New Dada Music_April 2023

Sounds + Links from Natural Information Society, Atiyyah Khan x Abdullah Ibrahim, DJ Finale, Eleanor x Black Rave Culture, Bill Orcutt Quartet, More Eaze, Yamäya, Mark Trecka, Paper Jays and more.

New Dada Music is an occasional (hopefully monthly) summary of releases I am shouting about on Dada Strain’s IG Stories and Twitter, with rhythm, improvisation and community as forever guiding lights. Through the years, people have asked me for Bandcamp Fridays recommendations, and because many of the releases I highlight are available there directly from the artist/label, it felt like a useful piece to add to the Dada Strain. (It also helps me keep a running tally - otherwise, I’m not good at lists.) Also included here are new live tapes, mixes and other musics that stood out. All texts are primarily copy-edits, fact-checks and minor amendments to the character-limited write-ups on Elon’s hellscape. Please support the artists, labels, independent musickers, and broadcasters who struggle against the algorithm and apathy. Thanks for reading and listening.

(April 2023 note: I was on vacation and struggling against deadlines a lot this month, so a few of these were new albums I *intended* to write up as New Music dailies, but now appearing here. Enjoy!)

Natural Information Society, Since Time Is Gravity (Eremite) - Newest from one of the best bands in the world, whose gravity and unique sound — mixing North and West African instrumentation, circular and drone minimalist composition ideas, and creative music improvisation practices — feels like one of our moment’s essential dance musics. Here, the core quartet is expanded to a large ensemble of underground Chicago “jazz” luminaries that sound like an Ethiopiques big-band. Holy Sh*t it’s wonderful!

DJ Finale, Mille Morceau (Nyege Nyege) - Yet another indescribably fun, electronic-rhythm album from a member of Kinshasa’s absolutely crucial Fuli Muziki collective (and released by the constantly reliable Nyege Nyege crew). By now, the rhythmic ingenuity is almost expected, but the melodic elements here — synths referencing elements of soukous, highlife, even township jive into synth-pop form — make this an affair for all. Tell your local DJ…

Eleanor, “Thin End of the Wedge” EP (Sorry) - A cross-Atlantic club-banger meeting, courtesy of a currently indispensable NYC label. Eleanor is a Sydney-born/London-based Rinse.FM regular, who made some nice gospel-vocal-sampling house action; then DC’s mighty trio, Black Rave Culture (Amal, James Bangura, DJ Nativesun), remixed it into two massive peak-time tunes.

More Eaze, Eternity (Longform Editions) One from the new set of Longform Editions (they get released 3-5 at a time), this one by the Austin, TX experimental pop/ambient producer-composer Mari Maurice. It’s a multi-part wonder, effortlessly unfurling — full of structured melodies, sprinkled with drum machines, found sounds, drone loops, and transcendent space.

Yamäya, Senegal (self-released) - An Afrobeat orchestra of London- and Brighton-based jazz-dance vets, led by Senegalese vocalist Khadim Sarr, Yamäya's secret sauce is in the crisp, powerful five-piece horn section, percussion corps, and charts that build and build. Swinging bangers found here.

Mark Trecka, Loping / gestures (Beacon Sound) - A spiritually warm collage-piece-meets-mixtape from upstate New York-based sound artist and organizer. Initially hit my radar because the glacial movement includes a jaimie branch mbira piece and a live collaboration with Raven Chacon, but Loping keeps giving in unexpected ways. Crying music.

Paper Jays, Asbestos Quote (self-released) - Rhode Island duo making post-Fahey Cosmic Americana folk-guitar weirdness through the hazy lens of lo-fi indie-rock home recordings. Gorgeous familiar melodies, repetitions and drones. Comfort-food music designed to leave you feeling uncomfortable — kinda like the American dream in reality.

Ammar 808, Super Stambeli EP (Shouka) - Tunisian producer Sofyann Ben Youssef’s newest is an immense expression of bass-heavy electro gnawa based on “stambeli,” a local spiritual music-and-dance ritual that purports to mix Islam and Yoruba practices. Heavy-ass, trance-inducing rhythm. North Africa to the future.

Domenico Lancellotti, Sramba (Mais Um) - A wonderful synth-heavy roots samba record from another scion of a great Brazilian musical family (Domenico played with others in The +2s), on which tradition and abstraction/avant-garde continuously rub up against one another. Gorgeous melodies and weird sonic choices as part of the musical whole.

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet, Live at Roulette (3/27/2023) - I don’t do regret but…I want back that Monday evening I was on-deadline rather than attending this magnificent show of heroic electric guitar minimalism. Orcutt’s quartet (L-R: Shane Parrish, Ava Mendoza Wendy Eisenberg) is absolutely on 🔥. Rhys Chatham eat your heart out. They’re on the West Coast this weekend. I would say, “run, don’t walk.”

Atiyyah Khan, Shukran Abdullah mix (J.A.W. x Wax Poetics, November 2022) - #LatePass. Atiyyah Khan is one of my favorite cultural writer-critics in South Africa (with whom I made one of my favorite episodes of Dada Strain Radio). She made this mix of all-Abdullah Ibrahim music ahead of the great pianist’s show in Berlin last Fall. 90mins of genius from one of the most criminally underrated musicians of the last century.