Bklyn Sounds 4/24/2025—4/29/2025
This week's events include 'Saint James Joy' 5th Anniversary / Black Quantum Futurism presents Moor Mother / Youssou N'Dour / 'Unheard': Ami Dang / 'Remembering DJ Rashad' / and much more
A few quick things to tell you about before we get into this week’s listings.
The first being some new, welcome “competition” in the NYC listings game. I learned about Cal.Red (aka Red Calendar) from mighty Jessica of the indispensable NYC Noise. Cal.Red is a site at the intersection of DIY culture and activism that describes itself thusly: “Red Calendar is an arts and action calendar that helps NYC gather without big tech middlemen. Managed by a team of editors, the Calendar also encourages cross-pollination among NYC’s leftist/arts/culture communities. Anyone can add events for free, pending editor approval!” As Dada Strain reinvents itself in the current climate, it’s great to find more folks making connections between the culture we participate in, and the society we wanna see rise around it. Strength in numbers, more community infrastructure, open arms. Let’s f*cking go!
Second: Dada Strain Radio is back on The Lot Radio on Friday (4/25) morning at 10a EST, with special guest, the mighty Chris Williams. Originally a trumpeter by trade, Chris should be familiar to regular readers, as one of the cornerstones of Bklyn’s improvised music community, playing with with pretty much all of my local faves, but also adding his horn to the live Pink Siifu band, and to Natural Information Society during their Kitchen stand in late February. Chris has also been recording like a monster recently: HxH, his electronic improvisation duo with Lester St. Louis, just dropped their first full-length, Stark Phenomena. And History Dog, the all-star no-wave quartet he plays in with Lesley Mok, Luke Stewart and Shara Lunon, will be releasing its own debut album, Root Systems, in May. Chris is gonna play music from both, and prolly a few other things he’s got his hands in. So join us on the radio on Friday morning.
Lastly, if you’re around Ridgewood on Sunday (4/27) afternoon, Dada Strain will be DJ’ing at the Intercomm Zine Fest. Intercomm is a new DIY gallery on Woodward Avenue, “a space for liberation performance and media,” that is booked by the mighty John Pugh, a longtime NYC artist and musicker. Sunday’s Zine Fest will feature purchasable printed matter from dozens of artists, small presses, fellow DIY spaces and collectives, and the event be soundtracked by a few of my favorite DJs, musicians and producers in the city, including Sweater on Polo, DJ Church Clothes, Kamau Patton, Rico Sodomahigomorra, and others. Dada Strain plays #BklynSounds and related classics 3-4p. Swing thru or come hang out!
This Week’s Shows:
The great Josephine Foster, a singer and writer of timeless American songs, is on one of her occasional old-school sojourns through small and DIY venues close to her heart. Cue a wonderful show at The P.I.T., alongside touring guitarist David Shapiro, and longtime colleague, the mighty Ryan Sawyer on drums. Opening set from the immaculate Wendy Eisenberg, so you know this is gonna be the truth. (Thurs 4/24, 6p @ Property Is Theft, W’burg - $20suggested)
Though the listing on The Owl’s website lists vibraphonist/electronic producer Will Shore and drummer Kenny Wollensen, this evening’s programming is a little more strange and complicated than that. Shore is playing in a duo with the Lithuanian-in-NYC drummer/composer Dalius Naujo; whereas Wollensen is participating in Sonic Mud, wherein a rotating group of musicians (that has also previously included Shore and Naujo) activate the ceramic sculpture piece made by the artist Julia Elsas. Artful rhythm vibes! (Thurs 4/24, 8p @ The Owl, Prospect-Lefferts - $15suggested)
Orquesta Akokán (Yoruban for “from the heart”) is a mambo big-band made up of Cuban musicians from Havana and their like-minded compatriots in New York, that records for Bklyn’s very own, Daptone Records. On its 2024 album, Caracoles, the Orquesta collaborates with the vocalist Kiko Ruiz, a veteran of the Buena Vista Social Club tours, performing a set of songs that harkens back to lush mid-century mambo orchestras, more about gorgeous son cubano melodies than about rhythm power. (Fri 4/25, 7:30p @ Rubinstein Atrium, Lincoln Center, Uptown - FREE)
A double-bill starring two of the city’s supremely idiosyncratic soft song-singers, -writers and -interpreters, blazing paths all their own. Nick Hakim has already become beloved among the heads, be they soul cats or jazz fanatics, or just admirers of moods. The more I hear him, the more I think of Jeff Buckley. (And I hope everyone takes that as the compliment it's intended to be.) June McDoom is seemingly a folkie but whose songs can turn dark gothic, or sea-shantey submerged at any moment. Highest Recommendation! (Fri 4/25, 8p @ First Unitarian Church, Brooklyn Heights - $40adv/$$$)
