Bklyn Sounds 10/23/2024—10/29/2024 | On Choices

What the decisions we make—and how we arrive at them—say about us + This Week's Shows Include: Jake & Abe / ASA-CHANG & Junray / musclecars loft party / 'Konkombe: The Nigerian Pop Music Scene' / +

Clockwise from upper left: The Lijadu Sisters, Jake & Abe, ASA-CHANG & Junray, musclecars.

I was hoping to finish a longer essay about the value of choices this week, people’s inherent need for them. But then I ran out of time, and, unironically, choice is—and will be, for the foreseeable future—at the heart of my constraints.

Living through 2024 means being subject to many kinds of choices, but also to an illusion of choice, or the illusion of a complete lack thereof. Obviously I am writing in a moment when people’s political decisions are front-of-mind. Yet the consumer cultural choices that citizens of privileged societies use to define themselves, are also ever-present in my day-to-day. Many such people’s consumer cultural choices keep Dada Strain afloat. For readers, these offerings and the point of view that made them, are this newsletter’s primary contributions: choices that are not culturally obvious, or algorithmically-derived, or the result of a stagnant multi-national media perspective. The choices we make is who we are, I tell students in my classes over and over. If we have less real choices, not simply superficial ones, then we are limited in who we can become, and how the world can changes.

The choices at the heart of my current predicament are my child’s New York City high-school options, the sheer volume of them, and the different pathways towards making the right one. (And no, I did not think I’d be writing about this in Dada Strain, but hey, “Community” is in the tag-line.) It’s been over 40 years since I went through a variation of this process, and not only are there more schools to choose from, selecting one is infinitely more complicated and arduous. My partner and I are swimming in spread-sheets, lottery numbers, grading tiers, and school visits, with our kid almost getting lost in the mix. (Almost…with the proud-parent caveat that they are always helping drive the process of their own future.)

The longer it continues, the more this school-choosing process feels like it’s reflecting the splintering of mono-culture that is taking place throughout American society. There are so many more options for individual students of all idenitities and interests, yet the ones with the greatest amount of options or knowing about them, are the ones with the most resources.

Inevitably, I refract that understanding inward. It’s not lost on me how Dada Strain can be reduced to a hip entertainment guide for recent versions of new New Yorkers, those wealthy enough to afford living here but whose wealth can’t buy unexpected cultural choices. And here I am, offering some choices pretty inexpensively.

It’s important for all of our choices to be conscious and organic, that the process begins with a true understanding of who we are and who we want to be. Sometimes it means picking lesser of two evils, sometimes it is questioning what seems obvious. I say to my child all the time, “Start by pushing to be honest with yourself.” Then I hope that the values my partner and I have instilled in my kid are enough for them to continue making their own best choices. Schools, or otherwise.

For better or for worse, that is my default setting. I begin by trusting myself and all the musickers Dada Strain covers (with occasional caveats in the copy) and all the readers, to make the right choices for them. But part of it — the hard part — is being comfortable with the lack of guarantee at how it will all work out.

This Week’s Shows:

Chris Cohen is a three-decades-strong West Coast indie lifer, who’s been in smart art bands (Deerhoof, The Curtains) and played on many smart people’s records (Danielson, Weyes Blood, Cass McCombs, Kurt Vile, among many). Cohen has also occasionally made his own “twilit albums of casually complicated pop” in the LA-singer-songwriter + post-punk-headspace mold. The latest is this summer’s Paint A Room, a beautiful sonic object, filled with great musicians (Jeff Parker, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum), fusionary melodies, and smart words. Opening for Cohen is Rick Bown and Che Chen’s wonderful 75 Dollar Bill, another band of indie oddballs that turn into a great pop group on a dime. (Wed 10/23, 7p @ Babys All Right, Williamsburg - $20)

ASA-CHANG & Junray is the longtime avant-garde trio led by Tokyo percussionist ASA-CHANG (aka Hirokazu Asakura), in which the renowned self-taught tabla player explores an endless variety of textures, from spoken-word glitchy cut-ups and ambient string-laden electronic melodies, to the most formulaic guitar J-pop. The group’s Western forays have been rare—though the 2002 compilation Jun Ray Song Chang made a deep impression on me—and tonight’s performance marks their NYC debut. Joined by Argentinean drone multi-instrumentalist Alma Laprida. (Wed 10/23, 8p @ Invisible Dog, Cobble Hill - $15)

The mighty Black Rock Coalition is hosting one of its occasional “Black Masters” events where the all-star BRC Orchestra performs a tribute to a classic artist or album. Tonight’s honoree is  Sly Stone and his bleak 1971 masterpiece, There’s A Riot Goin’ On. Among those who’ll be embracing the existential darkness are Living Colour’s Vernon Reid and Corey Glover, Lisa Fischer, Bernard Fowler, Kokayi, Sophia Ramos, LaFrae Sci and inevitable guests. (Wed 10/23, 8p @ Webster Hall, Manhattan - $30-$40)