Bklyn Sounds 8/14/2024—8/20/2024

This Week's Shows include: Helado Negro / Lovie's 'Present Sounds' / Theo Parrish / Toribio + A.B.E.L.A / Webber Morris Big Band / UG/NG / Amirtha Kidambi & Elder Ones + Nu Jazz / Oruã / much more

Clockwise from top left: Helado Negro, Lovie, Theo Parrish, Toribio.

In-and-out of town so the paywall stays down. An inordinate amount of great local stuff going down on Thursday, including the rescheduling of part of a Dada Strain show rained out last week. Scroll down for the details.

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The Week In Shows:

RAIN-OUT MAKE-UP 1: On the Friday night that Meshell Ndegeocello was supposed to play a triumphant homecoming show at Celebrate Brooklyn, a celebration of her dope released-that-day album No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, on what happened to be Baldwin’s centennial birthday, the skies opened up and drenched the heat-stroked borough. On my way back home from the canceled show I saw two rainbows over Flatbush Avenue. The universe spoke. So did Meshell. On Wednesday, Ndegeocello, one of the artists most crucially guiding Dada Strain over the past five years, goes again. Highest Recommendation seems barely enough. (Wed 8/14, 7p @ Celebrate Brooklyn, Prospect Park - FREE) 

Please welcome back from a three-year hiatus, the Webber Morris Big Band, a wonderfully massive brass- and woodwinds-heavy group led by the wonderful Bklyn musickers, reedists and composers Angela Morris and Anna Webber. The Big Band’s 2020 album Both Are True was a lockdown favorite, just trad enough in terms of its jazz-ensemble power, just atonally oddball-leaning to not get stuck in the mud. First gig in ages implies there’s new music, right? (Wed 8/14, 7:30p + 9:30p @ Jazz Gallery, Manhattan - $25-$35)

RAIN-OUT MAKE-UP 2: Mother Nature also wasn’t kind to last week’s Dada Strain-curated Ritmo, Improvisación, Electricidad show scheduled to take place as part of the free Thursdays Backyard Jam series. Competing logistics meant we couldn’t rebook them all together, but it made for a couple of great super-bills: the first is this week, when the mighty electronic drum troupe A.B.E.L.A. (Asociación de Bateristas ElektrónikXs de Latinoamerika) and one of the city’s best party DJs, Toribio, join the unofficial mayor of Bklyn Sounds, DJ Spinna for a lively night under the stars. Highest Recommendation! (Thurs 8/15, 6p @ Industry City, Sunset Park - FREE)

Speaking of great NYC DJs… I’ve been following Lovie over the past couple of years because we run in concentric community circles, lots of wonderful people and experiences in common. Her ability to bring the dance-floor into deep spaces is well-known, but tonight she tries something deeper (or, at least, something I’ve never heard her do): Present Sounds, the great deep-listening night at my favorite sound loft in Greenpoint. Based on her excellent The Lot Radio show, there’s little chance this doesn’t get vibey! (Thurs 8/15, 7p @ Light and Sound.Design, Greenpoint - $15-$30 w/RSVP)

On an initial, performing visit from its home base in Rio de Janeiro, the decade-old quartet Oruã describes itself as “poor man’s jazz” and “working-class krautrock.” Oruã’s brand-new album, PASSE, splits the difference between post-punk drone and outward-bound shoegaze in a way that would excite any admirer of classic-rock-leaning ‘90s indie heroes, or the fuzzy global psychedelics of Dungen. Also: Dad Bod. (Thurs 8/15, 7p @ Trans-Pecos, Ridgewood - $TK) 

UG/NG is the NYC-based rhythm-minded electronics duo of Yuji Kawaski (who co-founded the late, lamented JOY party) and Nao Gunji (of the Abstract_Architecture project with house hero Satoshi Tomiie). They’re putting out their second excellent EP on Kawasaki’s Improper Touch label, and celebrating its release with a live debut performance at the dope Bushwick record store with the great soundsystem. Top-notch community shIt! Highest Recommendation!    (Thurs 8/15, 8p @ Second Hand Records, Bushwick - $20 w/RSVP)

