Bklyn Sounds 5/1/2025—5/6/2025

This week's events include 'Long Play Festival' / Fay Victor residency / Carla Bley's "Escalator Over the Hill" (U.S. Premiere) / Public Service season-opener / Bodega / BadBadNotGood / and much more

Clockwise from upper left Moritz von Oswald, Fay Victor, Carla Bley, Ben LaMar Gay

This weekend marks the fourth annual Long Play Festival, which shadows pretty much everything else happening in this week’s Bklyn Sounds. It was begun by the good folks of Bang on a Can as a kind of post-pandemic variant on its long-running marathon. When first writing about it a couple of years ago, I contextualized it within the “enduring myth of downtown music.” But after having gone back to Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival, it seems that Long Play wants to reflect a little bit of that event’s cross-pollination and musical diversity as well. However you frame it, Long Play puts on an enormous amount of excellent, difficult (to many) music in a short period of time — a (sold-out) single opening show on Thursday, a couple on Friday night, and then a packed weekend program — where all shows accessible via day- or weekend-pass, at venues that are a short walk away from one another in Downtown Bklyn. It’s a sonic pile-on, and a beautiful one.

The highlights are many — and, as always, different for pretty much any person looking at the schedule: If you want creative music, there’s a premiere from Henry Threadgill on Friday at Roulette. If you want noisy indie-punk, there’s a solo Kim Gordon show on Friday at Pioneer Works. (The only venue not within walking distance.) If you want contemporary jazz sounds, the guitarists Mary Halvorson & Bill Frisell duet on Saturday at Roulette, cellist Tomeka Reid’s Quartet plays BRIC on Saturday, and great Chicago cornetist Ben LaMar Gay’s Quartet plays Public Records on Sunday. If you want astral-jazz freak-outs, try Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids on Saturday, also at BRIC. If no wave solo improvisation is your thing, guitarist Fred Frith is at the Space at Iron Dale on Saturday. Basic Channel’s Moritz von Oswald is doing two sets of Berlin post-techno: a live reading of his Silencio project on Saturday at Roulette, and a DJ set at Public Records on Sunday afternoon. And then at the end, legendary minimalist composer Terry Riley celebrates his 90th birthday on Sunday at Pioneer Works, in a tribute show with Bang on a Can All-Stars, Gyan Riley, Krishna Bhatt, Valentina Magaletti, Nicole Mitchell, Suphala, and others.

Tickets are not cheap, with single-day passes running $95 and full three-day tickets $235. But Dada Strain, got you — or, at least some of you. Paid subscribers should scroll down to the bottom of this week’s newsletter where you will find a discount code that will take 15% off when you buy tickets online.

That said, good for Long Play organizers to make sure that even those who can not afford the expensive ticket have some outstanding free music options. You can go hear composer Anthony Braxton’s “Composition No. 19 (For 100 Tubas)” at Fort Greene Park on Saturday afternoon. You can hang out at the BRIC Stoop, which is hosting free shows all weekend long — my personal highlights being sets by the saxophone/guitar Caroline Davis & Wendy Eisenberg Duo, and Underground System on Saturday, and utterly unmissable Sunday appearances by two trios, Nicole Mitchell, Luke Stewart and Tcheser Holmes at 1p, and Tomas Fujiwara, Tomeka Reid and Immanuel Wilkins at 5p. Sunday also finds the psychedelic art-drock duo, The Narcotix at BAM Cafe. There’s much more on the full schedule. Honestly, if you love new music, or leftfield music, you can’t go wrong.

(Long Play Festival, Thurs 5/1 - Sun 5/4 @ various venues around Downtown Brooklyn - Single-Day Passes: $95, Weekend Passes: $235 - paid subscribers, scroll down for a discount code and instructions)

THIS WEEK’S SHOWS:

That Sydney, Australia’s Party Dozen performs as a duo — (primarily) saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and (primarily) percussionist Jonathan Boulet — is illusory. The sound emanating from their massively electronic recordings celebrates the heaviness of punky blog-house, or what’s come to be recalibrated as indie-sleaze, but with the obviousness of the thump occasionally replaced by sonic confusion. Like, I can’t tell if I enjoy what they do, or am simply fascinated by its combination of weight and ambiguous direction. On the other hand, opener Fatboi Sharif’s combo of self-proclaimed weight and mischievous raps takes me to a place I know well, and return to happily. (Thurs 5/1, 8p @ Union Pool, W’burg - $18)

