Hayley Mary (vocals) and Heather Shannon (keys) had already played together in a band by the time they met Nik Kaloper (drums) and Samuel Lockwood (guitar) at the University of Sydney and formed the Jezabels (above, doing “City Girl”) five years ago. Since then they released three well-received EPs filled with anthemic pop before putting out their debut LP, Prisoner, with its echo-y guitar riffs and hard-pounding drums (stream it below), last year. And despite the mounting recorded catalog, the coed Aussie quartet is undoubtedly a live band. See for yourself tomorrow night at Webster Hall.
One good thing about music is that it can unite people across the globe. Of course with the Internet in our everyday lives, the size of the world no longer seems so daunting. And just as Bob Marley brought local music from his country to the rest of the planet, Omar Souleyman, a dabke musician from Syria who grew up near the Syria-Iraq border, is doing the same. He began recording music in 1994 and there have been hundreds of studio and live albums released under his name. He’s gained more attention in this country since an American label put out three of his discs. His music is a little faster, rougher and on the more techno end of dabke, and the best way for you to experience it is in person, which is what you can do when Souleyman (above, performing at the 2010 Montreal International Jazz Festival) plays Webster Hall on Monday night.
Although Shante Franklin, performing under the name Curren$y, originally got a deal with a label in 2003, it took seven years and several label changes, underground releases and appearances on other people’s albums and mixtapes before the hardcore rapper’s first official studio LP, Pilot Talk, debuted. But once it did, he kept pumping out new music. His fourth disc, the rock-infused Muscle Car Chronicles, came out this past Valentine’s Day and with the fifth one, The Stoned Immaculate, due next week, Curren$y (above, doing “Car Service” with Wiz Khalifa) plays Webster Hall tomorrow night.
Sebastian Pringle (lead vocals and guitar) and Gilbert Vierich (electronics, guitar and percussion) knew each other from way back. Vierich separately met Graham Dickson (guitar and txalaparta), and once Dickson moved to London, the three of them began to make music together, experimenting with different genres, from lo-fi R&B to metal and synth music. But then Laure Stockley (vocals) visited her reclusive grandfather’s Basque country home and discovered an unfinished opera with a section that roughly translates to Crystal Fighters. The opera opened the group to new ideas and the world of Basque folk music. And then with the addition of Mimi Borrelli (vocals) and Andrea Marongiu (drums), Crystal Fighters (above, doing “At Home”) had a new folktronic sound combining Spanish folk instruments with heavy synths, booming bass and drum loops. See them, alongside Is Tropical, on Wednesday at Music Hall of Williamsburg.
