReleased June 6, 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120910397714,"sku":"IARC0097LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Ipomoea Jalapa\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120910430482,"sku":"IARC0097LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120910463250,"sku":"IARC0097CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999461138,"sku":"IARC0097","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120910496018,"sku":"IARC0097LP-TP","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2952110613_10.jpg?v=1773695371"},{"product_id":"carlos-nino-friends-more-energy-fields-current","title":"Carlos Niño \u0026 Friends - More Energy Fields, Current","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDescription:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eMore Energy Fields, Current\u003c\/em\u003e is a definitive new peak in the recorded continuum of prolific producer\/percussionist Carlos Niño. Featuring heavy contributions from many of the most exciting instrumentalists in the creative music constellation of Los Angeles (of which Niño’s has been a central force for over 2 decades), the album collects 10 pristine gems of collaborative communication helmed by the Southern Californian sage, elegantly presented in his unique “Spiritual, Improvisational, Space Collage” style.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStarting with the subtle invitation of “Pleasewakeupalittlefaster, please…” (accompanied by the liner note from Niño: “We’re all in this together. I look forward to living in a much higher, much more conscious, harmonious state, here, with You, on this Magical Planet Earth.”), a gorgeously-keyed canonic infinity by pianist Jamael Dean articulates an Earth-loving, universalist ethos that imbues the entire 44 minute program. While the sonics shift and evolve, gracefully placed in patient order across subsequent track highlights “Nightswimming” (featuring Dean and Dntel on modular synth), “Thanking the Earth” (featuring multi-instrumentalists Sam Gendel and Nate Mercereau, whom Niño has been working and bonding extensively with in recent years), “Salon Winds”\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(featuring Jamire Williams on drums and Aaron Shaw on flute), and “Togetherness” (featuring Dean and Devin Daniels on sax), the naturalist sentiments established in the exposition remain potently present.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album is ripe with “ambient” passages that function like open portals between moments of consonance and clarity. But even in the occasional absence of drums, there is a powerful pulse implicit in the program’s frequency of consciousness. It’s a testament to Niño’s foundations as a DJ. His distinct ability to craft kinetic, cinematic sonic experience from dozens of independent, often rhythmically-ambiguous improvisational archive memories is more fluently displayed on 'More Energy Fields, Current' than anything we’ve heard from him to date. It resonates, lucidly, with the way Niño’s mentor Iasos – who is known to the world as an original founder of New Age music – has described his work: \"Real Time Interactive Imagination, Flow Texturization.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn 'More Energy Fields, Current', Niño immerses us in the watery depths of his world, spiriting us like a submarine through exotic nether-leagues of untouched sound. And when we arrive at the final, book-ending piece “Please, Wake Up.” (an extended version of the opening theme with transcendental counterpoint by saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings), it’s like a return, safely to shore.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased May 7, 2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. Pleasewakeupalittlefaster, please...\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Piano and Organ\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Percussion, Mixing, Editing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe’re all in this together. I look forward to living in a much higher, much more conscious, harmonious state, here, with You, on this Magical Planet Earth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2. The World Stage, 4321 Degnan Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90008\u003cbr\u003eSam Gendel - Alto Saxophone and Pedals\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Piano\u003cbr\u003eRandy Gloss - Hybrid Drum Set\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Percussion\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded and Mixed by Tomoaki Soto from Sunday, November 24, 2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3. Nightswimming\u003cbr\u003eDntel - Modular Synthesizer\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Piano\u003cbr\u003eJira \u0026gt;\u0026lt; - Beats\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Percussion, Sound Design, Mixing, Editing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4. Now the background is the foreground.\u003cbr\u003eAdam Rudolph - Drum Machine, Multi-Instruments and Production\u003cbr\u003eAaron Shaw - Tenor Saxophone\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Yamaha DX7\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Percussion, Mixing, Editing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Silvia Bianchi and La Terraza Magnetica \/ Madrid\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e5. Thanking The Earth\u003cbr\u003eSam Gendel - Vibraphone\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth, Multi-Instruments and Production\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Percussion, Field Recordings, Mixing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Ishmael Butler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e6. Salon Winds\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams - Drums, Painting\u003cbr\u003eNate Mercereau - Guitar Synth World\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Prophet Keyboard\u003cbr\u003eAaron Shaw - Flute and Tenor Saxophone\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Percussion, Mixing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by