Bklyn Sounds 11/29/2023—12/5/2023 + One Year of Bklyn Sounds

Some learnings from 52 weeks of writing about live music in NYC + Shows: Moritz von Oswald + Kelsey Lu / H31R / Julius Rodriguez / "Ellen O: sparrows + doves" / Mike Dunn / Moor Mother / and much more

OK, officially, Bklyn Sounds wasn’t born a year ago, but in the first week of June 2021, at the head of what I’ve started calling “Vaccine Summer.” It seemed an obvious need then too, but in different circumstances. During lockdown I’d been privy to a great number of musical events that took place with safe social distancing protocols. I’d experienced first-hand the bubbling energy of New York’s musicians and their audiences. From many conversations with people around music, I knew that (with exceptions) no one in New York media or music media was interested in covering community musicking. Especially since the only people putting on shows were local businesses and artists, not big clubs. So I convinced Liena Žagare, publisher of the excellent local newsletter Bklyner, that this was a way to do neighborhood-centric music coverage. She agreed, and for three months she ran Bklyn Sounds, my weekly listings and short features about the borough’s community music. Until that August, when Bklyner ceased publishing. I had one conversation with a potential new publisher to pick up the column, before realizing that I simply needed to do it on my own; and on November 29th, 2022 began to do so.   

52 columns later, it is some of the most fulfilling work I have done over the course of a career I consider blessed with many rewarding projects. Applying the ideas which led to the founding of Dada Strain (rhythm, improvisation, community) and the invaluable lessons imparted upon me by Christopher Small’s Musicking (primarily, that a successful act of music performance requires not only makers, but listeners and enablers), I decided to start shouting-out some of the many musicians that help make New York music culture one of the greatest in the world. Instantly, I heard from readers (who’ve more than tripled in the last year) that this kind of “events-listings + new-local-music spotlight + personal-as-political takes on live music” work is deeply needed in New York City, an arts+culture capital whose music community has been abandoned by its media. A year later, the energy of the musicians, readers, and promoters continues to be through the roof. For that, my infinite gratitude.

So, what have I learned over the last year, at the nearly 300 live music performances I’ve attended in that time? As this is a celebratory missive, I’m gonna be like Johnny Mercer and accentuate the positive. (There’ll be room for complaints later.)  Some thoughts:

First off, and this won’t come as a surprise to anyone also paying attention or been reading Bklyn Sounds for even a bit of the past year: local New York music is feeling extra special right now. I can speak definitively for the corner that Dada Strain lives in — the improvisational, new and experimental players; the local DJs (there’s a new Golden Age y’all), and the community-developed nightlife. Night after night, the quality of the work being presented is exceptional, and the cross-pollination among the different chapters of the music community is also incredibly strong, with players and producers, representing different traditions, often experimenting together. The mix between the DIY participants and the music school grads (whose major influence on the city’s music somehow took me by surprise), between the born-and-bred Newyorkers and those who’ve come to make it here, is a wonderful stew. And, this is only the musics I’ve been paying close attention to, focusing on Bklyn and downtown Manhattan. But based on that sample size, I assume I am missing at least as much great music in other neighborhoods and communities, as I’m engaging. (Lord knows, I am trying engage as much of it as possible…)

I’ve found that there is an enormous desire from audiences to know what is going on musically neighborhood-to-nieghborhood, to be freed from the silos they're in, to indulge in new experiences, new places, with new people — consumer-creature comforts not necessarily a selling point. I’ve been overjoyed to find out how many still want to know about some out-of-the-way bar putting on interesting new music in a back-room, or the a loft space hosting a dance-party, or a big rave where everybody dances through the night rather than poses. There are many great official venues throughout the city, but even regular music-goers tire of going to the same spots week-after-week. Variety matters. This is especially true of what much of the music business considers old heads (whatever generation is in its late-30s and 40s now, I can’t keep up with the labels), whose algorithm only feeds them the tired, the tried, the obvious and the marketing priority. Live listeners are often ecstatic in spaces with 50-100 people, experiencing something they’d barely heard of 24 hours earlier, but had trusted the recommendation, having been previously steered right. The psychology behind this is not rocket science, it is a human condition. Yet these folks are being left behind.

Largess may be the name of the game in New York City, and great community spaces shutter all the time (RIP seCret loCation), but the Do It Yourself venues and shows continue to produce incredible experiences. And for that, I would like to celebrate the people who run the spaces where such events happen, as well as the producers/promoters/musickers who help the musicians make these events become reality. Sometimes they’re legal, mostly they’re unlicensed, often they’re in private homes, or after-hours work places (shout-out to the record stores hosting the best shows), or reused spots. Absolutely not a fan of the current mayoral administration, but I have also heard from more than one nightlife promoter that Adams’ empowerment of the Office of Nightlife has made putting on shows post-lockdown a lot less scary of a proposition than the hellish eras of the billionaire and the fascist. As an evangelist who listens to those whose work I wanna preach about, I always ask the DIY venues/promoters whether they want me to promote their shows, fearing that bigger crowds may create logistical or legal nightmares. At times, they ask that I do not, and so the listing doesn’t make it here, and remains in IG stories; so the breadth of great DIY musicking going on in the city isn’t always reflected in Bklyn Sounds, but…holy shit people. There’s so much wonderful work being done out there.

