The Dance Cartel Official Website | The Dance Cartel on Facebook | The Dance Cartel on Instagram

The Dance Cartel is after a new brand of dance experience. Taking note of a dance world that often suffers from anemia and esotericism, the Cartel strives to create dances that are vibrant, immersive and often participatory. Without sacrificing technical expertise or a rigorous artistic approach, we’re working to employ the social nature of dance, the charge of a party, and the sharpness of a music video to a fresh dance vocabulary that any Joe can get down with.

Zuzuka Poderosa drops Brazilian bred, BK-based swagger like no other. A stylistic blend of Funk Carioca Bass and NYC rumble add a breath of fresh air to today’s international music scene.
 
Zuzuka Poderosa on Facebook
Zuzuka Poderosa on Soundcloud

Banginclude on Facebook
Banginclude on Soundcloud

Grace McLean on Bandcamp | Grace McLean official site

Called “electrifying” by The Huffington Post and “phenomenal” by the New York Times, Grace McLean is a multi-hyphenate actress-singer-writer-teacher on the rise. In addition to performing (Broadway: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812; Off-Broadway: Brooklynite, Bedbugs!!!, Sleep No More) Grace also makes time for her acclaimed original music with her band Grace McLean & Them Apples. The band performed in both the 2015 and 2016 Lincoln Center American Songbook series, and in April 2015, they toured Pakistan with the US State Department. Grace’s pop opera about 12th century mystic Hildegard von Bingen has been developed at CAP21, SPACE on Ryder Farm, the Johnny Mercer Writer’s Colony at Goodspeed, and The Orchard Project and has been commissioned by LCT3. Grace is the recipient of the 2017 Hunt Family Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center.

Average Jo on Mixcloud

Underground System official site | Underground System on Twitter | Underground System on Soundcloud | Underground System on Bandcamp | Underground System on Instagram

A Black-Italian raised in Miami and Venezuela walks into a bar. She’s flanked by some instrument toting lady friends and a few dudes. There’s a Filipino, a Jewish/Brazilian, a Motswana, a Japanese man, and a couple white guys with guitars (of course). If you’re waiting for the punch line, it’s better seen and heard than read. Underground System, the Brooklyn, NY born female-fronted group of modern afrobeat deconstructionists, is a singularly original and undeniably exciting group. Hanging their hats on an uncompromising stage show, they augment their presence with a multitude of eclectic musical influences and a heavy penchant for the deeper sounding corners of NYC dance floors, bringing a refreshing sense of urgency to what is at the core a classic tight-knit, no frills, show stopping act.

Other than the extra-musical and cultural factors, Underground System separation from the norm of touring afro-friendly bands was cemented with the recent release and subsequent proliferation via about a dozen official remixes of ‘Bella Ciao’ – a retro-futuristic dance floor ready interpretation of a Partisan anti-fascist Italian WWII anthem (Frontwoman Domenica Fossati’s father is off the boat Northern Italian, mom from Flatbush Brooklyn, and she grew up in Miami and Venezuela; you do the math). This single has had an impressive little run – there were three separate 12” vinyl releases dedicated to it (Ropeadope Records, Hell Yeah! Records), remixes from electronic wunderkinds Archie Pelago, viral MC Kool A.D. (Das Racist), and the tune attained cult status on the dance floor all over the Mediterranean region when it was played and later remixed in the Boiler Room on Ibiza by Leo Mas, the protagonist resident DJ of the Balearic revolution on the island during the infamous summer(s) of love.

Aside from the success of ‘Bella’, their live show over the past year has evolved and brings their newfound concept of sonic palette to a place as diverse as the players. The group at this stage is just as likely to tip their hats to the imitable South Bronx girl group ESG as they are Fela Kuti, and lately have been leaning on a raucous interpretation of British new wave cult classic band XTC to close their shows. Sitting on a wealth of brand new original material currently being produced in the studio, they will begin in 2016 to spread their wings with it live. For their forthcoming debut full length recording they have tapped resident indie rock legend and Brooklyn guru Tony Maimone (of Pere Ubu and They Might be Giants fame) as well as former DFA Studio manager Abe Seiferth to engineer, under the close watch and collaboration of producer/bandleader Peter Matson. The progressive social and sonic thesis statement of the band is fully laid on the line for these upcoming records, and you can catch them now in a city near you for an early taste of things to come.

Some recent press for Underground System comes from Afropunk, okayafrica, The Washington Post, Time Out NY, The Village Voice, Test Pressing, and Afropop Worldwide. Some recent tour stops for Underground System include The Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Bowl, Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, WNYC, Brooklyn Museum, WMI, Le Poisson Rouge, The Ace Hotel, Brooklyn Night Bazaar, Sofar Sounds NYC, American Museum of Natural History, and S.O.B.’s

BatalaNYC is an international music group that plays a style of samba drumming, called samba reggae which originates in Salvador de Bahia in northeastern Brazil. We are part of a bigger group of bands of the same name, Batala!
 
BatalaNYC official site
BatalaNYC on Facebook