Jason Lader on Wednesday, August 26, 2020\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Travis Lett, Mike D and Tamara Davis\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e7. Ripples, Reflection, Loop\u003cbr\u003eLaraaji - Zither and Voice\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Electric Piano\u003cbr\u003eSharada - Voice\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Percussion, Sound Design, Mixing, Editing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Alex Kelman of Third Side Music\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e8. Togetherness\u003cbr\u003eDevin Daniels - Alto Saxophone\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Electric Piano\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Synthesizer, Percussion, Mixing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e9. lasos 79 ‘til Infinity\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Synthesizer, Chimes and Collage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInvite them in, say, “Yes, Come.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e10. Please, wake up.\u003cbr\u003eShabaka Hutchings* - Tenor Saxophone\u003cbr\u003eJamael Dean - Piano and Synth\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño - Percussion, Mixing, Editing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on a Duet by Shabaka and Carlos recorded by Andy Kravitz\u003cbr\u003eat Studio 4 West on Monday, March 11, 2019\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Scottie McNiece\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*Shabaka Hutchings appears courtesy of Impulse!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Carlos Niño.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003ePhotos by Todd Weaver.\u003cbr\u003eIndigo by Niki Tsukamoto.\u003cbr\u003eArt Direction by Nep Sidhu.\u003cbr\u003eDesign and Layout by Craig Hansen.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52611308650770,"sku":"IARC0040LP","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"Core Feelings\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52611308683538,"sku":"IARC0040LPWS","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52611333783826,"sku":"IARC0040CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":52120910889234,"sku":"IA-IARC0040CASS","price":11.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999690514,"sku":"IARC0040","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0914025926_10.jpg?v=1773697585"},{"product_id":"carlos-nino-miguel-atwood-ferguson-chicago-waves","title":"Carlos Niño \u0026 Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Chicago Waves","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eIn late November of 2018, long-time collaborators (\u0026amp; life-long Los Angelenos) Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Miguel Atwood-Ferguson flew to Chicago to participate in the album release performance of Makaya McCraven’s Universal Beings. Just 11 months prior, Carlos \u0026amp; Miguel were part of recording the ‘Los Angeles Side’ of Universal Beings at Jeff Parker’s house in Altadena, California, and this performance in Chicago would be the first time that all of the musicians reunited to re-learn and perform the music they’d collectively composed during those sessions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Universal Beings performance and preceding days of rehearsal took place at the iconic South Shore Cultural Center – a historic gilded-era urban club-turned-public facility deep on Chicago’s Southside and right along the reedy shore of Lake Michigan, giving the building’s backdrop an infinitely blue Northern expanse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe night after the performance at South Shore Cultural Center, friend of International Anthem Jeremy Cunningham was scheduled to debut new music (\"The Weather Up There,\" which has since been released on Northern Spy Records) at our HQ, Co-Prosperity Sphere. Since Carlos \u0026amp; Miguel were still in Chicago (before they’d head to New York City for a second Universal Beings performance at\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eLe Poisson Rouge), we invited them to do a Special Guest duo set to open the show.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the conclusion of their 44-minute improvised set that night, Carlos spontaneously dubbed the piece “Chicago Waves.” His proclamation gave us the distinct impression that the previous days spent in South Shore (and the many commutes to-and-from, along Lake Shore Drive) had imprinted the deep blue vastness of early-Winter Lake Michigan into Carlos \u0026amp; Miguel’s respective \u0026amp; collective consciousness, and thus, into the spirit of the luminous music they created that night at Co-Prosperity Sphere. We at IARC are happy to share this recording of Chicago Waves with the world in a time when peace-bringing sound and a sweet memory of live music, sparkling inside the collective breath of community in communal space, has potential to provide the utmost nourishment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e...about Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Miguel Atwood-Ferguson...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño – a multidimensional and catalytic producer, arranger, percussionist and DJ – made early in-roads through independent music in 1995, founding Spaceways Radio, the longstanding program for LA’s KPFK station and, shortly thereafter, co-founding non-profit internet radio giant Dublab. Moreover, Niño has been front-and-center in the forging of post-hip hop, contemporary Spiritual Jazz and New Age lexicons in Los Angeles. From community activism at Leimert Park’s The World Stage to kindred allyship within Leaving Records’ all-genre manifestations, his ensemble, Carlos Niño \u0026amp; Friends, is a living collaborative force that has engaged a fountain of inspired players such as Sam Gendel, Jamael Dean, Dexter Story, Jamire Williams, Josh Johnson, Deantoni Parks, Madlib, Kamasi Washington, and of course, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAtwood-Ferguson – an arranger, composer, music director, producer and multi-instrumentalist – rose as a classically trained session musician to what the New York Times would call “a leader of skilled ensembles, a celebrator of repertories and an organizer of legacies.” He has composed string arrangements for everyone from Dr. Dre to Anderson .Paak, Thundercat and Flying Lotus (among many, many others). Suite for Ma Dukes, a towering homage to the late J Dilla, saw Atwood-Ferguson re-interpreting the legendary producer’s work for orchestra while assembling a 60-piece ensemble performance that featured Bilal, Talib Kweli, Karriem Riggins and others. His highly anticipated debut LP, Les Jardins Mystiques, is slated for release in 2021 via Brainfeeder Records.