Makaya McCraven's In The Moment (IA11 Edition) -- OUT NOW on all digital music platforms // in stores on vinyl 2xLP March 28th
Makaya McCraven
In The Moment
(IA11 Edition)
Out Now on all digital music platforms
vinyl LP out March 28th, 2025
Makaya McCraven’s International Anthem debut In The Moment is the album that properly introduced the then-burgeoning drummer/producer to the world. In many ways, it also laid the groundwork for a working method that both McCraven and the label have returned to again and again over the years: nearly 48 hours of live improvised performance recorded by IARC house engineer Dave Vettraino at 1 venue over 12 months and 28 shows - culled, cut, rendered, and remixed into 19 potent pieces of organic beat music by McCraven.
This early exploration of the concept is based in the nightlife—in relaxed and unostentatious gatherings of prodigious Chicago musicians letting loose one moment at a time. That the individual stature of the musicians involved has risen dramatically in the years since is only proof positive that these sessions in a renovated bank vault were a casually high-level convention of some of the city’s best.
The IA11 Edition LP – which features our IARC 2025 obi strip, plus additional photos and new liner notes by engineer Dave Vettraino in a 4-page insert booklet – will be available in record stores worldwide on March 28th.
In anticipation of that, the #IA11 edition of the album is now available on all digital music platforms, complete with four digital-only bonus tracks.
IA11 Liner Notes by Dave Vettraino
Photos by Marcus Mader
The IA11 Edition vinyl 2xLP comes complete with new liner notes penned by Dave Vettraino, who engineered the more than 28 live sessions that made up the source material of In The Moment. His notes (excerpted below) are available to read via this fresh release page on our website, which also includes a gathering of information, stories and reflections about the album.
"After the first couple weeks, realizing the music was so impressive and the sound of the vault so special, I decided to incorporate more microphones to get a fuller and more intimate sound. But I still relied on the stereo pair – the “ears of the listener” – to shape the overall picture. Each week I would quickly mix the 2+ hour session and send a stereo bounce to Makaya. They were initially only intended for review, promotion and posterity. But Makaya began to parse through, cut and loop these stereo mixdowns to create new composition – sometimes utilizing transparent editing to make an improvisation more seamless, sometimes creating a more choppy sounding beat, sometimes a combination of both with added overdubs at his home studio."
Read.
Photo by Neal O'Bryan
“Three Fifths a Man” Live at the Green Mill w/ Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, and Justin "Justefan" Thomas
Check out this excerpt of a stellar 22-minute version of “𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗻” with Jeff Parker (guitar), Junius Paul (bass), and Justin "Justefan" Thomas (vibes).
In February of 2015 Makaya McCraven's 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, our third release, was only a couple of weeks old, but the excitement around his music in the city of Chicago was palpable. There was just no way that the imminent release show at Chicago’s historic Green Mill would be anything other than a major vibe.
The Mighty Kingdom of Rhymes, Beats, and Rhythms
Abu-Bakaar Bacaioa on In The Moment, from behind the Honest Jon's counter
London's Honest Jon's Records is an incredible shop as well as a truly revelatory label. Their bins have tempted us for years now, and we always make a point to roll through when we are in town. With that in mind, it was a true honor for them to be an early adopter of Makaya McCraven's In The Moment, and much of that enthusiasm came from record collector, DJ, and (at the time) man behind the HJ counter, Abu-Bakarr Bacaicoa.
From IARC’s Alejandro Ayala: I first met Abu when I was shopping IARC records around London. The label was still so new at the time that I had to explain who we were and what we were up to at each shop. When I got to Honest Jon’s and pulled out Makaya’s newest record, Highly Rare, Abu lit up and told me he had sold hundreds of copies of In The Moment. He already knew! It was a super fun hang with him that day.
We spoke to Abu recently and asked him to take a look back at that time, that love, and that enthusiasm.
Deluxe Vinyl Package
Makaya McCraven's In The Moment (IA11 Edition) comes on two 140 gram vinyl LPs inside a heavyweight matte jacket, with 4-page insert booklet (featuring additional session photos and new liner notes written by Dave Vettraino), IARC 2025 obi strip and poly-lined printed inner-sleeves. Pressed at Pallas in Germany, with new lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST.
...about...
IA11
On December 2nd, 2024, we marked the ten-year anniversary of our first release. With a full decade under our belt – ten years of commitment to a growing community of artists, and our original mission statement ("to vitalize demand for boundary defying music," among other things) – we've spent a lot of time thinking about how we'd like to celebrate this milestone. What we keep coming back to is: desire to use this opportunity to revisit and revivify music and memories from our first decade; but keeping true to our ethos of always looking forward, all the way.
In that spirit, across 2025, we'll be rolling out a series of releases and events under the IA11 banner. Celebrating our eleventh year. Doing our best to retell essential, foundational stories from our past, while keeping our hearts and minds fixed on the present. Trying to establish new standards that can help carry our mission through another decade of work – and hopefully more.
We created an emblem for IA11 with a vibrating interpretation of a chrysanthemum as the central symbol. Aside from just loving the delicious golden nectar that comes from the leaves of this flower, for us, the image of the chrysanthemum resonates as a symbol of longevity and rejuvenation. Two of the driving intentions behind this effort.
Please stay tuned for announcements of IA11 events and special releases across 2025. We look forward to a beautiful year of celebrating the past, present and future with you all.
IA11 Editions
Over the course of 2025 we will be revisiting some of the most celebrated entries in our decade of releases with this series of IA11 Edition LPs. These revamped LP packages will be presented with new liner notes, new insert booklets, and the fresh 2025 redesign of our iconic obi strip and dome logo. They will also be set at a price point intended to make the albums more accessible than ever before.
So far, the first three of that series have been announced:
IARC0001LP11 Rob Mazurek - Alternate Moon Cycles (IA11 Edition)
IARC0003LP11 Makaya McCraven - In The Moment (IA11 Edition)
IARC0017LP11 Ben LaMar Gay - Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun (IA11 Edition)
All three LPs will be in stores March 28th, and are available for preorder on our Bandcamp page now.
International Anthem is proud to present this special event series in Chicago, focusing on a different album from our catalog on the last Monday of every month across 2025 at the Hungry Brain. Each 11 of 11 event will feature deep listening of an album, followed by a small group of musicians performing an interpretation of that album.
The 11 of 11 event on Monday March 31st will feature a full listening to Rob Mazurek's minimalist masterpiece Alternate Moon Cycles (originally released December 2014), followed by a performance by Tromblau, with Emma Blau (trombone) and others TBA, as the musicians respond to and reinterpret the music of the album. Get tickets here.
The 11 of 11 event on Monday April 28th will feature a full listening to Makaya McCraven's breakout album In The Moment (originally released January 2015), followed by a performance led by Anisha Rush (sax) in trio with Kurt Shelby (bass) and Joshua Ross (drums), as the musicians respond to and reinterpret the music of the album. Get tickets here.
