{"title":"New on International Anthem","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"jaimie-branch-fly-or-die-ii-bird-dogs-of-paradise-ia11-edition","title":"Jaimie Branch - FLY or DIE II: bird dogs of paradise (IA11 Edition)","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003ejaimie branch’s FLY or DIE II: bird dogs of paradise, originally released in the fall of 2019, was hugely anticipated in its time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRoughly a year before its release, and following the success of her debut Fly or Die album, branch whisked her incredible quartet across Europe for a string of performances. Across that November 2018 tour, the group stretched a songbook in-process to its limit, improvising en modo deconstructivo, tugging at the music’s edges and relentlessly morphing the sound of a four-fold liberation machine that included branch (trumpet), Chad Taylor (drums), Jason Ajemian (bass), and newcomer Lester St. Louis (cello), who had recently replaced Tomeka Reid.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMost of bird dogs of paradise was recorded in studio at Total Refreshment Centre over three days, and live at Café OTO over two nights that same week – at the tail end of the tour.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album itself captures a very significant moment in the arc of branch's band. St. Louis’s presence had provided a fresh injection of virtuosic curiosity, and the interplay between him and Ajemian rejiggered the crew’s string-driven multi-rhythmic plonk swing while also refreshing their alternately aggressive and melodious heavy-bite bowing with an expanded pocket. It was a highly fertile\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efoundation for branch to experiment and explore, reach for the nether regions of her instrument, and continue to focus and refine her flagship ensemble into a wholly original sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ebird dogs of paradise also introduced the wider world to branch’s singing voice. “prayer for amerikkka pt. 1 \u0026amp; 2” - written and first performed by branch in Paris on the night of the 2018 US midterm elections - has since become a rallying cry for those who share her sense of justice in a world controlled by those who are seemingly unconcerned with it. And on “love song\" (for assholes and clowns), branch shows us her cards with a wink and a smile. “So much beauty lies in the abstract of instrumental music,” branch says in the album’s original liner notes, “but being this ain’t a particularly beautiful time, I’ve chosen a more literal path. The voice is good for that.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe IA11 Edition of FLY or DIE II: bird dogs of paradise comes on classic black 140-gram vinyl LP (pressed at Pallas in Germany, with lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST) inside a heavyweight reverse-board jacket, with a 16-page 11x11\" insert booklet featuring previously-unpublished photos, two sets of new liner notes – the first by jaimie’s mom, Soledad “Sally” Branch, as told to Kate Branch, and the second by Fly or Die bassist Jason Ajemian – plus IARC 2025 obi strip and printed poly-lined printed inner-sleeve.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased November 20, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ejaimie branch – trumpet, voice, synthesizer, percussion, bells, sneaker squeaks\u003cbr\u003eLester St. Louis – cello, percussion\u003cbr\u003eJason Ajemian – double bass, percussion\u003cbr\u003eChad Taylor – drums, xylophone\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewith special guests:\u003cbr\u003eBen LaMar Gay – voice (on track 2)\u003cbr\u003eMarvin Tate – voice (on track 2)\u003cbr\u003eMatt Schneider – 12-string guitar (on track 2)\u003cbr\u003eDan Bitney – percussion, synthesizer (on track 8)\u003cbr\u003eScott McNiece – egg (on track 8)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll compositions by jaimie branch, except “birds of paradise,” “whales,” and “bird dogs of paradise” composed by jaimie branch, Lester St. Louis, Jason Ajemian \u0026amp; Chad Taylor; and “lesterlude” composed by Lester St. Louis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded mostly at Total Refreshment Centre (tracks 2–7 \u0026amp; 9) and Café OTO (tracks 1 \u0026amp; 8) in Dalston, London UK, November 20th–25th, 2018.\u003cbr\u003eEdits \u0026amp; overdubs at Dave’s house in Pilsen, Chicago, December 2018.\u003cbr\u003eFinal dubs \u0026amp; mixing at Decade Studios in Old Town, Chicago, January 2019.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMastered at Chicago Mastering Service in Garfield Park, Chicago, March 2019.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded by Dave Vettraino \u0026amp; David Allen\u003cbr\u003eRecording Assisted by James Dunn \u0026amp; Kristian “Capitol K” Robinson\u003cbr\u003eEdited by jaimie branch \u0026amp; Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eMixed by David Allen \u0026amp; Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Shelly Steens\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Art by jaimie branch \u0026amp; John Herndon\u003cbr\u003eCover Design by Damon Locks \u0026amp; jaimie branch\u003cbr\u003eInsert Cover Photo by Peter Gannushkin\u003cbr\u003ePhotos from TRC by Fabrice Bourgelle\u003cbr\u003ePhotos from Café OTO by Dawid Laskowski\u003cbr\u003eOriginal Insert Design by Craig Hansen\u003cbr\u003eIA11 Design \u0026amp; Layout by Aaron Lowell Denton\u003cbr\u003eExecutive Production by Scott McNiece \u0026amp; David Allen\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limousine Black Vinyl LP (IA11 Edition)","offer_id":53919452954965,"sku":"IARC0027LP11","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a4102833518_10.jpg?v=1779792901"},{"product_id":"makaya-mccraven-universal-beings-ia11-edition","title":"Makaya McCraven - Universal Beings (IA11 Edition)","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eThe 2018 release of Universal Beings, in many ways, feels like the moment that the gates swung open for both Makaya McCraven and International Anthem. On one hand, it's a four-sided communal showcase of the inter-city exchange that had started to develop in the “new jazz” hubs, collecting group improvisations from New York, London, Chicago, and Los Angeles. On the other, it is an editing and post-production masterclass – the MVP of McCraven’s “organic beat music” concept – and a landmark moment where his cut-splice-reassembly chops shine as brightly as the players themselves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe musicians on the album were a combined who’s-who and who’s-gonna-be-who of their respective scenes: Brandee Younger (harp), Joel Ross (vibraphone), Tomeka Reid (cello), Dezron Douglas (double bass), Shabaka Hutchings (tenor saxophone), Junius Paul (double bass), Nubya Garcia (tenor saxophone), Ashley Henry (Rhodes piano), Daniel Casimir (double bass), Josh Johnson (alto saxophone), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (violin), Jeff Parker (guitar), Anna Butterss (double bass), and Carlos Niño (percussion). In our original press release, we called it “an inspiring display of the organic global inter-connectedness of the Black American music tradition in 2018.” In our off-the-record conversations at the time, we said ‘it’s like Dr\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e. Dre’s The Chronic, but for jazz’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUniversal Beings earned rave reviews across the board. It was a consensus year-end favorite (as seen in NPR Music, WIRE Magazine, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Rolling Stone, Vice, Stereogum, the list goes on…) that cemented McCraven as a must-buy album producer and a must-see live performer, and brought enough energy to our “plucky Chicago indie label” that we were able to move out of a closet and into an actual office.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003eReleased December 4, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNew York Side:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded August 29th, 2017, at H0l0 in Ridgewood, Queens, New York.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBrandee Younger – harp; Tomeka Reid – cello; Joel Ross – vibraphone; Dezron Douglas – double bass; Makaya McCraven – drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thanks: Joe Jeffers, Malik Abdul-Rahmaan, Alejandro Ayala, Elliot Ross and Hank Shocklee.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChicago Side:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded September 2nd, 2017, at Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport, Chicago, Illinois.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShabaka Hutchings – tenor saxophone;Tomeka Reid – cello; Junius Paul – double bass, percussion; Makaya McCraven – drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thanks: Andy Dane, Rachel Millar, David Passick, Alejandro Ayala, Angel Bat Dawid, Alexander Hawkins, Ingrid Laubrock, Neil Gainer, David Chavez, Ed Marszewski, Jamie Trecker and Shanna Van Volt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLondon Side:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded October 19th, 2017, at Total Refreshment Studios in Stoke Newington, London, UK.