Welcome to Dada Strain 2025
Happy New Year! A recap of the Dada year that was, and a preview of the Dada year already coming into focus + Thank You!
Happy New Year!!!
Welcome to Dada Strain, a project about “Rhythm, Improvisation and Community!” I want to wish you all a wonderful 2025, and to thank you for reading and supporting Dada Strain. You could have subscribed to any other music-oriented content feed, but you’re spending some of the first day of the new year with these words, and I appreciate it.
When Dada Strain first launched in 2020, the “Welcome To” check-ins were a monthly way to introduce new subscribers to what this space was about, for me to reiterate its purposeful intention and potential, to give updates about recent work and upcoming developments. That frequency fell off early, but embarrassingly, it has now been exactly two years since the last “Welcome to Dada Strain,” and in that time, the newsletter has grown eightfold, launching events and programs, and coalescing into something approaching coherence. So time has naturally come for an update, a reassertion of values, of what subscribers will find here (and why), and—for those who already know all that crap—a recap of the very active 2024, the Year in Dada Strain. So, let’s start with the vitamins (and one of my favorite Dada Strain Radio sets of the year for while you read):
About…
Dada Strain was created as a forum to reunite long-segregated musical interests and elements, which fit naturally together and have long informed people’s social values. Because, before everything else, Dada Strain regards music and musicking as a social construct, one to engage with other people in a shared space. The idea behind “Rhythm, Improvisation and Community” is to bring various dance music and creative music forms back into a single conversation about community-building through music. This has never struck me as a complicated or radical idea. DJs and live electronic musicians are improvisors. Free-jazz and drone, to name but two improvised musical directions, are rhythm sounds for movement. Audiences attentively united around all such forms create temporary autonomous communities. And collective acts of rhythm and improvisation are crucial to healthy social compacts. In all this music rest ideas of communal liberation. Dada Strain attempts to bring these points to the fore.
Concurrently, Dada Strain is meant to elevate the conversation around local musical communities, specifically the one in New York City, which I’ve called home for more than 40 years. The primary outlet for that is the weekly “Bklyn Sounds” column, listings of local music-related events, focused on rhythm, improvisation and community shows. Heavy on hyper-local DIY and neighborhood-club shows by local musicians and musickers who deserve attention usually afforded to national/international/viral artists, platforms and infrastructures. Never sold-out concerts or arena shows. Low on expensive-ticket events produced by multi-national promoters or long-petrifying institutions (based on curatorial discretion).
“Bklyn Sounds” is not limited to Bklyn (it was launched as part of the late great Bklyner newspaper in 2021) and encompasses not only all the boroughs, but also extends to the entire tri-state musicking community. (Especially upstate New York...) It is also not limited to event listings, but includes local journalism, with essays, features, reviews, reported pieces and op-eds about local musicking and related matters. “Bklyn Sounds” covers stories left behind by the loss of local music media, crucial in developing and advocating for a healthy local arts and culture ecosystem. (See some examples below in the 2024 recap.)
There’s more: Dada Strain always intended to not simply document and critique culture, but to be an activist social project, participating in and creating the kind of local culture we want to see exist. Therefore, since almost the beginning, Dada Strain has produced events and programs that fit into its “Rhythm, Improvisation and Community” POV. From a broadcasting point of view, this is exemplified by Dada Strain’s residency on The Lot Radio in Greenpoint, which takes place every fourth Friday at 10a EST, and features new music and community guests. From a live events point of view, it means producing programming at Bklyn venues such as Sisters in Clinton Hill, and Light and Sound Design in Greenpoint; co-producing bigger events with partners such as Winter Jazzfest, Celebrate Brooklyn and Mississippi Records, among others; and occasional live DJ gigs at with DIY nights/producers like Assembly, Heavy Florals, Present Sounds and others. (For 2024 highlights of events, again check The Year in Dada Strain recap below.)
