Manic Focus, who plays Cuban Club in Ybor City, Florida on July 13, 2024. Credit: Photo via ManicFocus/Facebook

If there was a jam-scene, livetronica album that embodied the spirit of 2023, it was Never Not Blue, the latest from John “JmaC” McCarten, a Denver-based producer better known as Manic Focus.

Mania, optimism, plus the flipside of both those states of mind come together on the nine-track effort that’s refocused McCarten’s blend of funk, soul, and new-era hip-hop into its sharpest iteration yet.

Tickets to see Manic Focus play Floridian Social. inSt. Petersburg on Friday, Dec. 29 are still available and start at $25.

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This article appears in Dec 28, 2023 – Jan 3, 2024.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...