Chicago-based percussionist, composer and producer Makaya McCraven, who performs at the Knockdown Center in Queens, NY, this Saturday as part of the Outline Festival, is the guest on the latest episode of the International Anthem Podcast, which colors the context of albums released by the Chicago-born record label. For the episode, McCraven spoke with host Ayana Contreras from his home in Rogers Park, Chicago, a few months after the September 2022 release of his acclaimed new album, In These Times. They talk about the reception of In These Times and revisit the concepts, intentions, growth, and changes the work encompassed along his decade-long journey of making it. You can hear their conversation below via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

In These Times, released on International Anthem / Nonesuch / XL Recordings, is the album McCraven’s been trying to make since he started making records, an appropriately career-defining body of work. The eleven-song suite was created over seven-plus years, as McCraven strived to fuse odd-meter compositions from his working songbook with orchestral, large-ensemble arrangements and the edit-heavy “organic beat music” he’s honed over the years. With contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators—including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill—In These Times highlights McCraven’s unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders, and blending past, present, and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st-century folk music. You can pick up a copy and hear the album here.