Substack subscriptions to Dada Strain have paid and free tiers. Often, paid subs have early access, additional access or discounted access to Dada Strain events (such as next week’s Winter Jazzfest showcase), and Dada Strain products (such as the “Rhythm Improvisation Community” tee-shirt designed by JTK Studio, and now worn by discriminating musickers on multiple continents). New Dada Strain ideas are already in the works for 2025 (scroll down for more info), so please consider upgrading and supporting.
For day-to-day Dada Strain, featuring bonus Rhythm, Improvisation and Community reads, listens and events, follow on InstaGram, Bluesky and on Substack Notes.
2024: The Year In Dada Strain
Probably the most prominent highlights of 2024 were the big LIVE EVENTS that Dada Strain had a hand in producing. Some highlights:
Travels Over Feeling: Celebrating Arthur Russell (Celebrate Brooklyn, Prospect Park July 12th) - To celebrate the publication of Richard King’s new book, Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, a Life, Dada Strain curated a program that showcased all facets of the late minimalist composer/avant-garde disco producer’s music as a free show. The evening opened with a great “Into the Arthur-verse” DJ set by Love Injection; proceeded into the New York premiere of Russell’s only symphonic work, “Tower of Meaning,” performed by the Wordless Music Orchestra (conducted by Arthur colleague Bill Ruyhle); and closed with the legendary New York DJ/producer, François K, playing an all-Russell set and telling stories of Arthur on the mic, as the bandshell turned into a “let’s move the chairs and boogie” dance-party. Immense gratitude to Saidah and Viviana at BRIC, and to the folks at Anthology Books/Mexican Summer for allowing this long-held vision to come to fruition.
The Music of Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Gèbru (performed by Thomas Feng) and sinonó, + special guest Laraaji (St. Mark’s Church on the Bowery, March 13th) - Working with our Arsenal brother from another mother, Cyrus Moussavi of the great Mississippi Records, Dada Strain co-presented a very special double album release celebration for Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru's Souvenirs, and la espalda y su punto radiante by sinonó (vocalist isabel crespo pardo, cellist Lester St. Louis and double bassist Henry Fraser). Gebru’s music was played by pianist Thomas Feng, who had written his PhD dissertation on her compositions. Those sets were followed by a transcendent set by Laraaji, and closed out with a group performance of Emahoy’s “The Pilgrim Song.” A majikal night! (A lovely review of the evening by the mighty Yaz Lancaster.)
Tomin (Brooklyn Music School, November 11th) - Bklyn-born multi-instrumentalist and composer Tomin and I first formally met in 2021, though I had already seen him play in a few bands and listened to the beautiful, emotional music he’d just begun releasing on Bandcamp. But it was in 2024, when that music (now compiled as Flores para Verene / Cantos para Caramina) and new his full length album debut, A Willed and Conscious Balance, were given wide release via International Anthem. (It is, all biases aside, some of my favorite music of 2024.) I wrote the bios and notes to both releases, and when it came time to organize a record release show, helped Tomin produce that as well. It was a crackling, beautiful performance.
Dada Strain @ WJF 2024 (Union Pool, January 13th) - I’ve worked with Brice Rosenbloom and Winter Jazzfest for quite a few years. (2019’s Chicago Overground two-nighter, which I co-produced with International Anthem’s Scottie McNiece and which got mad love from Gio, is one of my career highlights.) But 2024 was the first time I produced one on my own, and it was a burner beginning to end. Subtitled “Electric Strings of Life,” the night featured a line-up of guitarists and great amplified string instrumentalists. It opened with Samir LanGus on the guimbri, followed by another guimbri player, Joshua Abrams, and his impeccable Natural Information Society. Ensembles led by two of my favorite electric guitar-playing New Yorkers came next: Ava Mendoza as part of her incredible Mendoza*Hoff*Revels band, and Wendy Eisenberg in a mighty duo with Ryan Sawyer. The whole thing ended with the fuzzed-out dub blues of Harriet Tubman. And brother Gamall DJ’d in-between all night. (Don’t miss this year’s Dada Strain x Winter Jazzfest show.)
