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The Bushwick Hotel came together in the summer of 2012 when vocalist/guitarist Gregory Ferreira was recording his second solo album, Graffiti of The Young Man’s Mind, in his Bushwick recording studio, Live By the Sword. The other members of The Bushwick Hotel - Matt La Von (tenor, alto, and soprano sax/clarinet/background vocals), DB Tamir (bass/background vocals), Rudy Temiz (slide guitar/background vocals), and Ben Teters (drums/background vocals) - bonded together over extended jam sessions and a straight month of cohabitation and recording at Live By The Sword Studio and this new disc sounds like the work of a tightly honed unit.
It is tough to describe The Bushwick Hotel’s music with just a single label or two as the music is multi-layered and complex. The closest comparison that I can make is to the early 80’s post-punk sound of bands like The Jam and Elvis Costello. Ferreira’s vocals sound a bit like Elvis Costello and his socio-political messages mixed with danceable post-punk and blue-eyed soul remind me of Paul Weller’s integration of the Motown sound into The Jam's music toward the end of the band's tenure. The Bushwick Hotel's 7-track debut album, Graffiti of the Young Man’s Mind, comes out on November 19th.
Diving into the new album, Graffiti of the Young Man’s Mind is a high energy affair. The disc start with “Take Care of My Girl” (streaming above) which will get the dance floor moving with a powerful combination of handclaps and horns over which Ferreira lays down smooth vocals and a call and response chorus. This is followed by “Shot Out of Cannon”, which starts with Ferreira on acoustic guitar and the song sounds something like Elvis Costello covering a David Bowie number. On “Talk All Night / The Pressure”, the Elvis Costello comparison comes out in full force as this is a near perfect post-punk pop song. Toward the end of the disc, the band slows the mood down with “Lighthouse”, which is a hazy and psychedelic affair that adds a slight touch of Southern soul toward the end of the track. This song is followed by “Bittersweet” which is a ‘late-night’ moody number with whispered vocals and a bending guitar line. Picking up the pace, the disc ends with the swinging garage rock number “Graffiti of the Young Man’s Mind” where the chaos within this song’s free-form jazz instrumentation lurks right below the surface.
On Sept. 12th, The Bushwick Hotel played the "Fashionably Late" party at Ella Lounge in the East Village as part of Fashion Week. The event paired The Bushwick Hotel’s music with a visual display from director/fashion photographer Cathrine Westergaard. For a rainy Thursday night, the band drew a full-house and, over the course of their hour-long set, played almost all of the tracks from their forthcoming CD.
Links:
The Bushwick Hotel