First of all, keep an overview when it comes to Makaya McCraven’s new releases. August saw the release of a quartet of singles consisting of four digital EPs titled “Techno Logic,” “The People’s Mixtape,” “Hidden Out!” and “Popup Shop”, which are still to be released. In summary, it’s all available on OFF THE RECORD, a compilation that comes to stores as a double LP and double CD.
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The wave of releases marks McCraven’s return to the recording spheres since the album IN THESE TIMES (2022). What unites these very different tracks is that they emerged from live improvisations that drummer-producer McCraven allowed to flourish in his cosmos, a big come together with the friendly participation of esteemed colleagues like Theon Cross (tuba, electronics) and Ben LaMar Gay (cornet, voice, percussion, diddley bow) on “Techno Logic”, for example, created in London (2017), Berlin (2024) and New York (2025).
These are perhaps the strongest documents of this current McCraven art, streams of energy that condense into beats and vocals; Song sound trips, drawn in rough hatching. Tracks like “Choo Choo” on “The People’s Mixtape” (recorded live in Brooklyn 2025) talk about the power of different rhythms (Jeremiah Chiu and vibraphonist Joel Ross are featured), and the recordings from “Popup Shop” explore the possibilities of jazz-funk fusion.
This review first appeared in Musikexpress 11/2025.