(photo by Atiba Jefferson)
JOSH JOHNSON RELEASES NEW ALBUM ANIMATIVE ON LP, CD & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
DEBUT FOR INTERNATIONAL ANTHEM / NONESUCH OUT NOW
SHOWS IN LOS ANGELES, MINNEAPOLIS, CHICAGO & BROOKLYN THIS FALL
JOSH JOHNSON
ANIMATIVE
*** out now ***
BUY NOW
“Johnson merges electronic and acoustic sounds in revelatory yet unshowy ways.” - Stereogum (Album of the Week)
“He has advanced an inviting brand of experimentalism… Animative offers vibrant electroacoustic music well-suited to dancing or daydreaming.” - The New York Times
“He genuinely has yet to miss.” - Paste
“Josh Johnson’s saxophone, his playing and the effects he uses, sounds like it’s coming from two places — the future, and a deep well of emotion.” - TIDAL
“An electro-acoustic idyll that deepens with each listen. It has a right-now sound.” - The Gig / Nate Chinen
“Increasingly difficult to pin down to any one scene…Animative sounds like a logical culmination of his disparate musical lives.” - SPIN
Today, Chicago-raised and Los Angeles-based composer, producer, saxophonist and synthesist Josh Johnson releases the new solo album Animative on vinyl LP, CD, and digital download (with the full album's streaming release to follow on November 10). He also shares the album’s third streaming single, “Jazz Chord Possession.”
Listen to “Jazz Chord Possession” and purchase Animative here.
(JJ @ IARC CHI HQ)
BUY IT IRL
Animative is out on LP and CD in record stores worldwide today, October 23, 2026, which is three weeks before the album releases in full on streaming platforms. We choose to release albums physically, first, because we believe the most exciting and nourishing release day experience is one that happens at an independent record store. Hence we want to reward independent record stores and independent record store shoppers with access to this music, first.
To make it easier for you to find a shop to visit and buy the album this weekend, we've compiled this incomplete list below (and here on our website) of stores that confirmed they are stocking Animative for its release day. Thank you in advance for supporting independent, local business, and the continued existence of a communal recorded music industry.
Atlanta, GA - Criminal Records
Austin, TX - End of an Ear
Belfast, UK - First Press
Bethlehem, PA - Lehigh Valley CD Center
Birmingham, AL - Seasick Records
Blaine, MN - Cheapo Discs
Bloomington, IN - Landlocked Music
Bountiful, UT - Graywhale
Branford, CT - Exile on Main Street
Burlington, VT - Pure Pop Records
Cedar Falls, IA - Metro Records
Charlotte, NC - Lunchbox Records
Charlottesville, VA - Plan 9 Records
Chattanooga, TN - Yellow Racket Records
Chicago, IL - Dusty Groove
Chicago, IL - Laurie's Planet of Sound
Cincinnati, OH - Shake It Records
Columbus, OH - Spoonful Records
Corvallis, OR - Happy Trails Records
Dededo, GU - Cheapo Music
Draper, UT - Graywhale
Durham, NC - Carolina Soul
East Lansing, MI - Flat Black & Circular
Edinburgh, UK - Good Vibes Neighbourhood Store
Edmond, OK - Guestroom Records
Edmonton, AB - Listen Records
Ferndale, MI - Found Sound
Fort Collins, CO - Driver 8 Records
Fort Wayne, IN - Welcome Back Records
Franklin, TN - Luna Record Shop
Fujisawa, JP - Tower Records Fujisawa OPA
Fukuoka, JP - Tower Records Amu Plaza Hakata
Fukuoka, JP - Tower Records Fukuoka
Grand Rapids, MI - Vertigo Music
Greenville, SC - Horizon Records
Hiroshima, JP - Stereo Records
Hiroshima, JP - Tower Records Hiroshima
Indianapolis, IN - LUNA Music
Jackson, MS - End of All Music
Kanazawa, JP - Tower Records Kanazawa Forus
Kobe, JP - Tower Records Kobe
Kutztown, PA - Young Onea
Kyoto, JP - Meditations
Kyoto, JP - Tower Records Kyoto
Leeds, UK - Jumbo Records
Little Canada, MN - Cheapo Discs
Liverpool, UK - Rough Trade
London, UK - Dreamhouse Records
London, UK - Rough Trade
London, UK - Sounds of the Universe
London, UK - Stranger Than Paradise
London, UK - Vinyl Factory
Los Angeles, CA - Record Surplus
Louisville, KY - Guestroom Records
Louisville, KY - Guestroom Records (Highlands)
Loveland, OH - Plaid Room Records
Manchester, UK - Piccadilly Records
McKinney, TX - Miss Henny Penny's Groovy Coop
Minneapolis, MN - Cheapo Discs
Nagoya, JP - Tower Records Nagoya Parco
Nashville, TN - Grimey's
Niigata, JP - Tower Records Niigata
Normal, IL - Waiting Room Records
Norman, OK - Guestroom Records
Norwich, UK - Soundclash Records
Norwich, UK - Venus Vinyl
Oakland, CA - 1-2-3-4 Go! Records
Ogden, UT - Graywhale
Oklahoma City, OK - Guestroom Records
Olympia, WA - Rainy Day Records
Online, JP - HMV Online
Online, JP - Tower Records Online
Opelika, AL - 10,000 Hz Records
Osaka, JP - Newtone Records
Osaka, JP - Tower Records Abeno Hoop
Osaka, JP - Tower Records Namba Parks
Osaka, JP - Tower Records Umeda NU Chayamachi
Osaka, JP - Tower Vinyl Umeda
Oxford, MS - End of All Music
Phoenix, AZ - Stinkweeds
Phoenix, AZ - The In Groove
Portland, OR - Clinton St. Records
Portland, OR - Jackpot Records
Portland, OR - Mississippi Records
Provo, UT - Graywhale
Raleigh, NC - Nice Price
Richmond, VA - Plan 9