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough Niño and Atwood-Ferguson initially met some years before, the two lifelong Los Angelenos truly connected as artists and friends in 2005. It was in that year that Atwood-Ferguson joined Niño in the studio to record two different records – With Voices, the final album by Niño’s beatmaking duo Ammoncontact, and Living Room by The Life Force Trio, a group comprised of Niño, Dwight Trible and Dexter Story. That same year, Atwood-Ferguson also joined Niño’s ensemble, Build An Ark. The two became close.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is among my dearest, closest friends and collaborators. He is family,” says Niño. “I enjoy every opportunity that we find \/ create, or invitation that we agree to accept, to communicate with each other psychically.” Atwood-Ferguson says: “Carlos has been one of my greatest friends and teachers ever since 2005. I am joyously eternally indebted to him and can't wait to do as much with him as possible!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBoth prolific independent artists and consummate advocates of creative music in Los Angeles and beyond, Niño and Atwood-Ferguson reunited in 2007 to record their debut album for Alpha Pup, a stirring and plaintive duet entitled Fill the Heart-Shaped Cup. They would go on to play together often over the following decade but it’s not until 2020 that they release another recording as a duet. That recording is Chicago Waves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- bio by Joe Darling\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased June 26, 2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music composed by Carlos Niño (Third Side Music)\u003cbr\u003eand Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (Warp Publishing).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded live November 30th, 2018,\u003cbr\u003eat Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport, Chicago, Illinois.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCarlos Niño – percussion \u0026amp; soundscapes\u003cbr\u003eMiguel Atwood-Ferguson* – 5-string violin \u0026amp; effects\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded \u0026amp; Mixed by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Art by Sam Klickner.\u003cbr\u003ePortrait by Kristie Kahns.\u003cbr\u003eLayout \u0026amp; Liner Design by Craig Hansen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Scott McNiece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*Miguel Atwood-Ferguson appears courtesy of Brainfeeder Records.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120910922002,"sku":"IARC0033LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"\"Lake Michigan Blue\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120910954770,"sku":"IA-IARC0033LP-COL","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120910987538,"sku":"IARC0033CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":52120911020306,"sku":"IA-IARC0033-CASS","price":11.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999887122,"sku":"IARC0033","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0463730313_10.jpg?v=1773697251"},{"product_id":"charles-stepney-step-on-step","title":"Charles Stepney - Step on Step","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eInternational Anthem is proud to present 'Step on Step', a double LP collection of home recordings marking the de-facto eponymous debut album by enigmatic producer, arranger, and composer Charles Stepney (1931-1976). The music that makes up Step on Step was created by Stepney alone, in the basement of his home on the Southside of Chicago, sometime in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before his untimely death in 1976.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Chicago born and bred arranger, producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Stepney is known for his work with Earth, Wind \u0026amp; Fire, Deniece Williams, and Ramsey Lewis, and as a staff producer for Chess Records in the 1960s, where he was an essential creative force behind seminal recordings by Rotary Connection, Minnie Riperton, Marlena Shaw, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Terry Callier, The Dells, The Emotions, and many more. In the decades since his passing, the presence of his name in liner notes and on vinyl labels has become a seal of quality for record collectors, music historians, and aficionados, while his sound has been used by countless samplers in the hip-hop world including Kanye West, A Tribe Called Quest, The Fugees, MF Doom, and Madlib. But in comparison to the post-mortem renown of his sound, or the music he created and the artists he\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003esupported while he was alive, Stepney is a greatly underappreciated figure… a genius relegated to the shadows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the signature elements of his “baroque soul” sound is the epic, expansive, orchestral expression of his horn and string arrangements (in many cases brought to life by members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), as heard on Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleurs,” or Marlena Shaw’s “California Soul,” or Terry Callier’s “What Color Is Love.” Hence making it even more special that his de-facto debut LP Step on Step, which sees its first wide release nearly five decades after his death, is a collection of stripped-down 4-track tape recordings featuring Stepney, alone, performing all instruments with minimal means. It is, as said by Chicago culture historian (and author of Step on Step liner notes) Ayana Contreras, “the uncut funk,” an unprecedented depiction of an imbued composer imagining and conceiving music (some of which would eventually become massive studio productions) in its primal state.