Bklyn Sounds: Making Sense of Our Own Death Disco + Live Music Choices 9/24-9/30

This Week: Hiro Kone/Robert Lowe/jaimie branch, Yaya Bey/Grand Daddy I U, Roy Ayers/Ron Trent, Lea Bertucci/Ben Vida, Mac McCaughan/75 Dollar Bill, Anne Waldman/William Parker, a great essay +

I’ve spent much of the past week reading and re-reading a piece of writing that darts around a few of the central concerns on which Bklyn Sounds and Dada Strain were founded. Published in last week’s New York Times Magazine, Carina del Valle Schorske’s essay, “Dancing Through New York in a Summer of Joy and Grief,” is an exquisitely odd bird for that publication — and not simply because it regards the practice and rituals of social dancing as something worth exploring with layered depth, rather than as a set-piece of the latest fashionable party, or momentarily boldface scene. (Though of course, as anyone spiritually invested in the culture knows, clubs are great when they’re those things too - just not when they’re defined as only those.) 

The essay centers on our historical moment, and blends del Valle Schorske’s personal experience with that of a community that will seem very familiar to Dada Strain subscribers. It is ostensibly how the loneliness caused by the pandemic’s distncing and quarantine reawakened our desire to be with others. But not just people’s need for simple contact, but for mass movement in improvised unison, for socially engaging rhythm, and for devising instants of momentary intimacy, locking into primordial practices of celebration and mourning. (And if that sounds kinda like sex, well…”I wanted my body to influence and be influenced by other bodies...a vectors of pure feeling,” Carina writes in the midst of one great dancefloor scenes, of which there are a few.)

In her telling, dance rhythms are stories of migration (of, as my colleague Jason King likes to say, “roots and routes”). Dance is a through-line of history, from Black Death to Civil Rights and beyond, acknowledging the rebellion of the living - and the presence of dead. As Carina’s own narrative unfolds, dance becomes a non-temporal map of New York City parties, DJs and records, a magnet towards ecstasies of enchantment taking place throughout the boroughs, in parks and clubs, on rooftops and boats, in crevices of time both recent and long gone. All these serve to position dance as a lens through which to look at the tragedy of this just-passed summer, its early promise and its descent into a now-familiar mercilessness - all without forgetting to “find an opportunity in error,” the accidental transcendence that trance states invite for a visit.   

In 1979, Public Image Ltd., John Lydon’s excellent post-punk concern, released a dubby industrialized dance track called “Death Disco.” As a young person, long before record collecting and streaming and deep listening ruined my life (kidding/not kidding), I only knew it as a song-title in an album review. But it was my first instance of making a connection between mourning and social dancing, trance and transitions states, a connection I subsequently and repeatedly kept finding in music that I value deeply. Early in del Valle Schorske’s piece, she uses a Puerto Rican Spanish slang term, despojo, that has many contextual meanings but that she describes as “physical craving for spiritual catharsis.” I see a connection. Every generation gets a “death disco,” but only some are lucky enough to recognize it as such. Thanks to Carina’s piece, we get an incredible document of one corner of ours. 

Live Choices 9/24 - 9/30

Massive free show of artists mining the border of experimental electronic and improvisation music at Knockdown Center on Friday (9/24). The stacked bill features techno-not-techno composer/producer Hiro Kone, veteran electronic artist Robert AA Lowe (once better known under his Lichens name, and who just did the great soundtrack to Candyman); industrial music war horse Drew McDowall; and trumpeter jaimie branch, who also knows her way around machinery. (52-19 Flushing Ave., 6:30p, Free with RSVP)

A special conversation-meets-concert event at Friends & Lovers on Saturday (9/25). The soul singer Yaya Bey will play a super intimate show, sharing the stage with her father Ayub Bey, who also happens to be Grand Daddy I U, an NYC golden age of hip-hop notable (see “Something New”) but who can also be found on Biggie and Big L records. The night is hosted by journalist Timmhotep, so expect some historical knowledge to get rung too. Also: Run P is gonna play records. (641 Classon Ave., 8p, $15adv/$20)

