History Dog is a quartet of highly lauded Brooklyn-based improvisers. They’re scholars of the local and global Id, experts at accessing it within any number of distinct musical worlds (jazz, punk, noise, classical, avant-garde), always shaping personal dialects which address this subterranean collective imagination. Like all great improvisers, they feel it as it’s taking shape. So while you may be arriving at History Dog’s debut album, Root Systems, to check out this cool coming-together of a Brooklyn underground super-group, you’re likely to leave in thrall to a slightly different sound of Now.

History Dog is trumpeter Chris Williams (he/him), drummer Lesley Mok (they/them), bass guitarist Luke Stewart (he/him) and vocalist Shara Lunon (she/they). Each one is an active presence in New York’s music community, who, having established their individual practices in/around the jazz tradition, has chosen to travel far beyond its prescribed borders. Their expansive interests have led them to embrace electronics, to reconsider the roles of their primary instruments, and to embrace a decidedly post-genre attitude. The weight of their collective chops and credits reveal a high cultural standing. -The Urban Music Scene

Totally Automatic was formed by Anne Ishii, Eugene Lew and Matthew Smith Lee in the summer of 2021. They play unarranged music with each other, on drums, saxophone and electronics, and can be found around Philadelphia.

accessibility: Entrance in back of building (47th street) and up a flight of stairs.