Americana: is it a musical genre or a collective of musicians? How has roots music influenced our country’s politics and culture, and in what ways does this section of music still have room to grow? Mandi Bates Bailey explores this subject matter in her new book, The Downhome Sound: Diversity and Politics in Americana Music. Dr. Bailey is a professor …
Here’s How Jax’s own Synthy Post-Punk Trio Glass Chapel recorded their single “Foreign Rain”
Calling all new wave nerds: you’re guaranteed to fall in love with Glass Chapel, a synth-heavy post-punk act hailing from Jacksonville. The trio, made up of Jake Phillips, Angela Sitzler and Nick Phitides, cites influence by punk acts of today, like Soft Kill, and yesterday, such as The Cure. Glass Chapel has released a slew of singles and remixes this …
PJ Harvey | Tiny Desk Concert
Polly Harvey has inhabited many characters throughout her 30-year career and always dressed the part: catsuit-rocking glam queen, high-collared Victorian wraith, mini-skirted libertine, feather-adorned warrior. Bringing the story told in her latest album, I Inside the Old Year Dying to the Tiny Desk, she stands at the microphone in a draped dress the wintry color of a gray alder tree, …
Brittany Howard is Going to Make her Dreams Come True
By the standards of the 2020s, when younger audiences metabolize music so quickly that performers need to keep a constant flow of memeable, streamable content coming, Brittany Howard‘s been laying low. Since wrapping the tour promoting her 2019 solo album Jaime and commissioning remixes of it from peers, she’s resurfaced only a handful of times leading up to the announcement …
8 Concerts to See this Week in Jacksonville
Croce Plays Croce, ASG, the Hip Abduction, Fleetwood Mac tribute, local songwriter showcase and more.
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning. For a comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Jazz Blue Jay Jazz Jam – Tuesday, November 21 Blue Jay Listening Room | Jacksonville Beach If you’re expecting visitors this week, we suggest treating your early arrivals to one of the region’s best weekly jazz jams at Blue …
PanMarco Festival Brings the Unique, Calming Sounds of the Handpan to the Front of the Mix
The handpan is widely regarded as one of the most calm, peaceful and meditative musical instruments out there. That sound, and the settings in which it is most often heard, are about as far as it gets from the ambient sounds that used to surround John Giunta. In a previous life, a time that feels so long ago, Giunta was …
New Music Friday | André 3000, The Smile, Madi Diaz & Kacey Musgraves, J Mascis and More
The biggest surprise of the week came today, with the first new album of original music from André 3000. Surprising because 1) We weren’t expecting it and 2) Because the record does not contain a single bar of rhymes. Read more about the flute-forward New Blue Sun and listen to a single from the record and five more tracks below. …
All Songs Considered | The best releases out on Nov. 17
This week’s biggest music news was broken elsewhere on NPR Music — that’d be the release of Andre 3000’s first album in 17 years, New Blue Sun — so be sure to head there for André’s long and illuminative interview with our own Rodney Carmichael. But there are other new records worth highlighting this week. Superstar rappers 2 Chainz and …
The Smile Announce New Album ‘Wall of Eyes,’ Share Cinematic Video for Title Track
Nu-Radiohead—that is, English trio The Smile, featuring that band’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood alongside Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner—have announced their second studio album. Titled Wall of Eyes and produced by past Yorke collaborator Sam Petts-Davies, the LP is due out Jan. 26, 2024, on XL Recordings. The band this week shared the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed music video for …
André 3000 Opens Up About ‘New Blue Sun,’ his Daring New Solo Album
At a certain point in the winding lifespan of André 3000’s musical journey, there came a time when we as fans began to worry less about his lack of creative output and more about his general well-being. He’d ascended pop’s mountaintop as the outrageous half of OutKast, the best-selling hip-hop duo of all time. Then, without much explanation, he bowed …
New Flamenco Compilation Features a Haunting Performance from Obscure Troubadour, Juanito Mojama
Taken from the new various-artists compilation My Greatest Revenge: Flamenco Recordings, 1904-1938, the track “It Was Because I Didn’t Feel Like It” by vocalist Juanito Mojama is a poignant audio document of both autochthonic-folk music—in this case, flamenco—as well as a mysterious Spanish musician whose career has been barely tracked in other similar compilations and a handful of academic essays. …
New Collab from Jax’s Bright Purpel and Culture School Brings a Positive Gradient to Their Soulful Palettes
A collaboration between Duval new-soul and hip-hop artists Bright Purpel and multi-instrumentalist and producer Culture School offers up a radiant glow. The second track from Culture School’s new release Nail Salon, the three-and-a-half minutes of “Purpel” moves along courtesy of an unhurried chromatic keyboard riff, with Culture School (Quinn Spencer) and Bright Purpel (K.UTIE and Jeremy Ryan) trading off lyrics …
