Universal Beings

What a difference a few years and a burgeoning musical community can make. Where In the Moment, his first album for International Anthem, gathered a collection of his live performances for later dissection and reassembly, Makaya McCraven’s approach on Universal Beings was to create a communal exposition that spread his concepts across four different ensembles in four different cities, and take in what they give back in the process. Which, in both cases, is a lot — in physical form, it’s four LP sides; in thematic terms, it feels like four different LPs. But that leaves you with a lot of different threads to follow and modes to explore: reflective and spiritual in the vibes-and-harp-laced Queens session, bristling with percussive restlessness in Chicago, basking in Rhodes-soaked post-acid jazz in London, and glowing with IDM-meets-neo soul low end praxis in L.A.