Born out of New York City's downtown experimental music boom of the early 1990s, "Jazz's premier funk-prov ensemble" (DownBeat), made their Blue Note debut in 1998 with the best-selling 'Combustication,' a finely-crafted, groove-heavy studio album that also spawned an EP of remixes (with contributions from Guru, Bill Laswell, and DJ Logic amongst others).

'Tonic,' a remarkable live, acoustic piano trio recording from the New York City club of the same name, followed in early 2000 and further illustrated MMW's jaw-dropping versatility. Later in 2000 came 'The Dropper,' the band's most experimental effort to date which managed to capture the mix of irrepressible grooves and free-jazz influenced excursions that are a hallmark of their live performances.

After a period where each of the bandmembers explored individual projects MMW reunited for 2002's 'Uninvisible,' and for 2004's 'End of the World Party' (just in case), the band invited an outside producer (John King of the Dust Brothers) into the studio for the first time.