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNubya Garcia – tenor saxophone; Ashley Henry – rhodes piano; Daniel Casimir – double bass; Makaya McCraven – drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thanks: Kristian ‘Capitol K’ Robinson, Alexis Blondel, Tina Edwards, Will Savery, Mark Pallman and David Burkhart.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLos Angeles Side:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded January 30th, 2018, at Jeff Parker’s house in Altadena, California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson – alto saxophone; Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – violin; Jeff Parker – guitar; Anna Butterss – double bass; Carlos Niño – percussion; Makaya McCraven – drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thanks: Lee Ann Schmitt and Ezra Lou ParkerSchmitt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUNIVERSAL BEINGS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded \u0026amp; Mixed by David Allen \u0026amp; Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCover Art by Damon Locks.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Aaron Lowell Denton.\u003cbr\u003eInsert Cover Photo by Fabrice Bourgelle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Makaya McCraven.\u003cbr\u003eExecutive Production by Scott McNiece.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"info license\" id=\"license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl 2LP (IA11 Edition)","offer_id":53920276742485,"sku":"IARC0022LP11","price":25.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a3622200608_10.jpg?v=1779460936"},{"product_id":"gregory-uhlmann-extra-stars","title":"Gregory Uhlmann - Extra Stars","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eExtra Stars is a deeply beautiful expression of Gregory Uhlmann’s ever-evolving sound world, and comes at a pivotal juncture in the LA-based composer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist’s musical journey.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFollowing a long run of supporting work with artists like Perfume Genius, Tasha, and Hand Habits, alongside an eponymous recorded output largely focused on his more singer-songwriter oriented music, Uhlmann has spent the better part of the last couple years trotting out album after album of groundbreaking instrumental modern music. From the sparse melodies and hushed ambient soundscapes of Small Day, to his much-lauded duo outing Doubles with Meg Duffy, to his perhaps lesser-known but no-less-brilliant duo record Water Map with Dustin Wong, to the lush chamber-jazz interplay of his trio recording with saxophonist Josh Johnson and bassist Sam Wilkes, to the two genre-breaking albums he released as a co-leader of synth-laced trance-jazz quintet SML (2024’s Small Medium Large and 2025’s How You Been), Uhlmann has subtly, if not quietly, established himself as an essential presence in some of the most progressive recordings of our time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExtra Stars encompasses all he’s learned through all\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ethe above. A radiant sidereal serenade, the album’s fourteen miniature infinities swirl serendipitous synthesis and measured, melody-rich song into a panoramic menagerie of sound. For a record that seldom incorporates percussion instruments, the music is distinctly rhythm-forward, while Uhlmann also leans heavily into swaths of pastoral beauty. Extra care was clearly poured into the kind of harmonic depth that’s often missing from vibe-only “ambient” music, making for a delightfully refreshing take on the electronic, processing-heavy 'quiet' sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe compositions and production techniques here reflect Uhlmann’s musicality perfectly, surely the result of him being as much a seasoned practitioner as he is an avid listener. If there is a middle ground between Cluster \u0026amp; Eno, Terry Riley’s Shri Camel, and Yo La Tengo’s There’s a Riot Going On, it’s somewhere nearby. Lofty comparisons aside, Extra Stars seems to look beyond reference or imitation. Even the album’s title indicates as much—inspired by a trip to California’s Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, where the reality of the night sky’s starry expanse stretches beyond the boundaries of belief.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe can feel Uhlmann’s gaze past the horizon line from the jump. Album opener “Pocket Snail” kicks off with a slow-ambling synth bass line before opening up into a richly processed, reverberating cacophony of beautiful sliding melodies. Eyes wide open, the small world of the pocket snail begins to burst with new color after a fresh injection of sunlight, but the tonality is more akin to something of a simple torch ballad. It’s an immense clash of big and small, and sets the stage nicely for the delightful vantage point shifting to come throughout the record.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Lucia” is named after a quaint lodge nestled amongst the cliffside drama of Big Sur, and the tune’s musical rendering of an intimate yet expansive perspective perfectly fits its namesake. The steady thump and chime of Uhlmann’s guitar repetitions sit atop a field recording of the distant, heavy-winded ocean crash of the Cabrillo Highway coast, held even steadier by harbor bell metallic clank percussion and a firm yet pillowy cluster of electric organ chords and mellotron-like leads. Enter saxophonist Alabaster DePlume, the track's lone feature, with his signature breathy reed work. Here DePlume’s vibrato-heavy tenor sax wandering adds a secret-among-friends intimacy to a sonic scene that could go for miles. DePlume hums low in multitrack as Uhlmann leads the steady pulse on, encountering syncopated harmonic pings, fluttering recorder flourishes, and the little bustling sounds of the rural Pacific shoreline. Earworms must live in the ocean air, because it’s tough to get any element of “Lucia” unstuck once it’s in, and the whole thing is all tied up in a bow in just under three and a half minutes. Equally playful and introspective, “Lucia” is the potential soundtrack to a close reading or a thousand yard stare. If Jim Henson dreamt Link’s Awakening this would be the sound he heard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Burnt Toast” is an essential example of Uhlmann’s penchant for using the guitar to make non-guitar sounds. That’s not to say that what is occurring here is a simple act of processing. Rather, Uhlmann has a distinct and instantly recognizable ability to play the instrument itself in a way that lends to drastic and realtime tonal transformation. Clocking in at a lean 1:25, it’s a quick and lively skip through a blend of complimentary and warring syncopations—another hallmark of Uhlmann’s style—topped with synthetic glissandos and stereo-image warbles placed just so. What really makes it gel, though, is the harmonic simplicity that the transformative madness is serving. At the end of the day, the basic structure of “Burnt Toast” is an uncomplicated chord progression.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat essential simplicity, leaning into tonal expressions of quiet joy and deep longing, could be the most relevant throughline in Uhlmann’s work. On Extra Stars it’s likely best exemplified on “Days,” a serene 7+ minute track born in the nerve shattering confusion of 2020. “It was made in my old apartment and felt like a way of self soothing by playing the same chords over and over again,” says Uhlmann. The result is a wisping, languid, near free-time drift through a progression that manages to maintain its directness despite its slow-building reverberated accompaniment. Like a Harold Budd take on the somber fingerpicked elegance of Frantz Casseus, “Days” wanders through the speakers with an almost nostalgic air. A grandmotherly wall organ melody sings around dancing piano notes as chattering synthesis renders itself percussive amongst the steel string comfort of Uhlmann’s electric guitar. It’s the kind of recording that could go on forever and maybe, somewhere, it’s doing just that. On Extra Stars, though, it acts as a spiritual centerpiece, rejuvenating the listener as it fades out slowly, cleansing and leaving us ready for more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Back Scratch” is collage-cut from a series of piano improvisations and post-composed with pitch-shifted percussion contributions from Uhlmann’s SML bandmate Booker Stardrum. Uneven loops syncopate in chance mode while the barrage of high-register notes conflate with Stardrum’s stickwork to cement a rhythm dense enough to nearly become a drone. The impulsive comparison to the intensely rhythmic zither dance of Laraaji would be understandable, but mostly inaccurate. “Back Scratch” is produced in a markedly raw, un-reverberated manner—and it’s precisely that stark wonkiness that separates it from something like Day Of Radiance and makes it more akin to a basement DIY crack at Reich’s Drumming. That said, its brevity and singularity among the wildly diverse Extra Stars tracklist means that it might be (just maybe) more actual fun to listen to than both of those records.