The Means of Production is a meeting point of six musicians with musical backgrounds as divergent as you’ll find in any modern outfit. With individual resumes as players in jazz, hip-hop, cabaret, psych rock, funk and soul with artists like Evolfo, Sinkane, Lizzie No, Ralph Weeks, Madlib and Brian Jackson, this collective musical knowledge adds to the stew in one way or another when they get on their respective instruments and play. The unit originally formed as the backing band for vocalist Ben Pirani in 2016. The Means (for short) – which features Jay Mumford on drums, Matt Gibbs on guitar, Rafferty Swink on keys, Pat Carr on bass, and Tre D’Ambrocia on vibraphone - formed a tight musical bond through years of touring, rehearsing and doing 1960s “no edits” style recording sessions for Pirani’s Colemine Records output. Most recently, the band focused solely on session work, leading to more experimentation. While warming up to record as a studio band for artists like Ralph Weeks and Lizzie No, The Means would improvise and explore to loosen up. Those fleeting and urgent live instrumental takes became the album that sits before you. Inspired by Teo Macero’s use of tape editing on early ‘70s Miles Davis records, Rafferty was entrusted with the job of arranging these group improvised compositions. The result is a potent, genre-defying blend of electric jazz, psych, and soul. A sextet with musical pedigrees as wide ranging as The Means’ playing as one has no choice but to sound like nothing else. The raw and adventurous sound of NOW.