{"title":"Vinyl","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"in-these-times-by-makaya-mccraven","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":"IARC0059 Classic Black vinyl LP","offer_id":45170704318738,"sku":"IARC0059LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0059 Cymbal Sheen color vinyl LP","offer_id":52108985237778,"sku":"IARC0059LPS","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"IARC0059 *Exclusive Warehouse Find* Ivory color vinyl LP","offer_id":52108985303314,"sku":"IARC0059LPI","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"IARC0059 CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":52108985270546,"sku":"IARC0059CD","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0059 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":"vinyl-record-touch-by-tortoise","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":"IARC0099 Classic Black vinyl LP","offer_id":51667841384722,"sku":"IARC0099LP","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0099 Limited Edition *Axial Seamount* color vinyl LP","offer_id":52059179221266,"sku":"IARC0099LPI","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"IARC0099 CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":52059101856018,"sku":"IARC0099CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0099 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":"vinyl-record-off-the-record-by-makaya-mccraven","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":"IARC0103 Classic Black vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":51667948241170,"sku":"IARC0103LP","price":34.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0103 Limited Edition White vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":52043718918418,"sku":"IARC0103LPI","price":39.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"IARC0103 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":"vinyl-record-how-you-been-by-sml","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":"IARC0105 Classic Black vinyl LP","offer_id":51701149401362,"sku":"IARC0105LP","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0105 Limited Edition *Plankton* color vinyl LP","offer_id":52110661583122,"sku":"IARC0105LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"IARC0105 CD - Compact disc","offer_id":52110661091602,"sku":"IARC0105CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"IARC0105 Digital Download","offer_id":52121009258770,"sku":"IARC0105","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0105 - How You Been - 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":"makaya-mccraven-universal-beings-ia11-edition-1","title":"Makaya McCraven - Universal Beings (IA11 Edition)","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 data-tooltips='{\"tooltips\":[],\"dash_seen\":false}' class=\"trackView leftMiddleColumns has-art\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"leftColumn\" id=\"trackInfo\"\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\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eThe 2018 release of Universal Beings, in many ways, feels like the moment that the gates swung open for both Makaya McCraven and International Anthem. On one hand, it's a four-sided communal showcase of the inter-city exchange that had started to develop in the “new jazz” hubs, collecting group improvisations from New York, London, Chicago, and Los Angeles. On the other, it is an editing and post-production masterclass – the MVP of McCraven’s “organic beat music” concept – and a landmark moment where his cut-splice-reassembly chops shine as brightly as the players themselves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe musicians on the album were a combined who’s-who and who’s-gonna-be-who of their respective scenes: Brandee Younger (harp), Joel Ross (vibraphone), Tomeka Reid (cello), Dezron Douglas (double bass), Shabaka Hutchings (tenor saxophone), Junius Paul (double bass), Nubya Garcia (tenor saxophone), Ashley Henry (Rhodes piano), Daniel Casimir (double bass), Josh Johnson (alto saxophone), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (violin), Jeff Parker (guitar), Anna Butterss (double bass), and Carlos Niño (percussion). In our original press release, we called it “an inspiring display of the organic global inter-connectedness of the Black American music tradition in 2018.” In our off-the-record conversations at the time, we said ‘it’s like Dr\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e. Dre’s The Chronic, but for jazz’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUniversal Beings earned rave reviews across the board. It was a consensus year-end favorite (as seen in NPR Music, WIRE Magazine, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Rolling Stone, Vice, Stereogum, the list goes on…) that cemented McCraven as a must-buy album producer and a must-see live performer, and brought enough energy to our “plucky Chicago indie label” that we were able to move out of a closet and into an actual office.\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 4, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNew York Side:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded August 29th, 2017, at H0l0 in Ridgewood, Queens, New York.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBrandee Younger – harp; Tomeka Reid – cello; Joel Ross – vibraphone; Dezron Douglas – double bass; Makaya McCraven – drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thanks: Joe Jeffers, Malik Abdul-Rahmaan, Alejandro Ayala, Elliot Ross and Hank Shocklee.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChicago Side:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded September 2nd, 2017, at Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport, Chicago, Illinois.