Happy Birthday J Mascis!

Celebrating the birthday of J Mascis with a guided tour of his guitar collection and jamming with some pals in Brooklyn.   

Brooklyn's Say She She get down at The Horseshoe, Sunday

Brooklyn disco/soul crew Say She She (C'est Chi-Chi!) make their Horseshoe debut Sunday. Colemine label fans take note.  

Get tickets for Say She She's show at the Horseshoe on Sunday night at 7 pm right here. 

Ghanaian great Ebo Taylor @ Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg, Wednesday

Ghanaian Afrobeat/highlife guitarist, bandleader, producer Ebo Taylor makes his first U.S. appearance in Brooklyn tonight. 

Quantic reconnects with Nidia Góngora for Almas Conectadas

Listen to "Macumba de Marea" and "Balada Borracha" off Quantic's forthcoming Nidia Góngora collaboration Almas Conectadas.

Here's the scoop...

Almas Conectadas (Connected Souls) is the sophomore album from renowned British producer Will “Quantic” Holland and Colombian singer/songwriter Nidia Góngora slated for release October 22. 

Bubbling with symphonic flourishes, the release explores the unique, rich, and mystical musical traditions of the Colombian Pacific Coast while being recorded at Quantic’s Brooklyn-based studio and creative powerhouse Selva. Delving into the concept of the album, Nidia explains: “Almas Conectadas refers to the interrelation of cosmic energies, the aura and the way they manifest from the abstract; we are more than body and flesh and there are countless elements that connect us as beings that interact in the universe, physical contact does not always exist to be connected.” 

Nidia sings of soul’s lost at sea found by fishermen on “Macumba de Marea,” while Quantic’s orchestral layered instrumentation crescendos and flows, weaving between Nidia’s storytelling. 

“This song speaks of the importance of the rituals to say goodbye to our dead, through actions, charged with mysticism, spirituality and beliefs that define our cultural identity,” she explains.

“Balada Borracha” (Drunken Ballad), a cumbia-rock fusion melding Quantic’s cyclical guitar rhythms with Nidia’s celebratory vocals. The song is an ode to “all the drinkers and drunkards” in Góngora’s remote river hometown and Afro-Colombian community of Timbiqui, “especially my cousin Jairo Hernández (R.I.P.) and my brother Harold Angulo,” she adds. 

Almas Conectadas explores the nostalgia of impossible love, celebrates eternal bachelors, mourns souls lost at sea, and tells stories of dwellers from Timbiqui (whose location and cultural contrasts provides endless inspiration). Protecting the essence of the region’s rich songbook, and treating the cultural traditions of the Pacific coast with the utmost reverence, ‘Almas Conectadas’ is the perfect marriage of musical diversity, collective creation and intercultural dialogue. Nidia Góngora’s magnetic voice and captivating songwriting is matched to the unparalleled musicianship and pioneering production of Quantic, across eleven flawless tracks. 

Listen to "Macumba de Marea" and "Balada Borracha" below. Pre-order a copy of Quantic & Nidia Góngora's forthcoming album Almas Conectadas via Bandcamp right here. 

Reflecting on legendary Brooklyn jazz venue The East

Recently, Juju's James "Plunky" Branch returned to the site of The East, once a thriving jazz venue and cultural center in Bed-Stuy founded in 1969.

Mtume at The East. 

Watch the video for Martin Bisi's "Save Sludgie The Whale of Gowanus"

"Save Sludgie The Whale of Gowanus" is off the BC35 Vol. 2 celebrating Martin Bisi's Brooklyn recording studio.

Here's the scoop on BC 35...
BC35 refers to the weekend of performances and resulting album making the 35 year anniversary of Martin Bisi's BC Studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Musicians spanning the history of the studio were grouped into ensembles— mostly improvisational, although there was new material written specifically for the occasion— and performed and recorded live before an audience of BC Studio supporters and members.

There were also some long-awaited reunions. Martin Bisi with members of Sonic Youth, Swans, White Hills, JG Thirlwell, Cop Shoot Cop, Live Skull reunion, Pop 1280, The Dresden Dolls, Alice Donut, Lubricated Goat, Sxip Shirley, Parlor Walls and many more!

Recorded with a live audience comprised of sound pioneers, social deviants, and studio fans, these tracks were mixed and edited with care over several month by Martin Bisi and by veterans of the studio throughout the decades.

The results were compiled into Volumes 1 and 2, this is the second chapter that will be released on April 19, one year after the first one. Martin Bisi founded BC Studio in 1981 in the desolate and post-industrial (but now rapidly developing) Gowanus section of Brooklyn, along with Bill Laswell, and with financial and technical help from Brian Eno. Eno’s record On Land (released 1982) was the first recorded session at BC Studio.

BC35 Vol. 2: The 35th Anniversary of BC Studio
order your copy here...
BANDCAMP: http://bit.ly/bc35v2BCAMP
SILVER LP (ltd.150): http://bit.ly/BC35volumetwo-Silver
BLACK LP: http://bit.ly/BC35volumetwo-Black
CD: http://bit.ly/BC35volumetwo-CD
Digital: https://www.feiyr.com/x/BC35Vol2

Watch JG Thirlwell perform "Someone Drowned in My Pool"

Jim "Foetus" Thirlwell performed the Wiseblood gem with full ensemble at National Sawdust on March 1. 

Chrome Sparks @ The Velvet Underground, Sunday

Check out the title track from the new Chrome Sparks release, Be On Fire followed by his remix of Major Lazer's "Get Free"

R.I.P. Randy Weston, 1926-2018

Remembering composer/pianist and cultural ambassador Randy Weston with a couple of classic performances. 

"Africa is the creative source. It is the whole power of the music in the countries that have been influenced by African culture, such as Brazil, Cuba and the United States. Wherever African people have settled, they have created a new music which is based on African rhythms."    – Randy Weston





New York Times obit

One For The Weekend: Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra

Here's the proto-funk gem "Moon Dance" recorded at Brooklyn's Tip Top Club in 1963.

Happy 90th Birthday Randy Weston!

Celebrate Randy@90 with Kenny Barron, Sonny Fortune & Donald Smith at Brooklyn's Jazz966 on Friday.

Lucius @ The Opera House, Saturday

Here's Jess & Holly hitting a sweet vocal blend on "Dusty Trails" from their new Lucius album Good Grief.  

Do The Right Thing 2: Do The White Thing

Ikebe Shakedown @ Nathan Phillips Square, Wednesday

Get down with Brooklyn's Ikebe Shakedown for free at Nathan Phillips Square starting at 6:30 pm.