Bklyn Sounds 3/27/2025—4/1/2025
This week's events include 'Tribute to Poly Styrene' / Liv.e + Pink Siifu: Celebrating The Birthday of Gil Scott-Heron / Tsunami + Ida / Yvonne Turner / Tindersticks / dead prez / and much more
Friday morning, March 28th, at 10a EST, Dada Strain Radio will be back on The Lot Radio, with special guest Samantha Kochis, an immensely talented flutist you have hopefully already seen around. Samantha will DJ some records and play some live music. Join us if you can.
THIS WEEK’S SHOWS:
The proggy groove trio Beak> is best known as the post-Portishead project of that classic trip-hop band’s producer, Geoff Barrow. But over its decade-and-a-half-long lifespan, this other trio, with bassist Billy Fuller and Will Young on electronics, has become its own legend to a select few. (Earlier this week, Meshell Ndegeocello told me,that Beak> is “one of my favorite all-time improvisational groups.”) Barrow has already announced this as his last tour, which I think he meant permanently and not just in regards to the particular project. (Thurs 3/27, 8p @ Elsewhere, Bushwick - $38)
The recently formed Turntable Trio—Peruvian improviser/curator Maria Chávez, San Francisco-based sound performer Victoria Shen (aka Evicshen) and the English composer Mariam Rezaei—have been lauded as “Pioneers of a New Turntablism,” arriving at the form from a more technologically focused yet socially chaotic perspective. By their own admission, they “weave together elements of musique concrète, free improvisation, noise, techno and hip-hop with instrument building and modification.” (Thurs 3/27, 8p @ Roulette, Downtown Bklyn - $25adv/$30)
Singer-songwriter Stuart Staples’ Tindersticks have been a cult item for over 30 years now It’s a big gothic soul band from Nottingham that at times approaches Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds for grandiosity, Pulp for glamor, and the loners of Drag City for charming lo-fi insouciance. Tindersticks never stopped making huge, emotional-sounding albums, always with a classic or two in its midst, but their American tours are rare. This is their first in over a decade. A Friday show sold out instantly, tickets still around for Thursday. (Thurs 3/27, 8p @ Sony Hall, Manhattan - $$$)
An album-release show for Bklyn producer/multi-instrumentalist OHYUNG’s magnificent new You Are Always on My Mind, a mix of string-laden hip-hop, beatwise experiments and something approaching straight-ahead pop-rock. The evening will feature support from a pair of the best noise-meets-composition minds in Bklyn, Dreamcrusher and Holland Andrews. (Fri 3/28, 7p @ Market Hotel, Broadway & Myrtle - $20)
There are undeniable opportunities for an institutional “huh?” inherent to Lincoln Center devoting its American Songbook series to the work of Poly Styrene, the Black British singer of ‘70s London punk band X-Ray Spex. There are also far worse ways for cultural mausoleums to spend their money than bringing on Kathleen Hanna to curate a program honoring one of punk’s great icons, a progenitor of riot grrrl, and a feminist/anti-capitalist lyricist philospher of rare precision. Friday’s “Tribute to Poly Styrene” will see the Songbook house band (which includes the excellent guitarist Keyanna Hutchinson) joined by an array of great local women vocalists identifying with Styrene’s punk-ness, Black-ness or both. Expect full-on energy, and maybe a wee-bit of cognitive dissonance. (Fri 3/28, 7:30p @ David Rubinstein Atrium, Lincoln Center, Uptown - FREE)
With dead prez, you either know or you don’t. Pretty much all informed music-heads are aware of stic.man and M-1’s 2000 single, “Hip-Hop” (which Badu later incorporated into “The Healer”), but the political insights of Let’s Get Free, the album the duo included that song on, remain elusive. Go back and grab it to see why my great colleague Timmhotep once wrote that “Dead Prez Was Right About Everything.” This evening at BRIC will include a conversation with the band, followed by a live performance. (Fri 3/28, 8p @ BRIC House, Fulton Street - $38)
Zac “Shigeto” Saginaw’s 2024 album, Cherry Blossom Baby, saw the Detroit drummer/producer tackle his Japanese-American identity with a slew of vocal guests, who are among the great young talents of the Motor City’s electronic diaspora. The live show is said to include some of them (hoping for a KESSWA sighting), but also features the incredible instrumentalists who are in the occasional Shigeto Live Ensemble, including Ian Fink, Marcus Strickland, and Dez Andres. Opening is the incomparable dreamcastmoe. (Sat 3/29, 7:30p @ Elsewhere, Bushwick - $30adv/$35)