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe guitarless moments on Extra Stars shine as brightly as those that highlight Uhlmann’s primary instrument, but even those departures display themselves distinctively, especially when he invites and directs a collaborator. The labcoat synth silliness and percussive b-ball bounce of “Dottie,” for instance, contrasts sharply from the unbridled beeswarm rhythm composite of “Worms Eye” despite the implementation of the same tools and techniques—likely due to the co-production presence of synthesist Jeremiah Chiu (another SML bandmate) on the latter. Regardless, there’s no mistaking an Uhlmann composition and there’s no mistaking when he’s at the helm. For instance, while Chiu’s presence can certainly be felt on “Voice Exchange,” its outlandish rhythm focused take on the pitch-shifted vocals of longtime Uhlmann collaborator Tasha couldn’t be further from the other Chiu co-productions on Extra Stars.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ability to maintain a recognizable voice across vast stylistic shifts, while employing the talents of those who also possess singularly recognizable voices, is not something that is heard often and it’s Uhlmann’s ability to recognize what makes each collaborator unique that makes it work here. A great example is “Bristlecone,” which finds him directing the powerful low-end command of Anna Butterss’s bass and the multiphonic mystery of Josh Johnson’s processed alto. The composition and arrangement are supported at every turn by Uhlmann’s SML bandmates without the result ever wandering away from something we can hear as distinctly his. Like David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, or Miles Davis, Uhlmann uses collaboration to both support and transform. To reinforce and evolve. With Extra Stars he has delivered such a promising collection of instrumental concepts following an extended period of vast, high-level artistic output. There’s no doubt that it will continue to be a joy to experience that evolution in real time.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 6, 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll pieces composed by Gregory Uhlmann\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGregory Uhlmann - guitar, bass, synths, recorder, percussion, piano\u003cbr\u003eAlabaster Deplume - saxophone and voice on \"Lucia\"\u003cbr\u003eAnna Butterss - bass on \"Bristlecone\"\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - saxophone and effects on \"Bristlecone\"\u003cbr\u003eJeremiah Chiu - synth and modular on \"Voice Exchange\"\u003cbr\u003eBooker Stardrum - percussion on \"Back Scratch\"\u003cbr\u003eVoice sample on \"Voice Exchange\" is Tasha Viets-Vanlear\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Gregory Uhlmann\u003cbr\u003eAdditional Production by Jeremiah Chiu on \"Worms Eye,\" \"Voice Exchange,\" and \"View Below\"\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003eAlbum art and layout by Bucky Boudreau\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial thank you to my partner Sam Kaufman for feedback on every little detail\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920278741333,"sku":"IARC0107LP","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53920278511957,"sku":"IARC0107CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a0100696238_10.jpg?v=1780048236"},{"product_id":"whitney-johnson-lia-kohl-macie-stewart-body-sound","title":"Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart - BODY SOUND","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eWhitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart are a trio who utilize string instruments, voices, and manual tape effect processing to craft compositions from alternately tranquil and disquieting improvised music. The three musicians are individually rooted in deep sound exploration, multi-disciplinary composition, and all manner of cross-genre collaboration. The musical ground covered by their solo practices is correspondingly expansive, and their individual recording and performance credits read as a veritable who’s who, ranging from DIY darlings to household names of experimental avant-garde, electronic, indie rock, and more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe trio’s collective sound is based in improvisation—automatic, intuitive composition via their three voices and three string instruments (viola, cello, and violin, respectively). Their influences are vast—dispatched with more playful ease than a trio of string instruments is typically approached with, and just as likely to be found in the cloud-obscured mountains of Donegal, the low-rent cacophony of a midwestern basement, or the revelatory expanse of the Nurse With Wound list as in the storied halls of the academy. Touchstones and areas of interest aside, the main thing that Johnson, Kohl, and Stewart engage with in BODY SOUND is listening and\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ereacting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Improvisation has a special capacity to facilitate a kind of sonic intimacy,” says Kohl. “We're making choices together in the moment. We're creating time together before thought enters the equation. It's an incredibly intimate and intuitive space to share, and feels like the heart center of this music and this practice.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe trio’s approach to improvisation is very much embedded in and informed by their Chicago music community. The city’s ongoing improvised music tradition, which can envelop every genre imaginable, is one where a working musician’s ideas can evolve at a near-constant pace and where anything can be explored in the name of sound. And with sound, there’s always space to consider.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhere will the improvisation take place?\u003cbr\u003eHow will that space shape the sounds being made?\u003cbr\u003eHow will that sound resonate in the dim light of a small neighborhood bar?\u003cbr\u003eHow will it sound in the chromatic refractions of an ornate church?\u003cbr\u003eCan it feel different-yet-equally perfect?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart the answer to the last question is yes, definitely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStewart: Our quest as a crew is to explore space and every iteration of what that can mean, be it physical space, emotional space, sonic space, etc. Space is an instrument.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohnson: It’s more than the acoustic properties of the recording spaces. Our bodies, emotions, and relationships show up in those spaces with affordances and limitations for the music each time. We are vibrating beings, sensitive and expressive, an amoeba of physical and psychic pressures with specific resonances in time and space.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKohl: The space we’re in always feels like a collaborator in this trio more than in other contexts. I can always feel us all responding to where we are and the resonances that live there.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn BODY SOUND, the trio worked with International Anthem engineer and album co-producer Dave Vettraino to translate the sonic specificities of three recording locations: International Anthem studios on Iron Street (Chicago), Shirk Studios (Chicago), and Boyd’s Jig and Reel (Knoxville, TN, as part of Big Ears Festival). Vettraino also brought a deep knowledge of tape manipulation and a willingness to experiment. “All it took was for one of us to say, ‘What if that was a loop?’, and he was already setting up the reel-to-reel,” says Johnson of the album’s post-production, which leaned heavily into their shared love of saturated tape sounds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat trust, it seems, was already there. In addition to the communal criss-cross inherent in sharing their Chicago home base, the trio worked with Vettraino on Stewart’s 2025 solo effort When the Distance Is Blue. It was her debut on International Anthem but far from her first appearance in the label’s catalog as a player. Ditto for Kohl and Johnson, whose collaboration and friendship with the label goes back years. Taken as a whole, we could argue that this most recent collaboration, the tape-manipulated fried beauty documented on BODY SOUND, has been a long time coming.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the context of this work, tape sound is much more than a mixing treatment or a production tactic. Here Johnson, Kohl, and Stewart are using variations on the medium to edit and reshape the pieces themselves, employing multiple analog tape machines to reimagine their improvised material into meticulously crafted compositions (“another layer of improvisation,” says Stewart). It’s all a response to the spaces they were originally engaged with, and the use of a highly physical medium like analog tape deepens the spatial engagement of the trio’s work to striking, playful, and organically psychedelic effect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe resultant BODY SOUND is deep, melancholy, and triumphant, coming across like a kind of lost or amalgamated folk music. It’s certainly part of an ongoing creative continuum, even boasting track titles adapted from Yoko Ono’s classic book of text scores Grapefruit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album’s opener “dawn | pulse” puts a morning drone at the threshold of their sound world. This undulating slow roller is a free time drift of bowed tonal clusters respiring in long, melodic swells, and unfurling among wordless singing. Despite the time marker in the title, this piece feels suitable for any part of the day—the morning stretch skyward, the afternoon ambling respite, or the late-nite chillout. Both majorly serene and deceptively avant garde, “dawn | pulse” is a perfect entrée into BODY SOUND.