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStep on Step features 23 tracks, most of which are original compositions by Stepney that were never again recorded by him or any other artist. It also features prototypical, seedling-style demos of Stepney compositions for Earth, Wind \u0026amp; Fire, including “That’s The Way of The World,” “Imagination,” and “On Your Face,” as well as the original version of “Black Gold,” which would eventually be recorded by Rotary Connection (as “I Am The Black Gold of The Sun,” with lyrics by Richard Rudolph). And in addition to the wordless croons of Stepney original and early single “Daddy’s Diddies,” Stepney’s actual voice is heard on a couple occasions across the album, testing microphones and inputs on his tape machine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll of the otherwise unrecorded, previously unnamed original compositions contained on Step on Step were given their titles by Stepney’s daughters Eibur, Charlene, and Chanté Stepney, whose voices are also heard throughout the album, telling stories and sharing memories about their father. The Stepney Sisters, who produced this album over many years, have long been engaged in efforts to celebrate their father’s legacy and bring his work into brighter light. They’ve cherished the tape reels left behind by their father in the basement of their home, transferring the audio on multiple occasions, and originally compiling the recordings for an ultra-limited CD on their own DIY label (The Charles Stepney Masters) in the early 2010s. “We always talk about how we were trying to develop this and would go to different people and they would go ‘what is this raw stuff…’ It was just the first level of something that became something really great,” says Chanté. “To get this type of intimate look into an artist’s process is really unknown and unheard of… so I just really appreciate the opportunity to give this. I am very happy for my Dad that we’re able to share this with the world in this way, with this amount of respect.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis new double LP collection on International Anthem presents “a genuine, beautiful, deeply emotional and personal effort by three women to reconnect with their father and validate their own memories of his passion and brilliance,” says label co-founder Scott McNiece. And it’s a long-overdue fulfillment of Stepney’s unsatiated plan to release a solo album – which he once vowed to his daughters that he would do, and that he would name it: “Step on Step.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased September 9, 2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll instruments performed \u0026amp; recorded by Charles Stepney.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced \u0026amp; Narrated by Eibur, Charlene, and Chanté Stepney.\u003cbr\u003eEdited \u0026amp; Sequenced by Scott McNiece.\u003cbr\u003eAdditional Recording, Treatment \u0026amp; Mixing by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePhotos by Rubie Stepney.\u003cbr\u003eLiner Notes by Ayana Contreras.\u003cbr\u003eDesign \u0026amp; Layout by Craig Hansen.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"info license\" id=\"license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":52120911249682,"sku":"IARC0055LP","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Certified Gold\" Color Vinyl 2xLP (Gatefold)","offer_id":52120911282450,"sku":"IARC0055LPI","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120911315218,"sku":"IARC0055CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition Cassette","offer_id":52120911347986,"sku":"IARC0055-CASS","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121000313106,"sku":"IARC0055","price":11.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120911380754,"sku":"IARC0055LP-1","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2300896001_10.jpg?v=1773696799"},{"product_id":"chicago-underground-duo-hyperglyph","title":"Chicago Underground Duo - Hyperglyph","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eChicago Underground Duo is the long-running collaborative project of composer\/trumpeter\/electronicist Rob Mazurek (Exploding Star Orchestra, Isotope 217, New Future City Radio with Damon Locks) and composer\/drummer\/mbiraist Chad Taylor (jaimie branch’s Fly or Die, Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons, Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio). Hyperglyph is their first album in 11 years, and 8th in the absolute cabinet of wonders that is the Chicago Underground Duo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe pair have played music together in a multitude of formations over nearly three decades, including their ongoing partnership in Mazurek’s large-format-skyward-expressionism vehicle Exploding Star Orchestra, in the expanded Chicago Underground Trio \u0026amp; Quartet (with guitarist Jeff Parker), and in a plethora of other assemblages. The early albums by the Duo have proven to be embryonic blueprints for the avant-jazz \/ electronic \/ indie rock hybridizations of the time, making them majorly important moments in the articulation of the “jazz” dimensionality of the then-burgeoning \"post rock\" sound. That sound, of course, was being transmitted far and wide due to the success of these groups as well as Mazurek’s Isotope 217 project with Jeff Parker, and the Chicago Underground’s frequent collaborators in\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eTortoise.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut the sounds being created by this extended family are and were far from static. Just as most of the still-working artists born of that Chicago era have evolved, reconfigured, and grown, Chicago Underground Duo has undergone a number of musical moltings, with the project always in the background of disparate individual aural investigations — always an option, always an outlet. As the project drops off and picks back up, the concurrent personal evolutions of Mazurek and Taylor make the Duo a true reflection of their own lives and friendship.