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShabaka Hutchings – tenor saxophone;Tomeka Reid – cello; Junius Paul – double bass, percussion; Makaya McCraven – drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thanks: Andy Dane, Rachel Millar, David Passick, Alejandro Ayala, Angel Bat Dawid, Alexander Hawkins, Ingrid Laubrock, Neil Gainer, David Chavez, Ed Marszewski, Jamie Trecker and Shanna Van Volt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLondon Side:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded October 19th, 2017, at Total Refreshment Studios in Stoke Newington, London, UK.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNubya Garcia – tenor saxophone; Ashley Henry – rhodes piano; Daniel Casimir – double bass; Makaya McCraven – drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thanks: Kristian ‘Capitol K’ Robinson, Alexis Blondel, Tina Edwards, Will Savery, Mark Pallman and David Burkhart.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLos Angeles Side:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded January 30th, 2018, at Jeff Parker’s house in Altadena, California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson – alto saxophone; Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – violin; Jeff Parker – guitar; Anna Butterss – double bass; Carlos Niño – percussion; Makaya McCraven – drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thanks: Lee Ann Schmitt and Ezra Lou ParkerSchmitt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUNIVERSAL BEINGS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded \u0026amp; Mixed by David Allen \u0026amp; Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Art by Damon Locks.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Aaron Lowell Denton.\u003cbr\u003eInsert Cover Photo by Fabrice Bourgelle.\u003cbr\u003e\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 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\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"IARC0022 Classic black vinyl 2xLP (IA11 edition)","offer_id":52110791704850,"sku":"IARC0022LP11","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0022 Digital Download","offer_id":52121006768402,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a3622200608_10.jpg?v=1773343168"},{"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":"IARC0108 Classic Black vinyl LP","offer_id":52110853865746,"sku":"IARC0108LP","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0108 Limited Edition Grapefruit color vinyl LP","offer_id":52110853898514,"sku":"IARC0108LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"IARC0108 CD - Compact disc","offer_id":52110853931282,"sku":"IARC0108CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0108 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":"jeff-parker-the-new-breed-ia11-edition","title":"Jeff Parker - The New Breed (IA11 Edition)","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eJeff Parker’s 2016 album The New Breed was a turning point for both Parker and International Anthem, changing the trajectory of his solo career as well as drawing an abundance of attention to our fresh imprint despite our then very limited catalog. Most importantly though, the album is the first to give voice to Parker’s wholly unique take on sample-based beat construction augmented by improvisation and live instrumentation (performed in this case by the high-level crew of Paul Bryan on bass, Josh Johnson on alto saxophone and keys, Jamire Williams and Jay Bellerose on drums, Parker's daughter Ruby on vocals, and Parker himself on guitar, synths, and other instruments).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat began as Jeff’s interest in understanding his own idea of hip-hop processes (and how they related to his work in jazz) expanded into a blueprint for much of his work since then. (Hear also: The New Breed’s expansive followup Suite For Max Brown, the gentle deconstructionist solo guitar of Forfolks, and the long-form slow bloom improvisation of The Way Out of Easy.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe IA11 Edition LP features our IARC 2025 obi strip, plus a new 16-page 11x11\" insert booklet with unpublished session photos, new liner notes by album co-producer Paul Bryan, and an in-depth conversation between Jeff Parker and IARC co-founder Scott McNiece.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased June 27, 2025\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 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":"IARC0009 Classic Black vinyl LP (IA11 Edition)","offer_id":52121004409106,"sku":"IARC0009LP11","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"IARC0009 Digital Download","offer_id":52121004441874,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a2865319863_10.jpg?v=1773956708"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-eta-ivtet-happy-today","title":"Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - Happy Today","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProduct Description:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e the third album from guitarist\/bandleader \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJeff Parker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e’s long-running \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eETA IVtet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, was recorded live at \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLodge Room\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e in Los Angeles on August 20, 2025. This fresh entry into the IVtet’s catalog captures Parker and the band – including drummer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJay Bellerose\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, bassist \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnna Butterss\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and saxophonist \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJosh Johnson\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e – on record outside of the now-shuttered Highland Park micro-club ETA for the first time. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe performance also captures a distinctly joyful night of togetherness set against the backdrop of dark times. “\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2025 was a very difficult year for me and my family,” Parker says. “Dealing with being displaced from the Eaton fires for eight months, and the kind of toll that that instability took on my family’s mental health and general outlook, coupled with Donald Trump being back in office and basically making life miserable for everyone… There was a lot of sadness and despair. But feeling the sense of community that we created with our concert, and later hearing the recording, seeing the beautiful footage that had been shot and the photographs of such joy to be back in that space and to be making music again: It was a very happy moment. So I called the record \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. It’s meant to be a statement of joy.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat joy and camaraderie found in communal space seems to be a major catalyst for the ETA IVtet’s music. The band’s audience is, somehow, an essential part of the formula. Case in point: the show at Lodge Room was actually meant to be the cherry on top of a weekend of studio sessions by the band. Those sessions were intended to be the next album released by the group, its first ever studio record. Upon listening back, though, it was clear to Parker that the Lodge Room performance was the recording that shined brightest and felt most true to the band’s spirit, harkening back to the weekly session the four musicians held at ETA for so many years.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eETA was undoubtedly more than just the namesake of the band. Part laboratory, part low-stakes proving ground, it’s where the language of the IVtet’s sound percolated and coalesced over the course of an almost mythical seven-year-long Monday night residency that yielded two critically-acclaimed records—2022’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and 2024’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Way Out of Easy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—and an instantly recognizable \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003egroup \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003esound.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is that sound—the IVtet's signature syntax built around long-form, minimalist improvisation—expanding confidently into a larger space while creating the same hypnotizing, deeply-tuned listening effect on visibly enraptured audiences. The album contains two sidelong pieces recorded as the band performed in the round at Lodge Room, surrounded by an audience of 400 or so deep listeners. (The venue, appropriately enough, sits on the same street and just a few hundred feet away from the storefront that used to be ETA.) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe drastic change in venue size, and this document in general, is representative of an expanding demand to experience this band live that has been surging for years, starting with the release of their debut album \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMondays\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. For the subsequent, final year that ETA was open, there would typically be a line down the block on Monday evenings, with far more people trying to catch the show than the club could hold. Even if you \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecould\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e get inside the building, given the limited capacity, the IVtet was a difficult band to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eactually see\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e play. Couple that with the fact that before the closure of the club in December 2023, the IVtet had never played outside of Los Angeles. Access to the live experience had been extremely limited, and that has seemed to feed a sense of mystery and allure around the band’s music for the many fans of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMondays\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Way Out of Easy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn paper, the IVtet’s growing audience is something of a conundrum. After all, minimal longform improvisation is likely the precise antithesis of streaming-centered content culture. Despite that, at the show that produced \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, as with any IVtet show, the audience willingly settles into and accepts the band’s pace as they iron out a story which digs deeply into every facet of an idea before investigating a new one. Here the attention economy feels lightyears away, the crowd instead surrendering to that old and very human penchant for \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003elistening\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. With open ears, the crowd stands ready for a big yarn, a long tale, and from the jump there seems to be a trust between performer and audience that mimics the trust between the musicians as they move from detail to detail. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The band isn't afraid to explore static spaces,” says Parker. “It seems like the thing is to stay on one idea for a while. Really, for a long time. To kind of exhaust it. And then one person shifts and then the thing moves together.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Everybody is constantly dropping crumbs and you can take them or you can leave them,” agrees Bellerose. “There are these little hints, these little moments, and everybody's aware of them.