An indie-rock reunion double-bill centered on a record label, and an idea of the world: In the early ‘90s, Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thompson ran Simple Machines Records out of a house in Arlington, VA, undeniably inspired by Dischord but less punk and more of-the-moment rock. They centered culture activist work Toomey never stopped doing. They also started a band, Tsunami, that, for me anyway, rep’d the less aggressive side of harDCore ideals. NYC’s drone-minded folk-pop group Ida, revolving around singer-songwriters Elizabeth Mitchell and Daniel Littleton, were one of Simple Machines’ longest running concerns. On this evening, expect other Simple Machines’ alumni to be present on-stage. If you’re walking in cold, expect a community event. (Sat 3/29, 8p @ Bowery Ballroom, Manhattan - $35)
Big old punk-noise-dub bill. Reunited DC heroes Black Eyes are continuing their victory lap, reimagining the city’s post-hardcore history, with multiple rhythm points, full of skronk and electronics. I am now wondering if Black Eyes may be that reunion rarity who make great new music after they get back together. Here’s hoping. Dreamcrusher is opening this one too, they’re one of Bklyn’s inescapable, often indescribable talents. (Sat 3/29, 8p @ Pioneer Works, Red Hook - $30)
Have I already written how, since his beyond-Kansas 2013 debut as Huerco S, producer Brian Leeds has been making some of the most constantly interesting techno-adjacent music in the world? Forgive me, I do not want to repeat myself. Nevertheless, it continues to be true. Loidis is Leeds’ uptempo, dub-techno moniker, under which last year he made a great album. It’s also under which he’s DJing at the friendly neighborhood techno club on Saturday. Which, I can only presume, means less weird ambient collages, and more Basic Channel-type murk. Also: Yumi and Liquid J. (Sat 3/29, 10p @ Bossa Nova Civic Club, Bushwick - $TK)
The mighty Dee Diggs brings her House back to Public Records with a focused bill of women and femme DJs/music-makers, including local stars JIALING and Honey Bun, as well as Utrecht’s Doudou MD. But the evening’s primary musical attraction is a rare night out for Yvonne Turner, the “Dub Queen,” an all-too-under-heralded producer/remixer/DJ from the early house years, finally getting her historical flowers while playing the sh*t out of classic and new records. Turner’s set at the Coloring Lessons Juneteenth block party a few years ago was gospel-house ecstasy! (Sat 3/29, 11p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $35)
A Sunday morning high-point in the midst of this weekend’s Nowadays Non-Stop from a pair of queer men mashing traditional mainstream music fodder in and out of club sonics. LSDXOXO is the one-time GHE20G0TH1K regular, who’s become a Berlin lifer, chasing pop/R&B glamor and hedonism, veering between B’more/Philly/Jersey club and deep bass. It took me until last year’s incredible System of Objects to get hipped to Leonce’s sleek, 130+bpm house, only to find out the ATL/NOLA producer/DJ has been doing hyper-charged R&B refixes for a few years now. A new generation David Morales? (Sun 3/30, 7a @ Nowadays, Ridgewood - $10-$45)
Outline, Knockdown Center’s sprawling series of popular experimental sounds, returns for 2025, with a packed opening-night bill of history that has colored contemporary sound. 74 year-old German guitarist-keyboardist Michael Rother is on the road performing the catalog of two legendary bands he helped start, Neu! and Harmonia. Ex-Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore returns to New York for a solo set, just months after an already-legendary residency at The Stone. Also: the Japanese songwriter/composer Eiko Ishibashi, whose 2021 score for Drive My Car is a considered a masterpiece in our household, and the noisy, Aussie industrial-pop duo, HTRK. (Sun 3/30, 6p @ Knockdown Center, Maspeth - $$$)
Last year’s grower of an album, MESTIZX, saw Bolivian vocalist/producer Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Chicago drummer Frank Rosaly (also: wife and husband) bring together the rhythmic and improvisational elements of their separate communities into a wonderfully chaotic whole. Part drum-circle, part electrified free-jazz session. Here’s hoping this is what their live show is like. With International Anthem’s secret-synth-weapon Jeremiah Chiu opening. (Tues 4/1, 7p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $30)
A sparkling double-bill featuring two young practitioners of Black American music’s ongoing explorations of traditions and futures, salutes one of that music’s great originals. Liv.e & Pink Siifu are Celebrating The Birthday of Gil Scott-Heron on what would have been the late poet-griot-bandleader’s 76th. And you’d be hard-pressed to find a better pair to represent the sonic space where soul-jazz-funk-hip-hop rubs up against community information and social meaning, so expectations may be high. Highest Recommendation! (Tues 4/1, 7p @ SOB’s, Manhattan - $22)
MORE RECOMMENDED EVENTS:
Anoushka Shankar (Thurs 3/27, 7p @ Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan - $$$) - the scion of the sitar dynasty plays a club gig.