Rochester, NY - House of Guitars
Rock Island, IL - Ragged Records & Music
Royal Oak, MI - UHF Music
Salt Lake City, UT - Graywhale
San Diego, CA - M-Theory Music
San Luis Obispo, CA - Boo Boo Records
Sandy, UT - Graywhale
Sapporo, JP - Jazzy Sport Music Shop
Sapporo, JP - Tower Records Sapporo PARCO
Sendai, JP - Tower Records Sendai
Shibuya, JP - Tower Records Shibuya
Shinjuku, JP - Tower Records Shinjuku
Shizuoka, JP - Tower Records Shizuoka
St Albans, UK - Haven't You Heard
St. Augustine, FL - Tonevendor
St. Louis, MO - Vintage Vinyl
St. Paul, MN - Applause
St. Paul, MN - Cheapo Discs
St. Petersburg, FL - Daddy Kool Records
Taylorsville, UT - Graywhale
Tokyo, JP - Beams Records Shop
Tokyo, JP - Disk Union
Tokyo, JP - Diskbeat
Tokyo, JP - Dubstore
Tokyo, JP - Fresh
Tokyo, JP - Haru No Ame
Tokyo, JP - Jamal
Tokyo, JP - Jet Set
Tokyo, JP - Park Books
Tokyo, JP - Ranamusica
Tokyo, JP - Record Shop Reconquista
Tokyo, JP - Store15nov
Tokyo, JP - Tower Records Kichijoji PARCO
Toledo, OH - Culture Clash
Toronto, ON - Sonic Boom
Vancouver, BC - Audiopile Music
Virginia Beach, VA - Birdland Music
Walla Walla, WA - Hot Poop
Wallingford, CT - Redscroll Records
Warsaw, IN - Karma Music
Washington, DC - Byrdland
Washington, DC - Politics & Prose Bookstore
West Jordan, UT - Graywhale
Wheeling, WV - Nail City Records
Winston-Salem, NC - Low Five Archive
Yokohama, JP - Tower Records Yokohama
(Animative album cover photo by Anna Powell Denton)
Throughout the 2020s, the Chicago-raised and Los Angeles-based saxophonist, keyboardist, synthesist, producer, and composer Josh Johnson has emerged as a vital and innovative force in various realms of progressive music. He has thrived as a sideman and collaborator, helping to shape the sound of Jeff Parker’s renowned ETA IVtet; he co-leads all-star creative ensembles like SML, the Openness Trio, and his collective with Sam Wilkes and Gregory Uhlmann; and he served as producer for Meshell Ndegeocello’s GRAMMY-winning 2023 album The Omnichord Real Book as well as Flea’s acclaimed 2026 album Honora.
Animative embodies a culmination of the harmonically rich, loops-inflected sound that first germinated on Johnson’s 2020 full band release Freedom Exercise and on his immersive 2024 solo album Unusual Object. Throughout the album, Johnson puts sophisticated technologies to work, often using the saxophone to control a sampler or a drum machine, triggering changes in a loop or an effect. But it’s always in service of a feeling — working to escape the trap of mastery. “I'm looking to make it feel more human,” Johnson says. In particular, he cites fellow Chicagoan, saxophonist, and 360-degree artistic thinker Eddie Harris and the brilliant piano eccentric Mal Waldron as influences on his approach to breaking form and emphasizing the corporeal elements of performance.
Johnson’s thoughtful and reserved nature made Animative’s title something of a puzzler to his friends. “I said the name to a few people, and they were like, ‘Animated is not how I would describe you,’” Johnson laughs. “But I'm really thinking about it from the perspective of causing animation, giving spirit, or connecting with spirit.” He thinks often of the lessons of Wayne Shorter, one of his teachers, who instilled in him a sense of reverence for the mystical, and emphasized the musician’s duty to “conjure and transport.” Johnson also found inspiration in the West African philosopher Malidoma Somé’s writings, and the “non-Western ways of thinking about time and being” that they propose, as well as Italo Calvino’s inventive, often-dreamlike short fiction.
The spectrum of influence, clarity of intention, and confidence in craft present in Johnson’s approach yields stunning results on Animative. Whether it’s spiritual and wandering works augmented by the idiosyncratic overloads of hardware technology (as on the stirring “Aughts Hymnal”), stumbling funk that pulsates with the glow of otherworldly deep sea life (“High Step”), surrealist dancefloor cuts (“Jazz Chord Possession”) or cloudy collages of shoegaze saxophone (“Upstairs 2021”), Animative coheres into a strange and beautiful whole — a generous and spellbinding reflection of its auteurist creator.
Animative is out NOW on LP, CD, and Digital Download, with streaming release to follow November 10, listen & purchase here.
Johnson will be performing Animative album release shows in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago and Brooklyn this fall. His live ensemble for the shows will be a trio with bassist Anna Butterss and drummer Ben Lumsdaine. Details and links are below.
Los Angeles, CA - October 27 @ Zebulon - tickets
Chicago, IL - November 1 @ Empty Bottle - tickets
Minneapolis, MN - November 3 @ The Cedar - tickets
Brooklyn, NY - December 10 @ Public Records - tickets
DELUXE VINYL PACKAGE
Animative comes on 140 gram vinyl inside a heavyweight matte jacket, with IARC obi strip & poly-lined inner-sleeve. Lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST, pressed at Pallas in Germany.
Limited Edition Exospheric Blue Color Vinyl - $32
Classic Black Vinyl - $27