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“laundry | blood” begins with a near-waltz percussive tumble created by a tape loop of Kohl’s barrette-prepared cello. Its soft and eerie triplet propels a deep and snarling viola-cello-violin drone forward à la the doomiest moments of the Berlin School canon or the repetitive outsider glory of Tony Conrad \u0026amp; Faust's Outside the Dream Syndicate. It’s a darkly cinematic take on the ambient ideal for the scarcely visible slow-moving night train chug. You can almost see it roll by.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome moments feel intentionally disconnected from the performance, instead tied more closely to the concept of LP format listenership: the disintegrated melodic pumps and clomps of “chewing gum”, the body shaking radiator hiss come-apart of “snow | touch”, the otherworldly bass and sub-bass of “stone | piece”.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcross the album’s 11 tracks, each piece manages to keep a foot in both worlds. “burning | counting (sleeping)” begins abruptly with massive bursts of heavily-bowed sawtooth strings looping in real time, creating a near-synthetic feeling. Deep stutter-step freneticism, tape-manipulated and rendered into overlapping moments of dense psychedelia give way to an oncoming long-note tranquility—an improvised cacophony evoking some long dissipated storm-paced Irish folk drone more so than a New Music exercise or a study of Kronos \/ Reich.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd that seems to be the story with all of the material within BODY SOUND. It’s music with inexplicably broad appeal while maintaining a sort of mysterious outsider quality. Johnson, Kohl, and Stewart have created a stunning album—an exquisitely textured, spatially vivid, wordlessly expressive, sonically multitudinous collection—that manages to decode a slew of high level concepts while clearly and directly speaking to the human impulse. BODY SOUND is right.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased March 20, 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhitney Johnson viola, voice\u003cbr\u003eLia Kohl cello, voice\u003cbr\u003eMacie Stewart violin, voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTascam 58, Revox A77, Sony TC 580, TEAC 6600, Portastudio 414mkII\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music by Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart, and Dave Vettraino\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered by Dave Vettraino at IARC studios on Iron Street (Chicago), Big Ears Festival 2025 (Knoxville), and Shirk Studios (Chicago)\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eArtwork courtesy of Jovencio de la Paz and Chris Sharp Gallery\u003cbr\u003eDesign \u0026amp; layout by Matilde Santiago\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Grapefruit\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920279298389,"sku":"IARC0108LPI","price":25.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920279429461,"sku":"IARC0108LP","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53920279560533,"sku":"IARC0108CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a1705246381_10.jpg?v=1780048668"},{"product_id":"alabaster-deplume-dear-children-of-our-children-i-knew-epilogue","title":"Alabaster DePlume - Dear Children Of Our Children, I Knew: Epilogue","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e'Dear Children of Our Children, I Knew: Epilogue' is a new EP by Alabaster DePlume, recorded during the middle of his March 2025 US tour. DePlume had been playing shows with bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Tcheser Holmes, performing music from his critically acclaimed album 'A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole' (released March 2025). The trio’s onstage rapport was so immediate and strong that, on an off day in Brooklyn, DePlume chose to capture that connection, recording this collection of instrumental pieces shaped by the experience of performing, sharing, and improvising off the music of A Blade for audiences across the US.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDePlume says: “Meeting with you all at the shows I sensed that you felt voiceless, on this ethical issue that also spelled out what we’re seeing today, in the form of ICE. That experience with you is etched into me, like graffiti or a poster on the wall. It’s my job to deliver your voice, and that’s what this record is. And to take action. That urgency compelled me to record then. And now here we are. As we said, this world is awakening to the reality it was already living.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDear Children serves as an epilogue to A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, and as a companion bookend with his October 2024 EP 'Cremisan: Prologue to A\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eBlade'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs with almost everything that DePlume has put forth in recent years, the connection of all these works to Palestine is deep. The Cremisan EP itself was recorded in Palestine. Dear Children incorporates field recordings and samples of children playing and of normal life in the West Bank, and its cover art depicts wheatpaste posters of a drawing made by a 13-year-old boy from Gaza (used with permission). The inscription on the cover art says, in Arabic, “Dedicated to the mother of the martyr\/witness Obaida Ahmed al-Qiram. May you rest in peace. From your student, the artist, Hasan Jawad Abudayyeh.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003eReleases May 5, 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded at Figure 8 Recording, Brooklyn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Alabaster DePlume in Total Refreshment Centre, London.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlabaster DePlume - saxophones, sampler, synths, guitars\u003cbr\u003eShahzad Ismaily - bass\u003cbr\u003eTcheser Holmes - drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered by Tyler Hicks.\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Dave Vettraino.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSamples by Mai Mai Mai, Marta in Brooklyn and Aladdien in Bethlehem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing by Hassan Jawad Abudeia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInstallation and cover photo by Rich Jones.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eAll rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920279593301,"sku":"IARC0110LP","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a1947218949_10.jpg?v=1780411273"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-happy-today","title":"Jeff Parker - Happy Today","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e the third album from guitarist\/bandleader \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJeff Parker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e’s long-running \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eETA IVtet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, was recorded live at \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLodge Room\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e in Los Angeles on August 20, 2025. This fresh entry into the IVtet’s catalog captures Parker and the band – including drummer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJay Bellerose\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, bassist \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnna Butterss\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and saxophonist \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJosh Johnson\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e – on record outside of the now-shuttered Highland Park micro-club ETA for the first time. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe performance also captures a distinctly joyful night of togetherness set against the backdrop of dark times. “\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2025 was a very difficult year for me and my family,” Parker says. “Dealing with being displaced from the Eaton fires for eight months, and the kind of toll that that instability took on my family’s mental health and general outlook, coupled with Donald Trump being back in office and basically making life miserable for everyone… There was a lot of sadness and despair. But feeling the sense of community that we created with our concert, and later hearing the recording, seeing the beautiful footage that had been shot and the photographs of such joy to be back in that space and to be making music again: It was a very happy moment. So I called the record \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. It’s meant to be a statement of joy.