Bklyn Sounds 4/2/2025—4/8/2025
This week's events include musclecars + Love Injection + Toribio: Together Again / HxH + Yatta / Zoh Amba residency / Alexis Lombre residency / 'Bardo Bath: Chöd' / Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 / much more
Had a great radio show last Friday on The Lot Radio with Samantha Kochis, who came with the all-flute heat, both playing incredible flute records (shout-out James Newton and Nicole Mitchell), and playing live. Check it:
Small listings mea culpa: You know you’re overwhelmed and distracted with work and deadlines when one of your favorite DJs is in town from Detroit to play one of your favorite DIY nights, and you forget to add it. Very much my bad Deon and Musicland. It was absolutely my bad! I hope it was as great as the previous nights.
(Please support Dada Strain and other useful homemade ventures such as this one, so that the musicker focus can be on helping artists and audiences come together, so that we can feed each other ideas, that will help us suvive this moment, and then build on its ashes.)
THIS WEEK’S SHOWS:
Pianist James Hurt came to prominence in the city in the ‘90s, as a twenty-something musician great enough to play with Abbey Lincoln and Rashied Ali and get a Blue Note debut album, but whose legend was solidified in the extended downtown jam sessions where jazz-cats, beatmakers and global wanderers would share spaces. Hurt graduated to making electronic music too. Joe Clausell and Paul Dope Jams have fond memories of these times and are launching Ancestral Technology, an occasional session that will harken back to those turn-of-the-century moments, with James Hurt leading the proceedings. (Wed 4/2, 7:30p @ Cosmic Arts, Bushwick - $TK)
A double record-release celebration at Pioneer Works of music partially created as a result of the Red Hook cultural org’s great music residency. As Dada readers know well, HxH is Chris Williams and Lester St. Louis, cornerstones of Bklyn’s creative music community, here in a sleek digital-improvisation duo form. Their new Stark Phenomena is a lushly melodic, tidal piece of work. The fleshed-out songs that vocalist-producer-interdisciplinary artist Yatta has created on Palm Wine feel almost like torch numbers, soft until they’re not, interspersed with a biographical landscape full of lo-fi rhythms and self-wonder. A most unique document. Yatta will be joined by an incredible band that includes band members Meshell Ndegeocello, producer Carlos Hernandez, and Stefa Marin Alarcon. Highest Recommendation! (Wed 4/2, 8p @ Pioneer Works, Red Hook - $12)
In the wake of losing Mimi Parker, his wife and creative partner, Low’s Alan Sparhawk made White Roses, My God, an auto-tune-heavy, almost-industrial album full of grief and catharsis. He is now touring it as a solo concern, and reports from Big Ears was that the psychological output onstage was massive. Opening is African-American Sound Recordings, the exquisite lo-fi beat-making side-hustle of Memphis rapper Cities Aviv. (Wed 4/2, 7p @ Elsewhere, Bushwick - $$$)
The sheer breadth of Zoh Amba’s residency at The Stone week, the myriad musical directions and diversity of her collaborators, is an insight of just how much the 24 year-old saxophonist-turned-guitarist-songwriter has evolved since her first Albert Ayler-like wails first grabbed attention in the post-lockdown city. An opening night duet with Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo; a rehash of the Bhakti group with Micah Thomas and Tyshawn Sorey; the Sun Ensemble quartet that’s been one of her main outlets over the past year; and then closing with a “Reflections on Emahoy” program that includes young pianist/vocalist Eliana Glass (whose upcoming album features a wonderful “Song for Emahoy”). It’s brilliant watching Zoh pushing everything, everywhere, all at once. Highest Recommendation! (Wed 4/2 - Sat 4/5, 8:30p @ The Stone, New School, Manhattan - $20)
