Bklyn Sounds 6/26/2024—7/2/2024
This Week's Shows include 'NYC In C' / Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe / Nu Jazz / Moodymann / 'Temporary Day' / Fishbone + Son Rompe Pera / 'Soup & Sound 200' / 'The Donut Lounge' / Smokey Robinson / + more
Lotsa deadlines in the summer heat impeding the non-listing writing. Plus, in addition to yesterday’s announcement about the Dada Strain SoundCloud, I’ve got other things to let you know about later this week, so the paywall down stays down. Go check out the great community events, and the great FREE events taking place all over the city.
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This Week’s Shows:
Where he began his career in progressive indie-rock circles of Chicago, over the last decade+ Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe has brought his work with voices, modular synths and related machines into the world of film soundtracks (acclaimed score for Candyman and Grasshopper Republic) and of organic, spatial circumstances. It’s more other-worldly than ambient. Wednesday night, via Lincoln Center’s summer-long Dream Machine Experience, Lowe is presenting Organisms in Flux, which he describes as a “natural conversation between complex electrical systems—one metal machine and one soft machine.” (Wed 6/26, 7:30p @ David Rubinstein Atrium, Lincoln Center, Manhattan - FREE)
Baltimore quartet Horse Lords plays a minimalist-trance-jazz-math-rock that has never been less than a powerful, white-boy-funky blast live; and based on the crowd it had at Big Ears, it's gaining favor with more and more folks. At Le Poisson Rouge, the group is playing in-the-round. On an all-around strong bill with harp-violin duo LEYA, and the inimitable saxophonist Zoh Amba. (Wed 6/26, 8p @ Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan - $30adv/$35)
While saluting the opening of a new roller-disco in Bklyn, I have to note that calling the space Xanadu seems a little obvious to those of us of a certain age (RIP Olivia). But maybe that’s the point. Nomenclature gripe aside, ain’t nothing wrong with having Moodymann, whose Detroit Soul Skate parties have made him a patron-saint for multiple generations of ravers and skaters, open the joint up with his distinctive house boogie. Last tix still available at the time of writing. Also spinning will be DJ Arson and DJ-D. (Wed 6/26, 8p @ Xanadu Roller Arts, Bushwick - $25)
The musical evolution of Chief Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah) from “jazz trumpeter” to multi-instrumentalist visionary, NOLA community leader, and a contemporary American griot, has been a wonder. Last year’s Bark Out Thunder was one of the records of the year, but the last few studio albums have all been headed in a great rhythm-improvisation-community direction, establishing him as one o fhis generation’s greats. Blue Note may be a terrible place to hear an artist who encourages his audience to get up and dance, but hey, it’s the NYC spot he’s playing in nowadays, so consider this a bite-the-bullet situation. (Wed 6/26 - Sun 6/30, 8p & 10:30p @ Blue Note, Manhattan - $30-$45 + minimum)
Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s LA-based Jazz is Dead organization continues doing great work in bringing to the US originally disregarded, non-American jazz and improvising artists made more famous via hip-hop sampling — usually for overdue live debuts or rare appearances. This week, it’s Cortex, a French group whose 1975 album Troupeau Bleu has been the source for samples by everyone from MF Doom and Flying Lotus, to Tyler the Creator and Lil B. The album reissue has some choice bonus cuts too. Adrian Younge will DJ. (Thurs 6/27, 7:30p @ Damorosch Park, Lincoln Center, Manhattan - FREE)
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 the very Bklyn Daptone Records. On its new album, Caracoles, the orquesta is collaborating with the vocalist Kiko Ruiz, a veteran of the Buena Vista Social Club tours, doing a set of songs that harkens back to lush, mid-century mambo orchestras, more about gorgeous son cubano melodies than about rhythm power. Mickey Pérez will DJ. (Fri 6/28, 7p @ Sultan Room, Bushwick - $35)
The enfants terrible of Brazil’s famed Tropicalia movement of musical modernists, Os Mutantes and its mix of bossa nova/MBP melodies, art-school avant-garde moves and anti-authoritarian postures have influenced an oversized chunk of musicians over the past quarter-century. The “reunited” band has long included only one original Mutante, Sergio Dias—Arnaldo Baptista left the reunion in 2007, and Rita Lee never joined, passing away in 2023. Yet its catalog of psychedelic pop with a heavy dollop of absurdist sonic politics, remains a gold standard. Opening is NYC’s Pinc Louds, a similarly minded theatrical folk-pop commentator. (Fri 6/28, 8p @ Brooklyn Bowl, Williamsburg - $30)
Based in Nashville, Michael Rich Ruth is a multi-instrumentalist as attuned to Music City’s fading Cosmic Americana strains as to the spiritual kosmische music of the oncoming moment, all wrapped up in a kind of post-jam-band package. Never seen Ruth live, but his recordings at times find the transcendence they’re reaching for. Opening is the local duo of pedal-steel player JR Bohannon and drummer/percussionist Greg Fox, two of the best we’ve got, who’ll definitely find their moments. (Fri 6/28, 8p @ Union Pool, Williamsburg - $15)