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“When it \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e time to change, it can change \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003every quickly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,” says Butterss. “If someone suggests a new idea, it can flip in an instant. Everyone's constantly ready to go with it if the moment calls for it.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLike Swimwear\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,” the side-length opener of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, contains a quintessential example of this distinct IVtet move. The track gets off the ground slowly but deliberately, ramping up tension over the course of its first ten minutes without a moment of harmonic dissonance. The band, rather, steadily pulls at the corners of the rhythm. Here each member steps forward and backward in the sonic space to build a gleefully disorienting group cadence, where the repetitions of the individual overlap in such a trancelike way that even soloistic breaks from Parker’s electric guitar or Johnson’s effected alto sax never manage to snap the tension wire. Bellerose works deep into the rhythmic fascia, employing all manner of auxiliary percussion—strewn across his kit, tucked into his shoe, or wrapped around his legs—all without a hint of novelty. Every micro-choice comes from a place of both curiosity and confidence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd then the shift: just as the thing is about to come unglued Bellerose opts into a smooth, low-register downbeat groove that Butterss has been auditioning for the previous minute or so. Parker swiftly kicks into an organ-like drone while Johnson and Butterss stay the course. It’s a series of decisions that could go any number of ways depending on the night, like running water pushing into fresh geography, moving from tributary to mainstream, past the levee and into the floodplain. There is no set path; if it went a different direction it would still be the cumulative result of the same water flowing. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat is to say that there are no hard and fast rules to what the IVtet does. Defining the music, in fact, is something that the band takes special care not to do. Living in that mystery, it seems, helps to keep the path open, cleared to push into new and satisfying territory.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“For me, the thing to protect is just where it started from, which was freedom and openness,” says Bellerose. “In the early days of the band Jeff was recognizing how we were all communicating within the structure of playing standards. He's one of the greatest producers I've ever worked with because he has this vision. And a big part of producing is casting—putting the right people in the room. So these shifts, they're completely natural within these improvised pieces that we do because the foundation was there and Jeff knew it. He had already noticed the communication within the band, but wanted to really push it further.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe key to Parker’s push lies in the generosity to step back, to allow each member an equal voice, and to de-center himself. What we hear on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is an egalitarian group sound by design, curious and intuitive. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Everybody's listening in a way where it's not always like ‘I'm going to go with you’,” says Johnson. “But it's always ‘I hear you’. And sometimes it's ‘I hear you and I'm going to stay here and allow the tension of these two things to exist for a while before \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003emaybe\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e joining you.’ But the thing that's cool is that everybody’s hearing it. Because of the time that we've spent together there’s a maturity to the listening—a very special version of deep listening.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The number of times that we've talked about the music is \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eso few\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e compared to the years and years of playing,” Johnson continues. “I think that's one of the really beautiful things about the band—how organically the way that we play together has come about and evolved over time. Definitely on brand for the music that the band makes too. Slowly evolving, long form development.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I learned how to improvise \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ein this band\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,” reveals Butterss, astonishingly. “I didn't really play improvised music before. So my whole approach to improvisation has been shaped by playing with Jeff, Jay, and Josh. It\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e a band and it has its own language. I think you could drop the needle on any of the recordings and people would be able to say ‘that's the quartet.’ It's very distinctive and it's developed very organically. We have \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003enever\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e talked about it, I don't think.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat's\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e our band,” says Parker of “Like Swimwear,” almost with an outsider’s sense of fascination at the recording. He seems to feel the same enchantment and surprise that the audience does while listening, despite being a primary part of the process. “\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat's it\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. I mean, that's what the ETA Quartet does.