Menu

Category: Live music


James Arenas Band

April 17, 2024

7pm doors 8pm music 

Full dinner menu available, seating is first come first serve 

performing live in the back room 

JAMES ARENAS BAND 

James Arenas – Guitar, Lead Vocal
John Anderson – Upright Bass
Moi, Mike Chambers – Electric Guitar
Amy de Arenas – Piano, Synths
Mike Glanzer – Cajon, Percussion
Claudia Mogel – Violin
+special guest
HARVEY VALDES & MICHAEL CHAMBERS DUO
more info tba


Vines / Kamra / Yaz Lancaster

March 31, 2024

7pm doors 8pm music

full dinner menu availabl, seating is first-come first-served

performing live in the back room

VINES

…is the solo project of composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Cassie Wieland. Praised by The New York Times as “sweetly shimmering,” Vines masterfully experiments with intimate ambient and experimental pop sound worlds to achieve the massive and hand-made vibe she is often searching for. Across her practice, Vines’s music shines a light on knotty feelings that are hidden just under the surface

KAMRA

…is a singer-songwriter raised in the dry desert of Arizona now living between their farm in the Western Catskill Mountains and Toronto. Their music fuses string instruments, experimental sensibilities, field recordings, and band jams. Kamra’s practice centers collaboration, painterly storytelling, and transfigurations that emerge after a spiritual experience. Their popular single “Hear My No” is a socio-cultural cry for more honest communication in relationships. They are also the author of Care Manual, a practical workbook which challenges fixed notions of care, consent, pleasure, and harm. Kamra’s songwriting derives wisdom from lived experience and surfs the waves of traditional African-American music with ethereal charm. Channeling the legacy of Black femme folk singers, Kamra puts their twist on the genre by blending the sentimental deep rich tones with soaring falsettos floating listeners off their feet.

YAZ LANCASTER

…is a transdisciplinary artist residing in Lenapehoking (NYC). Their work as a performer, composer, poet/writer, and collaborator is grounded in queer, DIY, and liberatory frameworks. Their debut record AmethYst, comprising music for violin, voice, and electronics was released in April 2023 (ppr). Recent and upcoming collaborators include Black Mountain College/Hub New Music, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Dorothy Carlos, Eliza Bagg, Massa Nera, Mingjia, Minnesota Philharmonic, Miss Grit, and Sean Pecknold. Yaz additionally works as the co-manager of people places records, a co-organizer of abolitionist music collective Sound Off, and a freelance (music) writer. They love powerlifting, horror manga, and summers down South.


Lao Dan, John McCowen, Charmaine Lee

March 27, 2024

7pm doors 

full dinner menu available 

seating is first-come, first-served 

8pm music 

performing solos, duos and as a trio:

LAO DAN is a classically trained Chinese flutist at Shenyang Conservatory of Music (SYCM), Lao Dan sticks to his own vision of and approach to the bamboo flute and its sounds. His playing continues to push the limits of artistic expression on this instrument, exploring the possibilities of free, energetic, and nonconformist ways of sound-making confined by neither Jazz nor traditional Chinese musical conventions. His improvisation often brings to the audience an overwhelming sonic experience in which the East and the West, the ancient and the modern clash dramatically on each other. Bandcamp

JOHN MCCOWEN‘s musical life has become an obsession with discovering a polyphonic language on a historically monophonic instrument – the clarinet. This has led him to a unique acoustic vocabulary that is akin to a shifting soundscape of electronic feedback. John’s multi-phonic approach is based in drones, difference tones, and beating harmonics as a means to showcase the compositional potential within a single, acoustic sound source. His work has been described by The New Yorker as “the sonic equivalent of microscopic life viewed on a slide” and by The Wire as “an astonishing demonstration of pure sound & human will.”

CHARMAINE LEE is a New York-based vocalist. Her music is predominantly improvised, and favors a uniquely personal approach to vocal expressed concerned with spontanaeity, playfulness, and risk-taking. Beyond extended vocal technique, Charmaine uses amplification, feedback, and microphones to augment and distort the voice.  


