Bklyn Sounds 9/18/2024—9/24/2024

This Week's Shows Include: Black Quantum Futurism / Caterina Barbieri / 2 Many DJs / Kalia Vandever 'Unheard' / 'Public Service' season finale / Weak Signal / Kyle Hall + Ash Lauryn / more

Clockwise from upper left Caterina Barbieri, 2 Many DJs, Kalia Vandever, Rasheedah Phillips and Camae Ayewa of Black Quantum Futurism.

Some reporting I was doing for this week’s feature fell apart at the last minute. Which is fine. It can wait till next week. Included a bunch more listings instead instead.

If you’re a new reader, please subscribe to Dada Strain. If you’re a free subscriber, please consider upgrading your subscription. And please support your local musicians and musickers, independent venues, arts organizations and community broadcasters. They/We need it now more than ever. Again, thank you for reading, listening, following and supporting.

This Week’s Shows: 

Potential instant-legend double-bill. 71 year-old Carl Stone is a famed electronic musician from the artsy West Coast school (he studied with Morton Subotnick), whose electro-acoustic compositions were far more rhythmic, catchy and more ensemble-minded than his serialist-leaning counterparts. Stone also performed them live and made heady fun of the endeavor. YHWH Nailgun is a great young post-hardcore quartet with a livewire singer, which uses the Moog as a detonator. Highest Recommendation! (Wed 9/18, 7:30p @ Public Records, Gowanus - $25)

African-American Sound Recordings is the brilliant producer/collage-making moniker of Memphis- (or is it now Bklyn-?) based rapper Cities Aviv. Lo-fi trip-hop folk-art field-recording vibes, but make it funky (especially if the edible kicks in). The headliner is UK Brad, the music-making nom du musique of multimedia artist Bradley Kronz. (Wed 9/18, 7:30p @ Blank Forms, Clinton Hill - $15)

A week ago, I just started exploring the history of Belgian DJ NOSEDRIP (real name: Ziggy Devriendt), who runs the STROOM, a label that’s also a musicking art project. A week later, I am borderline obsessed by his mixes of musical exploration (some dancey, others deep listening), and how he weaves spoken words and sounds into sonic narratives. So, of course, the LSD Loft is the perfect place to experience what he’s got to “say.” Two local heavies on the bill too: Bryce Hackford playing live, and Dominika Mazurová spinning after. (Wed 9/18, 8p @ Light and Sound.Design Studios, Greenpoint - RSVP and $20-$30 - use the code DADA20 for an additional 20% discount) 

Now this is what I call thrilling popular-experimental music. To my ears, the Italian modular-synth queen Caterina Barbieri makes sounds at the intersection of cosmic expansiveness and classical beauty, simultaneously minimalist and maximalist. London-based drummer/improviser Valentina Magaletti collaborates with free-jazz players and jungle producers, both to incredible effect. And the Japanese sound-artist Fuji|||||||||||ta’s taste for instrument-making and the natural world as a formula for creating previously unheard sounds, have made him a hero to The Wire crowd. (Thurs 9/19, 7p @ Knockdown Center, Maspeth - $35)

Guitar ideologies from around the world. Hailing from Agadez, Niger, where it is purported to be one of the city’s most popular wedding bands, Etran De L'Aïr is the latest Touareg guitar band making Desert Rock waves in the U.S. Sahel Sounds-backed (s/o Chris Kirkley), the group’s new album 100% Sahara Guitar was recorded in Portland and LA. L'Aïr is joined by 75 Dollar Bill, one of the city’s finest practitioners of polyrhythmic guitar music, especially when expanding from its core (founders, drummer Rick Brown and guitarist Che Chen) into an oft-malleable big band. If that’s not enough, there’s also Elias Ronnenfelt, singer for the Danish punks Iceage, who in time-worn fashion, seems to have discovered acoustic country-rock. Nickodemus also DJing all night. (Thurs 9/19, 7:30p @ Brooklyn Bowl, Williamsburg - $35)

What post-hardcore fusion means in 2024: Schism is a new quartet, with two bassist (Anna Abondolo and Simon Hanes) and two drummers (Jon Starks and Matt Bent) playing what can’t be more than their third or fourth gig; but videos from May’s performance at David Watson’s Striped Light series are awesome. Nu Jazz is my favorite rave-jazz punk-dub group in the city, and I’m gonna promote each of their f*cking gigs until more people get it! (Thurs 9/19, 10p @ Nublu, Loisaida - $20)