The best thing about finding and recommending, and attending all these shows has been its effect on my mental health, and being reminded of the power of music on crowds. Regular readers know that I approach my own fragile psychology with candor — it’s how I write and, for better or worse, how I live. I do not know where I would be without live music. Not just the experience of hearing great sounds, but of being in a crowd reacting to them. They waves of joy and recognition of something special happening to many folks at once, whether in a mosh pit at a Ridgewood bar, a sweaty dancefloor of a club in Gowanus, leaning against a wall in a crowded Crown Heights basement as someone layers samples of vocals, or in a bullerengue circle of call-and-response voices-and-drums in Prospect Park. The soul is lifted, for a moment, or maybe longer. Live music doesn’t solve the problems of the world, but it makes them easier to bear. And maybe that’s the headspace for providing solutions, 

Thanks for reading. Thanks for supporting. Go see some live music in New York or elsewhere - or listen to what’s on offer, if you’re not near. One year down, a lifetime to go.  

Celebrating the anniversary with no paywall. Please consider subscribing.       

This Week’s Shows: 

This record release party for HeadSpace, the fantastic sophomore album by H31R, tri-state duo of Maassai and JWords, is an example of the now-fully-porous borders between what was long segregated as rap music and dance music. JWords’ production is sleek, machine-minded (her occasional live sets on The Lot Radio are 🔥), and Maassai rides her partner’s beats with a focus on bonus rhythms like they’re the children of Anti-Pop. Also: Stonie Blue, whose own recent footwork-meets-rave-meet-MC EP, Big Motion, is also hella-fun. (Wed 11/29, 8p @ Trans-Pecos, Ridgewood - $15)

For over a decade now, the Brooklyn Raga Massive collective has been responsible for staging South Asian (and -adjacent) music events and jam sessions around the city — often of a culture-fusion sort, providing a space for healthy global musical exchange. Quadrature  is a quartet featuring BRM co-founder Neel Murgai on sitar, BRM mainstays Indofunk Satish (trumpet electronics) and Tripp Dudley (drums), and veteran electric bassist Damon Banks. The vibe is “at the intersection of raga, rock, and jazz.” Potential. (Wed 11/29, 7:30p @ Littlefield, Gowanus - $20-$25)

The good folks at Still/Moving present an evening of local hip-hop, multiple-generations chapter: Homeboy Sandman has been the New York underground’s “Next!” since the second Bush administration, and still sounds funny, heady, full of soul-sample-surfing rhymes. Maasai’s solo work is in the rap-philosophe-cypher lane, but as with her group (see: H31R above) it's always rhythmically adventurous. New-to-me Gabe ’Nandez, is a multi-lingual, globally-attuned practitioner of NYC straight-forwardness, with a world-weary delivery that fits the times. Also: a new duo, Morivivi, and DJing by Quinette of Nublu’s Soul Purpose party. (Thurs 11/30, 8p @ TV Eye, Ridgewood - $20)

Next up on Pique-nique Take Two series is a trip inside a classic Brazilian percussion record, via one of the city’s great Brazilian percussionists, Mauro Refosco, and friends. In a fashion that perfectly represents early-70s CTI Records releases, Airto Moreira’s Free veers between deep percussive weirdness, deep jazz-funk, and occasional schmaltz, courtesy of a typically incredible, all-star band. There are many worlds inside this music. Here’s hoping Mauro builds one of his own. (Thurs 11/30, 7p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $30)

The International Anthem label of Chicago, IL and West Los Angeles, CA has officially outgrown its Public Records residency. Or, at the very least, a double-bill of drummer Makaya McCraven’s shit-hot group and Will Miller’s Resavoir project is bigger than any neighborhood club. I heard some jazz-biz catz call these artists’ mixture of heady grooves, improvised sections and tight ensemble-playing, “arena jazz.” It’s funny to think that Makaya and the IA folks (FTR, they are old homies) are now big enough to attract such snark. I think it’s cool that nine years later, much of what they do remains interesting — and that Mak’s last gig in NYC (this past May) was as good as any I’ve seen him do through the years. (Fri 12/1, 8p @ Pioneer Works, Red Hook - $30)

Chicago DJ/producer Mike Dunn is part of the first wave of Jack, one of those artists whose way of playing and mixing and producing is so deep in the bloodstream (and whose various traxx are so embedded in the “Classics” playlists) it’s amazing how little he gets booked in NYC. Well, now he’s playing a “house party” with…errr…“natural wine curation”...but also co-produced by the excellent Golden Records folks, and on a bill which also features the mighty Cosmo. Also DJing: Omer Mil and Martin Y Corazon. (Fri 12/1, 9p @ secret location, Bklyn - $35before 11p/$45) 

Back to Musicland on a Friday night with Takaya Nagase, longtime New Yorker, one-time A&R for the city’s legendary spiritual house label Soundmen On Wax, co-founder of the greatly lamented JOY Party, a regular at Shelter and on The Lot Radio and on and on. The kind of person who can play through the night, through peaks and valleys, through joy and laughter. His own 2023 12” with Yas Inoue, as Domo Domo, also happens to be one of the NYC dance tunes of the year. (Fri 12/1, 11p Sun. 12/3, 7p @ “Musicland,” secret Bklyn location - $35+RSVP)

EDIT: Takaya’s Musicland gig is one of their Sunday evening not Friday night editions.