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat joy and camaraderie found in communal space seems to be a major catalyst for the ETA IVtet’s music. The band’s audience is, somehow, an essential part of the formula. Case in point: the show at Lodge Room was actually meant to be the cherry on top of a weekend of studio sessions by the band. Those sessions were intended to be the next album released by the group, its first ever studio record. Upon listening back, though, it was clear to Parker that the Lodge Room performance was the recording that shined brightest and felt most true to the band’s spirit, harkening back to the weekly session the four musicians held at ETA for so many years.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eETA was undoubtedly more than just the namesake of the band. Part laboratory, part low-stakes proving ground, it’s where the language of the IVtet’s sound percolated and coalesced over the course of an almost mythical seven-year-long Monday night residency that yielded two critically-acclaimed records—2022’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and 2024’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Way Out of Easy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—and an instantly recognizable \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003egroup \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003esound.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is that sound—the IVtet's signature syntax built around long-form, minimalist improvisation—expanding confidently into a larger space while creating the same hypnotizing, deeply-tuned listening effect on visibly enraptured audiences. The album contains two sidelong pieces recorded as the band performed in the round at Lodge Room, surrounded by an audience of 400 or so deep listeners. (The venue, appropriately enough, sits on the same street and just a few hundred feet away from the storefront that used to be ETA.) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe drastic change in venue size, and this document in general, is representative of an expanding demand to experience this band live that has been surging for years, starting with the release of their debut album \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMondays\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. For the subsequent, final year that ETA was open, there would typically be a line down the block on Monday evenings, with far more people trying to catch the show than the club could hold. Even if you \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecould\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e get inside the building, given the limited capacity, the IVtet was a difficult band to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eactually see\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e play. Couple that with the fact that before the closure of the club in December 2023, the IVtet had never played outside of Los Angeles. Access to the live experience had been extremely limited, and that has seemed to feed a sense of mystery and allure around the band’s music for the many fans of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMondays\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Way Out of Easy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn paper, the IVtet’s growing audience is something of a conundrum. After all, minimal longform improvisation is likely the precise antithesis of streaming-centered content culture. Despite that, at the show that produced \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, as with any IVtet show, the audience willingly settles into and accepts the band’s pace as they iron out a story which digs deeply into every facet of an idea before investigating a new one. Here the attention economy feels lightyears away, the crowd instead surrendering to that old and very human penchant for \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003elistening\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. With open ears, the crowd stands ready for a big yarn, a long tale, and from the jump there seems to be a trust between performer and audience that mimics the trust between the musicians as they move from detail to detail. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The band isn't afraid to explore static spaces,” says Parker. “It seems like the thing is to stay on one idea for a while. Really, for a long time. To kind of exhaust it. And then one person shifts and then the thing moves together.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Everybody is constantly dropping crumbs and you can take them or you can leave them,” agrees Bellerose. “There are these little hints, these little moments, and everybody's aware of them.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“When it \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e time to change, it can change \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003every quickly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,” says Butterss. “If someone suggests a new idea, it can flip in an instant. Everyone's constantly ready to go with it if the moment calls for it.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLike Swimwear\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,” the side-length opener of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, contains a quintessential example of this distinct IVtet move. The track gets off the ground slowly but deliberately, ramping up tension over the course of its first ten minutes without a moment of harmonic dissonance. The band, rather, steadily pulls at the corners of the rhythm. Here each member steps forward and backward in the sonic space to build a gleefully disorienting group cadence, where the repetitions of the individual overlap in such a trancelike way that even soloistic breaks from Parker’s electric guitar or Johnson’s effected alto sax never manage to snap the tension wire. Bellerose works deep into the rhythmic fascia, employing all manner of auxiliary percussion—strewn across his kit, tucked into his shoe, or wrapped around his legs—all without a hint of novelty. Every micro-choice comes from a place of both curiosity and confidence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd then the shift: just as the thing is about to come unglued Bellerose opts into a smooth, low-register downbeat groove that Butterss has been auditioning for the previous minute or so. Parker swiftly kicks into an organ-like drone while Johnson and Butterss stay the course. It’s a series of decisions that could go any number of ways depending on the night, like running water pushing into fresh geography, moving from tributary to mainstream, past the levee and into the floodplain. There is no set path; if it went a different direction it would still be the cumulative result of the same water flowing. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat is to say that there are no hard and fast rules to what the IVtet does. Defining the music, in fact, is something that the band takes special care not to do. Living in that mystery, it seems, helps to keep the path open, cleared to push into new and satisfying territory.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“For me, the thing to protect is just where it started from, which was freedom and openness,” says Bellerose. “In the early days of the band Jeff was recognizing how we were all communicating within the structure of playing standards. He's one of the greatest producers I've ever worked with because he has this vision. And a big part of producing is casting—putting the right people in the room. So these shifts, they're completely natural within these improvised pieces that we do because the foundation was there and Jeff knew it. He had already noticed the communication within the band, but wanted to really push it further.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe key to Parker’s push lies in the generosity to step back, to allow each member an equal voice, and to de-center himself. What we hear on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is an egalitarian group sound by design, curious and intuitive. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Everybody's listening in a way where it's not always like ‘I'm going to go with you’,” says Johnson. “But it's always ‘I hear you’. And sometimes it's ‘I hear you and I'm going to stay here and allow the tension of these two things to exist for a while before \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003emaybe\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e joining you.’ But the thing that's cool is that everybody’s hearing it. Because of the time that we've spent together there’s a maturity to the listening—a very special version of deep listening.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The number of times that we've talked about the music is \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eso few\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e compared to the years and years of playing,” Johnson continues. “I think that's one of the really beautiful things about the band—how organically the way that we play together has come about and evolved over time. Definitely on brand for the music that the band makes too. Slowly evolving, long form development.