Noname | Tiny Desk Concert
Out of the thousand and some Tiny Desk concerts to date, it’s seldom an artist returns to the Desk. But when they do, there are a couple requirements: come in a new iteration or present something completely different. In this case, the Chicago-bred, emcee-activist Noname does both when she performs some revolutionary raps from her third album, Sundial, and premieres …
8 Concerts to See this Week in Jacksonville
Black Kids, Frankie Valli, Jordan Tice, Jacksonville Jazz Collective
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning. For a comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Indie Rock Black Kids – Wednesday, November 15 Intuition Ale Works | Downtown Jacksonville Fifteen years ago, the dance-forward Jacksonville indie rock band Black Kids went from the dance floor of Art Bar Thursday Night to Late Night with …
New Music Friday | The Beatles’ AI Deep Cut, CARTOONS, Yaya Bey and More
It’s Friday, so it’s time for new music. Here are six brand-new songs the JME team has been enjoying lately. Stream ‘em on your preferred platform by clicking the STREAM button below each description. Want this in your inbox? Sign up for the JME Newsletter. On Tuesdays, we send you our picks for the best concerts of the week in …
Tracy Chapman Becomes the First Black Person to win Song of the Year at the CMAs
Tracy Chapman was honored with Song of the Year for her 1988 folk anthem “Fast Car” at the Country Music Awards on Wednesday, becoming the first Black songwriter to ever win the award. “Fast Car” peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart following its release more than 30 years ago. The song was nominated for three Grammys …
2024 Grammy Award Nominations Led by SZA, Billie Eilish and Phoebe Bridgers
R&B singer-songwriter SZA leads the pack of nominees for the 66th annual Grammy Awards, with nine nods, the Recording Academy announced Friday. Her sophomore album, SOS, is a contender for album of the year, with her hit “Kill Bill” up for record and song of the year. SZA’s competition in those categories includes pop stars Miley Cyrus (“Flowers”), Olivia Rodrigo …
All Songs Considered | The best releases out on Nov. 10
On her debut studio album, Heaven Knows, the English singer and producer PinkPantheress navigates a heady mix of gothic horror and blissful solitude. It’s a record that reflects on the ways we survive trauma only to exist in a kind of uncertain purgatory — alive, unsure of the future and, ultimately, how it’s OK to not be OK. We open …
Live Sessions | SoCal Surf-Jazz Duo The Mattson 2 Drenched in Reverb at Hotel Palms
In April, we welcomed the Mattson 2 to Hotel Palms in Atlantic Beach. Over the course of the last decade, the San Diego based duo, made up of twin brothers Jonathan and Jared Mattson, have consistently displayed a kind of casual alchemy. The identical-twin brothers Jonathan (drums) and Jared (guitar, bass) Mattson pull on the threads of ‘60s Southern California …
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Detail 2024 Tour, Including St. Augustine Stop
Melbourne, Australia’s own experimental-rock juggernauts King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have announced an extensive 2024 tour of North America and Europe in support of their latest album The Silver Cord, including a stop at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre next November. If there are two things King Gizzard are known for, it’s the ever-shifting postures of their elastic maximalist sound …
15 Years After the Internet Broke Them, the Black Kids Have Outlasted the Blogs
For those asking “What ever happened to Black Kids?” the short answer is that the Jacksonville, Florida-bred indie-rock band is doing just fine. Black Kids remain a popular and in-demand live act. In November, they’ll play alongside The Cure, Alanis Morissette, Arcade Fire, The Breeders and other generation-defining acts at the Corona Capital music festival in Mexico City. Prior to …
Local Psych-Heads Yaupon Holly Double Down and Break the Bank with their Latest Pummeling Single
Heading at you with rolled-up sleeves and tube amps a-blazin’, local garage-fiends Yaupon Holly are the apparent chimera of Motörhead and Mudhoney and their recent single “No Aces” is intent on banging your head via generous skull-crackery. Kicking off with an impressive jazzy intro by drummer Michael Glime, “No Aces” shows its hand immediately with guitarists Marcelo Celi and Bryson …
The Beatles’ “Now and Then” is a Wistful Curiosity, 45 Years in the Making
Let’s get the most obvious critique out of the way first: “Now and Then,” the song billed as The Beatles‘ final single, can’t possibly live up to “Let It Be,” “Strawberry Fields Forever” or whatever happens to serve as your personal favorite Beatles song. The song began as a modest demo — just John Lennon, recording on a boombox at …
In New Book, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy Reflects on Life Through Music
Jeff Tweedy wishes his new book had been his first book. He writes that World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music “is the one I probably would have written first if I were more ambitious, and if I had been a little more clear-eyed about what I care most for in this …
Let’s Get Metaphysical | Duval-UK “Future Soul” Duo Cosmic Link Connect the Galactic Groove