Lifesavers, the best little party making connections between great young NYC and Midwest house/techno talent, returns for number 022, and stretches its purview. The headliner is a DJ set by Model/Actriz, more W’burg nouveau post-punk than beats. But you should arrive early (or stick around) for 15mm (the DJ tag-team of Chicagoans Mina Mills and PSN15), whose funky house sets wiggle and moan. Also: Bklyn dancer Bodycam, plus 9bloodhound9 B2B Kian 5tr8tch repping LA’s No Nonsense Records. (Fri 4/26, 10p @ Bossa Nova Civic Club, Bushwick - FREE before 11p)
Five years ago, when the pandemic (yes, we’re talking about that again) shut the social world down, Jo Vill, Gail Bryan-Vill and Chad Vill used the nightly “salute to the heroes” to play house records and Loft/Garage classics through their windows. First it was just their Saint James Place neighbors who came out onto the stoops to dance, but soon the 7p hour attracted a socially distanced crowd of people who needed to move with/around other people in order to get through that most unique moment. The legend of Saint James Joy was born, and throughout 2020 it was — and I am not exaggerating this in the slightest — a life-saver. The Anniversary Block Party is when we come to praise the Vills for their great community gift. Now with the mighty DJ Tara and no less an NYC house eminence than Louie Vega, joining Jo and Chad on the decks. With sound by Karlala Soundsystem. Because history and myth are forever intertwined. (Sat 4/26, noon @ Saint James Place, Clinton Hill - FREE)
One of the great guitarists operating across communities and musical traditions in NYC at the moment, Key Hutch is letting it all hang at a special “exploration of triplicities” show. There will be two sets, with two different trios of next-level players: the early will feature Mahiri Faïnké on djembe and Mira Mira on trumpet/electronics, the late will include bassist Mwanzi Harriott and drummer Adriel Vincent-Brown. (Sat 4/26, 7:30p @ Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Park Slope - $uggested)
To close out a month of shows dedicated to the music of Sun Ra, Sista’s Place brings back its longtime music director: the former Arkestra trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah’s Diaspora is one of the city’s best-kept astral secrets, a mutating ensemble with roots in one of the all-time great big bands, and in the Bklyn community. On this evening the Diaspora will also include features Monique Ngozi Nri (Vocals/Poetry), Alex Harding/Don Chapman (Woodwinds), D.D. Jackson (Piano), Marcos Varela (Bass), and Warren “Trae” Crudup (Multi-percussionist). (Sat 4/26 8p & 9:30p @ Sista’s Place, Bed-Stuy - $30adv/$35 cash at the door)
Saturday marks 11 years since one of Chicago footwork’s finest producers, DJ Rashad Harden, passed from this world, a loss still felt as greatly as any in 21st century electronic-rhythm production. No wonder there’s a Remembering DJ Rashad night at Market Hotel, which hosted him on at least a couple of occasions. Massive in memoria line-up too, with GHE20G0TH1K’s Venus X and Teklife’rs Spinn, Taso and Arielle Lano on the decks, and The Era dancers showing the gathered how it’s done. (Sat 4/26, 11p @ Market Hotel, Myrtle & Broadway - $20)
Pique-nique’s Unheard series returns, and one of its 2025 residents is Ami Dang, a South Asian-American vocalist, sitarist, composer and producer from Baltimore, whose sound blends elements of North Indian classical and noise/ambient electronics. On this occasion, Dang’s first-time partners will be ZT Christensen, a modular synth improviser, and guitarist/composer Michael Beharie. (Sun 4/27, 2p @ Light & Sound Studio, Greenpoint - $22)
The Senegalese griot Youssou N’Dour is 65 years-old, and remains in consideration for the title of world’s greatest living singer by folks who consider that a competitive thing. Using just about any standard, his vocal and musical gifts are extraordinary, and his nearly 50-year career — from a teenager who helped Star Band de Dakar globalize the sound of mbalax (a Wolof popular music that embraced and regionalized the entire Black Atlantic), to a globally beloved Afro-pop superstar, to the elder statesman recording award-winning epics across styles and religious faiths — nearly unparalleled. If you love music and can afford the ticket, you should experience his rapture in your life. Highest Recommendation! (Sun 4/27, 7p @ Kings Theatre, Flatbush - )
