The Official International Anthem Thread

Official thread for Chicago based jazz label International Anthem.

They’ve been getting a lot of (overdue) pub lately so I figured it’s as good a time as any to start some conversation about one of the best labels in the world. Talk about your favorite previous releases and any upcoming projects that have you excited.

If you aren’t in to jazz this could be a great entry point as a lot of their stuff is really progressive. Incorporating spoken word, sampling, etc.

Some of my personal favorites are:

Makaya McCraven- Highly Rare
Jaimie Branch- Fly or Die
Jeff Parker- The New Breed
Jeff Parker- Suite for Max Brown
Junius Paul- Ism
Damon Locks/Black Monument Ensemble- Where Future Unfolds
Reservoir- Reservoir

Their next release is Alabaster DePlume- To Cy & Lee: Instrumental’s Vol. 1. “Whisky Story Time” is probably my second favorite piece of music this year behind Waxahatchee’s “Fire”.

They also put out an incredibly high quality product in the LP format. High end packaging, and all the LP’s are pressed at Pallas, arguably one of the 2 or 3 best pressing plants in the world.

 

Just announced the new Irreversible Entanglements record.

 

Picked up Irreversible Entanglements yesterday on Bandcamp. One of the best records of the year!

 

Completely missed this thread.

I’m also loving the Irreversible Entanglements albums so far. Have you heard Camae Ayewa’s project Moor Mother?

My personal favorite International Anthem releases are for sure the Jaimie Branch albums. She was supposed to play in Nashville like next week and I was finally going to get a chance to catch her live. :(

 

I have not heard Moor Mother, I’ll check it out.

 

Probably one of my favourite finds in the past year or two. Makaya McCraven and Junius Paul's last couple of albums have been my favourite albums in recent times. Love them.

 

Didn’t post this here but Alabaster DePlume’s “Visit Croatia” is heavily sampled on the new Bon Iver track “PDLIF”

they’re a match made in Heaven. I hope they actually work together.

 

Not sure what to make of this. Definitely more ambient than jazz. It was ok, but it's not something I can see myself coming back to a lot.

 

This one is out today.

 

Looking forward to that, the one track they’ve released sounded really good.

Talking of good albums on IA, the Aquiles Navarro & Tcheser Holmes album from a few weeks back is superb. Digging that a lot. May be my favourite jazz album of the year.

 

New Rob Mazurek album is pretty great, huh?