Soup & Sound at Sisters

March 22, 2024

Continuum Culture & Arts Presents

7pm doors 8pm music

full dinner menu available

seating is first-come, first-served

performing live in the back room

Judy Dunaway (Boston, MA)
“…is primarily known for her numerous works for latex balloons as sound producers, including sculptural sonic performances, sound installations, interactive pieces and acousmatic works. She has presented these works at premier venues, festivals, museums and galleries throughout North America and Europe.” Balloon Music Manifesto

Devin Gray
Devin Gray’s fresh approach to modern drumming has enabled him to play with many of the world’s great jazz musicians. He is interested in a multitude of musical directions and prioritizes sincerity.

TACTICAL MAYBE 

Tom Blancarte – bass

Nana Pi Aabo-Kim – saxophone

Louise D.E. Jensen – saxophone

Halym Aabo-Kim – drums & euphonium

$15 


Sam Weinberg 2024 Residency

March 17, 2024

7pm doors 8pm music

Full dinner menu available, seating first-come first-served

performing live in the back room

THE SAM WEINBERG TRIO

with HENRY FRASER + JASON NAZARY 

listen to Plays Quarter Notes and Other Notes

CARLO COSTA & ZOSHA WARPEHA 

Percussionist, drummer and composer Carlo Costa was born and grew up in Rome, Italy. Since 2005 he has been based in New York City. In the past several years he has been making music which is largely improvised and experimental in nature. Through the use of a variety of unusual techniques and added objects Carlo has meticulously developed a distinctive and wide-ranging sonic palette.

Zosha Warpeha is a composer-performer working in a meditative space at the intersection of contemporary improvisation and folk traditions. She performs primarily on Hardanger d’amore, a sympathetic-stringed instrument closely related to the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, as well as five-string violin. Zosha’s long-form compositions explore transformations of time and tonality.

TILGHMAN GOLDSBOROUGH 

Tilghman Alexander Goldsboroughl (b. Richmond, VA, USA, 1991). Poet. His work has appeared in The Mall, the Leveler, and Nomaterialism (vol II). Forthcoming work includes The Western with 1080 press and object 7 ( ,a subject loosely, ,bunded in a frame, ) with Futurepoem. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

MORE EAZE

more eaze is the project of composer/multi-instrumentalist mari maurice. her work touches upon myriad genres and often explores themes of gender, intimacy, identity, perception, and the mundane. resident advisor categorizes maurice’s work as “accomplished ambient pop” and the quietus has said that her work “unearths a raw poignancy in what can often be a coldly academic field.”


Brooklyn Raga Massive Presents

Get tickets here

7pm doors 8pm music

Full dinner menu available, seating is first-come first-served

performing live in the back room

GEORGE CROTTY TRIO

George Crotty has forged his own unique vocabulary on the cello. Expanding outward from the cello’s intrinsic lyricism, his sound introduces plaintive Irish ornamentation, melismatic gestures of Indian classical music, adapted electric guitar manoeuvres, and the bold articulation of jazz bass. He writes and performs for solo cello and small ensembles, and collaborates on film scores, original recordings, and theatrical productions. A member of the Brooklyn Raga Massive, and Detroit-based National Arab Orchestra, he has also worked with Bob Ezrin, Simon Shaheen, Paquito D’Rivera, Anat Cohen, and Darol Anger.

COMPASS TRIO 

Compass is a trio that brings an original compositional voice to the three musicians’ collective experience and expertise – Indian raga and tala, the art of flamenco, jazz harmony, and deep groove. The rhythmic form of North Indian music known as theka is a uniquely sophisticated container for exploring time and polyrhythm. Separated by hundreds of years and countless migrations of the Gitano diaspora throughout present day Middle East and Europe we find the same concepts in new forms through the Spanish compas. This musical connection through history and culture is referenced in the name Compass; both a tool to find one’s way home as well as that which structures time in music, another form of finding “home”. Compass Trio is comprised of guitar and effects (James Labrosse), tabla (Tripp Dudley), and sitar (Galen Passen)

Brooklyn Raga Massive is an adventurous nonprofit musicians’ collective that creates cross-cultural understanding through the lens of South Asian classical music by providing direct support to artists, fostering collaboration through our iconic concerts and jam sessions, facilitating cultural exchange through educational initiatives, and producing transcendent, and often massive, performances, festivals, and one-of-a-kind albums. BRM’s original ensembles have performed across the country at venues such as Lincoln Center, Fotografiska NY, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Pioneer Works, The Rubin Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Kennedy Center, and more. Through the curation of our signature series, festivals, and educational programs, we have brought raga into conversation with musical traditions coming from Iraq, Cuba, Morocco, Japan and more.This practice of cross-cultural collaboration both reflects the current global landscape and enables BRM to serve as an incubator of expansive, innovative, new genres of music indigenous to Brooklyn.



