MAF makes music that comes into being the moment it is played. No script, no rehearsals – the musicians meet, improvise freely and record everything using multitrack recording. From these sessions the tracks are made: handplayed, recorded live, then cut and named. No overdubs, no post-processing.
Mane mixes all recordings in the studio. Derek designs the artwork for each session. Every album is the document of a single day.
The project now spans 490 albums – and is still ongoing. What has emerged over the years is an unbroken archive of free improvisation: every session documented, every day preserved. A collection of this density and continuity is exceptionally rare in the world of live improvised music.
The site offers extensive research tools. The track dashboard lets you filter and search all tracks by time period, play frequency and source. Every track detail page lists all contributors in full – name, instrument and album. This applies to guest musicians as well: anyone who took part in even a single session is documented and searchable. The entire network of participants across all the years can be traced in detail.
For runners and other endurance athletes there is a practical feature: the tap-to-beat tool lets you find the tempo of any track directly – just tap along to the beat and the BPM are calculated instantly. This makes it easy to pick music that matches your training pace.
The music may only be used with our permission.
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