The excellent Brooklyn selecter Dee Diggs is celebrating her birthday on Saturday night (9/25) at Jupiter Disco, as part of her regular House of Diggs party. On hand will be two other great young DJs: New York’s own Christian Tokyo, and making her Brooklyn debut (I think?), Detroit’s Ettta. Watch both their spaces! (1237 Flushing Ave., 10p Free before 11p/$10)

Glory Hallelujah! How is It’s The Rub, the hip-hop/mash-up/free-for-all party that DJs Ayers and Eleven (and gone but not forgotten Cosmo Baker) started...where, in the basement at APT?...15 friggin’ years-old? (And pre-pandemic, still pulling crazy crowds.) The anniversary jam on Saturday (9/25) at Bell House is also gonna have Hasan Insane and Petey Complex, so expect the sing-alongs to be loud, proud and messy. (149 7th St., 10p, $15)

Who does not love a free park jam with friends playing records you already know and like? That is exactly what ‘Doing It In The Park’ is all about. The long list of selecters scheduled to play on Sunday (9/26) in Greenpoint includes Chairman Mao, Monk-One, Hua Hsu, Ayanna Heaven, and other local vinyl smarties. Once it gets dark, they’re gonna screen “Summer of Soul” (with producer Joseph Patel on-hand). Also food, and good people. Based on the line-up, that last part is almost guaranteed. (470 Scott Ave., 2p, FREE)

Roy Ayers was supposed to play at Knockdown Center a few Sundays back, when one of those global warming thunderstorms rolled in and flooded those plans. One of the kings of Brooklyn vibes (both kinds), Ayers is gonna try it again this Sunday (9/26), and this time he’s got two killer DJs for support: Chicago-raised (and longtime NYC-loving) deep house legend Ron Trent, and gyal-about-town Belinda Becker. (52-19 Flushing Ave., 3p, $25)

Samer Ghadry is a spiritualist, a percussionist, and founder of Brooklyn’s Tone Center, a space for sound meditations. Yuka Honda is one of New York’s long-serving musical treasures, who’s played fractured alternative pop songs, extended freeform pieces, and a great variety of undefinable in-between forms. On Monday (9/27) at IRL, they’re uniting for an evening titled ‘Spontaneous Space,’ with promises of “improvisation, sonic sorcery, and textural decadence.” Strap in! (80 Franklin Ave., 8p, $20) 

Were you to check in on Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan, you’ll find him looking and sounding pretty fucking good for a “punk” whose been at it for three decades. His new solo The Sound of Yourself’ is more singer-songwriter than the ‘chunk’s recent return-to-loud albums, but it’s healthy for everyone in our generation to get shit off their chest — especially now. On Tuesday (9/28) at Union Pool, Mac’ll be joined by 75 Dollar Bill — sometimes a mixed-gen indie improv duo; sometimes a groove-laden, post-rock rhythm machine; and, on their day, one of the city’s finest live groups. (484 Union Ave., 8p, $20)

EDIT//UPDATE (9/27): According to Roulette’s website, Lea & Ben’s appearance has been postponed til January! As expected from the good folks at Roulette, an evening of wide-open possibilities on Wednesday (9/29). Lea Bertucci is a composer/multi-instrumentalist whose work with lyric-less voices, string instruments and tape delays has sketched a wide open sonic universe. The electronic composer Ben Vida used to make a variety of recordings that indie-minded critics tagged “post-rock” (see the excellent percussive madness of Bird Show); and while tags have changed, his appetite to go high and outside the popular norms hasn’t. Roulette says this is Lea and Ben’s first collaboration, and it’s one to look forward to. (509 Atlantic Ave, 8p, $25)

Issue Project Room and Brooklyn Books Festival are teaming up for what is potentially a pretty special event at the First Unitarian Congregational Society building in Brooklyn Heights on Thursday (9/30). Poet Anne Waldman, who’s worked with many improvisational musicians (including Don Cherry, Meredith Monk, and nephew, saxophonist Devin Brahja Waldman), will be performing her album Sciamachy accompanied by the excellent saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and legendary bassist William Parker, who helped record it. (119 Pierrepont St., 8p, $15)