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Rob is my longest collaborator and also one of my best friends,” says Taylor, who first performed with Mazurek at a club in Chicago in 1988, aged 15.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“When it feels right we do it,” says Mazurek of the gaps in duo activity. “We have worked together and have been friends for a long time. This creates a kind of continuity not only in the music, but in our lives.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMusically, there are certainly internalized nods here to AACM composers like Wadada Leo Smith, or albums like Don Cherry \u0026amp; Ed Blackwell’s “Mu” and El Corazon, but the songs of Hyperglyph exemplify Mazurek and Taylor’s individualities while also addressing another longtime influence on the Chicago Underground Duo sound — the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of extreme studio editing in jazz-adjacent music, Miles Davis and Teo Macero’s Bitches Brew, In A Silent Way, and Get Up With It.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Post production has always been a big part of our process,” says Taylor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sometimes it just flows and we one-take a thing,” Mazurek elaborates. “Other things take time to ferment. We hit those hard in the post production.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInternational Anthem engineer Dave Vettraino was indispensable as part of this process, recording and mixing the entire album at IARC HQ in Chicago. “We are very open and free in the studio,” says Mazurek. “Working with Dave is a joy because he is so intuitive and open with his approach as well. We can try anything with him. In this way it is more like a trio than a duo.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCouple this trio’s take on the now classic cut-and-recut production techniques of Davis\/Macero with Mazurek and Taylor’s longtime interest in deep electronic sounds (think Bernard Parmegiani, Morton Subotnick, Xenakis, Eliane Radigue, Plux Quba), transformative processing (think Autechre, King Tubby, Mouse On Mars, Carl Craig) and we can finally get close to understanding just where the duo lands in this lineage — this ongoing narrative each individual finds themselves in whether they see it or not. The Chicago Underground Duo, it seems, sees it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile the musical language of Mazurek and Taylor can certainly be clocked in the slew of projects that they participate in together, the sound of a Chicago Underground Duo album is singular among them. Hyperglyph is no exception and could even be considered a distillation of that intuitive yet complex sound. A key can be found in the title of the album itself: highly complex geometric structures which can seem overly complex at first but, when thousands are arrayed in 3D space and with user training and adaptation, can significantly enhance perception and information assimilation and lead to new knowledge and insights.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album opener “Click Song” kicks off with a blown-out horn chant from Mazurek, doubled by tuned bells and nestled into a muscular and symmetrical stereo-overdubbed polyrhythm from Taylor. Synthesized bass pulls our ears along cyclically, dropping in and out to almost severe dynamic effect while Mazurek and the subtle-yet-persistent bells elaborate upon the melody before ultimately departing from their repetitive psalm in favor of improvisation. It’s all held together by the steady, deep, chest-thump boom of Taylor’s kick drum pattern.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“There has always been a lot of African influence in the rhythms we play,” says Taylor. “With this record, specifically, we utilize rhythms from Nigeria, Mali, Zimbabwe, and Ghana.” Taken as a whole, spiritually, this introductory three-minute stomper lives somewhere between a Tuareg wedding and the most hypnotic moments of the click songs of Northern Africa.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTitle track “Hyperglyph” follows, and begins with a chromatic moving harmony played by Mazurek on the RMI electric piano, an instrument famously utilized on Miles Davis’ groundbreaking Filles de Kilimanjaro. The vibe here, though, is one of unyielding, trancelike repetition. The trumpet introduces the time, with Taylor's chunky smacking rhythm hitting hard from the get go. Eventually, the tune undergoes a transformation, with the back and forth of melody and rhythm hitting a fever pitch. A pitch-shifted trumpet becomes a New Orleans march baritone. Dennis Bovell-style dub sounds enter (or, maybe, reveal themselves) at the start of the song’s final movement, followed by wordless incantations. Swelling and saturated, the track sounds as if it’s about to tear itself apart. Static pulsing merges and overtakes the recorded percussion to present a new rhythm of hissing electronics — the harnessed wailing of the unleashed ghost in the machine. A spiritual awakening from the bowels of the earth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hemiunu”, a Chad Taylor composition, is a waltz based around a simple piano figure repeated throughout. A folk melody from anywhere, the kind that’s been in the air for as long as anyone can remember. One might imagine the melody played clawhammer on an Appalachian afternoon, bowed somberly on the Chinese erhu, or hummed nonchalantly on the factory line. From the jump, Taylor’s percussion threads itself into the sound of a well-worn upright piano as the high register is haunted in wide stereo by that roiling RMI electric piano in octaves, alternately dubby and harplike. Enter Mazurek with another folk-like melodic phrase. Pause. Again. Pause. Leaving room for the now densely waltzing bouquet to bloom before diving deep into laser-sharp Lee Morganesque territory with a wildly vibrating high trumpet cry, but with a tone Mazurek owns completely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe deeper reference for Mazurek’s most untethered emotional playing is his late friend and mentor Bill Dixon, an extraction most apparent in the three-part \"Egyptian Suite.” At the start of part one (“The Architect”) a cyclical pattern from Taylor becomes a bed for Mazurek’s repeating, descending, synthetic-Egyptian scaled theme. This call to action dissolves into the second movement, “Triangulation of Light,” where Taylor’s bowed cymbals set the stage for an exploration of microtonal color with and against the occasional joining and un-joining of tones that stretch the frequencies to their limits from Mazurek's open and half muted trumpet. Like a tornado siren in the distance, breaking through the membrane of storm clouds on the horizon, in search of another siren.