Bklyn Sounds 12/19/2024—12/24/2024

This Week's Shows Include: Kerri Chandler / SCRAAATCH / Tcheser Holmes' Drums N Butta / Wrens + Caroline Davis' Portals / Phil Niblock's 'Winter Solstice' / 'Public Service' / DJ Mojo on Xmas Eve / +

Clockwise from upper left: Kerri Chandler, SCRAATCH (L-R: Chuki and MHYSA/E Jane), Tcheser Holmes, Wrens (L-R: Ryan Easter, Elias Stemeseder, Jason Nazary and Lester St. Louis)

Hi All - There’s a bunch of news and updates coming, but those will have to wait until the semester’s reading-and-grading work ends. Which is imminent. In the mean time, I hope this winter holiday season finds you and yours healthy and keeping your spirits up.

Life is A LOT right now, and it’s important to keep yourself both steeled against the derailing chaos, and open to continually finding infusions of positive energy to help you keep going. If you’re still here, reading Dada Strain, I’m guessing that occasions and aspirations of rhythm, improvisation and community (especially when delivered by live music), are elements that offer such infusions. And I wanna assure you that, even as the world continues to change in a horrifying manner, there’s no shortage of that energy around. Music, musicians and musickers remain undefeated.

Please remember that Dada Strain is a labor of love that requires many hours a week, and aspires to self-sustainability, not brand growth. So, please subscribe to Dada Strain — or consider upgrading your subscription. And please support your local musicians and musickers, independent venues, arts organizations and community broadcasters. They/We need it now more than ever. Again, thank you for reading, listening, following and supporting.

This Week’s Shows:

Last Friday, I went to a great after-hours holiday party that turned into an art-world rave, and heard the duo SCRAAATCH (Chuki DJ’ing, MHYSA adding layers via Moog and MPC) absolutely slay the room with club music whose base was completely familiar vocals and riddims, which kept drifting into foreign sonic territories. SCRAATCH had an exhibit up at Company Gallery, closing this weekend, and they’re ending the run with a live performance at the space, co-starring Embaci and Kamau Mau Patton. (Thurs 12/19, 7p @ Company Gallery, Soho - FREE)

Even outside its literal jamband-adjacency, Joe Russo’s Selcouth Quartet—the drummer’s excellent group with Stuart Bogie on winds, guitarist Jonathan Goldberger and bassist Jon Shaw—reminds me of early Medeski, Martin & Wood. Its music is filled with a familiar set of noir-ish, post-Lounge Lizards textures that pushes the group into a wonderful uncategorizable territory. With Russo’s Almost Dead cult status, Sewlcouth can obviously swamp the Capitol Theatre in a couple of years, but this quartet deserves more oddball love too. (Thurs 12/19, 7p @ Sultan Room, Bushwick - $30)

Though his name has been out of the spotlight for a few years, MELO-X’s mid-’10s elevation from great underground producer to working with Beyonce without faking a beat, still seems like an underheralded achievement. This new residency at Friends & Lovers, subtitled Library & Archive (Live Beat Session), opens his vault up to the public, and based on occasional dribbles, there is gold in there. No idea if the program is a show-and-tell or what. But after about 10p, the evening will turn into a dance-party with Melo-X DJing next to Stonie Blue, who spins a kind of experimental house, and Dylan Ali. (Fri 12/20, 7:30 @ Friends & Lovers, Crown Heights - $10)

Even before Matias Aguayo founded Comeme, his now 15-year-old house-music-meets-global-communities label, the Chilean-German DJ-producer was already incorporating South American rhythms to both his recorded work and club-sets. Next to Villalobos, his combo of Kompakt neon-minimalism and hand-crafted drums has always sounded more pop than ancient-dub astrology; but with the right crowd, it goes off, cross-culturally aligning mind, hearts and asses with aplomb. (Fri 12/20, 9p @ Gabriela, Williamsburg - $10)

Wonderfully random sighting of a historically inspired three-piece: Karriem Riggins, Detroit drummer-producer-DJ and longtime-connector between that city’s (and the world’s) jazz, dance and hip-hop communities, is sharing the stage with undersung 313 rapper Black Milk, and the great #BAM trumpeter, Nicholas Payton, whom Riggins has played with since they were youngs. On talent gathered alone, this has the makings of something special. (Fri 12/20, 10p @ Nublu, Loisaida - $20)

An all-nighter with one of Jersey house music’s greatest producers, Kerri Chandler, will not just take you into any number of musical directions, it can skew the rigid distinctions of “DJ set” vs. “live performance.” Chandler’s sets often involve reel-to-reel hi-jinx, keyboards and drum machines, amidst other sonic tools that create lasting impressions. But even if he is simply selecting…oh, the places you might go. (Fri 12/20, 10p @ Knockdown Center, Maspeth - $35)