Assembly #16 curated by Lester St. Louis & Luke Stewart

doors 7pm 

full dinner menu available 

seating is first-come, first-served 

performing live in the back room 

Music Research Strategies + andrea haenggi + Luke Stewart 

drums + movement + bass

WINDSCOUR 

Joe Moffett – trumpet

Zach Rowden – electronics

image by Peter Gannushkin / Downtownmusic.net

Jessie Cox 

expanded percussion

$20 at the door (cash/Venmo, no advance tickets) 


Heavy Florals VII curated by Shara Lunon

7pm doors 8pm music 

Full dinner menu available; seating is first come, first served 

HEAVY FLORALS is a series that creates space for a community of POC musicians & their allies to exhale, curated by Shara Lunon

performing live in the back room

ALIYA & JAVEN

Aliya Ultan (she/her/hers) is a cellist, singer, and composer-improviser from Brooklyn based in New York. Growing up in a car with her mother and sister, Aliya’s music channels the energies one might associate with escape via catharsis or witchcraft. Throughout her time in NYC, Aliya has become deeply involved in the experimental music scene as both a performer and facilitator of creative happenings. The Wham Jam series in Redhook is one of her ongoing projects as well as an upcoming rooftop series starting May. With a passion for collaboration Aliya plays in three bands; GNR8RZ with Simon Hanes, Calvin Weston, and Anthony Coleman, Wicked Bush with Matt Bent and Kevin Eichenberger, and SEVEN which she co-leads with violist-singer songwriter Javen Lara. Aliya also performs on Broadway in Hadestown and with Yoshiko Chuma’s School or Hard Knocks. Come this Fall, Aliya will be releasing multiple records including a debut album with SEVEN produced by Randall Dunn, GNR8RZ produced by Marc Urselli, and a live album of her most recent solo tour across the States. For information about upcoming events and releases please follow @nocturnal_cellist on IG.

Javen Lara (she/her/hers), also known as Jae, is from Harlem, New York City. She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School as an instrumental major. Jae has performed at Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall and more. Graduating from Bard College and Conservatory, Jae was one of two of the first African-American graduates of the Conservatory. Upon her return to New York City, she started “Javen’s House Concert Series: Through the Seasons”, where she hosted a fusion of classical chamber music favorites, improvisations, and original songs. Emma Kato, Christina Jones, Alyssa Yuge, Dharshan Chandrakumar. Gigi Hseuh, Alissa Mori, and Alec Manasse were collaborators playing works by Shostakovich, Tchiakovsky, Mozart. The improvisations were created by Jae and eclectic violinist, Scott Li. And original songs with her Manhattan-based band, The Slippers. Dharshan and Jae also started an improvisatory viola duet, using electronics and voice to expand the capabilities of their instruments. Lastly, Jae is the violist as well as co-lead vocalist with cellist/vocalist/one of Jae’s greatest inspirations, Aliya Ultan, in the Brooklyn based band, SEVEN. They have performed at Public Records, Chaos Computer, and look forward to collaborating with Pioneer works as well as more renowned venues around New York City. This Autumn, the band will be releasing their debut album, produced by Randall Dunn, through Applehead Studios in Woodstock and Circular Ruin Studios in Brooklyn. @sexistential_crisis and @seventimesinfinity on IG

BongoWattZ

Shamar Watt is an experimental multidisciplinary artist born in Kingston, Jamaica, raised in Miami, and based in Miami and New York City. He has worked as a multidisciplinary performer with Nora Chipaumire since 2015. He was nominated as one of the top 25 performers/choreographers to watch for 2019 Dance Magazine. Watt was the recipient of the prestigious Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance 2019. Watt collaborated and worked alongside Matthew Barney in ‘SECONDARY’ premiered in 2023. Watt challenges the way we perceive form through sound and the Body. He interrogates the forms of spiritual entertainment. Watt is currently pursuing an MFA at NYU Tisch in interdisciplinary research.

+ all night selector DJ SAGE LOVES NY

$10-20 sliding scale at the door