Labels are for soup cans. While routinely stamped as a “jam band,” a varietal that is as nebulous, constricting and even as dismissive as “Americana,” the L.A. quartet Circles Around the Sun are cooking up something all their own. Formed six years ago, the band has covered a lot of ground since. They’ve experienced certain gains. And with the 2019 …
Watch | Official trailer for Peter Jackson’s Beatles doc ‘Get Back’
Already the stuff of mythologized rock n’ roll lore, the recording sessions for The Beatles final album Let It Be (and the subsequent rooftop concert) took on even greater mystique when rumors spread that director Peter Jackson (he of Lord-Of-The-Rings fame) became attached to a related project. Jackson, it was said, was busy rifling through an enormous cache of archival …
Fresh Rotation | Three new songs the JME team can’t stop listening to
Crucial Hip-hop from Tall Black Guy, Mylee Grace's melancholy love ballad, and confectionery indie pop from Le Pain
Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to concoct the tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our Fresh Squeeze playlist. Each song is chosen with intention. And so we often feel like they are worthy of a broader discussion (or at least a bit of context). Here are three new songs …
Astro, a founding member of the reggae group UB40, has died at age 64
Terence Wilson, a founding member of UB40 who was known by fans of the pioneering reggae band as Astro, has died following a short illness. He was 64. Wilson’s death was confirmed Saturday on the official Twitter page for his group, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell & Astro. “We are absolutely devastated and completely heartbroken to have to tell you that …
Go | Orlando EDM fest Electric Daisy Carnival Festival returns this weekend
Massive EDM festival returns to the Sunshine State this weekend
Sunshine State-based fans of electronic dance music rejoice. The massive and massively popular Electric Daisy Carnival Festival, one of the largest in the EDM-festival sphere, returns to Orlando’s Tinker Field this weekend with a down-right exhaustive lineup of performers. The tenth iteration of EDC will be headlined by heavy hitters of EDM including Paul van Dyk, Kygo, Zedd and Tiesto. …
Go | What to see and hear in Jax this week
Jam band Circles Around the Sun, bluesman Robert Cray and hip-hop beat-maker Blockhead top a week that has a little something for everyone.
Each and every week the Jacksonville Music Experience team identifies the best concerts in Northeast Florida. Here’s what’s on the JME team’s concert calendar this week. Funk Monday Night Funk Jam – Monday, November 8 Headroom Coffee Bar | Downtown Jax Headroom Coffee Bar plays host to some of the area’s top talent, each and every Monday. Adam Kenneway, Shaun …
Local Spotlight | “Chamomile (Smoke Rings)” by Lazuli Vane
Beaches-based multi-instrumentalist steeps a funk-laced psychedelic brew
Neptune Beach has treated Patrick Taylor well. Since arriving in the small ocean-adjacent enclave a year ago, the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who performs under Lazuli Vane has been productive, releasing the texturally rich and experimentally inclined full-length, 2020’s ambient The Orphic Rite of the Cult of Sedna. More importantly, perhaps, for the young creative, he’s embedded himself within an emotionally …
Surfer Blood drop back into Jacksonville with something old, something new
The West Palm Beach indie faves play the Bier Hall at Intuition Ale Works
While Surfer Blood’s latest album plays like a possible rumination on the past, the band is hardly caught in the undertow of a wave of nostalgia. Released in May of 2020, Carefree Theatre is a solid offering from the West Palm Beach-born band that has enjoyed a decade-plus of critical acclaim and rabid fan adoration. The 11-song collection contains the certain …
Watch | The War On Drugs play Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It’s the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space. In their Tiny Desk (home) concert, The War On Drugs gather in their packed studio in Burbank, …
Join NPR Music’s film screening of ‘Karen Dalton: In My Own Time’
Join us for an online screening of Karen Dalton: In My Own Time. Bob Boilen from All Songs Considered will be joined by director Robert Yapkowitz and singer-songwriter Margo Price in a live conversation about the film. The event will take place on Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. ET – you can RSVP via NPR Presents and watch via NPR …
Go | The best concerts in Jacksonville this week
Porchfest, Surfer Blood and a hip-hop showcase
Each and every week the Jacksonville Music Experience team identifies the best concerts in Northeast Florida. Here’s what the JME team wants to see and hear this week. Jam Band Galactic – Thursday, November 4 Ponte Vedra Concert Hall | Ponte Vedra A mainstay at music festivals for decades, funky and progressive instrumental ensemble Galactic plays the Ponte Vedra Concert …
Listen | November’s Fresh Squeeze playlist
A juicy playlist of tunes handpicked by the JME team
JME contributors pick the juiciest noise emanating from Northeast Florida and beyond for our monthly Fresh Squeeze playlist. Featuring a few dozen new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists, there are no rules or genre restrictions; just songs we thought were worth a share. Follow the Jacksonville Music Experience on Spotify and our Fresh Squeeze playlist to keep …
Hot Off the (Re)Press | Joni Mitchell at Carnegie and R.E.M. at their peak
Two great re-pressings from iconic artists