The driving principle of the music and formation of Cosmic Link radiates from connection. Whether through 21st-century creative networking or even ineffable serendipity, the alt-soul duo of Duval singer-songwriter Jay Myztroh and Bristol, UK-based producer Ben Dubuisson seem to give it up for a higher power. Their new 12-song eponymous release seems more intent on widening one’s consciousness than filling …
7 Concerts to See This Week in Jacksonville
Keiko Matsui, Blackberry Smoke, cochise and more
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning. For a comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Jazz Blue Jay Jazz Jam – Tuesday, November 7 Blue Jay Listening Room | Jacksonville Beach While you never know who is going to show up for the weekly jazz jam at fun-size Jax Beach venue Blue Jay Listening …
All Songs Considered | The best releases out on Nov. 3
After releasing her self-titled debut studio album in 2016, rapper and singer Tkay Maidza felt stuck. She was writing songs that, Maidza says, she didn’t even like. So she walked away from music-making and took half a year to untether herself from the things holding her back. But Maidza eventually hit reset and returned to the studio to make Sweet …
Sun Child Stick to the Shadows on First Full-Band Single “Ghost”
Jacksonville Beach-via-Charleston’s Sun Child, the folk-pop outfit formed earlier this year as the solo project of singer-songwriter Brooke Garwood, have shared their first single as a full band. Released last week, “Ghost” is a downcast, atmospheric breakup ballad in which Garwood sifts through the fallout of a fractured relationship, equally unsure of what it truly meant and of what comes …
JME Staff Picks | 8 Can’t-Miss Artists to See at Jax Porchfest 2023
It’s time, once again, for Jacksonville Porchfest. Kicking off at noon on Saturday, November 4 on a dozen or so porches throughout the historic Downtown-adjacent enclave and a main stage, Porchfest is certainly a gem of the city’s annual live music calendar. The Jacksonville Music Experience team will be on site and you can dig in on all the performances, …
Rubblebucket Revel in Millennial Misery on New Single, “Teardrops”
Makers of eclectic, fanciful pop, Rubblebucket are back with “Teardrops,” an infectious bite of melancholia, and the first single since their breakout 2022 full-length Earth Worship. Call it Millennial melancholy if you will. But in the current milieu, there are no sad songs; just songs. And on “Teardrops,” the Brooklyn indie duo made up of Annakalmia Traver and Alex Toth …
The Majority of Artists May Soon Earn Even Less From Spotify
Music streaming service Spotify plans to make changes to its royalties model, which could impact the earnings of artists whose songs do not meet a minimum stream requirement, according to reporting by Music Business Worldwide and Billboard. The reported changes are intended to increase the amount of money paid out to the labels and artists with the most streams and …
Madonna and Britney Spears: It’s them against the world
While Britney Spears was trying to get over her very public breakup with fellow pop star Justin Timberlake, Madonna came to visit her. “She walked into the place and immediately, of course, she owned the room,” Spears writes in her new memoir, The Woman in Me. “I remember thinking, It’s Madonna’s room now. Stunningly beautiful, she exuded power and confidence… …
Local Indie Troubadour Kithera Shines a Light on the Shadows
Contrary to the sparkle-and-shine of current Logic/Pro Tools recording-gloss readily available for independent bedroom artists, local singer-songwriter Kithera opts for a low(er)-fi production, to great effect, on “The sun could explode tomorrow and I’d still be asleep.” A two-chord ballad that’s just on the side of being in tune, the four-minutes of “The sun” sits squarely in the covenant of …
5 Concerts to See the Week in Jacksonville
Front Bottoms, Cindy Lee, Rebirth Brass Band, Porchfest, Martin Barre
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning. For a comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Indie Rock/Electronic Cindy Lee – Tuesday, October 31 The Walrus | Murray Hill Canadian indie-rock singer-songwriter Cindy Lee and fellow Canucks Freak Heat Waves visit the Walrus on Halloween night, with support from Jax’s Severed+Said, Golden Clouds and more. …
‘Stop Time,’ A Crucial Archival Release of Barry Altschul, David Izenzon and Perry Robinson Live Performance Documents a Peak Moment of NYC Free Jazz
Formidable but wholly invitational, Stop Time is an impressive time capsule of high-potency NYC free jazz. On the track “Untitled III,” the trio of drummer Barry Altschul, double bassist David Izenzon and clarinetist Perry Robinson bring the goods and then some on this 1978 previously unreleased live performance. The players were progenitors of the ’60s free jazz and ‘70s loft …
All Songs Considered | The best releases out on Oct. 27
The Austin, Texas, duo Black Pumas drew album-of-the-year nods when they dropped their self-titled debut in 2019. Now the group is back with its long-awaited followup, Chronicles of a Diamond, a scruffy, fuzzed-out soul and psych-rock album anchored by singer Eric Burton’s unforgettable voice. We give Chronicles of a Diamond a spin to kick off this week’s show and talk …