Simple as the model may be, FourOneOne’s residency with 27 year-old Chicago pianist-vocalist Alexis Lombre, which begins on Thursday and runs intermittently for two weeks, asks a question of some significance to the currently rudderless new-culture-programming moment: What could happen if an established arts-presenter backed the creative ambition of an unsigned artist with vision and funds? Though young, Lombre has been recognized as a Windy City prodigy for over half her life, playing with many of that city’s great creative musicians, producers, rappers and so on. She’s also been recognized by practitioners of Great Black Music with affinity to the town’s many traditions. Now, over a handful of early-April events, FourOneOne will help New York get to know Lombre. The whole thing opens with a talk by Lombre in the context of Black Earth SWAY, the spectacular quartet that also features the mighty Jo Via Armstrong, Nicole Mitchell, and Coco Elysses. They’ll play a full show at BRIC on Friday. Then next Tuesday, Lombre joins the New Orleans drummer Brian Richburg for a pair of duo sets at CloseUp, basking in an American music conversation that has taken place between those two cities for over a century. Upcoming foils in Lombre’s residency include Teri Lynne Carrington, Melanie Charles and Georgia Anne Muldrow. It’s an amazing way to get to know an artist’s range, and another of FourOneOne’s shots across the bow, as if to say, we’re not just here to build another arts mausoleum with our deep pockets. (Thurs 4/3, 7p @ Blank Forms, Clinton Hill - FREE with RSVP + Fri 4/4, 7p @ BRIC, Fulton Street - $15adv/$20 + Tues 4/8, 7p & 9p @ CloseUp, Manhattan - $15adv/$20)
Seun Kuti, the saxophone-playing, band-leading youngest son of the Black President, brings the latest iteration of his late father’s large band, Egypt 80, into the tiny confines of the famed Greenwich Village jazz bar. Not dancing will be hard, but likely a unique experience. (Thurs 4/3 - Sun 4/6, 8p & 10:30p @ Blue Note, Manhattan - $38- plus minimum)
CONVERSATION: A pair of deeply preceptive Black British thinkers, the artist/film-maker Steve McQueen and sociologist/cultural studies professor Paul Gilroy, come together for a dialogue prompted by McQueen’s current Dia Beacon music-installation, Bass. That incredible piece in the museum’s immense basement based on the universal sounds of the low-end is informed by Gilroy’s notions of the “Black Atlantic,” a post-Middle Passage culture that has changed the world. If you care about ideas around music and history, this will be a banger. (Fri 4/4, 7p @ CUNY Graduate Center, Manhattan - FREE with RSVP)
Following up on last week’s celebration of Poly Styrene and X-Ray Spex, Lincoln Center produces another American Songbook program devoted to another great British feminist punk band. Tribute to the Slits salutes the Ari Up and Viv Albertine-led quartet whose anthems (“Typical Girls” and “Shoplifting”) and Motown cover (“I Heard it Through the Bassline”) continue to reverberate. Great all-female/-femme house band, backing great local female punk vocalists. You know the score. (Fri 4/4, 7:30p @ David Rubinestein Atrium, Lincoln Center, Uptown - FREE)
Massive DJ-bill takeover at Public Records. The Sound Room is headlined by Kenny Larkin, a third-wave Detroit techno producer whose career began on Hawtin’s Plus 8 Records and went global via WARP Records, but whose historical respect remains sadly lacking. He’s supported by the excellent, vinyl-minded resident, Shawn Dub. The Atrium will be ruled by Shy One, the NTS veteran who synthesizes London riddims in her productions and sets, and the mighty DJ Tara. Lollise’s classic African diaspora dance records rule the upstairs roost. (Fri 4/4, 11p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $20-$30)
The folks behind Psychedelic Sangha alerted me to an event they are staging this weekend, a happening Bardo Bath they are calling Chöd, part cleansing exorcism, part journey into the unknown. Live music by Isaiah Micthell, Garcia Peoples, Chris Dingman and Kendraplex. Films, visual, frequencies and vibes by Moonhawk Roper, Macrodose, Jonah Sollins Devlin, Yosuh Jones and Aubrey Nehring. Psychedelics not provided, but encouraged. (Sat 4/5, 6:30p @ Judson Church, Manhattan - $28-$$$)