Kembra Pfahler (Thurs 3/27, 8p @ Giorno Poetry Systems, Manhattan - $20) - performance artist, poet, and leader of the forever-shocking glam punks, The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, has put-together an evening of performances that features her band, other poets (including Juliana Huxtable), electronically modulated tap-dancing and more.
Rare Frequency Transmission 03 (Thurs 3/27, 10p @ Bossa Nova Civic Club, Bushwick - $15) - a stacked line-up launch party for the third compilation of local beats by the RFT duo, Dynoman and Zara Dekho, whose own parties (ex-Mood Ring, now floating…I think) are hella-fun.
Thalia Zedek Band + Erica Dawn Lyle + Kyp Malone (Fri 3/28, 7:30p @ Francis Kite Club, Manhattan - $15) - guitarist-singer Zedek is a veteran of two classic noise-indie bands, Live Skull and Come, and one that maybe should have been, Uzi. With punk guitarist Dawn Lyle, and best beard in NYC-indie, Malone.
The Hard Quartet (Fri 3/28, 8p @ Warsaw, Greenpoint - $$$) - the indie-rock supergroup—Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, Jim White and Emmett Kelly—rides again.
Adam O’Farrill (Fri 3/28, 9:30p @ Joe’s Pub, Manhattan - $36+minimum) - an album release show celebrating the young trumpeter-composer-arranger’s new For These Streets, a harmonic mirage of an octet album that includes an amazing NYC cast.
Prospect Series (Sat 3/29, 8p @ 1923 8th Avenue, Park Slope - Pay What You Want) - saxophonist Jonathan Moritz’s home shows, this month feature a solo bass set by Eivind Opsvik; the trio Ocelot, Yuma Uesaka (sax, clarinet), Cat Toren (piano) and Colin Hinton (percussion, drums); and a trio of Shawn Lovato (bass), DoYeon Kim (gayageum) and Henry Mermer (drums).
DJ Python (Sat 3/29, 9:30p @ Nightclub 101, Manhattan - $15-$20) - with his new EP, i was put on this earth, Brian Piñeyro and his “deep reggaeton” sound make the expected jump to a major indie; the release celebration gonna have star power.
François K (Sat 3/29, 10p @ Red Eye, Manhattan - $22adv/$30) - the first party must have gone hella-well, cause the Deep Space don (and subculture.NYC) are back in Midtown for round two. Opening set by Jon Jon Hernandez.
DJ Spinna's DISCO x JOURNEY Party, Spring Edition (Sun 3/30, 6p @ Good Room, Greenpoint - $10-$20) - Spinna’s seasonal late-afternoon soiree.
Deep Exposure: Russell E.L. Butler (Sun 3/30, 9p @ Earthly Delights, Ridgewood - FREE) - Butler’s Sunday-night, deep listening sessions in the rubbery upstairs womb.
Reuben Blades’ “Maestra Vida” (Sun 3/30 & Mon 3/31, 7:30p @ Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center - Pay What You Want) - the great Panamanian New Yorker’s new genre-defying orchestral drama centered on the Latin American lived experience.
Jeremy Viner + friends (Mon 3/31, 8p @ Sisters, Fulton Street - $15-$20) - Berlin-based saxophonist plays in an all-star quartet (with Adam O’Farrill, Chris Tordini and Kate Gentile), with opening duo set by DoYeon Kim & Brandon Lopez.
Alice Does Computer Music (Tues 4/1, 7:30p @ Cassette, Ridgewood - $18) - over the past week, I’ve been a bit obsessed with cellist/electronics player Alice Gerlach’s 2023 album, Shoegaze 5G, for the discordant textures, as well as the pop sensibility.
Beth Gibbons (Tues 4/1, 8p @ Beacon Theatre, Uptown - $$$) - individual tickets still left for the Portishead singer’s big solo theatre show.
Katzin (Tues 4/1, 8p @ TV Eye, Ridgewood - $15) - young punky, singer-songwriter-guitarist who grew up in NYC, has a local’s eye for narrative detail, and a great ear for oddball song construction.
Soul Purpose (Tues 4/1, 10p @ Nublu, Manhattan - $20) - Quinnette’s wonderful monthly returns with vocalist/multi-instrumentalist HRLUM, Jamaican-flavored rapper Lani Light, with Quinnette on the decks.