Universal Beings cover

Universal Beings

Released

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.

Nate Patrin

Suggestions
Codona 2 cover

Codona 2

Collin Walcott, Codona, Naná Vasconcelos, Don Cherry
Samdhi cover

Samdhi

Rudresh Mahanthappa
Resavoir cover

Resavoir

Resavoir
Satin Doll cover

Satin Doll

Sam Gendel
Towards the Unknown cover

Towards the Unknown

Yusef Lateef, Adam Rudolph
Giallo cover

Giallo

Robohands
Afro Classic cover

Afro Classic

Hubert Laws
Dysnomia cover

Dysnomia

Dawn of Midi