Date: September 18, 2012
Venue: Douglass Street Music Collective (Brooklyn, NY)
Concert review by Matt Cole
Recently, I reviewed Jaywalkin’, the new CD by NoReduce. As I had a very positive reaction to the CD, I was excited to have a chance to see, hear, and review the opening show of their U.S. Mini-tour this past September, at Brooklyn’s Douglass Street Music Collective.
Date: Monday, October 1, 2012
Time: 7:30-open rehearsal & 9pm-performance
Venue: The Stone (is located at the corner of Avenue C and 2nd Street)
Ticket: $10
Genre: big band jazz/improve
There are 5 Mondays this October,and every one of them will feature the On Ka’a Davis and his Famous Original Djuke Music Big Band directed by On Ka’a Davis. Drawing inspiration from the outer realms and more into the squat politics of the East Village basement jam…polyrhythmic complexity and primal passions…an incessant pulse beat that tears the roof off the cerebral avant garde…another world never imagined possible from the undying, ever growing counter culture crucible of downtown New York.
Featuring: On Ka’a Davis (director, guitar, violin, electro), Andrew Lamb (tenor sax), Avram Fefer and Nick Gianni (saxes, flutes), Nonoko Yoshida (alto sax), Matt Cole (baritone sax), Welf Dorr (bass clarinet), Cavassa Nickens and Albey Balgochian (basses), Peter Barr, Dalius Naujo, Kenny Wollesen and Eric Eigner (drums), Evans Thompson (piano), Naomi Watanabe (percussion), Brandon Terzic (ngoni) and Dave “Smoota” Smith (trombone). Continue reading
Date: September 27, 2012
Venue: Paper Box (Brooklyn)
Concert review and photo by Dawoud Kringle
On an unseasonably warm night in late September, I trekked to one of those desolate areas of Brooklyn where small autonomous zones of artists and musicians are carving out a piece of the world they can call their own. It was at a new music venue in a warehouse district that I attended a performance of TrioTarana, led by Ravish Momin. He was joined by Rick Parker on trombone, and Areni Agbabian on vocals.
Photo by courtesy of Ravish Momin
Dates & Venues: September 10, 2012 @ Nublu and September 12, 2012 @ Bell House
Concert reviews by Matt Cole
After announcing their breakup in 2011, the multi-lingual, multi-genre band Brazilian Girls has reunited and is working on new material and playing some shows, to the delight of their rather devoted fan base. In early September, they played a pair of weeknight surprise shows in New York City: on Monday the 10th, they tore it up at Alphabet City’s Nublu (where they first came together 9 years ago), and on Wednesday the 12th, they rocked the house at Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
For a band that is often described as “(insert at least 2 adjectives) pop,” Brazilian Girls’ music is quite sophisticated and complex. They are among the best at integrating loops, computers, and live performance; rather than playing along with the loops, they bring them in an out like an extra instrument. This was apparent at both shows, as many of the (non-new) songs were stretched out from their album versions, with keyboardist Didi Gutman doing a masterful job of weaving loops in and out of the rest of the mix, and drummer Aaron Johnston laying down essential beats with, not over or under, the loops. Bassist Jesse Murphy manages the neat trick of playing bass lines that are both solidly propulsive and interestingly fluid at the same time. Singer Sabina Sciubba‘s wonderful jazzy voice, fluent in five languages, completes the sonic picture; and her quirky outfits and intelligent, tongue-in-cheek demeanor add to, rather than distract from, the band’s vibe. Though from disparate backgrounds, musical and otherwise, these four make up a unified whole which is greater than its already talented parts. As the enthusiastic crowds demonstrated at both shows, it’s very difficult not to dance (or to not dance?) when Brazilian Girls is playing.
Date: Friday, September 28, 2012
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts (3 Spruce Street, New York, NY 10023, Located between Park Row and Gold Street (near Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall)
Ticket: $35
Genre: Malian pop
The extraordinary story of Mali’s Fatoumata Diawara’s meteoric rise as one of today’s most exciting artists. begins with her joining a theatre company, performing the classical Greek role of Antigone, starring in a string of successful films, running away to France and finally finding her calling as a musician. At the center of her music is a warm, affecting voice; spare, rhythmical guitar playing; and gorgeously melodic songs incorporating elements of funk, soul and jazz. This show marks her NY debut as a soloist and celebrates her latest CD Fatou on the Nonesuch label.