Yet those were just the tip of the iceberg. Dada Strain co-produced great nights at Light and Sound Design Studios, one with Peter Zummo: Different Birds and another with Joseph Allred + Caroline Davis & Wendy Eisenberg. There were shows co-presented in the wonderful back-room of Sisters, one featuring saxophonist Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few and vocalist Shara Lunon; another as a benefit for the pro-Palesinean refugee group Operation Olive Branch, starring the incredible Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones and vocalist Israa Shalaby. When a scheduled “Ritmo, Improvisación, Electricidad” evening at the Backyard Jam at Industry City, with live sets by A.B.E.L.A. and STEFA* plus DJ sets by Mickey Perez and Toribio, was rained out, we turned it into two even bigger shows. All that, plus Dada Strain got to DJ for friends, listeners and musickers at Assembly, Heavy Florals, Please Y.S., FourOneOne and Present Sounds. And much more is in store for 2025.
Since 2017, I have been lucky enough to have a residency on The Lot Radio where every four weeks Dada Strain’s “Rhythm Improvisation and Community” idea turns into two hours of (mostly new) music. That said, it’s only been the past couple of years that the full power of THE RADIO SHOW has taken hold, as I’ve started giving over parts of each episode to community members. And 2024’s guests were some of my favorite musicians and musickers on Earth.
Before last year’s WJF show, Wendy Eisenberg and Ava Mendoza came on to rap about their guitar styles, and to play new and unreleased music. After putting out the massive pro-Gaza scene-defining comp Resist Colonial Power By Any Means Necessary, PTP’s Geng PTP and subt.le came on the show to create a wondrous mega-mix — as did Gamal a few months later. Shara Lunon came on and created a wondrous live-meets-DJ set, then so did the incredible coupling of Bex Burch & Peter Zummo, who were a last-second addition.
I loved showcasing DJs responsible for some of my favorite nights in New York, whether it’s the magnificent Quinnette rep’ing Soul Purpose, or A.Sarr and e.g. of the all-original-productions monthly, Heart Beats. Lollise (and her production partner, Modrums) and Tomin released two of my favorite albums of the year, and came on the show to play music from these records and music by artists who inspire them. The legendary bassist William Parker received a lifetime achievement award from Vision Festival, and one of my favorite NYC jazz scribes, Jim Macnie, was retiring; so I invited them both for two hours of music and stories. While I was out of town, Kalle Miller manned the decks. (He and Shara will be DJing electronic improvisations at the 2025 Dad Strain x WJF showcase.) I also did a couple of shows on my own.
Oh, and Dada Strain launched its Soundcloud to gather all these original programs, and to promote the great weekly music of artists playing gigs. There’s more to come on this end too!
Of course, the thing that differentiates Dada Strain from most content feeds is the WRITING, and alongside the listings, the previews, and the interviews with artists who played Dada Strain shows, there are a few pieces of writing that were published here in 2024 that I am extremely proud of.
Especially on the subjects of New York, and local cultural future. “Institutions and the Local Musicking Ecology” took note of the disgraceful programming tactics of some of the city’s storied arts centers in regards to local promoters and producers. “NYC DIY: Past, Present, Future” looked at how the folks creating grassroots culture continue to succeed despite the odds. “On Choices” used the lens of, among other things, my kid’s NYC high-school application process, the ongoing genocide and the (impending doom of the) election, to examine what the decisions we make and how we arrive at them, say about us. Listening to the NYPD storm the Columbia encampment led to “The Best of Times, Worst of Times, All of the Times,” a jeremiad on the importance of musicking in times of strife. “Ghost Notes (on 9/11)” kinda spoke for itself, as one to get off the chest (but prolly just a “shitty first draft”). And though I love sounds of the city, I continue to have much love for the Upstate summer rhythms as well.
