TRACING THE LINES

Issue #4 (IA11 Edition)

Today, December 2nd 2025 (our label's ACTUAL eleventh anniversary) we are very happy to release the latest edition of our zine, Tracing The Lines.

This annual publication, designed by Jeremiah Chiu and edited by David Brown, was created to explore the catalog of our label and the community that surrounds it in a creative way that is separate from the hustle of the new release cycle.

This one being the Autumn 2025 issue, it felt appropriate to focus the zine's 64 pages around stories and reflections related to the eleven "IA11 Edition" albums we reissued across 2025, in celebration of our label's 11th year. Hence Issue #4 of Tracing The Lines is an IA11 Edition itself – the final media entry into the IA11 series.

The zine is available now for purchase via our website and Bandcamp page. We also made it available to independent record stores, so you can ask for it at your friendly neighborhood shop too.

For ordering, additional information, and digital publications of Tracing The Lines, visit intlanthem.com/zine

Tracing The Lines Vol. 4 (IA11 Edition) is a 64-page 170x250mm newsprint zine, printed in CMYK on 77gsm stock. Includes contributions from:

Aaron Lowell Denton, Abu-Bakaar Bacaicoa, Alabaster DePlume, Alejandro Ayala, Angel Bat Dawid, Charlie Boss, Chet Zenor, Dave Vettraino, David Allen, David Brown, Jennifer Lynn Christie, Jeremiah Chiu, Julia Dratel, Justin Vernon, Kari Skaflen, Lori Mendoza, Macie Stewart, Maren Celest, Mark Pallman, Martell Stepney, Nicole Mckenzie, Pascal Gambarte, Regina Martinez, Rob Mazurek, Sam Klickner and Scott McNiece.

...about IA11...

On December 2nd, 2024, we marked the ten-year anniversary of our first release.

With a full decade under our belt — ten years of commitment to a growing community of artists, and our original mission statement ("to vitalize demand for boundary defying music," among other things) — we spent a lot of time thinking about how we wanted to celebrate the milestone. What we kept coming back to was a desire to use the opportunity to revisit and revivify music and memories from our first decade, while keeping true to our ethos of always looking forward, all the way.

In that spirit, across 2025, we've rolled out a series of releases and events under the IA11 banner. Celebrating our eleventh year. Doing our best to retell essential, foundational stories from our past, while keeping our hearts and minds fixed on the present. Trying to establish new standards that can help carry our mission through another decade of work — and hopefully more.

We created an emblem for IA11 (designed beautifully by Aaron Lowell Denton) with a vibrating interpretation of a chrysanthemum as the central symbol. Aside from just loving the delicious golden nectar that comes from the leaves of this flower, for us, the image of the chrysanthemum resonates as a symbol of longevity and rejuvenation. Two of the driving intentions behind the IA11 effort.

In January we announced the first of our IA11 Edition LPs, revisiting some of the celebrated entries in our first decade of releases with a series of eleven vinyl and digital reissues. The eleven titles in the series include:

Starting in February, on the last Monday of every month at the Hungry Brain in Chicago, we've listened back to the most recently-released IA11 Edition LP and invited musicians to perform in response to the music.

In July we released Gilles Peterson presents International Anthem, a double-LP-length compilation of tracks from our label curated by legendary London-based radio host, DJ, label head, and cultural impresario Gilles Peterson.

And on December 2nd, our ACTUAL eleventh anniversary, we celebrate with an event at our new Southside Chicago HQ The Land School (Rebuild’s and Theaster Gates' latest space-based project) featuring performances by Rob Mazurek with Matthew Lux and Mikel Patrick Avery (the ensemble behind Alternate Moon Cycles, the very first album in the IARC catalog) and composer/trombonist Kalia Vandever (who has new music coming via IARC in 2026).