I was first introduced to the music of Ellen O at a live show at Nublu, in September of 2019, where an all-femme ensemble of NYC friends came together to perform her oddball electronic chamber-folk-pop choral nuggets. Ellen Jane Jeong O’Meara was not there to join them because she had taken her life earlier that year. Ellen did not leave a lot of recorded and released music — there was much more in the works, claim(ed) her musicking friends jaimie branch and Amirtha Kidambi. But one of Ellen’s two albums, 2014’s magnificent sparrows and doves, is getting reissued on vinyl, so her friends — an impressive cross-section of the city’s improvising, young classical and experimental music communities — are getting back together to celebrate it. (Sat 12/2, 6:30p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $20)

A wonderfully big bill of soulful experimentalists who exemplify how broad the community is - and how potentially popular. (If New Blue Sun didn;t already hint it…) Kelsey Lu may have started out as a singing goth-soul cellist, now she’s a bold-face name and a borderline electronic folk-pop star. Moritz von Oswald is nothing less than the Don Dada of Berlin techno, one half of the legendary Basic Channel, among the men who gave that city its dub sound. His new ambient album, Silencio, splits time between synthesizer and choral works. DJing all night (are? is?) rep(s?) from Paris’ Latency label, whose underground sound roams far and wide, with dance-floor rhythms and improvised playing at the center. Highest Recommendation! (Sat 12/2, 8p @ Pioneer Works, Red Hook - $35)

The keyboard-playing and drumming wunderkind, “Orange” Julius Rodriguez feels like he’s getting set to drop something new — the question is, where is his recording career headed to going next? Is he up for an organ/synth-heavy groove record, or an acoustic piano record, or a studio-assembled hybrid? Young man can do it all (and often tries to) with a charisma that is ever-flowing. “Jazz”-heads oughta catch up to him soon. (Sat 12/2, 9:30p @ Nublu, Manhattan - $20)

Saturday night wind-down action. Victor “Ticklah” Axelrod did a record release thing at Parklife in Gowanus a few weeks ago, and it seems like the experience took hold. Victor and DJ Center (of Push the Fader Records) are doing an after-hours jam subtitled Trip To Your Heart. Expect vinyl-only (-mostly?) and a set of global soul grooves heavy on the downbeat. Vibes likely.  (Sat 12/2, 10p @ Parklife, Gowanus - FREE) 

Long-form duets by experimental lifers. Veteran acid-drone guitarist Tom Carter (of Texas psyche Hall-of-Famers Charalambides) and J.R. Bohannon, one of Bklyn’s great pedal-steel players, will get up to something. Controller of noisy guitars and electronics Marcia Bassett and Samara Lubelski, a multi-instrumentalist/engineer with countless indie-noise credits, are long-time collaborating partners; they’ll get up to something too. (Sun 12/3, 3p @ Sunview Luncheonette, Greenpoint - $uggested donation)

Poland’s much-lauded Unsound Festival graces fair Gotham with a weekend program of trademark post-modernity, taking place at that local temple of avant-garde…errr…Lincoln Center. They did spend the uptown money wisely, making every show a pay-what-you-can. And if you go to one, you really should make it Moor Mother’s Black Encyclopedia of the Air, which features a true all-star team: Irreversible Entanglements, Armand Hammer, Lonnie Holley, lojii, Kayla Farrish and Melissa Almaguer. Some of the best we got, for as low as $5. Also that night: The Caretaker. Highest Recommendation! (Mon 12/4, 8p @ Lincoln Center, Manhattan - $5-$35) Related: On Saturday, Moor Mother’s Black Quantum Futurism collective is producing “a two-hour immersive performance event featuring a curated selection of guest poets, musicians, and scholars” at Performance Space. This is also likely to include the greater Irreversible posse, and their friends. (Sat 12/2, 7p @ Keith Haring Theatre, Performance Space, Manhattan - $25)

More experimental duets in the back of Sisters, which is really turning into a generative hub of leftfield improvised and electronic music. Molto Ohm is guitarist Matteo Liberatore’s audio-visual project; tonight’s piece is called “Night Waves” and also features the mighty Lester St. Louis. Asemix is the duo project of Mari Maurice (aka more eaze) and producer Nick Danca; last seen, the music was long, multi-instrumental and weirdly unstoppable. Percussionist Nava Dunkelman and laptop conjurer Chuck Bettis are getting involved too. Also: DJ KTN (Tues 12/5, 7:30p @ Sisters, Clinton Hill - $18)