I haven’t seen DJ Collette’s name listed in NYC in a minute. Back in the ‘90s and early-’00s, she was part of an excellent all-women’s Chicago house collective called Superjane, who’s history some enterprising writer/editor really should resuscitate, cause that is a history that matters. Of the Superjanes, I remember Collette veering towards the “pop shit” (she’d add live vocals and her own songs to sets) but with a jacking fluidity that made even that sound fresh AF. Kudos to the Ladiez Drink Free trio for bringing Collette to Bklyn; they’ll also play. (Thurs 8/15, 10p @ Bossa Nova Civic Club - $TK) 

The final MoMA PS1 Warm-Up of the season has an undeniable headliner, brother Kode9, the producer who co-founded London’s massive Hyperdub label, celebrating its 20th anniversary. (A slightly radicalized contemporary art museum is a perfect place for a Hyperdub session; maybe more on that soon…) Kode9 is joined by massive rhythmalist selector and Sao Paolo’s queer community musicker Cashu, whose sets are heavily under the influence of Brazilian drums. Also; the Miami duo SoFTT, and the tag-team of Bryce Barnes & Nunguja. (Fri 8/16, 4p @ PS1, Long Island City - $20-$25)

The Max Roach Centennial comes to Summerstage concerts with an excellent multi-generational tribute: M'Boom was Roach’s all-drums orchestra of the 1970s-‘80s, among his most assertive rhythm-improvisation-community projects. This tribute features M’Boom + Horns, led by original member Warren Smith, and longtime member Bobby Sanabria; the evening’s horns will include trumpeter Jimmy Owens and ex-Arkestra trombonist Craig Harris, among others. Opening is the Kojo Melché Roney Experience, a trio led by the young drumming prodigy who is next-gen of the great Roney family of jazz players. (Fri 8/16, 7p @ Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem - FREE)

Sometimes I’m not sure where to go with these clips because words don’t seem to be enough, and a musician’s (getting new age-y—sorry-not sorry) aura tells you more about their work than my scribbles ever could. Roberto Lange (aka Helado Negro) is an immense singer-songwriter and producer and musicker, thinker and humanist. He is a great artist in a way that isn’t simply descriptive, but a way of being. I got to know Lange outside his recorded work only a brief while before he decamped New York, but his glow continues to permeate my community regularly. But also: the Helado Negro groups and live shows are excellent in a way live “rock band” shows rarely are. And on this night he’s joined by the wonderful Julianna Barwick, with whom he made one of my favorite records of the ‘10s. Highest Recommendation! (Fri 8/16, 7p @ Knockdown Center, Maspeth - $35) Bonus beat: for those upstate or interested, Helado Negro is also doing a gig on Saturday at Storm King Art Center, which must be a great place to experience live music that thinks of itself as an performance. (Sat 8/17, 7p @ Storm King, New Windsor - $45/donor prices)

Escape at Paragon features an exceptional bill topped by a pair of producers whose leftfield tendencies make for wonderfully off-kilter soundsystem/dancefloor experiences. Montreal’s Marie Davidson is a cold wave-minded pop singer who can’t help but veer towards the industrial side of things. Kansas City-raised/Philly-based Huerco S builds fantasias out of ambient and techno and rock sounds, with musicological tendencies that use audio to explore history and meaning and connection. (Though he can rinse the minimal house too.) They’re joined by Paragon resident quest?onmarq who’s recently relocated to Berlin. In the basement: Niyah West and nextdimensional are two Bklynites excellent with the 4/4 vibes. (Fri 8/16, 10p @ Paragon, Broadway & Myrtle - $20)