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt’s a blessing for this band to be so expertly documented in its naturally public, live context. The two sidelong improvisations from Lodge Room that make up \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, as with the recordings that made up the IVtet’s first two albums, are beautifully rendered by engineer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBryce Gonzales\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—recorded and mixed live, direct to a Nagra tape machine utilizing a compact outboard rig that he built himself, specifically to record this band. Much like the thumbprint originality coming from the players themselves, Gonzales’ capture of the music is its own signature, his mixes a form of sound improvisation themselves.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA major addition to this particular presentation is the full album length film by \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCharlie Weinmann\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, documenting the band's performance of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e at Lodge Room, which will be released in tandem with the album. A shadow-laden, almost noirlike capture of the band in its full sprawling glory, Weinmann’s camera makes \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethe joyful reality of seeing the IVtet at work widely accessible for the first time. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e the reach of Parker’s IVtet extends further than ever before, but the essential formula, if there is one, remains the same. The anchor seems to be in variations on an almost alchemical communication—a feeling of connection between band members, sure, but also between the band and the audience. It’s an ongoing trust exercise, born organically in the corner of a small room in Los Angeles and flowing outward at exactly its own natural pace. It’s social music with a clear ability to move those willing to listen. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is an invitation to become part of the exchange and experience the joy of deep listening.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAll compositions by The ETA IVtet:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJay Bellerose - Drums and Percussion\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnna Butterss - Acoustic Bass\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJosh Johnson - Alto Saxophone with Electronics\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJeff Parker -  Electric Guitar with Electronics\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLive recording by Bryce Gonzales.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlbum photography by David Haskell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlbum layout and design by Aaron Lowell Denton.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThanks to Bryce and Highland Dynamics, Scottie, David, Dave, Hippo, Jocelyn and Ashley at IARC, David Bither and staff at Nonesuch Records, Chris, Tina and Ryan at Big Fish, David Haskell, and the wondrous audience and staff at Lodge Room.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eF@#K ICE. Power To The People.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll rights Reserved\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"IARC0109 LP - Limited Edition Color Vinyl","offer_id":52131163734290,"sku":"IARC0109LPI","price":34.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"IARC0109 LP - Classic Black Vinyl","offer_id":52131163767058,"sku":"IARC0109LP","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0109 CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":52131163799826,"sku":"IARC0109CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0109 - Digital Download","offer_id":52131163832594,"sku":"IARC0109","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0999850971_10.jpg?v=1773940887"},{"product_id":"kalia-vandever-mana","title":"Kalia Vandever - Mana","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDescription:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eMana is the International Anthem debut by composer, trombonist and vocalist Kalia Vandever. This new full length carries on the expansive and dazed spirit of their first solo album, We Fell In Turn, while entering a new landscape of spacious songwriting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVandever’s music has quickly and widely gained traction in the last few years despite the fact that their style has been consistently difficult to pin down, boasting a compositional scope ranging from the cinematic modern jazz of their quartet work to the synthetic, gauze-like droning ambience of their solo material. Mana leans into the expansion of the latter: solo trombone filtered through a well-dialed pedalboard and manipulated live, paired with spare piano à la late-career work of Ryuichi Sakamoto. The electroacoustic interplay simultaneously echoes and transforms the long-note melodicism of Vandever’s melancholic brass work; and the whole sound is emotively augmented with head-on, unambiguous, and deeply personal sung lyrics—a particularly fresh move for the composer. This dexterity has not gone unnoticed, with The Wire asserting, “Vandever has never sounded more assured and in control of their many strengths.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It was born out of curiosity,” says Vandever of the new record. “Of wanting to explore playing in a solo context, but also\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewanting to interact with my own sound. I was also asking myself things like ‘how can I do this in a way that feels personal, but different from what I've seen?’ It's allowed me to go deeper into my relationship with the instrument and with sound in general.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA turning point in that development came when Vandever began to get more opportunities to play outside of the context of the jazz world. Some of those opportunities came in the form of playing a part in backing groups for pop stars (Harry Styles) or indie-rock mainstays (Japanese Breakfast), but the true exploration of Vandever’s own sound personality came while performing solo to new audiences unconcerned with genre. In particular, an opening slot on a tour with folksinger Haley Heynderickx seemed to knock something loose. There was, perhaps, less of a feeling that they needed to touch on jazz traditions in order to satisfy some kind of unspoken expectation from the audience—less perceived rigidity and, thus, less shyness about how to present. For Vandever, warming up the stage for Heynderickx and seeing a very different kind of crowd from the stage night after night helped to cement a sort of bravery about sharing a number of more intimate, lyric-centered pieces. “I was considering that they might gravitate more toward words,” says Vandever. “So I thought I could try these songs that I had been developing, that maybe I was feeling a little nervous to share.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“When I started opening for Haley, her audiences were just so giving and really open to receiving anything,” they continue. “So I started trying these songs and I feel like the words really resonated with audiences. It felt important to include them on the record.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s more than just the words that resonate here. There’s a sonic scope on Mana which tees up a deep world for these lyrics to live in whenever they appear. A full-bodied trombone awash in reverberation and polyphonic pitch-shifting introduces “Hubbard Road,” Mana’s opening track. Vandever’s trusty brass axe rings out with confident warmth and soft power, ascending and descending in register, before being joined by the song’s primary theme—two repeating grand piano triads. It’s a quietly tense musical figure that is slowly unwound by Vandever’s soul-bearing horn improvisations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Waiting” opens with solo trombone laid deeply in a dense web of cloudy effects, holding a warped mirror to Vandever’s melodic brass call. The two elements vie for position until the halfway mark, when the disorienting tonal wash wins out, soon joined by Vandever’s longing and contemplative high-register vocal work—not dissimilar to the alluring intimacy of Grouper or the obscure swoon of Victorialand era Cocteau Twins.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Murmuray” is a could-be brass reverie, rendered ambient via the foghorn solitude of Vandever’s effect chain savviness. By the 1:30 mark it’s transformed into a droning take on a tune grandma might have hummed, appropriate for the early riser’s first step into the day or the night owl’s weary and quiet walk home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe track’s title is an Ilocono term used to describe waking and being fully awake. “Ilocono is one of three most common languages in the Philippines and was spoken primarily by my maternal grandfather,” says Vandever, who learned the term when their grandmother used it to describe their voice on a phone call. “I'm very close to my grandma on my mom's side. She's the only one in the family who sings, and I grew up listening to her sing Hawaiian folk songs. I feel like her singing encouraged me to discover my voice. She's been an influence of mine for my whole life.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Vandever, that family connection and that lineage cannot be overemphasized. In the liner notes for Mana, they focus on the importance of Hawaiian mythology and ancestry as inspiration for their solo work. Mana, which in Hawaiian means “foundational, supernatural, or divine power and strength,” reveals more of their voice and words, drawing from yearning, loss, and bewilderment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Vandever's liner notes for Mana: \"Mana in Hawaiian culture is the divine and supernatural spirit that gives strength and power to living beings, places, and objects. In traditional Hawaiian society, mana lived in Ali'i, known as chiefs and royalty who upheld the kapu (code of conduct) and cared for their people and the land. They possessed the most mana due to their believed relation to Gods and their responsibilities to the islands. In modern culture, mana can be felt, cultivated, and strengthened as you grow closer to your inner self, native land, and ancestral power. I carry the stories, wisdom, and care of my ancestors as I navigate grief, love, community, and exploration and feel my sense of mana deepening when I play for them.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the last few years Vandever has had several opportunities to travel to Hawaii to play music, and it seems to have shed new light onto their personal connection to Hawaiian mythology and ancestry and how it relates to their musical expression—a meeting of their familial and professional life that represents a sort of closing of a circle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“My experience of going to Hawaii when I was younger was purely to see family, and it always felt very separate from music,” they explain. “A lot of my Hawaiian family doesn’t really travel, so they weren't able to see me perform until the last couple of years. I’m just feeling really grateful that there's been this convergence, and I feel like it really influences the way that I play, and to have this confidence and when I play the solo set. I think a lot about the presence of family and ancestry when I play—connection with family that I've lost.