Led by Carolina Oliveros, lead singer of the mighty Combo Chimbita, the Bklyn-based Bulla en el Barrio is voices+drums collective/circle/study group practicing the traditional rueda de bullerengue, a folkloric dance music originating from the Caribbean coast of Colombia that transmits ancient African rhythms and knowledge. It’s not an observational vibe, but a participatory happening, an exceptionally joyful ceremonial experience. At a rum distillery, with free cocktails and DJ Heavy Flow spinning records. (Mon 4/28, 7p @ Casa Pa’Lante, East W’burg - $25)
Restoration Sound’s recently launched live in-studio performance series, New Town, returns with another excellent double-bill of (solo?) performances: violinist Charlie Burnham, who splits the difference between, blues, spirituals and Ornette’s Harmolodics, and saxophonist Caroline Davis, whose great compositions are dedicated to the deepest harmonic exploration in the service of (what I hear as) a folk music for the masses. Any chance they play together? Because that would be sick… (Mon 4/28, 7:30p @ Restoration Sound, East W’burg - $15)
Since September, Black Quantum Futurism, the multi-disciplinary duo of Rasheedah Phillips and Camae “Moor Mother” Ayewa, have been producing a residence installation at Performance Space that they’ve called The Memory Vortex Inn, hosting a multi-media program full of sound, healing and learning, starring many of the artists in the Black Quantum orbit. Time has come for Moor Mother herself to check into the Inn. (Tues 4/29, 7p @ Performance Space, Manhattan - $0-$50)
Shara Lunon’s quarterly Heavy Florals series is an exquisite space for members of the Bklyn improvised music community, specifically “POC musicians and their allies,” to “exhale.” This time around, the thoughtful joy comes from saxophonist/producer/composer/cultural polymath Alex Zhang Hungtai; from watergh0st, the electronic/composed conjurings of young guitar genius Chuck Roth; and from DJ Oro, Tomin’s new DJ alias. [EDIT/fact-check from Tomin: “My DJ alias, DJ Oro, is not new. It comes from my old days back on WBAR in college.” The more you know…] (Tues 4/29, 7:30p @ Sisters, Fulton Street - $20nota)
MORE RECOMMENDED EVENTS:
Takuya Kuroda (Thurs 4/24, 8p @ Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan - $25adv/$30) - one of Bklyn’s excellent jazz-funk trumpeters makes the people groove hard
Brackish (Thurs 4/24, 8p @ St. Lydia’s, Gowanus - $15-20suggested) - the Red Hook/Gowanus experimental music series returns, with Black Sundance (Trae Crudup III on drums and Baltimore saxophonist Emperor King Bishop), the voice/electronics of Alex Koi, th poems of Alicia Mountain and the paintings of Jomani Danielle.
David Torn, Trevor Dunn & Tom Rainey (Thurs 4/24, 8p @ Lowlands Bar, Gowanus - $uggested) - a fusion power-trio super-group in the back of a great neighborhood bar.
Vieux Farka Touré + Saha Gnawa + DJ Nickodemus (Fri 4/25, 8p @ Brooklyn Bowl, W’burg - $39-$$$) - the first son of Mali’s great guitarist has become a musical standard-bearer in his own right, playing with a new band that features a conglomeration of NYC-based gnawa and jazz players.
DJs for Climate Action Presents :: Earth Night (Fri 4/26, 9p @ Earthly Delights, Ridgewood - $TK) - salute to Sammy Bananas for not giving up on the planet, and for the excellent DJ bill he brought together.
Ridgewood Jazz Fest (Fri 4/25 - Sun 4/27 @ various venues, Ridgewood - individual show tickets) - the inaugural jazz fest in one of the city’s great developing culture neighborhoods, includes performances by Karriem Riggins, Caroline Davis’ Portals and more.
The Velvet Underground’s New York Tour (Sat 4/26 @ Canal & Essex, Manhattan - $29-$39) - a walking tour of the Lower East Side through the lens of Lou, John, Sterling and Maureen (and Andy…maybe Nico too), guided by VU super-fan Mark Satlof.
Lyricist Lounge: Ghostface Killah (Sat 4/26, 8p @ Apollo Theatre, Harlem - ) - Ghostface! At The Apollo!
Prospect Series (Sat 4/26, 8p @ 1923 8th Ave, Park Slope - PWYW) - an exceptional triple-bill in Jonathan Moritz’s house, with the great draw a duet between bassist Stephan Crump and David Leon.
Suze Ijó + Honey Bun + Stonie Blue + Marco Weibel (Sat 4/26, 10p @ Good Room, Greenpoint - $20) - Rotterdam up’n’comer Ijó atop an exemplary house-centered dance bill
Kiernan Laveaux (Sat 4/26, 11p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $35) - one of my favorite DJs/producers of the moment
An Evening with Zoh Amba (Mon 4/28, 8p @ Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan - $20adv/$25) - a two-set exploration of the different directions the 25 year-old musician is currently exploring, one with her jazz-minded Sun Ensemble quartet - the other, a presentation of her acoustic songs
Mutual Dreaming: secret guest monday (Mon 4/28, 10p @ Bossa Nova Civic Club, Bushwick - FREE before 11p) - Aurora Halal’s great party doing a special-guest-on-a-Monday tease? Here for it!