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I learned how to improvise \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ein this band\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,” reveals Butterss, astonishingly. “I didn't really play improvised music before. So my whole approach to improvisation has been shaped by playing with Jeff, Jay, and Josh. It\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e a band and it has its own language. I think you could drop the needle on any of the recordings and people would be able to say ‘that's the quartet.’ It's very distinctive and it's developed very organically. We have \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003enever\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e talked about it, I don't think.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat's\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e our band,” says Parker of “Like Swimwear,” almost with an outsider’s sense of fascination at the recording. He seems to feel the same enchantment and surprise that the audience does while listening, despite being a primary part of the process. “\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat's it\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. I mean, that's what the ETA Quartet does.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt’s a blessing for this band to be so expertly documented in its naturally public, live context. The two sidelong improvisations from Lodge Room that make up \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, as with the recordings that made up the IVtet’s first two albums, are beautifully rendered by engineer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBryce Gonzales\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—recorded and mixed live, direct to a Nagra tape machine utilizing a compact outboard rig that he built himself, specifically to record this band. Much like the thumbprint originality coming from the players themselves, Gonzales’ capture of the music is its own signature, his mixes a form of sound improvisation themselves.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA major addition to this particular presentation is the full album length film by \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCharlie Weinmann\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, documenting the band's performance of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e at Lodge Room, which will be released in tandem with the album. A shadow-laden, almost noirlike capture of the band in its full sprawling glory, Weinmann’s camera makes \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethe joyful reality of seeing the IVtet at work widely accessible for the first time. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e the reach of Parker’s IVtet extends further than ever before, but the essential formula, if there is one, remains the same. The anchor seems to be in variations on an almost alchemical communication—a feeling of connection between band members, sure, but also between the band and the audience. It’s an ongoing trust exercise, born organically in the corner of a small room in Los Angeles and flowing outward at exactly its own natural pace. It’s social music with a clear ability to move those willing to listen. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is an invitation to become part of the exchange and experience the joy of deep listening.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAll compositions by The ETA IVtet:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJay Bellerose - Drums and Percussion\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnna Butterss - Acoustic Bass\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJosh Johnson - Alto Saxophone with Electronics\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJeff Parker -  Electric Guitar with Electronics\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLive recording by Bryce Gonzales.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlbum photography by David Haskell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlbum layout and design by Aaron Lowell Denton.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThanks to Bryce and Highland Dynamics, Scottie, David, Dave, Hippo, Jocelyn and Ashley at IARC, David Bither and staff at Nonesuch Records, Chris, Tina and Ryan at Big Fish, David Haskell, and the wondrous audience and staff at Lodge Room.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eF@#K ICE. Power To The People.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll rights Reserved\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920280641877,"sku":"IARC0109LPI","price":30.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920279920981,"sku":"IARC0109LP","price":27.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53920280510805,"sku":"IARC0109CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a0999850971_10_0fc0c6db-8f29-46e2-b70e-df64a10f5c8d.jpg?v=1780410833"},{"product_id":"kalia-vandever-mana","title":"Kalia Vandever - Mana","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eMana is the International Anthem debut by composer, trombonist and vocalist Kalia Vandever. This new full length carries on the expansive and dazed spirit of their first solo album, We Fell In Turn, while entering a new landscape of spacious songwriting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVandever’s music has quickly and widely gained traction in the last few years despite the fact that their style has been consistently difficult to pin down, boasting a compositional scope ranging from the cinematic modern jazz of their quartet work to the synthetic, gauze-like droning ambience of their solo material. Mana leans into the expansion of the latter: solo trombone filtered through a well-dialed pedalboard and manipulated live, paired with spare piano à la late-career work of Ryuichi Sakamoto. The electroacoustic interplay simultaneously echoes and transforms the long-note melodicism of Vandever’s melancholic brass work; and the whole sound is emotively augmented with head-on, unambiguous, and deeply personal sung lyrics—a particularly fresh move for the composer. This dexterity has not gone unnoticed, with The Wire asserting, “Vandever has never sounded more assured and in control of their many strengths.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It was born out of curiosity,” says Vandever of the new record. “Of wanting to explore playing in a solo context, but also\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewanting to interact with my own sound. I was also asking myself things like ‘how can I do this in a way that feels personal, but different from what I've seen?’ It's allowed me to go deeper into my relationship with the instrument and with sound in general.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA turning point in that development came when Vandever began to get more opportunities to play outside of the context of the jazz world. Some of those opportunities came in the form of playing a part in backing groups for pop stars (Harry Styles) or indie-rock mainstays (Japanese Breakfast), but the true exploration of Vandever’s own sound personality came while performing solo to new audiences unconcerned with genre. In particular, an opening slot on a tour with folksinger Haley Heynderickx seemed to knock something loose. There was, perhaps, less of a feeling that they needed to touch on jazz traditions in order to satisfy some kind of unspoken expectation from the audience—less perceived rigidity and, thus, less shyness about how to present. For Vandever, warming up the stage for Heynderickx and seeing a very different kind of crowd from the stage night after night helped to cement a sort of bravery about sharing a number of more intimate, lyric-centered pieces. “I was considering that they might gravitate more toward words,” says Vandever. “So I thought I could try these songs that I had been developing, that maybe I was feeling a little nervous to share.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“When I started opening for Haley, her audiences were just so giving and really open to receiving anything,” they continue. “So I started trying these songs and I feel like the words really resonated with audiences. It felt important to include them on the record.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s more than just the words that resonate here. There’s a sonic scope on Mana which tees up a deep world for these lyrics to live in whenever they appear. A full-bodied trombone awash in reverberation and polyphonic pitch-shifting introduces “Hubbard Road,” Mana’s opening track. Vandever’s trusty brass axe rings out with confident warmth and soft power, ascending and descending in register, before being joined by the song’s primary theme—two repeating grand piano triads. It’s a quietly tense musical figure that is slowly unwound by Vandever’s soul-bearing horn improvisations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Waiting” opens with solo trombone laid deeply in a dense web of cloudy effects, holding a warped mirror to Vandever’s melodic brass call. The two elements vie for position until the halfway mark, when the disorienting tonal wash wins out, soon joined by Vandever’s longing and contemplative high-register vocal work—not dissimilar to the alluring intimacy of Grouper or the obscure swoon of Victorialand era Cocteau Twins.