Temporary Day is a 12-hour show of young DIY artists and bands (along with a couple of established stringers) from around the NYC community, mostly indie-rock-, punk- and singer-songwriter-oriented. Amost more importantly, it’s a fundraiser for Temporary State University, “a new nonprofit organization dedicated to training the next generation of New Yorkers how to throw their own shows in a way that is fun, fair, and safe!” Programs like Temporary State feel like a crucial continuation of a moment at the core of Dada Strain’s purpose: the need to put on your own events and document your own culture, and their inherent connection to the creation and sustainability of arts communities not for commercial profit or aesthetic exploration, but for social engagement, ceremony and group ritual. I keep using the term “musicking,” which seems to have become a butt of some well-intentioned jokes of late. Yet I truly believe that participation in the creation of such experiences, and the communal work that doing so requires, is at the core of surviving our current rotting platforms/institutions/planet era. Schedule of bands on the site. Good Luck TSU! (Sat 6/29, Noon @ 685 Woodward, Ridgewood - $10-$15 NOTAFLOF)
Smokey Robinson at the Apollo Theater on a Saturday night — honestly, what else do you need to know? “Tracks of My Tears” is prolly the greatest song ever written, a hill that on some days I am 100% ready to die on. (And that’s just one of…how many?) Smokey is 84, and is a kind of deity. And, given the opportunity, you should always listen to the voice of God at least once in your life. Caveat: cheapest ticket is $75. Caveat2: it’ll be money well-spent if you have it. (Sat 6/29, 8p @ Apollo Theater, Manhattan - $75 - really expensive)
Just off its inaugural European tour, the screamo punk dub improvising quintet, Nu Jazz returns to New York via a (seemingly) house show uptown, near Columbia. Not sure of the context, but it’s a perfect opportunity to hear the group in its element. April saw the release of an excellent live album that has guest turns from Jason Lindner, Alfredo Colon and Idris Frederick, and the group’s comfort with integrating fellow sonic radicals is among the reasons no Nu Jazz shows should be missed. One of New York’s most unique bands, by a mile. Sharing a mad bill with legendary downtown choreographer, dancer and conceptualist, Yoshiko Chuma, as well as Prince Palace + a flamenco troupe. (Sat 6/29, 8p @ 526 West 114th, Manhattan - $15)
I have never been, but I have been told over and over, including by folks who run other beat nights, that The Donut Lounge monthly is the best new hip-hop beats show in the city. Four hours of producers showing off their skills—this time including Fuhhrare, JHershey, Hanabii, Walter Vigoh, and others—followed by two hours of open decks. This is a discovery vibe and the Wonderville price is right! Finally in town for one, so hopefully see you there. (Sat 6/29, 8p @ Wonderville, Bushwick - FREE)
Rumor has it that Fishbone is retiring after this tour. I’ll believe it when I see it. The four-decades-young Los Angelenos, still led by Angelo Moore and Norwood Fisher, whose punk, funk, ska, dub, truth and soul once defined future possibility, has maybe outstayed its legend. But at any given moment, they are capable of moments of beauty and power (there’s two incredible tunes on their self-titled 2023 EP), which is what happens when your musical intentions never waver. And it’s a perfect Prospect Park double-bill, as CDMX’s cumbia-punk upstarts, Son Rompe Pera, share the ‘bone’s manic punk-meets-old-tradition energy. A cross-generational show in the best way possible. (Sat 6/29, 7:30p @ Celebrate Brooklyn, Prospect Park - FREE)
As I keep publishing Dada Strain and find more+more incredible NYC musickers doing great work out of the spotlight, secret heroes emerge. Drummer Andrew Drury is one. Soup & Sound 200 celebrates the two hundredth iteration of Drury’s pretty simple concept for shows: intimate spaces (often homes), hosting improvised music, accompanied by bowls of soup (free with entrance). I’ve seen some incredible music at Soup & Sound, and this edition’s relatively big, string-heavy band—DoYeon Kim (gayageum), Sarah Bernstein and Gwen Laster (violins), Melanie Dyer (viola), Tessa Brinckman (flute), Sarah Highes (multi-winds), Mara Rosenbloom (piano) and Andrew on percussion—seems like it will be another. (Sun 6/30, 4p @ 292 Lefferts, Prospect-Lefferts - $20)
Terry Riley’s minimal classic, “In C,” is one of those 20th century compositions that the knowing masses can’t get enough of (why it gets staged multiple times a year), and many great musicians like to try their hands at (many, just once - others, over and over). It’s easy, it’s droney, it’s (a minimalist composer version of) funky, it’s conceptual, it’s unexpected, it’s both endlessly changing and exact. If you’re a regular Dada Strain reader, you’ll recognize so many members of Sunday’s Nick Hallett-and Zach Layton-directed ensemble, entitled NYC In C, you may think this is an all-star cast. And, basically, it is. Fun for the whole family! (Sun 6/30, 8p @ Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, Manhattan - FREE)
I don’t have a seat on the “Zamrock” bandwagon of W.I.T.C.H., a ‘70s/’80s Zambian rock band whose prominence was fueled by Now-Again Records’ reissue of its catalog a decade ago, which is meant to be an aesthetic judgment. The group’s psychedelic garage soul is perfect for a myriad of dance-floors, DJ sets and public radio-attuned new musical movements. It’s easy to hear the attraction. (A 2021 documentary on W.I.T.C.H. stirred the pot even more.) Original W.I.T.C.H. singer "Jagari" Chanda, the group’s only surviving member, has put together a new band of mostly European players, and, by most credible reports, they rock. Also on the bill: Rahill and Rogê. (Sun 6/30, 8p @ Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan - $30adv/$35)
Hypersurface is a new trio consisting of guitarist Drew Wesely, cellist Lester St. Louis, and percussionist Carlo Costa. According to its bio, Hypersurface "create a music that puts emphasis on the erasure of sonic boundaries, embracing the liminal spaces between their instruments, their sounds and the greater sonic environment." Qiujiang Levi Lu, at times one-half of Warp Duo, is a performance artist, experimental improviser and sonic technologist, who makes sounds with self-built machines often augmented by his own body. Also on the bill: Windscour. (Tues 7/2, 7p @ Sleepwalk, Bushwick - $12)