Bklyn Sounds 2/6/2025—2/11/2025

This Week's Shows Include: Dreamcrusher / A Guy Called Gerald / Darian Donovan Thomas / Leila Hassan & Bergsonist / 'Brackish' / HxH / DJ Spinna & François K / and much more

Clockwise from upper left: Dreamcrusher, Bergsonist (Selwa Abd), Darian Donovan Thomas, A Guy Called Gerald (Gerald Simpson)

First of all, I’ve made a few new additions to the “For Los Angeles…” post, including a couple of new show listings (one of them a big one for Madlib), details about a Bandcamp Friday to benefit MusicCares’ LA fund, and a new read about “adjacent loss.”

On Tuesday, I published a book review of Liz Pelly’s magnificent investigation, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist. It was the first piece published under the paywall plan I forecast in my last “Welcome to Dada Strain” note, in which Bklyn Sounds listings remain free for all, but longer essays and other posts are fully available only to paid subscribers. For the foreseeable future, this will be the way forward.

I want to thank the folks who can afford to support my work, and who do so. While I’d like to encourage others to do likewise, I’m sensitive to the reality that budgets are tight (mine too!), and that not everybody who finds value in Dada Strain can afford to pay for it. I get it. I just want everyone to know that this project strives to be consciously equitable in how it distributes ideas and information. But I also have to recognize that this labor of love remains a weighty labor. Many critiques in Pelly’s Mood Machine apply not just to musicians, but to musickers too.

Moving forward, I am always looking for ways to balance compensation for my work with distributing it out to as many people as possible. Your continued support can help ensure that. So, again, always, thank you for reading, listening, following and supporting.

This Week’s Shows:

Blank Forms hosts a solo show by veteran electric guitarist Brandon Ross, whose five decades-long resume stretches from East Village lofts through the downtown avant-garde and into the power dub blues trio abstractions he currently makes in Harriet Tubman. That said, Ross is a fretboard master who can stretch in any direction. Plus, if you’ve never been to the intimate “apartment” shows that Blank Forms throws, it’s well worth the experience. (Thurs 2/6, 7:30p @ Blank Forms, Clinton Hill - $15)

A welcome return of Brackish, the Red Hook- and Gowanus-based “experimental multi-disciplinary” series, founded by Angela Morris and now co-booked by Ryan Easter and Jessica Pavone. This time, it’s at the quiet St. Lydia’s community storefront, featuring two trios full of great individual improvisers: One is made up of Cecilia Lopez on electronics, Ingrid Laubrock on tenor saxophone, and guitarist Chuck Roth. The other is called Okra Juice, with trumpeter Easter, bassist Mwanzi Harriott and drummer Dom Gervais. (Thurs 2/6, 8p @ St. Lydia’s, Gowanus - $15-$20 NOTAFLOF)

The DIY-noise musician ​​Dreamcrusher (born Luwayne Glass, they/them) has been a cornerstone in the loud cohort of the city’s experimental and improvisation community. As befits the name, Dreamcrusher’s music, whether solo or in various collaborations (many with PTP’s Geng), is often set on “overwhelm,” a digital sheen somewhere between power-electronics and ambient-metal. For me, their words are primarily narrative context for the worlds always to be discovered within. Tonight’s program, Music Makes Me High, is a Roulette commission. (Thurs 2/6, 8p @ Roulette, Downtown Bklyn - $25adv/$30)

Detroit drummer/producer Karriem Riggins is one of those cats who’s spent the past quarter-century imagining the natural bridge between hip-hop and “jazz,” excelling in both tributaries of that great blues river. I think he’s gonna be spending a bunch of time in NYC over the next few months, as he’s an artist-in-residence at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Which means some off-the-cuff gigs, like this one, with J.Rocc, who’s among LA/Stone’s Throw’s most valuable beatsmiths and cutters. (Fri 2/7, 10p @ Nublu, Manhattan - $20)