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Murmuray” is a could-be brass reverie, rendered ambient via the foghorn solitude of Vandever’s effect chain savviness. By the 1:30 mark it’s transformed into a droning take on a tune grandma might have hummed, appropriate for the early riser’s first step into the day or the night owl’s weary and quiet walk home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe track’s title is an Ilocono term used to describe waking and being fully awake. “Ilocono is one of three most common languages in the Philippines and was spoken primarily by my maternal grandfather,” says Vandever, who learned the term when their grandmother used it to describe their voice on a phone call. “I'm very close to my grandma on my mom's side. She's the only one in the family who sings, and I grew up listening to her sing Hawaiian folk songs. I feel like her singing encouraged me to discover my voice. She's been an influence of mine for my whole life.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Vandever, that family connection and that lineage cannot be overemphasized. In the liner notes for Mana, they focus on the importance of Hawaiian mythology and ancestry as inspiration for their solo work. Mana, which in Hawaiian means “foundational, supernatural, or divine power and strength,” reveals more of their voice and words, drawing from yearning, loss, and bewilderment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Vandever's liner notes for Mana: \"Mana in Hawaiian culture is the divine and supernatural spirit that gives strength and power to living beings, places, and objects. In traditional Hawaiian society, mana lived in Ali'i, known as chiefs and royalty who upheld the kapu (code of conduct) and cared for their people and the land. They possessed the most mana due to their believed relation to Gods and their responsibilities to the islands. In modern culture, mana can be felt, cultivated, and strengthened as you grow closer to your inner self, native land, and ancestral power. I carry the stories, wisdom, and care of my ancestors as I navigate grief, love, community, and exploration and feel my sense of mana deepening when I play for them.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the last few years Vandever has had several opportunities to travel to Hawaii to play music, and it seems to have shed new light onto their personal connection to Hawaiian mythology and ancestry and how it relates to their musical expression—a meeting of their familial and professional life that represents a sort of closing of a circle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“My experience of going to Hawaii when I was younger was purely to see family, and it always felt very separate from music,” they explain. “A lot of my Hawaiian family doesn’t really travel, so they weren't able to see me perform until the last couple of years. I’m just feeling really grateful that there's been this convergence, and I feel like it really influences the way that I play, and to have this confidence and when I play the solo set. I think a lot about the presence of family and ancestry when I play—connection with family that I've lost.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe final song on Mana is “Holding,” Vandever’s version of a breakup song. Swirling, suspended chords pile up beneath a trombone-led intro, concentrating into droning clusters of soft synth-like sound. These frenetic yet melodically unchanging tones become a gentle beeswarm bed for Vandever’s simple and direct lyricism, the most apparent point of new growth on the album itself, delivered with the same floating confidence as their trombone work:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHolding on to you\u003cbr\u003eWill you hold me til the end?\u003cbr\u003eWill you release me?\u003cbr\u003eI will release you\u003cbr\u003eI am holding\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReleases June 12, 2026\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll music composed \u0026amp; performed by Kalia Vandever. Album produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Lee Meadvin at Koda Sound. Cover photo by Isabel Gonzalez.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThank you to my loving family, Corina, Kevin, Felicia, Frances, and Lilo. Thank you Mo, you're always with me. Thank you Lee for guiding this process. Thank you Hannah and the team at International Anthem for supporting this album.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eAll rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Hibiscus\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920281395541,"sku":"IARC0111LPI","price":25.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920281592149,"sku":"IARC0111LP","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53920281788757,"sku":"IARC0111CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/IARC0111_Artwork_3000x3000_RGB.jpg?v=1780411580"},{"product_id":"sml-spontaneous-music-live","title":"SML - Spontaneous Music Live","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eSML is a Los Angeles based quintet featuring Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum, and Gregory Uhlmann.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Spontaneous Music Live' contains two side-length pieces of unedited improvisation, recorded live at Los Angeles venue Zebulon during SML's December 2025 three-night residency, just weeks after the release of the band's second album HOW YOU BEEN. It was recorded and mixed live to analog tape by Bryce Gonzales (the same engineer\/wizard known for his gorgeous live captures\/mixes of Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBetween HOW YOU BEEN and their 2024 debut SMALL MEDIUM LARGE (both of which were heavily edited, shaped and post-produced) the band has developed a reputation for records that are heavily fused, polished, and punchy. The medium is on full post-modern display on those LPs, and the band’s post-production knife can be responsible for much of the perspective — the tastiest morsels collected, arranged, and rearranged just so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut the source material from both those albums were live recordings. Long-form, unwieldy, ebbing and flowing. On top of that, every performance the band has ever done has been fully\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eimprovised in that spirit. So in the sphere of live performance the band’s esteem has grown down a different path — one of linear, hypnotic, expansion. It’s a perceived split persona shared by some of SML’s most inspiring conceptual bedfellows: compare the extended madness of Can’s 'Live in Paris 1973' to the relative tight form of 'Future Days' from the same year; the speed-funk chaos of Miles Davis’ 'Dark Magus' to the heavily deconstructed 'On The Corner' or 'Big Fun'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Spontaneous Music Live' removes the curatorial perspective and pulls the curtain back on that search-pluck-reconstruct editing process. What we’re left with is the psychedelic realism of the band in situ, in their home town, collectively improvising, fully in-the-moment, mining for that moment of discovery. We hear, in macro, each nugget of sound which could be the basis for a future SML album track, spattered amongst the collective chaos-and-control like stars in the night sky.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOut June 26, 2026\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eImprovised live by SML: Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum, and Gregory Uhlmann.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered, recorded and mixed live in stereo, direct to Nagra by Bryce Gonzales at Zebulon, Los Angeles (December 1-3, 2025).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003ePhoto by Sam Lee.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Jeremiah Chiu.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eAll rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920282214741,"sku":"IARC0112LP","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a0764858329_10.jpg?v=1780412331"},{"product_id":"megiapa-intentions","title":"megiapa - Intentions","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e*\u003cstrong\u003ePREORDER\u003c\/strong\u003e* releases September 25, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eIntentions, megiapa’s lush and emotionally layered debut album, feels less like a collection of songs and more like a living archive of transformation. Across its warm synths, fluttering basslines, meditative voice notes and spiritual grooves, the Los Angeles-based producer, vocalist and composer maps the uncertain terrain between heartbreak, healing, fear and surrender.