LazyLightning
This is one of those timeless albums that I can listen to anytime, anywhere. Absolutely brilliant work!
Favorite track: This Place That Place.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
$9USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Classic Black 160g LP in Heavyweight Reverse-Board Jacket with Black Flood inner pocket, with Insert Sheet, IARC OBI strip & dome-pattern inner sleeve. Pressed at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, with lacquers cut at Elysian Masters.
*Ships from US and EU*
Includes unlimited streaming of In These Times
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 7 days
Purchasable with gift card
$24USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Shiny compact disk in a deluxe 4-panel digipack.
*Ships from US & EU*
Includes unlimited streaming of In These Times
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
ships out within 7 days
Purchasable with gift card
$14USDor more
Book/Magazine
Limited Edition 16-page Newsprint Zine featuring interviews conducted by Emma Warren, including with Jeff Parker, Damon Locks, Junius Paul, Ayana Contreras, Ben LaMar Gay + more
*Ships from US & UK Only*
ships out within 7 days
Purchasable with gift card
$5USD
Makaya McCraven - Public Records Poster
Poster/Print + Digital Album
Deluxe 18" x 24" screenprinted poster designed by Goatmother Industrial celebrating the release show for Makaya McCraven's In These Times at Public Records in New York September 19, 2022.
***SHIPPING NOTE*** Ships from US Only. Because the poster requires special packaging, no discounted shipping options are available for combined orders with LPs or CDs.
Includes unlimited streaming of In These Times
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
Sold Out
IARC0059 Cymbal Sheen color vinyl LP
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Cymbal Sheen 160g Color LP in Heavyweight Reverse-Board Jacket with Black Flood inner pocket, with Insert Sheet, IARC OBI strip & dome-pattern inner sleeve. Pressed at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, with lacquers cut at Elysian Masters. Limited Edition of 999 copies.
*Sold Out in the UK & EU. Remaining copies ship from the US*
Includes unlimited streaming of In These Times
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.
Sold Out
IARC0059 Test Pressing
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Original Test Pressing from Smashed Plastic. First pressing.
*Ships from Chicago. All Sales Final*
Includes unlimited streaming of In These Times
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
In These Times is the new album by Chicago-based percussionist, composer, producer, and pillar of our label family, Makaya McCraven.
Although 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.
As 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.
With contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators – including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill – the music was recorded in 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.
In 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.
credits
released September 23, 2022
Makaya McCraven - drums, sampler, percussion, tambourine, baby sitar, synths, kalimba, handclaps, vibraphone, wurlitzer, organ
Junius Paul - double bass, percussion, electric bass guitar, small instruments
Jeff Parker - guitar
Brandee Younger - harp
Joel Ross - vibraphone, marimba
Marta Sofia Honer - viola
Lia Kohl - cello
Macie Stewart - violin
Zara Zaharieva - violin
Greg Ward - alto sax
Irvin Pierce - tenor sax
Marquis Hill - trumpet, flugelhorn
Greg Spero - piano
Rob Clearfield - piano
Matt Gold - guitar, percussion, baby sitar
De’Sean Jones - flute
All 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) & International Anthem Publishing (ASCAP), administered by Domino Publishing Company USA (ASCAP).
"In These Times" contains an excerpt of audio from the Studs Terkel Radio Archive, used with permission, courtesy of Chicago History Museum and WFMT.
Recorded 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.
Produced by Makaya McCraven.
Engineered and Mixed by Dave Vettraino, David Allen, and Makaya McCraven, with recording assistance from Najee-Zaid Searcy.
Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Mastering.
Executive Production by Scott McNiece.
Cover Image & Insert Photos by Sulyiman.
Art Direction by Caroline Waxse.
Designed by Jake Simmonds.
International Anthem is a Chicago-born recording company that produces and promotes progressive
media.
The IARC mission is to make positive contributions to the changing state of the music industry, and to vitalize the demand for boundary-defying music by presenting unique sounds in appealing packages to untapped audiences....more
supported by 519 fans who also own “In These Times”
Incredible composure, fantastic drums here and there, great pacing overall, and to top it off an experience that can be heard from the top to the bottom without interruptions. Lovely record and an absolute "trip" of a listen. Fantastic job Nala, you really killed this. 106lil