I’ve never been to Gottscheer Hall’s First Friday DJ Party, but the reputation of this low-key all-45s, soul-funk-disco soiree in a Ridgewood beer hall that hosts few (no?) other music events, is exceptional. The monthly’s Third Anniversary features dear Dada friend, the mighty Monk-One of Wax Poetics, NYCTrust and SHAKE! fame. (Fri 2/7, 9p @ Gottscheer Hall, Ridgewood - $TK)

Nabihah Iqbal’s musicking career has been full of great twists and turns. Where she first made a name as a singer (on Sophie’s “Lemonade”) and electronic producer (as Throwing Shade), Iqbal really came to renown as a DJ on NTS (graduating to the BBC), which led to the increasingly popular indie and shoegaze-noisy songs she’s been producing the last few years. Her club DJ sets weave it all together—open ears get well-rewarded—and Musicland feels the right place to experience an extended version of all the sounds Iqbal has to offer. (Fri 2/7, 11p @ “Musicland,” Bushwick - RSVP (for location) + $35)

READING/CONVERSATION: Another great jawn put together by Sukhdev Sandhu’s crucial events program, The Colloquium for Unpopular Culture. Angela Jaeger, an NYC scenester in the late 1970s/early ‘80s, recently published I Feel Famous: Punk Diaries 1977-81. She will be reading from and discussing her book with Lucy Sante, who knows a thing or two (or 3003) about that era. (Sat 2/8, 2:30p @ NYU Bobst Library, Manhattan - FREE with RSVP)

Over the past few years, the greatly in-demand violinist, composer, conceptualizer and improviser Darian Donovan Thomas has become a musician worth tracking around NYC. They are as likely to add instrumental beauty to great ensembles (Arooj Aftab’s and Moses Sumney’s, to name two), as create their own unique, electronics-heavy soundscapes, whether rehearsed or in pick-up improvising situations. And, increasingly, practicing songwriting as well. The venue of tonight’s Safe Space program—at which Thomas will share the stage with regular collaborators, trombonist Kalia Vandever, electronic musician Phong Tran and guitarist Andy Pitcher—probably demands that it’s all preconceived. (Sat 2/8, 7:30p @ David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center, Uptown - FREE)

Two of the best DJs this city’s got—two of the best DJs this city has ever had—splitting time in a newly-freed-from-the-riff-raff Manhattan (Thank You Congestion Pricing Gods!), at an out-of-the-way gay club in Midtown, for a steal of a price (comparatively speaking). DJ Spinna & François K at a party called “A Night of Dancing,” is what we need desperately in the midst of our current hellscape. Highest Recommendation. (Sat 2/8, 10p @ Red Eye, Manhattan - $25adv/$30)

SHAKE!, the long-running all-vinyl dance party helmed by brother Monk-One and Flea Market Funk’s DJ Prestige, welcomes one of the great current social-media-archivists/DJs, There Is No Planet Earth (aka Ben Mazone), whose dedication to the stories and sounds of classic nightlife is awe-inspiring. The records played tonight will bounce! (Sat 2/8, 10p @ Friends & Lovers, Crown Heights - $5-$10)

The dance-music legend of Mancunian Gerald Simpson, better known as A Guy Called Gerald, is forever assured because of “Voodoo Ray,” the peak UK rave anthem so good it remains a touchstone for pretty much all good club DJs, regardless of what they spin. Yet that track barely scratches at Gerald’s import as a producer and innovator. From his early days as co-founder of 808 State, through ‘90s explorations of techno and breakbeat—on the still-underappreciated classics, Automanikk and Black Secret Technology—into more recent (though already a decade-old) deep sonic explorations, it feels like his movement forward never subsided. A Guy Called Gerald hasn’t been an NYC presence for much of the 21st century, I can’t remember the last time he was here. So a five-hour Sunday-morning session seems a good way to connect with his current and ongoing thinking. Highest Recommendation! (Sun 2/9, 10a @ Nowadays, Ridgewood - $10-$30)

