Does dry-brushing really do anything...

The old discwasher with a few drops of solution on the edge kept my records clean enough for decades that most still look and sound great.
For me, no dry cleaning process I have ever tried (Audioquest, Hunt) works as well. Ultrasonic wet is the ultimate.

I use a Hunt brush with a spritz of distilled water from a re-purposed eyeglass cleaner spray bottle.  This is the kind of bottle you get at the optometrist and puts out a very fine mist.  Once empty of the eye glass cleaning solution, rinse thoroughly and fill with good quality distilled water.  Hold the bottle 1-2 feet away from the brush and spray in its general direction to very lightly moisten the brush surface.  Helps pick up dust rather than just push it around.  

By the way, ticks and pops are often - though not always - the result of wear from repeated playings eventually exposing voids (tiny unfilled pockets) in the vinyl that were formed at the time of manufacture.    

Yeah, mostly a ritual but it does remove some dust. Could create static sometimes, no doubt. Using LAST after each play may be a good idea but it's too much for me, this and machine cleaning before each play.

Just for a point of clarification, the Last all purpose cleaner was designed as a maintenance cleaner for records that have previously been thoroughly cleaned.  As such it takes no more time to use than a carbon fibre brush.

The ones with a double row of short grounded conductive carbon fiber brushes work well IMO.

The original Decca and Sleeve City brushes are the ones I use.

The brushes on the Audioquest are too long.

The brush must be used properly. Lay the brush on the record at a slight vertical angle, and slowly tilt the brush in the opposite direction of record rotation, then lift off. Hold down the brush gently! Do not slide the brush as the collected dust will be dragged into the grooves! Then turn the brush in the holder to knock off the collected dust. You can see the collected dust on the brush as evidence of effectiveness.