In certain Decembers, a list of the year’s best albums feels like a fireworks display. 2023 may have been short on flashes and booms, but it was rich with smaller fires: no less intensely gorgeous, more approachable and built for heat, not spectacle. And while it might be tempting, as many have argued at many points in the format’s history, …
23 Local Songs We Loved in ‘23
JME contributors pick their favorite songs made by Jacksonville-area artists this year
This year, the Jacksonville Music Experience team reviewed more than 70 songs made by Jacksonville-area artists as part of our Local Spotlight series, and breathlessly covered the local scene with features like Songwriting School, Gearheads and more. For our marquee year-end list, we decided – somewhat arbitrarily – to share 23 local songs made in 2023. Of course, this being …
Jacksonville Indie-Soul/R&B Singer Sailor Goon Fires Up the Winter with New Single, “Weathered”
The latest from meta-chill Duval singer-songwriter Sailor Goon builds on the genre-deconstructing qualities of previous singles “Milk & Bones,” “Just for Me” and “Persian Rugs.” A minor-key ballad of plucked acoustic guitars and bare-bones bass and drums, “Weathered” descends forward as Sailor Goon (aka Kayla Le) sings about a dizzying amnesia that’s either self-induced (“I’m never getting high enough to …
Jacksonville Death-Metal Band Parasite Disciple Dismantle Religious Hypocrisy
If an album opens with the lyrics “Grotesque plague of the lecherous priest / sodomizing while claiming divinity,” you can be more or less certain that — with local band Parasite Disciple — we are not in the land of bedroom pop. The opening track from the group’s debut EP Auditory Hallucinations, the two-and-a-half-minutes of “Pulpit of Perversion,” is a …
Jax Indie Band Teal Peel Shares Debut Album Ahead of Vinyl Release Show on WJCT Soundstage
Popular Jacksonville-based indie-rock band Teal Peel has shared Country River, the group’s debut long player, ahead of a vinyl release show on the WJCT Soundstage next week. In addition to the four songs from the band’s 2023 Sandy EP – the dynamic soft-loud slacker-rock single “Smello Coffee”; the pensive insect odes “How Many Bugs” and “Fruit Flies”; the laid-back, surf-inflected …
New Music Friday | Dolly Parton, Reyna Tropical, Gallant, Real Estate, a Jazz-Funk Masterpiece and More
The 2010’s rang us recently. Turns out, they’re excited about new Real Estate. And who wouldn’t be? A new song by the veterans of jangly indie-rock would certainly be an enjoyable addition to any playlist. Speaking of joyful playlist additions: Pianist Vincent Anthony Guaraldi is responsible for a handful of the most-beloved holiday tunes ever put to tape. And while his …
How RickoLus Wrote His New Heartfelt, Cinematic Single, “New York”
Welcome to Songwriting School, where we talk to songwriters about how they wrote one song. Singer-songwriter Rick Colado, better known as rickoLus, has a new album coming out in March. His first single from that album, “New York,” may sound like it’s about New York City, but in a lot of ways, rickoLus really wrote it about his hometown: Jacksonville, …
Sampha | Tiny Desk Concert
When Sampha first performed at the Tiny Desk in 2017, it was just him and his keys. But for this second round, he had a very specific vision to execute. Accompanied by a spirited four-piece band who double as his background singers and percussionists, each member relishes in making music in multiple, creative configurations. Sampha Lahai Sisay’s music is known …
‘Tapes Volume 1,’ New Release from Jax Indie-Rock Band Seagate, is a Fine and Furious Collection
From the not-yet-fully developed prefrontal cortex of guitarist and songwriter Sam Baglino (kid is 21-years young), Jacksonville indie-rock band Seagate‘s Tapes Volume I is a six-song release of lo-fi, careening electro-shock-punk jollies. Opening track “Mind Control” hits hard, with a crushing groove and hyper guitar hook that is, whether through accident or intention, straight-up 1970s protean punk that is tasty …
Real Estate Search for Themselves on “Water Underground,” Lead Single From New Album ‘Daniel’
It’s a big day for the Real Estate market—no, not that one. The New Jersey-native indie-rock veterans have announced their sixth album, Daniel (Feb. 23, Domino Recording Co.), as well as a 2024 North American tour, and shared the music video for free-flowing lead single “Water Underground.” Real Estate—Martin Courtney (vocals, guitar), Alex Bleeker (bass, vocals), Matt Kallman (keyboards), Julian …
On ‘Still Listening,’ Pianist and Herbie-Hancock-Jazz-Competition Winner Jahari Stampley Puts His Stamp on Modern Jazz
In 2023 one of the quickest ways for an emerging musician to gain recognition – regardless of field or genre – is to participate in competitions, and after three decades, the Herbie Hancock Jazz Competition (formally, the Thelonious Monk Competition) continues to launch the careers of jazz musicians. Participants apply via demo recordings of pre-selected songs. The demo is then …
Jax Band Rosewilder Unveils their Swan Song with Final Single, “Cherry Leaves and Razor Blades”
“Cherry Leaves and Razor Blades,” the just-released track from Duval indie rockers Rose Wilder is also apparently their swan song and final release, and that reality can surely influence that experience of hearing the song. In some ways the song is a less-gory transfusion of prime-era My Bloody Valentine, especially with the swirl of lead vocals, but with a decidedly …
Kali Malone Crosses the Abyss with Her Latest Avant-Drone Release, ‘All Life Long’
The opening track from her forthcoming double-album (All Life Long), the nearly-nine-minute “All Life Long (for organ)” is an impressive development of Kali Malone’s near-decade of composing monolithic drone-based music. Since 2012, the Denver-born Malone has lived in Stockholm, Sweden (where she studied electroacoustic music at the Royal College of Music), and is a kindred spirit to a captivating scene …
Gallant Teams With Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, Keyon Harrold on Mid-Tempo Stunner, “311!”
On the new single “311!,” Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Gallant passionately pleads for his companion’s location over Grammy-nominated superconductor Terrace Martin’s production. On the single from the Maryland-bred R&B/Soul artist’s Sneek, a new collab album with Martin (out now on Martin’s O’Connor label), Gallant directs listeners through the jazz soundscape at a soulful-tempo as he calculates his past interactions with the lost …
Osees, Blonde Redhead, Caroline Rose and More | Here’s what to expect from Winterland Six in Jacksonville
Winterland, the annual indie- and local-music-focussed Jacksonville-based music festival is returning for its sixth year in February – this time to James Weldon Johnson Park in the middle of Downtown Jacksonville. Headliners for this year’s three-day festival include the legendary Brooklyn experimental trio Blonde Redhead, inimitable singer-songwriter Caroline Rose and San Francisco psych-rock lords Osees (formerly known as Thee Oh …
In ‘The Downhome Sound,’ Valdosta State Univ. Professor Explores How American-Roots Music Has Influenced Our Politics and Culture
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 …
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 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 …
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 …
Lineup Announcement | Ft. Mose Jazz & Blues Series to Feature Common, Wynton Marsalis, Keb Mo and More
Now in its third year, the annual Fort Mose Jazz & Blues Series continues to bring high-profile musical artists to increase awareness and honor For Mose: the St. Augustine landmark that is the site of the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in the nation. This year’s scheduled performances include rapper-actor Common (Thursday, February 8); New-Orleans-style jazz is celebrated with …
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 …