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe third and final movement, “Architectonics of Time,” announces itself with free rolling swaths of percussion from Taylor à la Robert Frank Pozar’s mind-bending percussion on The Bill Dixon Orchestra’s classic Intents and Purposes. Here, though, the lineup is limited to two, with no overdubs or post-production. Taylor's singular style and Mazurek's tonal painting coalesce into a maelstrom of intervallic tone and beat before the final repeat of the lead melody from the suite’s first movement. It truly feels like reaching the summit. It’s pure and free duo interaction, the symbiosis of 30 years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Succulent Amber,” the final track on Hyperglyph, could fit just as easily on side two of Autobahn. After a brief modular synth-induced pan-harmonic melody shift, a steady kalimba is joined by the gentle intermittent raindrop-melodicism of the RMI electric piano in this understated final duo performance, unadorned by further studio arrangement. It’s a full-on comedown moment after the intensity of “Egyptian Suite,” though rather than winding down or petering out, here the Chicago Underground Duo still manage to point toward some kind of incoming mystery with four sudden-yet-patient ascending chords on the low-register of the RMI electric piano just before the curtains close. The piano notes end on a leading tone, leaving the resolution to the listener.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce we’ve climbed the mountain, they remind us, we have to deal with what’s on the other side.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased August 15, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChad Taylor - Drum Kit, Percussion, Mbira, Kalimba\u003cbr\u003eRob Mazurek - Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet, RMI Electric Piano, Modular Synths, Samplers, Voice, Flutes, Bells\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music composed by Rob Mazurek (OLHO, ASCAP) and Chad Taylor (ctorb, ASCAP); except “Plymouth” and “Hemiunu” by Chad Taylor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded May 6th-9th and September 25th-27th, 2024,\u003cbr\u003eat International Anthem Studios, Chicago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered \u0026amp; Mixed by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eSequenced by Scott McNiece.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFront cover photo by Mikel Patrick Avery.\u003cbr\u003eBack cover photo by Alejandro Ayala.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Aaron Lowell Denton.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120911675666,"sku":"IARC0101LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Succulent Amber\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52120911708434,"sku":"IARC0101LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52120911741202,"sku":"IARC0101CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121000345874,"sku":"IARC0101","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Test Pressing","offer_id":52120911773970,"sku":"IARC0101LP-TP","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a1867604369_10.jpg?v=1773696611"},{"product_id":"aquiles-navarro-tcheser-holmes-heritage-of-the-invisible-ii","title":"Aquiles Navarro \u0026 Tcheser Holmes - Heritage of the Invisible II","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eTelepathic Afro-Caribbean improvisational trumpet-and-percussion duo Aquiles Navarro \u0026amp; Tcheser Holmes are longtime friends, collaborators, and tireless hustlers on the creative music scenes of New York City.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Heritage of the Invisible II\" follows Navarro and Holmes’s rise to prominence as members of free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements. In March of 2020 in \"The Nation\" writer Marcus J. Moore said \"Irreversible Entanglements’ fearless music takes to task the police, American politics, capitalism, and racism.\" The revolutionary ethos that drives Irreversible Entanglements is no less present in Navarro and Holmes’s duo work, though their duo finds them much more wholeheartedly and jubilantly embracing their Latin and Afro-Caribbean foundations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAquiles Navarro was born in Toronto during a time of great, political upheaval in his family’s native home of Panama. Dangers surrounding the reign of Manuel Noriega and the subsequent U.S. invasion of 1989 prompted the Navarro family’s exit, returning years later to Panama City in 1997. Latin folkloric music was fastened deeply to the family paradigm. After studying with Panamanian trumpeter Victor “Vitin” Paz (Fania All-Stars) and\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ePanamanian-American composer\/saxophonist Carlos Garnett (Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders), Navarro moved to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory (NEC). Before the semester had even begun, a friendship had kindled between him and another incoming new student, Tcheser Holmes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince a young age, Tcheser Holmes naturally wove into the fabric of a tight-knit Pan-African community in Brooklyn centered around the spiritual organization, Ausar Auset Society, and his family’s dance company, The Bennu Ausar Dancers. From early on, Holmes remembers “playing and viewing music purely as a source of celebration and achievement.” As a teenager he enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege for pre-conservatory training, and eventually made his way toward NEC.