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. There are few New York lifers I’ve admired as much for as long as Gavilán Rayna Russom, synthesizer wizard, empathetic collaborator, cornerstone of classic LCD Soundsystem, killer techno DJ, unrepentant conceptual artist, trans activist, founder of Voluminous Arts, the best human and humanist. (Order of import changes!) Tonight, at Pollinator Bottom: A Celebration Of Spring, Rayna is ringing in her birthday with an all-night B2B with P1nkstar, a trans DJ/performer who splits time between Austin and Bklyn, and herself espouses the sound of Tex-Mex club music. (Thurs 5/1, 10p @ Earthly Delights, Ridgewood - $12)

For the locals, I think it’s fair to call vocalist Fay Victor one of the materfamilias of Bklyn’s improvised music community. For the world of so-called “jazz” at-large, she’s one of the great singers, vocal improvisers and voice+electronics experimentalists working. Victor’s residency at The Stone, is unadulterated fire: Thursday in a duo with flutist Nicole Mitchell, Friday in a trio with steel-pan player Lyndon Achee and guitarist Keyanna “Key Hutch” Hutchinson, and on Saturday, in a quartet with bassoonist Karen Borca, cellist Lester St. Louis and drummer Reggie Nicholson. (Thurs 5/1 - Sat 5/3, 8:30p @ The Stone, New School, Manhattan - $20cash)

I hope the fact that my favorite politically charged (kinda punk, kinda post-, kinda pop) band in the city, Bodega, is playing a freebie in Washington Square Park says something about the moment we’re entering. But I am not looking any deeper into it…unless there’s a riot, or the NYPDiots shut it down. Also, a pair of local strivers, the punky Native Sun and the indie/goth TVOD. (Fri 5/2, 2p @ Washington Square Park, Manhattan - FREE)

Born in London, with family roots in New Zealand and Ghana, vocalist/keyboardist Leila Adu has navigated a variety of traditions where rhythm and improvisation were keys to a communal understanding of the moment. Adu now teaches chamber and global electronic music at NYU, so the journey keeps unfolding. At the Record Shop, she gathers a fabulous new trio, joined by drummer David Frazier and bassist Spencer Murphy. Brother Monk-One will also be around playing songs of resistance, joy and revolution. (Fri 5/2, 8p @ 360 Record Shop, Red Hook - $uggested)

As with most composers who are also seekers and experimentalists of a sort, the late Carla Bley had a few big pieces that received only an occasional live reading. If any. Escalator Over the Hill, a rocking operatic rollercoaster ride recorded in the late 60s and early ‘70s, and released in 1971 as a three-LP set, is one of them. Kudos to the The New School Studio Orchestra & Vocal Ensemble for giving it a 50-years-late U.S. premiere. (Nice Times piece on the occasion.) (Fri 5/2, 7:30p @ Tishman Auditorium, The New School, Manhattan - FREE with registration)

When DJ Python’s Dulce Compañia first made “deep reggaeton” waves in 2017 on Anthony Naples’s excellent Incienso label, it answered a need that some of us gringos already had: how to combine our love for dembow’s undeniability, soundsystem bass layers, the trance ecstatic, and deep house’s sense of joy and pain. In the ensuing years, Brian “Python” Pineyro’s sense of abstraction has only gotten more popular (his new EP is released by the platinum-indie, XL) yet retained much of its weird wonder. An all-night set? Bring in on. Highest Recommendation! (Fri 5/2, 10p @ Nowadays, Ridgewood - $10-$27)

A deeply intriguing trio of veteran New York improvisers comfortable at finding a variety of ways to take to the skies, is rewinding a gig they did in the basement of Ki Smith in February: drummer Steve Lyman, modular synthesist BlankFor.ms and saxophonist Donny McCaslin. (Sat 5/3, 7p @ Ki Smith Gallery, Manhattan - $40)

To the list of excellent musicians and musickers now regularly producing nights at LSD, add Serena and Dan Testu Collective, whose way with audio-visual environments and experimental electronics finds them constantly gathering interesting producers of synthesis. Tonight’s Rising Edge of a Pulse night is star-studded (of sorts): with Beirut-based sound artist Jad Atoui, and a collaboration between two veteran noise chemists, Keith Fullerton Whitman & Chuck Bettis. (Sat 5/3, 8p @ Light & Sound Design Studio, Greenpoint - $20-$30)

Since its launch a decade ago, Partyline has been one of the best roving secret-location dance parties we’ve had in the city, effortlessly mixing the great locals and occasional house/techno giants, always with the utmost good vibes. This time around, one of Jersey deep house’s 21st century heroes, the ineffable DJ Qu follows one Bklyn’s queens, the mighty Jadalareign. Also: Karlala Soundsystem = mark of production quality. (Sat 5/3, 10p @ secret location,11237 - $40)

