Makaya McCraven Announces Four New EPs with Four Advance Singles
Makaya McCraven, photo by Daniel Dukane
Makaya McCraven has returned to announce four new EPs. Set to release on Oct. 31 via International Anthem / Nonesuch / XL Recordings, Techno Logic, The People’s Mixtape, Hidden Out! and PopUp Shop will mark the pioneering jazz drummer and producer’s first original recordings since his triumphant 2023 album In These Times and a return to his signature loop-based live collage style. To preview his next era, McCraven has shared a lead single from each set, alongside a statement of his creative intentions and a new run of tour dates across the country and abroad this fall.
All four of McCraven’s forthcoming “distinct yet interconnected” EPs were cut from concert recordings and meticulously reshaped with editing and overdubs from his home studio in Chicago. Like In These Times, which took shape over the course of seven years as the artist broke into jazz’s vanguard with records like Highly Rare, Universal Beings and the Gil Scott-Heron tribute We’re New Again, the source recordings for his new projects date as far back as 2015. PopUp Shop preserves the promising improvisation McCraven’s Los Angeles debut, just months before his breakthrough sophomore album In the Moment.
Hidden Out!, led by the soft and contemplative single “Away,” is assembled entirely from McCraven’s June 2017 hometown residency at Chicago’s The Hideout with a rotating cast of local mainstays like bassist Junius Paul, saxophonist Josh Johnson and guitarist Jeff Parker of Tortoise. Techno Logic, which is billed as a collaboration with cornetist, vocalist and musicologist Ben LaMar Gay and former Sons of Kemet tuba player Theon Cross, also traces its roots to 2017, with later shows in 2024 and 2025 showcasing the frequent collaborators’ close bond formed over the years. Its lead single, “Technology,” is a frantic, roaring, and electronically distorted futurist shout.
The People’s Mixtape is built from the retrospective improvisation McCraven explored at Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Public Records in January as a 10-year anniversary celebration for In the Moment. The culminating performance of his artist-in-residence tenure for NYC Winter JazzFest saw returning support from Paul and trumpeter Marquis Hill, who made significant contributions to In These Times, as well as vibraphonist Joel Ross (heard on Universal Beings) and synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, who collectively strove to return to the sonic language advanced on that landmark project. The clattering advance “Choo Choo” parallels its inspiration’s highly percussive and textural quality, with new color from synthesizer plinks.
“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,” McCraven shared as a thesis connecting the projects. “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.”
All four of McCraven’s new EPs will be released together in a 2xLP and 2xCD physical collection titled Off the Record, set to release on Oct. 10 and available to pre-order now. Find the complete tracklist for each project and McCraven’s upcoming tour dates below.
Techno Logic (featuring Theon Cross and Ben LaMar Gay)
Gnu Blue
Technology
Boom Bapped
Prime
Strikes Again
The People’s Mixtape
Choo Choo
The Beat Up
What a Life
Lake Shore Drive Five
Hidden Out!
Battleships
Away
Dark Parks
Awaze
News Feed
Braddas
PopUp Shop
YoYoYo Intro
Venice
Imafan
Los Gatos
Sweet Stuff
Makaya McCraven Off the Record Tour Dates:
Thu 9/25 – Minneapolis, MN – Icehouse
Fri 9/26 – Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
Wed 10/1 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall (w/ Tom Skinner)
Thu 10/2 – Somerville, MA – Arts at the Armory
Fri 10/3 – Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater
Sat 10/4 – Philadelphia, PA – Solar Myth (3 night residency)
Sun 10/5 – Philadelphia, PA – Solar Myth (3 night residency)
Mon 10/6 – Philadelphia, PA – Solar Myth (3 night residency)
Wed 10/8 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge
Thu 10/9 – Springfield, MA – HOPE Theatre
Fri 10/10 – Ann Arbor, MI – UMS @ Michigan Theater
Sat 10/18 – San Diego, CA – Artpower at UC San Diego – Price Center East Ballroom
Tue 10/21 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
Wed 10/22 – Los Angeles, CA – Jazz Is Dead @ Lodge Rooom
Thu 10/23 – Denver, CO – Dazzle
Fri 10/24 – Denver, CO – Dazzle
Sat 10/25 – Portland, OR – The Get Down
Sun 10/26 – Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
Fri 10/31 – Berlin DE – Jazzfest Berlin
Sat 11/1 – Roma IT – Auditorium Parco della Musica
Mon 11/3 – Prague CZ – Palác Akropolis
Tue 11/4 – Brno CZ – Cabaret des Pêchés
Wed 11/5 – Katowice PL – Ars Camerails / Jazz Club Hipnoza
Thu 11/6 – Mannheim DE – Enjoy Jazz / Alte Feuerwache
Fri 11/7 – Bremen DE – Theater Bremen
Sat 11/8 – Groningen NL – Rockit / Oosterport Kleine Zaal
Mon 11/10 – Utrecht NL – TivoliVredenburg
Wed 11/12 – Lisboa PT – Teatro Sao Luiz
Thu 11/13 – Madrid ES – Madrid Jazz Festival / Teatro Fernan Go
Fri 11/14 – Namur BE – Le Delta
Sat 11/15 – Den Bosch NL – November Music / Willem Twee Poppo
Mon 11/17 – Lille FR – Aéronef
Tue 11/18 – Paris FR – New Morning
Wed 11/19 – London UK – EFG London Jazz Festival / Koko
Thu 11/20 – Cenon FR – Le Rocher de Palmer
Sat 11/22 – Athens GR – Gazarte
Sun 11/23 – Oslo NO – Cosmopolite
