Mojo, The Music Magazine Has Plenty Of It

Merriam-Webster defines mojo as "a seemingly supernatural power, influence, or ability."  Mojo, the UK's excellent, popular music magazine may not have supernatural powers, but it possesses both influence and ability in abundance.

The monthly publication easily keeps up with current artists and trends - this month Courtney Barnett, Mumford and Sons, and The Hold Steady are spotlighted - but the magazine has also targeted Baby Boomers ever since it hit the newsstands in 1993. That's why you see articles on The Beach Boys, Johnny Cash, The Kinks, David Bowie, NRBQ and a tribute to Bob Weir. April's cover story celebrates the 100th birthday of Miles Davis with a twelve-page story. The entire issue is 122 pages in total, so you can see that Mojo offers their readers a lot of content.

April's Mojo Filter is "Your guide to the month's best music."  It offers readers 147 reviews of new albums, reissues, music books and music related films. The section is so extensive that its first page has an index listing the names of the artists' that have their work reviewed in the current issue.

One of the benefits of a hard copy subscription is the bonus CD that comes with it every month dedicated to the artist featured on the cover. The Davis disc - attached to the front cover as seen here - celebrates the famous jazzman's 100th birthday and includes fifteen tracks from various stages of his early career. May's issue includes a fifteen-track CD that is essentially a "mix-tape" loaded with songs chosen by Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters' bassist Nate Mendel. June's cover stars Joni Mitchell with a CD of her songs covered by other artists.

Mojo is not like its longtime American rival, Rolling Stone. Unless politics is related to a current music discussion you won't find that frequently incendiary topic offered as a regular feature.

The April magazine was released in Mid-February and because Mojo sends their issues to America by sea freight instead of air it can take six to eight weeks for the most recent edition to arrive in your mailbox. After my initial long wait, the Davis issue arrived missing the CD, but when I contacted Mojo's customer service they were very responsive and mailed a replacement copy to me with the CD attached.

I'm still impatiently waiting for my May issue that was sent out in mid-March. Just be aware that if you're an American subscriber you'll have to be more patient than a puppy waiting for a treat.

Mojo's most economical subscription will cost $119 US dollars for twelve issues, but if that's too steep for you an annual, digital only subscription is less expensive at $67.00. Unfortunately, unlike many websites that allow subscribers to set up a username and password where you can simply login and read online until your heart is content Mojo only allows digital access by downloading an app on devices they support. Both iPads and iPhones work if you're an Apple user, or if you're not an Apple fan the following Android devices can be used: Sony, Nexus, Samsung, Acer, Asus, LG, Motorola, ZTE, Xiaomi, and MIUI. I hate reading articles on my small iPhone, and I can't download the app on my Amazon Fire, so I hope they fix this someday.

You can find Mojo's website here, and a sample of what you'll hear on the complimentary Miles Davis CD is below.

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