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe album’s title is genuine. “The record is literally my intentions,” she says. “It’s a representation of my intentions, my dreams over the last five years or so.” Those years carried the weight of upheaval: the pandemic, the collapse of a long-term relationship, a move away from Chicago, and the disorientation that follows when the structure of your life suddenly disappears beneath you. But Intentions never sounds defeated. Instead, it radiates the quiet confidence of someone learning to trust herself in real time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat trust is embedded in the music’s very construction. Before this album, megiapa largely worked alone, making instrumentals in solitude, creating loops and fragments for herself without much thought toward public consumption. “These were just beats that I made for myself,” she explains. “It was my personal thing.” During the pandemic, she gained attention for her diddies series —\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ebrief, playful sketches often completed in a single evening. While those tracks carried an improvisatory charm, Intentions represents something deeper: patience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What if I spend time with my music?” she remembers asking herself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe earliest pieces on Intentions date back to 2020 and 2021, but the album gradually evolved into something larger than its creator initially imagined. A grant from the city of Chicago helped push the project toward completion during one of the most unstable periods of her life. “I made a difficult decision that completely changed the stability I knew,” she says. “And so the record really is a representation of me returning to myself and gathering all these ideas and desires into one final offering.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat sense of accumulation defines the album’s beauty, as it feels handmade in the truest sense: every synth patch, vocal harmony and drum pattern carries the residue of lived experience. As a result, the collaborators surrounding megiapa function as witnesses to her becoming. Bassist The Growth Eternal and keyboardist Ahmad Muhammad (also known as Kafari) help ground the music in a deep-pocketed warmth, while drummer Mekala Session gives several tracks their stormy propulsion. Elsewhere, contributions from Blvck Spvde, Aankha Neal, Telemakus, Aisha Mars and 10.4 ROG add texture to songs already rich with feeling.\u003cbr\u003eFor megiapa, creative partnership became part of the lesson. “Do I continue to take up space on this track,” she recalls asking herself, “or do I allow the piano to shine through?” Learning when to step back and let the music breathe became an act of growth. Right away, “Open Your Eyes,” produced by 10.4 ROG , sets the project’s fervent tone. Floating atop bright keys and an incessant chime, the song invites listeners toward reflection without losing its breezy accessibility. “Everything we need is within us,” she says of the track’s message. “We all reflect each other.” It’s the kind of statement that could sound overly sentimental in less capable hands, but megiapa delivers it with grounded sincerity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElsewhere, Intentions reveals its bruises more directly. “Can’t Believe” — featuring Resavoir’s Will Miller on EVI, horn and piano — confronts the wreckage of a relationship with startling honesty, pairing Roland 808-inspired drums with aching reflections about longing for something that ultimately could not survive. “I can’t believe what I wanted,” she sings at the song’s center. Yet even here, the album isn’t bitter. The pain becomes a nudge to strive higher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat tension between disquiet and faith reaches its apex on “Crashing Down,” one of the album’s most resonant moments. Written during a Mexico retreat amid the chaos of the pandemic, the song emerged almost like a mantra. When she later revisited the song during periods of upheaval, the lyrics sounded like a prophecy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntentions is also deeply informed by Black spiritual thought and cosmic possibility. Tracks like “(_(_on_the_spaceway_)_)” and “on the spaceway (frfr)” channel the liberatory philosophies of Sun Ra, imagining expansiveness beyond earthly limitation. “I imagine Black people in this spaceway just enjoying themselves in their full expansiveness,” she explains. In that sense, the album joins a lineage of Black experimental music that treats joy itself as resistance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough International Anthem may seem like an unexpected home for the project, the partnership makes sense. The label has supported megiapa since her earliest days in Chicago, with figures like Alejandro “King Hippo” Ayala encouraging her long before the wider world caught on. “It’s like putting music out with my family at this point,” she says.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy the time Intentions concludes, what remains is the feeling of having accompanied someone through a profound shift. The album asks listeners to relinquish their fear of the unknown. Again and again, megiapa returns to the same guiding principle: trust the process; everything will work out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Fear is a hindrance to our dreams and our goals and the beauty of life,” she says. “Please dream with me. Please take a moment to reflect. And please be okay with things being uncertain.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn Intentions, this state becomes its own kind of freedom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNotes by Marcus J. Moore\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eIntention (n.) \/ɪnˈtɛnʃən\/\u003cbr\u003eA thing intended; purpose, determination, wish, desire, resolution, ambition, dream.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003eAankha Neal - additional vocals (5,13)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAhmad Muhammad - piano, Juno (3, 4, 8, 13,14)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAisha Mars - flute (5)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAllakoi \"Mic Holden\" Peete - percussion (3, 5, 7, 9, 13)\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003eBlvck Spvde- additional vocals (13)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDave Vettraino - additional production (11)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eghalani of Greenwood - bass (3, 7, 8, 9), additional bass (11)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJuliana Markwardt - vocal sample (2)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003emegiapa - production (2-14), vocals (1-14)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMekala Session - drums \/ drum sample (2, 11,13)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMocky - additional arrangement (13)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTelemakus - additional vocals,Rhodes, synths,harp (8)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e10.4 ROG - instrumental production (1)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWill Miller - trumpet, EVI, additional piano (7)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAll compositions and lyrics by megiapa except:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOpen Your Eyes\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten by megiapa\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eProduced by 10.4 ROG\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDreaming About You\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten by Kevin Toney\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOriginally performed by The Blackbyrds\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e( ( on the spaceway ) )\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEnd quote from Space Is the Place by Sun Ra\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBlack Gold of the Sun\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten by Charles Stepney and Richard Rudolph\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOriginally performed by The New Rotary Connection\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRecorded and produced by megiapa between Chicago and Los Angeles\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAdditional recording by Viraj Gandhi at Chakram's Aarti HQ\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMixed by megiapa and Dave Vettraino\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMastered by David Allen\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eArtwork and photos by megiapa\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003einfinite gratitude to the family, friends, collaborators, cities, and scenes that have supported and shaped this journey... Mama, Dada, Augie, Meli, Tiffany, Amalia, Amanda, Kate, Stacy, Alejandro, Viraj, Mocky, jiji \u0026amp; trudy...*∞°.+\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Crystal Clear Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":54323741426005,"sku":"IARC0114LPI","price":25.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":54323741458773,"sku":"IARC0114LP","price":23.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/IARC0114_IARC0114DS_Artwork.jpg?v=1783518849"}],"url":"https:\/\/international-anthem.k7store.com\/collections\/new-on-international-anthem.oembed","provider":"International Anthem","version":"1.0","type":"link"}