Universal Beings E&F Sides

Jazz, hip-hop, “organic beat music,” as the man himself calls it: Whatever Makaya McCraven is up to, the fact that it doesn’t fit extant taxonomy remains a good sign that it’s moving the needle. Recorded during the same globe-hopping improvisatory sessions that made up 2018’s *Universal Beings*, *E&F Sides* spins a simple idea—build a collaborative groove on the spot; sample, loop, and collage the track later—out to elegant ends. You can tune in to it (the fusion of “Dadada,” the free gospel of “The Way Home”), you can tune out (“The Hunt,” “Isms”). Or, as McCraven seems to intend, you can let it all play moon to the mind’s tides, focusing and releasing attention as the music winds on. Easy to listen to but challenging under the surface—this does it.

Between August 2017 and January 2018, Chicago drummer /composer/producer Makaya McCraven recorded four sessions with a rotating international cast of musicians to play four cities: London, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.