Not all of the writing was about this immediate corner of the universe. I had a great time returning to the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, and wrote about experiencing a community-centric way of creating a festival. I got to write about two of my favorite all-time community bands—and forever-learning experiences around them—because one made a loud return, and another lost its founding bassist. An old friend made an incredible documentary film about a record store, a life's work and steering a creative path forward, so I wrote about Chris Wilcha’s luminous Flipside. After talking about it forever, I started regularly writing about the spaces where the music and art worlds were mixing—one was done as an essay (a review of Harmony Holiday’s magnificent Kitchen show), others as guides to what is currently going on in/around the city. There’s more of that coming.
Speaking of art meeting music, Dada Strain writing led to me writing for ArtForum (thank you Barry). Two ArtForum pieces in particular were cut from the Dada Strain cloth: “One Nation Under a Flute” was ostensibly about Andre 3000’s recent music, but it actually documented community-building, how the ex-Outkast rapper’s magnetism and comfort with experimentation was updating the sonic map of today’s improvised-music diaspora. My other big ArtForum piece was “Teaching Techno,” an examination of King Britt’s “Blacktronika,” Waajeed’s Underground Music Academy, and the future of Black electronic music pedagogy, a socio-historical way to think about what all that “talking about raving” may be about. (i.e. Not just the vibes.) Not ArtForum but related: I was able to finally get one of my favorite Bklyn musickers to sit down for a long-ass interview. BOMB Magazine’s “Luke Stewart by Piotr Orlov” was whittled down to about 1600 words from over 19,000. I am not guaranteeing a director’s cut, but I ain’t discounting it either.
Oh, and did I mention that JTK made Dada Strain a tee-shirt? DM me if interested. Paid subscribers get a discount rate. Some tees are always available at live Dada Strain events, while supplies and sizes last.
What’s In Store for 2025?
There are already a few events scheduled for the new year, and there are stories which have been reported but not yet written. (I hope to start unjamming that backlog before the new semester begins in late January.) In regards to 2025 writing, I hope to do more recorded music reviews—using BSky and Substack Notes as the length-model the way I once used Twitter, and then summing these up in periodic posts. But I also feel like there are many Substack writers focused on album reviews; and while I love recordings, I’ve made my feelings about records vs. live performances known, and stand by them. So if there are to be more album/track/mix reviews on Dada Strain, expect them to be #BklynSounds, and not, like, hot takes about artists of the day. (No one wants to know what I think of MJ Lenderman…)
There are original music projects already on the horizon as well. If 2024 was the year Dada Strain focused on making sure its live events came together beautifully, then 2025 is the year that Dada Strain-produced Bklyn sounds find their way into the world. I hope everyone has their 45s adapters handy.
One thing I am looking more of from readers is feedback, especially in the structure of weekly posts. For the past two years, most typical Bklyn Sounds posts involved a feature and listings, with the listings often behind a paywall, as an impetus to drive paid subscriptions. I am rethinking this for a couple of reasons. One is that, I want for everyone to take advantage of the Dada Strain listings; another is that, often, the writing, editing and last-second tweaking of the feature delays the publishing of Bklyn Sounds. So there is good reason to detach the Bklyn Sounds feature from the listings, and maybe make the listings always free. (As, admittedly, they’ve often been the past three months.) But then, would subscribers pay for the features, the occasional behind-the-paywall posts, and for the subscriber perks, like ticketing and swag discounts?
Hence, I am at a bit of a loss. I want to make as much of the Dada Strain text free and user-friendly as possible. At the same time, I spend a lot of time on this werk, and believe that all valuable labor deserves to be fairly compensated. (Currently, just over 10% of DS subs are paid, keeping this fast-growing project a labor of love.) I would love to hear your take on it. Realistic responses welcome at DadaStrainBklyn@gmail.com.
Thank you for reading! And again, Happy New Year!