You may have heard: Arkestra leader Marshall Allen has turned 100 and become an icon a mere 66 years after joining Sun Ra group. For those who’ve been watching Allen since he was a wee alto saxophonist in his ‘60s, the attention seems at once goofy, heartening and landgrab-y. But Allen seems to be enjoying the hell out of himself. He’s recorded a pair of albums under his own name, with two separate bands. The one already out and getting more press is under the name Marshall Allen & the New Dawn. And this evening marks its record release show. (Sat 4/5, 8p @ Roulette, Downtown Bklyn - $$$)
Last year, alto saxophonist Alfredo Colon released a debut record called Blood Burden, with a rhythm section (pianist Lex Korten, bassist Steve Williams and drummer Connor Parks) I was unfamiliar with, but which traversed the blues and associated territories with wonderfully weird emotional focus, yet also straight-forwardly. Pros recognizing the need to get a little less so. This year, he’s added the great young trumpeter Ryan Easter to his now quintet, and he fits the description to a tee. It’s their second gig in a month, so something’s up. Drummer Kobi Abcede sitting in. (Sat 4/5, 8p & 10p @ CloseUp, Manhattan - $30)
When I was first following the breadcrumbs on the whole “Rhythm Improvisation Community” premise, I already knew Barbie and Paul Love Injection from their Universal Love parties, and Brandon and Craig musclecars from initial releases on Coloring Lessons and their parties. It was such a joy to discover that they were friends via the incredibly talented Cesar Toribio, whose Conclave band recordings helped get me through the pandemic, and some of which, I soon realized, featured members of Irreversible Entanglements. This community connection between local Bklyn musicians from seemingly disparate corners was part of Dada Strain’s eureka moment, only strengthened when I’d see all these incredible musickers hanging out and playing together. They were providing immense big-tent vibes. In September 2023, they played their first B2B2B party Together, and did it again in April 2024. Since then, musclecars have become global Bklyn ambassadors, Love Injection celebrated a tenth anniversary and a new family-member, and Toribio’s put out two huge records, helped spawn the best park jam in the city, and become one of Bklyn’s hardest-working DJs. On Saturday night though, the gang’s back Together Again, playing records til sunrise. See you there. Highest Recommendation! (Sat 4/5, 10p @ H0L0, Ridgewood - $40)
A meeting of two New York gems in a perfect venue. Of course pianist Arturo O'Farrill and saxophonist Roy Nathanson, two of the city’s great bandleaders and music educators of the past 40 years, have played together many times in many places. But in 2025, seeing them in a musician-owned Bed Stuy bar, where the musicians tear into the music because the audience is actually paying attention *and* relaxed, because they’re not getting gouged or told what to do… Well, that’s exactly the place these two are likely to be at their better-than-best. Helluva rhythm section with them too. (Sun 4/6, 9p &10:15p @ Bar LunAtico, Bed-Stuy - $10suggested)
Abasement #77, the occasional return of the night that proves New York’s art-meets-music-meets-nightlife shizz ain’t as dead as they’ are leading you to believe. Tonight: I.U.D. (electronic weirdness from Lizzi Bougatsos and Sadie Laska), Eucademix (aka Yuka Honda), Dave Miko (painter), Superkraut! DJs Pia Dehne and Mark Ohe, and visuals by Cable Visions. (Mon 4/7, 7p @ Artists Space, Manhattan - FREE)
MORE RECOMMENDED EVENTS:
Ballister + Luke Stewart (Thurs 4/3, 8p @ Roulette, Downtown Bklyn - $25adv/$30) - gargantuan skronk trio—Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis, nomad anti-cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love—meet the bass playing musicker.