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe final song on Mana is “Holding,” Vandever’s version of a breakup song. Swirling, suspended chords pile up beneath a trombone-led intro, concentrating into droning clusters of soft synth-like sound. These frenetic yet melodically unchanging tones become a gentle beeswarm bed for Vandever’s simple and direct lyricism, the most apparent point of new growth on the album itself, delivered with the same floating confidence as their trombone work:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHolding on to you\u003cbr\u003eWill you hold me til the end?\u003cbr\u003eWill you release me?\u003cbr\u003eI will release you\u003cbr\u003eI am holding\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\n\u003cstrong\u003eReleases June 12, 2026\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music composed \u0026amp; performed by Kalia Vandever. Album produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Lee Meadvin at Koda Sound. Cover photo by Isabel Gonzalez.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThank you to my loving family, Corina, Kevin, Felicia, Frances, and Lilo. Thank you Mo, you're always with me. Thank you Lee for guiding this process. Thank you Hannah and the team at International Anthem for supporting this album.\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":"IARC0111  LP - Classic Black Vinyl","offer_id":52218247905554,"sku":"IARC0111LP","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0111 LP - Limited Edition *Hibiscus* Color Vinyl","offer_id":52218247938322,"sku":"IARC0111LPI","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0111 CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":52218247971090,"sku":"IARC0111CD","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC00111 - Digital Download","offer_id":52218248003858,"sku":"IARC00111","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/IARC0111_Artwork_3000x3000_RGB.jpg?v=1777065348"},{"product_id":"sml-spontaneous-music-live","title":"SML - Spontaneous Music Live","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\"\u003eSML is a Los Angeles based quintet featuring Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum, and Gregory Uhlmann.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Spontaneous Music Live' contains two side-length pieces of unedited improvisation, recorded live at Los Angeles venue Zebulon during SML's December 2025 three-night residency, just weeks after the release of the band's second album HOW YOU BEEN. It was recorded and mixed live to analog tape by Bryce Gonzales (the same engineer\/wizard known for his gorgeous live captures\/mixes of Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBetween HOW YOU BEEN and their 2024 debut SMALL MEDIUM LARGE (both of which were heavily edited, shaped and post-produced) the band has developed a reputation for records that are heavily fused, polished, and punchy. The medium is on full post-modern display on those LPs, and the band’s post-production knife can be responsible for much of the perspective — the tastiest morsels collected, arranged, and rearranged just so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut the source material from both those albums were live recordings. Long-form, unwieldy, ebbing and flowing. On top of that, every performance the band has ever done has been fully\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eimprovised in that spirit. So in the sphere of live performance the band’s esteem has grown down a different path — one of linear, hypnotic, expansion. It’s a perceived split persona shared by some of SML’s most inspiring conceptual bedfellows: compare the extended madness of Can’s 'Live in Paris 1973' to the relative tight form of 'Future Days' from the same year; the speed-funk chaos of Miles Davis’ 'Dark Magus' to the heavily deconstructed 'On The Corner' or 'Big Fun'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Spontaneous Music Live' removes the curatorial perspective and pulls the curtain back on that search-pluck-reconstruct editing process. What we’re left with is the psychedelic realism of the band in situ, in their home town, collectively improvising, fully in-the-moment, mining for that moment of discovery. We hear, in macro, each nugget of sound which could be the basis for a future SML album track, spattered amongst the collective chaos-and-control like stars in the night sky.\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\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\u003eOut June 26, 2026\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eImprovised live by SML: Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum, and Gregory Uhlmann.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered, recorded and mixed live in stereo, direct to Nagra by Bryce Gonzales at Zebulon, Los Angeles (December 1-3, 2025).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003ePhoto by Sam Lee.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Jeremiah Chiu.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eAll rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"IARC0112 LP - Black Vinyl","offer_id":52306019713298,"sku":"IARC0112LP","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0112 - Cassette","offer_id":52306019746066,"sku":"IARC0112CS","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"IARC0112 - Digital Download","offer_id":52306019778834,"sku":"IARC0112","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0751\/6989\/0578\/files\/a0764858329_10.jpg?v=1779986564"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.intlanthem.com\/collections\/vinyl.oembed","provider":"International Anthem","version":"1.0","type":"link"}