Bklyn Sounds 7/17/2024—7/23/2024

This Week's Shows Include: isabel crespo pardo x The Stone / Arushi Jain x 29 Speedway / Lafayette Gilchrist / Irreversible Entanglements + Shara Lunon / Juana / 79rs Gang / and much more

Clockwise from top left: Lafayette Gilchrist, Irreversible Entanglements, isabel crespo pardo and Arushi Jain

I’m out of town for much of the next couple of weeks so the paywall stays down. Recharging for what’s to come — some of it inevitably beautiful, some of it likely brutal. The only thing we can do is not give up.

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This Week’s Shows:

Three excellent prog-fusion-metal-noise trios. For me, the centerpiece here is New Zealand-expat electric shredder Sally Gates’ Trio with saxophonist Zoh Amba and drummer Brian Chase, a loud, free-improv Bklyn Sounds supergroup. (Wish they’d record something soon.) There’s also Bassoon, led by veteran bassist Staurt Popejoy, which falls somewhere between stoner-metal and math-rock; and PAK, one of veteran guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Ron Anderson’s many loud, time-change-heavy projects. (Wed 7/17, 8p @ Main Drag Music, Williamsburg - $15) 

I first learned of drummer Vinnie Sperrazza through his exquisite music writing. Which then, thankfully, led to my discovery of his expansive sphere of influence as a player. This week he’s got two different, magnificent Quartets with bassist Vicente Archer out and about: one features pianist Ethan Iverson and saxophonist Stacy Dillard (Wed 7/17, 9p & 10:15p @ Bar LunAtico, Bed-Stuy - $10suggested); the other has Ravi Coltrane on tenor saxophone and Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet (Tues 7/23, 7p @ Barbès, Park Slope - $20suggested). Both in wonderful small Bklyn rooms. Support your local jazz clubs, and players. (Also, subscribe to Vinnie’s Chronicles.)

When isabel crespo pardo and I first met about a year ago, I knew them as a bewildering Latinx torch-folk-jazz vocalist, which is what isa primarily is. Over the past year though, it’s become clear that isa’s artistry only begins with vocal performances. Their work as a conceptualist—of operatic, theatrical staging; and as an arranger of improvised sound (most obviously with the magnificent sinonó project)—is something I am still trying to wrap my head around, regularly floored by it. Their residency at The Stone should bring all this very clearly to light: Wednesday (17th), isa is solo on piano + electronics; Thursday (18th) in a duo with Chris Williams on trumpet + electronics; Friday (19th) in a quartet with guitarist Emmanuel Michael, plus multi-instrumentalists Maya Keren and Selendis Sebastian Johnson Alexander; and Saturday (20th), with the mighty sinonó, bassist Henry Fraser and Lester St. Louis on cello + electronics. (Wed 7/17 - Sat 7/20, 8:30p @ The Stone, New School, Manhattan - $20)

Trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson is also popping up in drummer Chad Taylor’s (new and mostly Philly-based) Quintet, with Bryan Rogers (tenor saxophone), Victor Viera-Branco (vibes), and Matt Engle (bass). As anyone who’s followed Taylor’s work since his time in Chicago—prbably best-known with the Chicago Underground Duo/Trio/Quartet/Orchestra and but also in the house group at Fred Anderson’s legendary Velvet Loung—he’s among the best we’ve got, always searching with his music, keeping time and subverting it. This Quintet is likely to be somewhat straight-ahead, but also…not really. (Thurs 7/18, 7;30p & 9:30p @ Jazz Gallery, Manhattan - $25-$35)   

One of the beauties of following all of the various things that Wendy Eisenberg does with music (incredible free guitar player, great singer-songwriter, broad-minded sound conceptualist) is seeing how they bring their cross-pollinating skillset into different spaces built for a particular things. So figure that Eisenberg’s set at The Owl will be solo and all-new quiet vocal songs—but don’t necessarily bet on it. Also: pianist/composer Eyes Of Love (Andréa Schiavelli), great local guitarist/arranger Sammy Weissberg’s String Quartet and singer-songwriter Evan Wright. (Thurs 7/18, 8p @ The Owl, Prospect-Lefferts - $15suggested) 

