Listening to Shotgun Driver’s new EP, “Jester Privileges”, is like finding a glitter bomb in a padded cell. The four songs present a disorienting, strangely compelling contradiction. On the surface, the alt-pop framework pulses with an upbeat, almost defiant energy; this is the slick, rock-tinged anxiety of a Machine Gun Kelly track built for open-road brooding. But beneath it, the narrative, carried by those...

Musicians who can create magic by drawing into their origins have a certain captivating and true quality about them. Sista Mika, whose given name is Sophia Michalakoudis, is a living monument to the genuineness of that culture. Sista Mika was born in Brussels with a Greek background. She grew up to the rhythmic rhythms of rebetiko, Greece's response to blues and reggae, a lyrical story of...