Public Service is BAAAAAAACK, which means summer must be right around the corner. The mighty two-fer, Toribio and Mickey Perez on the decks, Karlala Soundsystem with the physical frequencies, Mario Federico with the snaps, and YOU with the great dance-moves and the generous donation allowing this great Bklyn park-jam tradition to keep going. One of the seasonal joys. Highest Recommendation! (Sun 5/4, 3p @ Herbert Von King Park, Bed-Stuy - $uggested)

The wonderful Weird Science party returns as a day-/early evening-trip, and a particularly Italo-disco bent. Top of the bill is Jeffrey Sfire, a native of Detroit whose mix of sequencer-infested menergy and synthetic melodies has led to next-level dancefloor explosions for nearly three decades. But come early for Dan Selzer, one of New York’s great middle-age musickers, an Italo and danceable post-punk smartie who doesn;t DJ out nearly often enough and once-upon-a-time published a list of great off-beat shows just like I do now. (NY Happenings 4eva!). Also: Weird Science co-founder, Andrius. (Sun 5/4, 4p @ secret location, East W’burg - $35)

IMHO, this is how community politics and music is supposed to work: Peter Kerlin (of the excellent ambient-psyche duo Animal, Surrender!) got musicians in the community to support the NYC City Council campaign of Alexa Avilés, who now happens to be the only sitting Democratic Socialist on the council. Sunday afternoon is a show saluting the campaign’s volunteers, where Animal, Surrender! will be joined by Ana Egge and a little-big band version of the mighty 75 Dollar Bill in Mama Tried’s backyard. Weather-permitting. (Sun 5/4, 4:30p @ Mama Tried, Sunset Park - $uggested)

One of the long-time cornerstones of Chicago/LA’s globally beloved International Anthem label, Ben LaMar Gay is (in my humble opinion) one of its true-genius old-souls/unstoppable futurists. Yowzers, the new album he’s dropping June, which this Pique-nique-produced night celebrates, is an unambiguous display of Ben as blues-man, creative musician, globalist champion and community homey. In other words, he’s one of the best we have, so watch his space. Highest Recommendation! (Mon 5/5, 7p @ Light & Sound Design Studio, Greenpoint - FREE with RSVP)

MORE RECOMMENDED EVENTS:

• BadBadNotGood + Baby Rose (Thurs 5/1, 8p @ Knockdown Center, Maspeth - $$$) - one of jazz’s excellent hip-hop-informed super-groups follow-up a Blue Note stand with a big-ass room show. Get there early for the excellent Atlanta soul singer that BBNG produces.

• House Of Grooves: Eli Escobar + Ultra Violet (Fri 5/2, 10p @ House of Yes, Bushwick - $23-$35) - a superior Bklyn residency, featuring two of the city’s great DJs, Manhattanite Eli with his endless styles, and Bronx’s Carlita with the Dominican-informed house and club bangers.

• Family Biz: Groove Hard, Nap Later feat. Ali Coleman + Miss Alicia + Special Guest (Sat 5/3, 3p @ Friends & Lovers, Crown Heights - $TK) - a family-friendly afternoon dancing excursion with two-plus excellent DJs at the excellent bar on Clausson? Intriguing.

• Soul Connection (Sat 5/3, 7p @ Xanadu, Bushwick - $32) - Honey Bun and Lovie’s house party goes skating — with special guest, Bridge.

• Bob Vylan (Sat 5/3, 8p @ TV Eye, Ridgewood - $18adv/$20) - exceptional punk rock-meets-grime London duo, with tunes

• Cities Aviv + Mary Jane Dunphee + Dissensus (Sat 5/3, 8p @ Night Club 101, Manhattan - $15-$20) - exceptionally diverse triple-bill featuring one of the great experimental rapper/producers, a poet-vocalist whose sung on some exceptional electronic and punk records, and a metal-jazz trio.

• Julius Rodriguez (Sat 5/3, 10p @ Apollo Cafe, Uptown - $$$) - piano prodigy plays Harlem

• Pearson Sound + Anthony Naples (Sat 5/3, 10:30p @ Basement, Maspeth - $28) - inside a typically crowded Saturday night bill in Maspeth’s techno dungeon, some classic UK bass, and a New Yorker informed by it.

• Fight at the Opera: A Talking Heads Drag Wrestling Show (Mon 5/5, 8p @ Purgatory, Bushwick - $13) - I have not been to this queer performance space since it first opened in early 2024, but boy am I curious as to what a “drag show set to the music of the Talking Heads” in a “royal rumble format” featuring “David Byrne look-alike runway contest” is like.

• Devo: 50 Years Of De-evolution...continued! (Tues 5/6, 8p @ Brooklyn Paramount, Downtown Bklyn - ) - speaking of great bands from a long gone era…