Pretty sure the focus of Caótica is a (headlining?) set by the Venezuelan-in-Bklyn singer MPeach whose club sounds emanate from traditional Afro-Latin rhythms, and whose recent single, “Cosas Buenas,” bangs hard. She’s joined by two of the city’s finest global rhythm-minded DJs, Riobamba and Ushka. For the straights attending, please remember that the excellent Mood Ring is a queer-femme space, and your respectfulness matters. (Fri 8/16, 10p @ Mood Ring, Bushwick - $10/$15)

Kudos to whoever at MoMA is booking these Saturday late-afternoon, sculpture-garden sets, cause they ain’t fucking around with either originality or complexity of sound. Another incredible double-bill here, helmed by Jlin’s live-gear reconstructions of her footwork riddims-influenced, percussion compositions (drum machine minimalism at its finest). She’s backed by Suzi Analogue’s techno, which can go heavy and hard! In that concrete-surrounding environment, ear protection is advised. (Sat 8/17, 4p @ MoMA Sculpture Garden, Midtown Manhattan - Free w/museum entrance, $0-$30) 

It’s not easy to keep track of what the pioneers of early New York techno rave keep doing as they hit their sixth decade. I barely remember a time when Joey Beltram’s name wasn’t associated with the kind of throbbing acidic techno that is now, thankfully, one of the city’s great sounds — and not only “Energy Flash,” which is simply one of the greatest techno tracks of all-time. No place more perfect to hear Beltram detonate a dance-floor with it than the neighborhood techno lounge. Also: Lisas (Sat 8/17, 10p @ Bossa Nova Civic Club, Bushwick - $TK)

If this column was dull boy, every weekend’s Nowadays Nonstop would be recommended, as there’s always great DJs involved, luminaries, rare visitors and wonderful Bklyn’ites. But I try to save the Nonstop shout-outs for “Holy Sh*t” bills like this one, full of friends and legends rubbing shoulders. From DJ Tara’s opening, through Londoner Shy One, local Dominican-American Donis and the incomparable Toribio leading the party through the night, to Theo Parrish’s epic, Sunday morning/early afternoon congregation-raisers, this is a marathon you wanna run in-full. Good luck! Oh, and guesting alongside Eamon Harkin at Mister Sunday is one of the finest of Detroit’s expats, Carlos Souffront, who knows more about records than most of us ever will. Highest Recommendation! (Sat 8/17, 10p > Sun 8/18 ??? @ Nowadays, Ridgewood - $30)

Extra! Extra! This one came in right under the deadline… Dan Snaith—a.k.a. Caribou, a.k.a. Daphni—is apparently showing up at a block party on Jefferson, this Sunday afternoon and playing a four-hour set. When Dan is on he bangs hard, from deep Chicago-Detroit-Berlin-London cuts, to his own wonderful cut-ups, re-edits and soulful explorations. (Sun 8/18, Noon @ Bushwick Block Party - FREE)   

An Evening of Music & Comedy for Gaza that features a double-bill of my favorite punk-jazz groups scorching NYC ears at the moment. Amirtha Kidambi & Elder Ones, tonight with the mighty Ryan Sawyer on (additional?) drums, and the post-hradcore dub-minded improvisers of Nu Jazz. Also: comedians Fareeha Khan and Yedoye Travis. Free Palestine and Cease Fire Now! Highest Recommendation. (Sun 8/18, 8p @ Union Pool, Williamsburg - $20)

I’ve long wanted to do a column about great NYC musicians with weekly gigs that I don’t spotlight because they happen so damn regularly. Keyboardist Axel Tosca is one of those musicians: a Cuban immigrant who’s been in NYC for two decades now, all over various jazz records, music director of Louie Vega’s Latin-house-soul-gospel live band, a monster pianist for hire, whose Thursdays Cuban Jam at Zinc Bar is one of the best regular nights of music in the city. Tonight Tosca is at another classic Village spot, Arthur’s Tavern, where he commonly tickles ivories and listener souls. (Tues 8/20, 7p @ Arthur’s Tavern, Greenwich Village - FREE + $15minimum per set)