‘Hot Off the (Re)Press’ is a semi-regular column highlighting reissues of seminal, classic and groundbreaking works. The Jacksonville Music Experience team is made of vinyl enthusiasts. Read more about our love affair with the medium via JME’s Crate Diggin’ features. Live at Carnegie Hall-1969, Joni Mitchell Joni Mitchell, one of the most-celebrated songwriters of her generation, has arguably been one of the …
Jax Photographer Leighton Hoey’s Immersive View of the City’s Music Scene
Hoey's Jax Today photo essay offers a unique look at music in Northeast Florida
In a recent photo essay for Jacksonville Today (the second in an ongoing series for the recently launched newsletter and website), Beaches-based lens-person Leighton Hoey captures the verve and enthusiasm surrounding the city’s burgeoning live music scene. At 23, Hoey’s already a season veteran documentarian of music in Northeast Florida. And, in contrast to the more posed or highly stylized …
Local Spotlight | “Love Burn” by 9E
Heavy Jax rock quartet expands its mastery of the dark arts
On the strength of the riff-heavy and atmospheric noise found within 9E’s 2018 debut Desert Nights, the Jax Beach-based rock quartet was enjoying some forward momentum, its monochromatic ambience and mastery of soft-loud dynamism manifesting as a kind of dark art, casting spells on the rowdy crowds that gathered in small clubs around the beaches before the city’s pandemic slumber. For a …
Watch | Tiny Desk winner Neffy
Neffy performs her contest winning song "Wait Up"
It felt good to be home, if only for one night: home, in this case, being my Tiny Desk at NPR. We were about to film Neffy, our 2021 Tiny Desk Contest winner, at my desk at NPR headquarters. My corner of the NPR Music department looked just as I had left it almost 600 days ago; it’s eerie inside …
Fresh Rotation | Four new songs handpicked by the JME team
New tracks from Parquet Courts, Feels, IDLES and Duval’s own Wes Harris
Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to concoct the tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our Fresh Squeeze playlist. Each song is chosen with intention. And so we often feel like they are worthy of a broader discussion (or at least a bit of context). Here’s four new songs (all …
Go | Jacksonville PorchFest in Historic Springfield
Every neighborhood has its charms; only one has PorchFest
Certainly every neighborhood scattered across the vast sprawl of Jacksonville––the largest city by land area in the continental U.S.––has its charms. But the Downtown Jax-adjacent neighborhood of Springfield––with its rich history, walkability and varied range of historic and architecturally interesting homes gleaming with classical columns, fireplaces, crown modeling, decorative banisters, et al––is in a league of its own. And Springfield …
Listen | Wilco covers The Beatles for ‘Let It Be’ reissue
Alt-Americana icons Wilco have released two covers of songs from The Beatles twelfth and final studio release, 1970’s Let It Be. The band tackled the plaintive ballads “Dig A Pony” and “Don’t Let Me Down” as part of Amazon Music’s [RE]DISCOVER campaign, which is celebrating this month’s special edition reissue of Let It Be. Wilco’s October surprise foreshadows the release …
Lawmakers are considering awarding Prince a Congressional Gold Medal
Minnesota’s Congressional delegation wants to award an iconic hometown hero with one of the highest of awards given to U.S. civilians. The bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation Monday calling for Prince to posthumously receive the Congressional Gold Medal. The bill honors Prince for his “legacy of musical achievement and… indelible mark on Minnesota and American culture.” The measure is …
Just Announced | Bon Iver @ the St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Grammy Award-winning musical polymath Bon Iver to play the Sunshine State
Grammy Award-Winning act Bon Iver recently announced a 23-date U.S. tour with a stop at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in April. The critically acclaimed project of singer-songwriter and producer Justin Vernon, Bon Iver emerged as one of the most successful indie-folk acts to emerge of the early 2000s. The sparse yet dynamic For Emma, Forever Ago––Vernon’s debut as Bon Iver––was …
Go | These are the best concerts in Jax this week
Indie rock, bedroom hip-hop, spooky stoner metal and legendary blues for your Halloween weekend
If you slept on Thundercat’s visit to Northeast Florida, you’ll surely be disappointed to find out that the incomparable bassist’s Ponte Vedra Concert Hall show this Tuesday is sold out. Don’t be disheartened, though. A sold-out show is a good sign that Northeast Florida’s live music scene is alive and well. And during a week in which we celebrate the …
On ‘Weight of the World,’ Maxo Kream’s world expands amid personal tragedy
Against convention for new album releases, Houston rapper Maxo Kream released his third album on a Monday, due to the date’s personal significance. Weight of the World‘s Oct. 18 release coincides with his niece Jalae’s birthday, as well as the anniversary of his cousin Andrew’s death. Maxo even remembers Oct. 18 as the date that his younger brother — Jalae’s …
JME DJ Sessions | The beautiful noise of Northeast Florida on First Coast Connect
Listen to three new songs out of Jacksonville
As temperatures are cooling here in Northeast Florida, local artists are heating up––setting streaming services ablaze with brand new tunes. On October’s edition of JME DJ Sessions on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross, we listened to three songs from some of the region’s most buzzed-about artists. You can read reviews for each song on jaxmusic.org and listen to them …
Local Spotlight | “Stay in L.A.” by Howdy