David Torn (Thurs 4/3, 9p @ Lowlands, Gowanus - $uggested) - the great jazz-prog electric guitar weirdo, and Tim Berne’s occasional foil at this great Gowanus bar, plays a solo set.
Lonnie Holley (Fri 4/4, 7p @ Artists Space, Manhattan - FREE) - the multi-disciplinary artist and blues polymath reads from his first published monograph (accompanied by Shahzad Ismaily).
Ka Baird & Sam Newsome + Bentley Anderson + Spaghetti Human Being + id m theft able (Fri 4/4, 7p @ Intercom, Ridgewood - $10-$30notaflof) - an excellent DIY show featuring visitors from Tokyo and Maine, at the great new HQ of the Center For Psychic Technology.
First Friday DJ Party (Fri 4/4, 9p @ Gottscheer Hall, Ridgewood - FREE) - the German beer hall’s backroom monthly is so wonderfully loose, it’s almost un-NYC (or peak NYC). This month’s guest is Tre D'Ambrocia (Yes She Did).
Kylie Minogue + Romy (Fri 4/4 - Sat 4/5, 8p @ Madison Square Garden, Manhattan - $$$) - potentially my favorite dance-pop singer of the last 30 years, and one who put the feat of god into Nick Cave. (plus Romy as opening act)
Julia Holter (Fri 4/4, 8:30p @ 99 Scott, Bushwick - $39) - the great ambient-folk singer-songwriter kicking off a three-week long quasi-experimental music series called Picture a Wave at the Bushwick rave venue.
Nubya Garcia (Sat 4/5, 8p @ Music Hall, Williamsburg - $40) - one of London jazz’s excellent saxophone players.
DJ Still Life (Sat 4/5, 9p @ Radio Shop, Crown Heights - FREE) - Stephen Bolles of the Str8 West Coastin’ party, an old friend of Dada Strain, kicking off a more dance-oriented night at the cute bar/record store with a top soundsystem (operated by Chances With Wolves and Bene from 360 Record Shop).
XOXA 8th Anniversary (Sat 4/5, 10p @ Good Room, Greenpoint - $20) - excellent line-up for the celebration of the NYC party/agency includes Physical Therapy (as part of Fatherhood), Jubilee, and Kiernan Laveaux.
DJ Sprinkles + Francis Harris + DJ Etta + beewack + Ali Berger (Sat 4/5, 11p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $22-$36) - another all-killers Public Records takeover, between Etta’s Detroit-savvy record selection and Sprinkles’ deep techno madness, it’s all riches.
8ULENTINA (Sun 4/6, 7p @ Stone Circle Theatre, Ridgewood - $17) - record release show Surpassing Disaster, an excellent experimental Middle Eastern techno rhythms by the Club Chai co-founder.
Ali Berger B2B Russell E.L. Butler (Sun 4/6, 8p @ Jupiter Disco, Bushwick - FREE) - two massively freewheeling, knowledgeable selectors, tag-teaming on a Sunday night, the kind of quality music event too many people (likely, myself included) now take for granted.
Beyondo Band (Mon 4/7, 8:30p @ Lowlands, Gowanus - $uggested) - the trumpeter soul-funk-jazz band composer, brings his groovy ensemble back into the great Gowanus bar.
“Voices of Manahatta” (Tues 4/8, 7:30p @ Church of Ascension, Manhattan - $20-$50) - an evening of vocal pieces by Native American composers, and will include a performance of Raven Chacon’s award-winning “Voiceless Mass.”
Nikara Warren Quartet (Tues 4/8, 7:30p & 9p @ Smalls, Manhattan - $35) - Bklyn-born and -raised vibes player (and leader of the excellent soul-jazz collective, Black Wall Street) leading a crisp small group at the home of jazz.
I am always flabbergasted by your breadth in covering so many underground scenes. Learn so much just by reading this. Many of the acts listed here are by artists I missed at Big Ears or whom I’ve been wanting to see for some time. Thank you again and again for this essential public service. Proud to be a supporter.