New Dada Music_June & July 2023

Sounds + Links from Meshell Ndegeocello, Chief Adjuah, Salar Ansari, John Coltrane & Eric Dolphy, Infinite River, Dee Diggs, SSPS, BCUC, Wadada Leo Smith & Orange Wave Electric, Eli Escobar and others

New Dada Music is an occasional (hopefully monthly - though not this time) summary of releases I am shouting about on Dada Strain’s IG Stories and Twitter, with rhythm, improvisation and community as the forever-beacons. 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, New Dada Music felt like a useful piece to add to this feed. (It also helps me keep a running annual tally - I’m not good at lists.) Also included towards the bottom are new live tapes, mixes and other musics that stood out, and have a playable sonic footprint. (There is a no major-DSPs policy for links.) All texts here are primarily copy-edits, fact-checks and minor amendments to the character-limited write-ups on Elon’s hellscape. (Which I am contemplating abandoning for any original content. In fact, most of these picks, while earmarked for, were written up here and on IG.) Please support the artists, labels, independent musickers, and broadcasters who struggle against the algorithm and listener apathy. Thank you for reading and listening.

Salar Ansari, Azadi Nast (Passed Out on a Persian Rug) - A spectacular, heady techno mixtape by Tehran-born Detroit producer, which was inspired by the 2022 women’s protests in Iran. It's a thematic artistic statement and a political dance mix, old-school homemade-cassette vibes, full of incredible new (at least to me) music.

Meshell Ndegeocello, The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note) - A sprawling, guest-heavy major-label LP that actually works as an "album"? The Brooklyn-based bassist's first set of original songs in almost a decade is a precise, philosophical jazz-funk-rock-soul wonder. Grooves, feels and stories worth repeatedly unpacking. Album of the Year shizz.

Chief Adjuah, Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope) - The trumpeter once known as Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah recently followed his grandfather to become a Big Chief among New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Indians, put down his horn, picked up an electric string bow he designed, and made an album of vocal songs rooted in the tribes’ and the city’s Black Indian stories. Tales of drums and magic.

Infinite River, Prequel (Birdman) - Mostly beatless, deep space guitars + harmonium/tanpura + percussion workouts from a quartet of next-level Detroit-area psyche lifers (including Warren His Name is Alive, whose participation brought me here). BandCamp has six tracks listed, but these are ~20min side-longs that leave you barely tethered. RIYL: Flying Saucer Attack, Roy Montgomery.

Wadada Leo Smith & Orange Wave Electric, Fire Illuminations (Kabell) - One sound the legendary trumpeter regularly likes to revisit is the electric explosions of Miles' early-'70s work. (Wadada used to be in a group called Yo Miles! that did so explicitly.) Here, he’s surrounded by, among others, Nels Cline, Brandon Ross, Bill Laswell and Melvin Gibbs, adding weight to the fiery racket.

Dee Diggs, “Toss It” (Toucan Sounds) - One of the many young Bklyn-based DJs/producers who are breathing great energy into local house/techno music, releases her best single to date. Think deep-house-as-bubblegum: rolling tribal drums, bass-organ-guitar loop vibes, and a catchy throwaway lyric I can imagine hearing for years. Ladymonix remix gets Italo-ey.

Patrick Shiroishi & Daniel Wyche, “The Oldest House in The World” (Longform Editions) - A gorgeous duet that unites Chicago-based guitarist Wyche and Los-Angeles saxophonist Shiroishi, on an elegant, measured exploration of digitally subverted space. Dan’s strings are clear; what Patrick is playing, less so. It has a quiet electronic sheen, but might sound just as thoughtful if performed acoustically.

BCUC, Millions of Us (On the Corner) - One of the best live bands in the world, Soweto’s Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness, a numerous-voices + multiple-drums + electric-bass (+ occasional flute/whistle/reed) powerhouse, again tries to translate its energy to tape. That’s not easy to do. This music’s weight is so heavy. But at its most perfect moments BCUC simultaneously crushes and floats like no one else.

Kieran Hebden & William Tyler, “Darkness Darkness”/”No Services” (Psychic Hotline) - Two months after mugging with Skrillex + Fred at Coachella, Hebden debuts his latest oddball collabo, with guitarist William Tyler. It’s a psychedelic-electronic reimagining of Gloria Loring (Robin Thicke’s mom) singing a Youngbloods song that’s become a standard, with the original’s muted trumpet but also a dirty old-school Four Tet trip-hop beat. Exceptional classic rock.

SSPS, The Life and Times of Gigi Black 2 (self-released/Bandcamp) - Jon Nicholson a.k.a. Porkchop a.k.a. SSPS is one of New York’s great radical musical connectors, who produces lo-fi industrial noise (he’s a member of Excepter) and post-hardcore sound-art, but is also an incredible DJ, giving difficult sounds an immense measure of funk. Gigi Black 2, which follow-ups the impossibly expensive, LP-only Gigi Black (on Traxx The Nation), is basically a lo-fi industrial techno record. Not for the faint of heart, but gloriously fun, weird minimal beat music.

John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy, Evenings at the Village Gate (Impulse!) - It seems the new-found Coltrane tapes never stop coming. But this wonderfully lo-fidelity August 1961 recording of Trane and Dolphy leading Elvin, McCoy and dual bassists Art Davis and Reggie Workman is volcanic. Fully worth it. Richard Brody’s write-up is dope.

Eli Escobar, “House of Grooves: Eli Escobar x House of Yes residency” (Soundcloud) - As I’ve made clear in the weekly Bklyn Sounds listings, I am having another moment with the New York DJ/producer at the moment. And one of the things that’s been fueling it is this playlist of DJ sets from his five-year residency at House of Yes. 18+ hours of New York clubland at its best.

Related Materials:

New Dada Music, May 2023 // New Dada Music, April 2023 // New Dada Music, March 2023