The folks at 29 Speedway have been turning me onto new music (most but not exclusively “Bklyn Sounds”) for a couple of years now. They’ve been collaborating on occasional events with Conditioner since last year, and their Nowadays debut is packed with massive talent. Arushi Jain is a (formerly?) NYC-based South Asian modular synth wiz and vocalist whose Under the Lilac Sky LP has been in heavy rotation in Dada-land since its 2021 release. (There’s also a new one.) Electronics-fluent folk-soul singer-songwriter Contour (Khari Lucas) is a star in the making; and techno-minded live-electronics player Isabella Koen teaches machine-music racket-making at Berklee. this live music will be augmented by DJ sets: Daytona 500 (DJ DEADNAME b2b Eva Loveless) and Drumloop. A great night for fresh ears. (Thurs 7/18, 10p @ Nowadays, Ridgewood - $20)

I almost did not notice New York’s classic summer dance-party, MOMA PS1’s Warm-Up, returning last week. It’s now somewhat scaled-back from the Saturday evening bacchanalia it achieved pre-2020, but the new/global/electronic-music bookings seem no less ambitious. Atop this week’s bill is the bass+dembow futurist tag-team of Nick León b2b DJ Python; just below are veteran experimental beat-heads under new aliases, Safety Trance (actually Venezuelan producer Luis Garbàn, long-known by his IDM-meets-jungle nom, Cardopusher) and Lolina (a.k.a. Inga Copeland, longtime Dean Blunt foil, and one-half of the legendary Hype Williams). Also: the extra-digital, extra-noisy FITNESSS. (Fri 7/19, 4p @ MOMA PS1, Long Island City - $17-$20)

I first stumbled upon the music of Chicagoan-in-D.C. Juana during lockdown, exploring the short-lived but incredible output of Vanity Press Recordings. Her 2020 Floating EP lives in that hard-to-achieve sweet-spot between house and techno, just heavy and dark enough, but also swinging like a MF. I keep missing Juana’s NYC gigs, which are regular and always lovingly remarked upon, but tonight promises an All Night Long set, and Lord knows those are the nights when legends are born. (Fri 7/19, 10p @ Nowadays, Ridgewood - $10-$25)

How has it been 10 years since Eric Garner’s murder by the NYPD? Issue Project Room presents a performance commemorating that moment in time, the many things that it’s spawned, and the too-few things that have changed: “To Breathe Is Triumph” will feature music by the only jazz-punk band that matters now, Irreversible Entanglements, in collaboration with the great vocalist-futurist-technologist-improviser Shara Lunon. Highest Recommendation! (Sat 7/20, 8p @ First Unitarian Congregational Society, Brooklyn Heights - $25) Earlier in the day, IE’s mighty vocalist Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) is at MOMA with DJ Haram, but also (maybe) other IE members. (Earlier listings have, and the event bio still has, the band included.) (Sat 7/20, 4p @ MOMA Sculpture Garden, Manhattan - FREE with museum admission)

New Orleans’ 79rs Gang bring together seemingly disparate sides of that city’s Black-music culture: the bounce hip-hop rap-flows and production, the Mardi-Gras Indian couplets and tambourine rhythms, plus the jazz second-line drumming and brass. Often, these types of fusions are a crap-shoot. But the way their 2020 album Expect the Unexpected takes the music into obvious spaces, is vibrant AF. I can hear this explode in the tiny Barbès. (Sat 7/20, 10p @ Barbès, Park Slope - $20)

The last night of the Brooklyn Cumbia Festival has a nice diverse triple-bill for the knowing stans of the world’s greatest, most malleable dance-rhythm. Houston duo Gio Chamba brings the electronic-meets-tropical cumbia vibes, East LA’s Spaghetti Cumbia give it a psychedelic, garage-punk flavor; and Dada fave Mickey Pérez will DJ the shit out of great cumbia (and adjacent) records before, between and after. (Sat 7/20, 11p @ TV Eye, Ridgewood - $20)

The best-known crew in Chicago footwork, Teklife, is throwing a Summer Party at the classic loft space at the most hectic Saturday-night intersection in Bklyn. Chi’s DJ Spinn, Chi-to-NYC-transplant DJ Manny, and Tampa’s TCJ (Trigger City Juke) are on the bill. Guests are also promised. Feels proper. (Sat 7/20, 11p @ Market Hotel, Broadway & Myrtle - $20)