Jacksonville indie-folk cowboy says "Aloha" to the West Coast
California retains a mythical quality in the hearts and minds of East Coasters. Los Angeles, too––despite its labyrinths of on- and off-ramps, fire hazards and (now) mosquito problems––can weigh heavy on the imagination of a right-coast romantic. A West Coast pilgrammage, then, is a must; if only to realize the grass is always greener. On “Stay in L.A.” Jax Beach-based …
Go | The best concerts in Jax this week
A good week for fans of college radio
There was a time when the term college radio was used to describe any rock music that was just outside the mainstream. Bands like R.E.M. and the B-52’s wore it like a badge of honor. The Replacements glorified such “Left of the Dial” music in song. Today, the term is used to describe a much broader array of artists working …
NPR Music hosts live listening party for ‘A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle’
Mythical John Coltrane recording to be released on October 22
In October of 1965, John Coltrane and an ensemble that featured drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner, as well as bassist Donald Rafael Garrett and a second tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, finished out a week-long residency at the Penthouse jazz club in Seattle, performing Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, the heralded saxophonist’s masterwork released earlier that year. Until just a …
Fresh Rotation | New tunes JME contributors can’t stop listening to
New tunes from Michael Hurley, BeMyFiasco, Rodrigo Amarante and a fresh dedication to Pops
Each and every month the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists and concocts the tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our Fresh Squeeze playlist. Each song is chosen with intention. And so we often feel like they are worthy of a broader discussion (or at least a bit of context). Here’s four new songs (all …
Local Spotlight | The best releases by Jax artists out right now
New singles from Faze Wave and Niki Dawson; albums by LPT and DeAndre Lettsome
The JME team was busy last week, as new music flooded in from across Northeast Florida. New tracks from indie rock quartet Faze Wave and singular vocalist Niki Dawson perked our ears. And meditative and complex new full-lengths from jazz-scene standout DeAndre Lettsome and ten-piece Afro-Cuban salsa orchestra LPT gave us much to chew on. Here are the best new …
Giveaway | Win tickets to see Sheer Mag at Intuition Ale Works
Free tickets to see potent Philly power-pop quartet
The team over at Intuition Ale Works had big plans for the Bier Hall, a mid-sized music venue inside their Downtown taproom and production facility. While the pandemic may have stalled those initial ambitions (a Ty Segall show was put on ice), the Bier Hall is ready to come alive, rolling out a fall lineup featuring some big-time indie acts …
Defining T. Rex Album Came Out The Same Year NPR Debuted Original Programming
This story originally aired on Sept. 24, 2021. In 1971, Joe Elliott was 12 years old, and he was going to his first rock show. The band was T. Rex, touring their latest album, Electric Warrior. Pushing through the venue’s swing doors with porthole windows, Elliott found himself in a rollicking, ecstatic crowd that screamed itself into his memory. Fifty …
Local Spotlight | ‘Se Quema El Mundo’ by LPT
New full-length by popular Jax-based Afro-Cuban Salsa ensemble is designed to move you
Since forming 2015, LPT have been vigilant in bringing their personal brand of salsa music to both the stage and studio. The 10-piece Afro-Cuban ensemble have released a handful of singles, a full-length and live releases on labels Winterland Records, Bold City Records and their own LPT Salsa imprint. In concert, LPT is a veritable juggernaut, setting stages ablaze (figuratively) …
Meeting Tracy Chapman In The Spaces Between
Tracy is wearing a plain, worn, black T-shirt, no pockets, no sly sayings, and I imagine her waking up in it, in just that T-shirt, and walking around my small basement bedroom in the Oakland split-ranch that I am sharing with 5 other grad students for $200 dollars a month each, so cold we can see our breath. Tracy is …
Fresh Rotation | 3 new songs we can’t stop listening to
New music from Wet Leg, serpentwithfeet and Shannon Lay
Each and every month the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists and creates the tasty listening experience that is our Fresh Squeeze playlist. Each song is chosen with intention. And so we often feel like they are worthy of a broader discussion (or at least a bit of context). Here’s three new …
Local Spotlight | ‘Impetus’ by DeAndre Lettsome
Jax-based alto saxophonist struts across standards and original compositions
Astute followers of Jacksonville’s red hot jazz scene are surely familiar with DeAndre Lettsome. A founding member of Jax-based purveyors of New-Orleans-style jazz, Let’s Ride Brass Band, the 26-year-old alto saxophonist is an in-demand player. And, as evidenced by the new nine-song collection Impetus (Lettsome’s first solo release on Bold City Music Productions), he’s also a formidable composer and topnotch …
Go | Todd Haynes’ ‘The Velvet Underground’ documentary @ Sun-Ray Cinema
The revered avant-garde rockers finally get the rock-doc treatment
You don’t have to be a mystic, or even religious, to understand that coincidences don’t really exist. Indeed, any student of rock n’ roll knows that the history of the canon is littered with chance encounters and ripe scenes made up of unusually heterogeneous mixtures of characters. In 1957, a 15-year-old Paul McCartney paid threepence to watch a popular Liverpool …