INTERNATIONAL MUSIC REVIEWS & NEWS
Some musicians claim to have been “catapulted” to stardom. But for the Scottish band Bwani Junction, the road to success has been a slow-maturing and a moderate unfolding. It took a few years for the four members, Rory Fairweather, Jack Fotheringham, Dan Muir, and Fergus Robson, to create and publish their debut album that they recorded [...]
Far from being the soggy offspring of an aging seafarer, U.K. seven-piece The Mariner’s Children presents a deliciously and decidedly earth-bound proposal to its listeners. Banjos, guitars, violins and creaking, guttural harmonies converge in a great maelstrom of building, driving songs, which careen from moments of delicate beauty to those of furious abandon. The Brighton [...]
Omar Sosa’s new album rebuilds Miles Davis’ 1959 classic from the ground up. THE BOMBER JACKET spoke with the musician about Mr. Davis, jazz, and why the best note is often the one you don’t play. When Omar Sosa first got the call to revisit and reinterpret Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue for its 50th [...]
Greg Mullen snubbed out the joint he’d been smoking just as the bus pulled up. He was wearing a cowboy hat with the sides curled in and big white, heart-shaped sunglasses. He was traveling with only a suitcase and a guitar. High and exhausted, he took his seat and the mystical voice of the bus driver [...]
As usual, Penn State’s annual Arts Crawl was a wild, noisy explosion of art and music. Hallways lined with art, rooms filled with paintings, sculptures and installations. Music coming from every direction, multiple genres and styles all playing in different parts of the event simultaneously, creating a wonderfully disorienting effect. A host of great local [...]
Last summer, Florida-based Alexander and The Grapes released their debut full length record Hemispheres via New Granada. Its 12-song tracklist offers a deeply personal and reflective vignette of frontman Alexander Charos. Now, nearly 10 months since its release, the band is touring venues across the East Coast, and will be performing alongside Boston’s Pretty & Nice this [...]
Not too long back we spontaneously reviewed a concert in New York City when local musician Adam Schatz played with his band Landlady at Pianos. Prior to the show, there were no plans for coverage lined up, but because the gig was so outstanding, we wrote up a quick piece covering the night and Mr. [...]
Local State College, Pa musician Andrew McHenry really enjoys making music, but he doesn’t feel as if he has to be locked into a single genre or style. Like many musicians of his generation, he likes to mix multiple elements into his music, not allowing himself to be handcuffed by his audience’s expectations. So it’s [...]
Chantel McGregor is a young British blues-rock guitarist and singer-songwriter from Bradford, West Yorkshire, in Northern England. At seven years of age she started taking guitar lessons. At the grand old age of eight she became the youngest person in the U.K. to pass a “Rock school” grade exam. In her teens, McGregor was told by [...]
Khalif Diouf ‘s (Le1f) music is truly a representation and expression of his complex identity. Le1f grew up in New York City, surrounded by progressive music and ambitious peers. He frequented “Balls,” lavish dance room scenes and drag shows, a part of NYC’s LGBT sub-culture. He experimented with producing and making electro beats for various [...]