This will be the last opportunity to see Dada pals Barbie and Paul Love Injection before they take a much-deserved break from live shows. (They’ll still be on The Lot Radio every Saturday morning.) In the Public Records outdoor Nursery on a July afternoon, they split time with fellow post-Loft traditionalists, Nita and Will The Carry Nation. Classic-NYC-meets-next-generation, disco+ energy. (Sun 7/21, 2p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $20-$30)

Another Sunday, another great free Summer Thunder show at Union Pool, this one featuring one of my all-time favorites. Back in the peak-alt ‘90s Mary Timony’s Helium was tough-girl indie-punk music with crisp songwriting. (1994’s lo-fi-ish The Dirt of Luck is a forgotten classic of the era. Highest Recommedantion!) By century’s end, Timony had emerged as a psychedelic/prog guitar heroine of the highest order, and her ensuing career (including time in bands like Wild Flag and Ex Hex) has seen her split the difference. The recent Untame the Tiger is as full of great songs and riffs and playing, as the many albums she’s made. Considering the name, I’d expect Mary Timony Band’s set-list to reach across that vast catalog. Also: Whisper State. (Sun 7/21, 2p @ Union Pool, Williamsburg - FREE)

New Party Alert! Solar System is a new Sunday afternoon park jam centered around Echoic hi-fi system “powered by batteries charged with solar energy and buttressed by on-site panels…offering a glimpse of a smaller, more sustainable musical future.” (How f*cking cool???) The Solar System residents are A Tripp and Abelson Live, the guests at #5 are producer Max In The World performing with saxophonist Kroba, and the great producer JWords, who this week dropped a massive new techno EP. Lotsa excellent energy emanating from these folks. (H/T Yung Jake.) (Sun 7/21, 2p @ Highland Park, Ridgewood - FREE)

The excellent community musicking organization, Brooklyn Raga Massive, is throwing a free Festival as part of the Brooklyn Social Justice Fund’s Counterpoint series, out in front of the big arena at Atlantic & Flatbush. There will be a kids program at the beginning, then Ragini Ensemble paying tribute to South Asian diasporic roots, a raga-minted psychedelic rock band (Quadrature), and a performance of “In D,” BRM’s tribute to a Terry Riley classic they’ve also done. (Sun 7/21, 2:30p @  New York Liberty Plaza at Barclays Center, Atlantic & Flatbush - FREE) 

My context for Baltimore pianist Lafayette Gilchrist’s music was far-flung from the get-go: the above track feature in David Simon’s forever-prescient The Wire, his playing in David Murray’s various bands, and with other free-minded East Coasters (he’s on William Parker’s incredible Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield). Gilchrist’s own playing is full of soul and funk and barrelhouse, free-spirited New Orleans jazz-blues and D.C. go-go, qualities which he brings to NYC much-too rarely. This trio with bassist Luke Stewart and drummer Russell Carter will be fire. Highest Recommendation! (Sun 7/21, 6p @ Joe’s Pub, Manhattan - $30+minimum) 

More high-level jazz-type work at local neighborhood clubs. Tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby has gathered quite the Quartet for this LunAtico gig, with regular battery-mates alto Tim Berne and drummer Tom Rainey, but also bassist Brandon Lopez joining in. The level of musicianship is crazy! (Sun 7/21, 9p & 10:15p @ Bar LunAtico, Bed-Stuy - $10suggested)

Luke Stewart and Lester St. Louis’ crucial monthly series, Assembly, hits show #19 with a massive line-up: Bassoonist, electronic musician and gospel singer Joy Guidry (whose Amen is among the year’s finest albums), tap-dancer/percussionist Melissa Almaguer, no wave multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Alex Zhang Huntai (a.k.a. Dirty Beaches), and DJ sounds from the inimitable Kamau Patton. (Mon 7/22, 8p @ Sisters, Fulton Street - $20)

Tropical Vortex, the cumbia- and Afro-Latin-minded Monday events at Barbès, showcase NYC’s excellent (and like-minded) Names You Can Trust label. Live music from drummer-turned-one-man-Latin-funk-band, Caito Sanchez, and the big-band Cuban soul of La Triunfadora. DJ sounds from Vortex resident Sonido Cchichadelico, as well as Tropical Past and Future’s Adrian Is Hungry and Little Dynasty, the latter also happens to be one of the main men behind NYC Trust. All in the family! (Mon 7/22, 10p @ Barbès, Park Slope - $15suggested)