[1.08-1.18]

On any given night at the studio, the portion of the audience who came to see their friends play tends to be a lot higher than at larger, public venues. People who don’t know the performers are at most three degrees separated from them anyway, and from everyone else in the room, too. The flow of the space seems designed to facilitate introductions. I’m pontificating about friendship because someone I love very much is helming Present Sounds next week, and it sparked some Deep Thoughts about how connection blooms at Huron out of every floorboard, every frequency, every glass of tea and every breath of patio air. If you make it out in the next few weeks, say hi to someone you don’t know, will you?

January 9: Adrian Rew will Present Sounds

Descending the short staircase into any of the half-subterranean shops scattered across the East Village feels like entering a secret world. One of them is Ergot Records, which like all great record stores is eclectic, unpretentious, and fairly priced. Adrian Rew, one of Ergot’s co-founders, brings a deft hand to his selections for the shop; for Present Sounds, we are fortunate to hear the ear-opening selections of this professional digger.

January 11: Instant Harm, Kevin Ramsay / Bryce Hackford

Instant Harm, the improvisational noise duo of Robbie Wing and Dominic Coles will share a Saturday evening bill with studio fixture Bryce Hackford and Kevin Ramsey’s new collaborative project. There’s a stellar recording floating around from Robbie and Bryce’s last collaborative bill at the studio that you’ll hear on some of KG’s recent Lot Radio mixes. Ear plugs and a comfortable place to rest your head will be provided.

January 12: DDT, vii M, A Place To Go

DDT comes to us from Italy via Germany and brings with him a study of classical jazz combined with electronic genres. vii M is also a genre blender-bender, adding spoken word to synths and basslines. A Place to Go transports us to strange atmospheres built through distortion of folk songs and poetry. A night for travel inward and outward.

January 13: whaleness flow group yoga

Whaleness Flow is a unique interpretive 75 minute vinyasa taught by Sally Choi. This deeply restorative, strengthening, and energizing sequence draws from the yoga lineages of Ashtanga & Bikram with an emphasis on traditional Vedic methods of mantra and meditation. Through Sally’s teachings under Jared McCann, former owner of Greenpoint-based Lighthouse Studio, Sally brings her meticulous and contagiously compassionate style to L&SD. Bring a mat, cozy attire, and arrive fully to this transformational flow incorporating sound, movement, and breath, telepathically guided by our planet’s largest living air-breathing undersea guardians.

January 15: dance practice

A friend recently described dance practice as the home they didn’t know they needed. This edition offers somatic movement with Harmony Honig and, once everyone has dropped into their bodies, an hourlong DJ set by concon.

January 16: dominique and Greg will Present Sounds

Kyle invited dominique to Present Sounds after their first DJ set at the studio, in September, which ended up being double the scheduled time because of how beautifully they entranced the crowd. This is a long description because dominique is also a very dear friend who I’ve spent many nights with at the studio. Hearing the evolution of their plans for Present Sounds over the last few months has left me in awe of how every iteration of their creativity draws, whether directly or indirectly, on the many artistic practices they weave into their life: acting, dance, watercolor, music production, much more. They are also a longtime student of community-building and group facilitation, which shines through in their deep attunement to every space they enter, and the loving care they bring to the spaces they are entrusted to hold, whether musical or interpersonal. I cannot wait to hear what they do.

January 17: Foods and Music with Numyn, Michael Beharie + Jesse Karch, Chef Nicky

When Kyle asked Nick (aka Numyn) about this show, which got added to the calendar just before this newsletter, he said something so good I’m just gonna quote it: “Gonna be a strong feeling, fierce in the throes of this world’s countless griefs. I’m getting into some new sounds, the food will be real and dank and enlivening, Beharie is going to play super beautiful, just trying to cultivate some of what it takes to insist on living otherwise to and against the globalized hell machine, you know!?”

January 18: Fiber Vol. 6 with Fuge, Luwann, Løt.te

This month’s Fiber hosts Luwan, whose DJ sets tend toward the warm and wiggly, and Lot.te, a multimedia artist whose work explores and exposes how our oppressors weaponize technology against us. It’s something that’s been on my mind this week after reading a Bloomberg report about how AI data centers are so power-hungry that they suck energy out of the grids we rely on for our daily lives. This is what Fiber specializes in: bringing the outside world into our listening spaces, in ways that both challenge and soothe.

-Zoë B