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter their tenure at NEC, both musicians relocated to New York City. “In New York, I've been a working musician since day 1,” recalls Navarro. \"Tcheser and I played all over the city, from Uptown to all over Brooklyn, often booking our own gigs.\" Dance clubs and subway platforms, The Bowery Poetry Club, the Latin Jazz Big Band at the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, and Roberto Roena y Su Apollo Sound in the Bronx – the two musicians developed a wide creative range. “We got familiar with a system where the rhythm is quantified,” says Holmes. “But I feel like we always remained ‘children’ in terms of viewing music. Kobe said ‘Be a Kid.’ We never needed to validate the process.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Summer 2014 they traveled to Panama together to perform and record a set of duo improvisations, which they digitally self-released later that year. Back in Brooklyn in 2015, Navarro and Holmes performed as a duo at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event, where they shared the stage with the trio of Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), Keir Neuringer and Luke Stewart. The two groups made fast friends, and shortly after, came together to form the collective quintet Irreversible Entanglements. With Irreversible Entanglements they recorded two critically-lauded albums (\"Irreversible Entanglements\", released 2017, and \"Who Sent You?\", released 2020) across several years of growth and international touring (including performances at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, Le Guess Who? in Utrecht, NL, the Barbican in London, and the Smithsonian in Washington, DC).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the Fall of 2019 Navarro and Holmes coalesced around the idea of composing new, expanded duo music, and booked two after-hours sessions at Brooklyn’s S1 Studios. “Each tune has a compositional background to it, but improvisation and the telepathy between us remains the main catalyst,” notes Navarro. From this open map, the duo layered samples and electronic elements from Juno 106 and Moog Grandmother synths over their acoustic improvisations, overdubbed contributions from poets, vocalist and instrumentalist friends, and added field recordings of themselves in conversation. To sculpt the mass of sounds they commissioned ada adhiyatma (aka Madam Data, a Philadelphia-based composer\/electronicist who they’d met through a joint collaboration with Moor Mother) for a final mix. The resulting album – \"Heritage of the Invisible II\" – reveals Navarro and Holmes stepping firmly into the limelight of progressive music-making.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe tracks flash by in a rapturous onslaught, crystalizing in incantations by Spanish poet Marcos de la Fuente (an apocalyptic fever dream on “Initial Meditation”), vocalist Brigitte Zozula (the bliss of bustling nightlife on “A Night in NY”), Navarro’s mentor and collaborator Carlos Garnett (the banality of economics on “$$$ \/\/\/ billete”) and their own musings on friendship and community (the stoned soul picnic of “Plantains”). Of the album’s de facto anthem “Pueblo,” Navarro says “it’s a celebration of life, the coming together of the people, el pueblo, a celebration of who we are, where we come from, it’s our pueblo, our people, a feeling of openness, hope, and a future of unity from el pueblo, the people.” Identifying as active listeners and audience members as well, Navarro and Holmes step back on “M.O.N.K (Most Only Never Knew)” to shine a light on the solo improvisation of pianist\/composer Nick Sanders. On the 8-minute duet “NAVARROHOLMES,” the two players reach a summit as they face off in spirited alliance, conjuring visions of legendary free jazz telepathics – Braxton and Roach, Coltrane and Ali, Cherry and Blackwell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNavarro and Holmes never idle on \"Heritage of the Invisible II,\" choosing instead to ponder their origins in a devout charge of ecstatic cooperation. Meditating on the unseen constructive forces of culture and rhythm as a cadence encoded in one’s heritage, with \"Heritage of the Invisible II\" they share a volume of their story in rich color – a brilliantly imagined testament to generations of memory, creation and existential joy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- bio by Joe Darling\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReleased October 23, 2020\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121293979922,"sku":"IARC0035LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"\"Fried Plantain\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52121294176530,"sku":"IA-IARC0035LP-COL","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52121294078226,"sku":"IARC0035CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52120999035154,"sku":"IARC0035","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0743046101_10.jpg?v=1773622944"},{"product_id":"damon-locks-black-monument-ensemble-now","title":"Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble - NOW","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e“Time is just the difference between knowing now and knowing nothing. Because if you know now fully, it’s past, present, and future.”\u003cbr\u003e— Mattie Humphries, 1968\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDamon Locks \u0026amp; Black Monument Ensemble’s new album \"NOW\" was created in the final throes of Summer 2020, following months of pandemic-induced fear \u0026amp; isolation, the explosion of social unrest, struggle \u0026amp; violence in the streets, and as the certain presence of a new reality had fully settled in. Set up safely in the garden behind Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio, the music was recorded in only a few takes, capturing the first times members of BME had ever played or sang the tunes. For Locks, the impetus was more about getting together to commune and make art than it was about producing an album. In his words: “It was about offering a new thought. It was about resisting the darkness. It was about expressing possibility. It was about asking the question, ‘Since the future has unfolded and taken a new and dangerous shape... what happens NOW?’”