Ravi Coltrane is another real #BklySounds one. When the titanic tenor saxophonist, scion to one of American improvised music’s greatest familial legacies, gets to playing out, he can be spotted high and low, swinging with a massive cross-section of musicians. This week, Ravi’s at the crucial Red Hook record store, in a trio with wonderfully noisy electric guitarist Sandy Ewen, and drummer James Paul Nadien. Also, guitarist Andrew Smiley’s Group, and Record Shop’s multi-instrumental resident Kevin Murray. (Mon 2/10, 8p @ 360 Record Shop, Red Hook - $uggested)

If you’re a long-time Dada Strain follower, you’ve read me go on about HxH, the immersive electronic project by two of my favorite humans in Bklyn. Lester St. Louis is best-known as a cellist and Chris Ryan Williams as a trumpeter, yet both are also multi-faceted composers, improvisers, and, importantly, community stalwarts. With HxH, the pair move their primary instruments towards machine sounds, blending them together to create a new kind of deep space. As great as HxH live sets have been over the past few years, the bliss-out textures of the duo’s upcoming debut album, Stark Phenomena, elevate even those giving sonic standards. Watch their space! (Tues 2/11, 7p @ Performance Space, Manhattan - $0-$50)

MORE RECOMMENDED SHOWS:

• Leila Hassan & Bergsonist (Thurs 2/6, 8p @ Issue Project Room, Borough Hall - $20) - The Berlin-based Egyptian-Austrian artist, and NYC-based Moroccan-born producer, both invested in global electronic rhythms and textures, present new work.

• Underground Spiritual Game (Thurs 2/6, 9p & 10:15p @ Bar LunAtico, Bed-Stuy - $10suggested) - young baritone saxophone-bass-drums trio, creating dubby textures and grooves.

• Ladiez Drink Free (Fri 2/7, 10p @ Jupiter Disco, Bushwick - $10-$20) - the DJ trio with the range and the mixes, in one of Bklyn’s best small rooms.

• Eli Escobar + Ultra Violet (& friends) (Fri 2/7, 10p @ House of Yes, Bushwick - $23-$35) - Eli’s many residencies is actually one reason I started this addendum, especially the House of Yes monthly with support from Carlita Lopez. Guaranteed!

• Kenny Barron, Ron Carter & Jeff “Tain” Watts (Fri 2/7 & Sat 2/8, 7:30p & 9:30p @ Jazz Gallery, Manhattan - $$$) - three legends in a benefit for (with all due respect to the Vanguard) the best booked contemporary jazz club in the city. If you can afford it…

• Bill Frisell: In My Dreams (Fri 2/7 & Sat 2/8, 8p @ Roulette, Downtown Bklyn - $$$) - the legendary guitarist debuts new music with a proven cast.

• Chez Damier + Donis (Sat 2/8, 10:30p @ Basement, Maspeth - $25) - deep house don and deep house prince-in-waiting, in Basement’s more cosy Studio room

• musclecars (Sat 2/8, 10:30p @ Black Flamingo, W’burg - $10-$15) - Brandon and Craig’s turn to say good-bye to the great little basement space that closes at the end of the month. It’s gonna be fly, and rammed. (You’ve been warned.)

• SCRAAATCH (chuki + MHYSA) (Sun 2/9, 10p @ Bossa Nova Civic Club, Bushwick - $TK) - the magnificent DJ-meets-live duo percolate with a Sunday evening set, my guess is you can see Kendrick and still make it in time.

• Billy Martin x 3 (Mon 2/10, 8p @ Ibeam, Gowanus - $10-$20suggested) - the great jamband-jazz drummer (and Creative Music Studio’s artistic director) duets with flutist Laura Cocks and guitarist Chuck Roth, then plays in a new quartet, Calapitter.

• Chief Adjuah (Mon 2/10—Wed 2/12, 8p & 10:30p @ Blue Note, Manhattan - $38-$$$) - Stretch Music trumpeter turned Big Chief, the former Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah brings a typically massive quintet to early-week residency.