Photo: Shannon Marks
Makaya McCraven is back with a new body of work, and it’s as ambitious and exploratory as we’ve come to expect from the Chicago-based drummer, composer, producer, and all-around sonic visionary. This time he brings not just one, but four new EPs: Techno Logic, The People’s Mixtape, Hidden Out! and Popup Shop. All four are set to land on October 31st, with a double LP/CD compilation titled Off the Record arriving earlier on October 10th through International Anthem, Nonesuch, and XL Recordings.
These are McCraven’s first new recordings since 2022’s In These Times, and they take him back into the live-to-studio process that has long defined his sound. Like In The Moment or Universal Beings, these new EPs are built from live improvisations, later sculpted in the studio with his trademark layering, sampling, and production wizardry.
The material across the four EPs spans nearly a decade of performances, from his 2015 debut in Los Angeles to a session earlier this year in Berlin, and each EP draws from a different cast of incredible collaborators. Techno Logic brings together Ben LaMar Gay and Theon Cross, weaving together years of performances from London, Berlin and New York, tracing the evolution of their shared musical language. The People’s Mixtape finds McCraven marking ten years since In The Moment with a celebratory session at Public Records in Brooklyn, alongside longtime collaborators Junius Paul, Marquis Hill and Joel Ross, with synthesist Jeremiah Chiu joining the group for the first time. Hidden Out! revisits McCraven’s 2017 residency at Chicago’s Hideout, where he played weekly with a rotating lineup including Jeff Parker, Josh Johnson, and Junius Paul. And Popup Shop comes from recordings of McCraven’s Los Angeles debut in 2015 at Del Monte Speakeasy, as part of RAWS:LA, an event produced by King Hippo and Grown Kids Radio, where he improvised with guitarist Jeff Parker, vibraphonist Justefan, and bassist Benjamin J. Shepherd.
The result isn’t just a collection of performances, but something that reflects the beautiful, messy and human side of making music in real time. Speaking about the project, McCraven says:
“In a time where we’re increasingly connected through phones, in a virtual world where you can’t really tell what’s real or what’s fake, there’s something special where we come together and share space, there is something special where we are sharing music, art. I want to create an energy that amplifies the magic in the underground moments where we come together and we experience something wild, different, off the cuff, human. What I’m trying to present is a dreamlike alteration of that energy, which only exists in the recorded realm. But to actually have been there, in real life, is the special thing.”
Lucky for us we can already hear four fresh tracks to get excited before the full release as McCraven has unveiled a lead track from each EP, ‘Technology’, ‘Choo Choo’, ‘Away’ and ‘Imafan’. Take a listen to all four tracks below.