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e...about Black Monument Ensemble...\u003cbr\u003eOriginally conceived as a medium for Chicago-based multi-media artist\/activist Damon Locks’s sample-based sound\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ecollage work, Black Monument Ensemble (BME) has evolved from a solo mission into a vibrant collective of artists, musicians, singers, and dancers making work with common goals of joy, compassion, and intention. Galvanized by Locks’s conceptualizing, poeticizing, and guiding vision, the contributors come from all facets of the diverse wellspring of Black artistic excellence in Chicago, bringing their unique perspectives and experiences to uplifting, anthemic, and highly animated musical performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBME is a genuinely multi-generational collective; ages of the members range from 9 to 52 years old. In addition to Locks, current and consistent BME members include: instrumentalists Angel Bat Dawid, Ben LaMar Gay, Dana Hall, and Arif Smith; singers Phillip Armstrong, Monique Golding, Rayna Golding, Tramaine Parker, Richie Parks, Erica Rene, and Eric Tre’von; and dancers Raven Lewis, Cheyenne Spencer, Mary Thomas, Bryonna Young, Tiarra Young, and Keisha Janae.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLocks has a stated interest in work that explores “The Black Nod” which, as he explains, is “an unspoken acknowledgment that happens often out in the world – a sort of ‘I see you’ moment exchanged between Black people.” His work with BME attempts to do the same. Fronted by a jubilant choir, the ensemble embraces a kind of civically engaged, artistic approach to activism originally heard in the 1960s from bands like the Voices of East Harlem and on albums like Max Roach’s We Insist; or originally seen in the photography of Kwame Brathwaite and the art of Emory Douglas. Merging influence from the subsequent half-century of artistic \u0026amp; technological evolution, Locks employs a cyber-punk palette of disparate implements (including beatbox, boombox, telephone, and megaphone) to make narrative compositions of mined sound, beats \u0026amp; archival speech (a la Madlib or Supa K) which are brought to life by the ensemble in electric, improvisational performance. It’s a truly multi-dimensional sound that spans mediums, genres, and generations; past, present, \u0026amp; future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e...about Damon Locks...\u003cbr\u003eDamon Locks is a Chicago-based visual artist, educator, vocalist, musician, and deejay. Known for decades of varied projects in Chicago’s underground music \u0026amp; art scenes, Locks’ CV starts in the late 1980s with the band Trenchmouth, and is highlighted by work with The Eternals (co-led by Trenchmouth bandmate Wayne Montana), Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra, collaborations with Nicole Mitchell, Ben LaMar Gay, and many others. In recent years Locks has traversed almost every media discipline… including sound\/animation work using unheard Sun Ra recordings from Experimental Sound Studio’s archive (with Terri Kapsalis, Wayne Montana, and Rob Shaw); various collaborations with contemporary dancers \u0026amp; choreographers including Onye Ozuzu, Ayesha Jaco (of Move Me Soul), and Anna Martine Whitehead (on presentations \u0026amp; workshops with the Detroit Justice Center); participating in artist residencies at The New Quorum in New Orleans (alongside Nicole Mitchell, Lisa E Harris, Wadada Leo Smith, and others); teaching work with incarcerated artists for the Prison and Neighborhood Arts\/Education Project at Stateville maximum security prison; and producing cover art for dozens of albums, including several International Anthem releases by Makaya McCraven, Hear In Now, Irreversible Entanglements, and more.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased April 9, 2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlayers:\u003cbr\u003eAngel Bat Dawid – clarinet\u003cbr\u003eBen LaMar Gay – cornet \u0026amp; melodica\u003cbr\u003eDana Hall – drums\u003cbr\u003eDamon Locks – samples \u0026amp; electronics\u003cbr\u003eArif Smith – percussion\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSingers:\u003cbr\u003ePhillip Armstrong\u003cbr\u003eMonique Golding\u003cbr\u003eTramaine Parker\u003cbr\u003eRichie Parks\u003cbr\u003eErica Rene\u003cbr\u003eEric Tre’von\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLyrics \u0026amp; Compositions by: Damon Locks\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded August 27th-28th and September 29th, 2020, at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered \u0026amp; Mixed by: Alex Inglizian\u003cbr\u003eMastered by: David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlbum \u0026amp; Insert Art by: Damon Locks\u003cbr\u003eInsert Photos by: Brian Ashby\u003cbr\u003eLayout \u0026amp; Insert Design by: Craig Hansen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlbum art features photos of Raven Lewis and Tiarra Young taken by Kristie Kahns.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":52127452725522,"sku":"IARC0039LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition \"Shades of Night in Gold\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":52127452758290,"sku":"IARC0039LPSG","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Compact Disc","offer_id":52127452856594,"sku":"IARC0039CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52121000476946,"sku":"IARC0039","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3982964827_10.jpg?v=1773717592"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.intlanthem.com\/collections\/cd.oembed?page=3","provider":"International Anthem (US)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}