2024 marks the 14th year that Roulette hosts the late Phill Niblock’s annual Winter Solstice performance, a deep-listening live-music+film durational (this year: 6 hours) that marks the longest night of the year. It’s also the first one since the composer passed away in January 2024, at the age of 90. Niblock’s partner, the video artist Katherine Liberovskaya is directing (if that’s the right word?) this one. (Sat 12/21, 6p @ Roulette, Downtown Bklyn - $25adv/$30)

Both of the albums alto saxophonist/composer Caroline Davis has written for and created with her Portals band—an all-star group that also includes trumpeter Marquis Hill, pianist Julian Shore, bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Allan Mednard—are tinged with loss, inspired by family and prior generations. It’s beautiful, sentimental-but-tough music that feels like an emotional gateway. The recently released Portals, Vol. 2: Returning, which the band celebrates on this night, is a dedication to Caroline's grandmother, Joan "Lady" Anson-Weber, a British poet (1927-2010) who is “a direct inspiration for Davis’s artistic life.” Davis is part of a great double-bill with Wrens, an electronic jazz-rap quartet of Bklyn notables, with trumpeter Ryan Easter doubling as occasional MC, Elias Stemeseder building from behind a bank of synths, with Jason Nazary on drums and electronics, and Lester St. Louis on cello and electronics. Individual Wrens have all been busy with separate projects all year, so this gig is a reformation, and a zero’ing back in on their great sound. Highest Recommendation! (Sat 12/21, 7p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $25)

The mighty drummer Tcheser Holmes has been getting more out and about in 2024. Beyond his regular gig at the heart of Irreversible Entanglements, Holmes has been playing in XXE, an excellent trio alongside keyboardist Mara Rosenbloom and violinist gabby fluke-mogul. Now he’s dusting off his Drums-N-Butta idea to throw a Holiday Mixer. At San Pedro on Saturday night, Big T’s co-conspirators will be flute player Samantha Kochis and bassist Arturo Valdez, but also: DJ Swank and DJ NYK on the 1s and 2s. (Sat 12/21, 8p @ San Pedro, Red Hook - $uggested)

Two good young-but-long-cruising New York deep-house DJs, in the Black Flamingo basement sounds like potential bliss. Mari Ella does the Deep Waters show on The Lot Radio, and Johnny Panga runs APT-9, a tidy Harlem-based house label repping uptown. (Sadly, I just heard that Black Flamingo will be closing in early 2025. More on that soon.) (Sat 12/21, 10:30p @ Black Flamingo, Williamsburg - $10)

Another popping Nowadays Nonstop starts on Saturday night, but I wanna direct you to the stretch beginning at 6a Sunday morning, when different layers of techno will get peeled: First you got Jamal “Hieroglyphic Being” Moss playing a solstice sunrise live set sure to incorporate both lo-fi noise and astral travelling, while remaining 100% pure and uncut. When late-morning turns into early-afternoon, livwutang will jump the decks to steer the rhythm in that crazy-geometry way she has of mixing. And then, glide into the daytime with Hailey Father Dukes, one of the great young DJs in Detroit, balancing classics and the future. (Sun 12/22, 6a @ Nowadays, Ridgewood - $10-$30). All of which will be a warm-up for…

One of summer’s best parties, Public Service (music by Toribio + Mickey Perez, soundsystem by Karlala) is trying Xanadu on for size, with what seems like a partial-skate (3-6p) and partial-dance (til 10p) scenario. I know earlier this year, Karl moved his soundsystem in there (due to weather conditions), and raved about how great it sounded. Kinda digging the “reunion” vibes of summer parties throwing deep-winter one-offs, but still terrified to get back on skates. Highest Recommendation! (Sun 12/22, 3p @ Xanadu, Bushwick - $20)

The kind of low-key and high-quality jazz show I love New York for: Lawrence Fields is a pianist/keys/organ player who’s been doing massive work in Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah’s band for the better part of a decade. Fields’ Supersonic Trio also includes Corey Fonville, one of Chief Adjuah’s drummers, who also pounds skins in Butcher Brown; and bassist Kyle Miles, a sometime member of Onyx Collective. They’ll be doing music from To the Surface, Fields’ recent debut as a leader. (Mon 12/23, 9p & 10:15p @ Bar Lunatico, Bed-Stuy - $uggested)

I long knew the early Beastie Boys hardcore classic, “Egg Raid on Mojo” was about a real guy, a bouncer-DJ-scenester in Downtown circa the early-’80s; but it took Jesse Rifkin’s book to school me that said character was still a local DJ. Then my own eyes and ears noted that DJ Mojo was a regular I’d seen around Red Hook’s San Pedro, and that on more than one occasion, he’s played grungy soul 45s so good and unfamiliar to me, I tested the song-spotting app. Shame on me for never asking his name. On Xmas Eve, a consistently rocking night in New York club history, Mojo is spinning records at Mama Tried. God bless all musickers, every one! (Tues 12/24, 9p @ Mama Tried, Sunset Park - FREE)