“Lost Ones,” the latest single from Duval soul/R&B singer Dejah Symone is an unabashed Christian song, which can be a deterrent or an attracting factor depending on one’s beliefs and temperament. Joined by collaborators local indie hip-hop artist Fonzo and H.B. Charles Jr. (local pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, who makes appearance in a micro-sermon at song’s end), taken …
Jazz-Chart Topping, Grammy-Winning Singer Samara Joy Returns to Jax, Makes Florida Theatre Debut
All four of Samara Joy’s albums came out in the last three years. Two of them won Grammy awards. Joy’s Florida Theatre debut on Tuesday, October 22 will be her second visit to Jacksonville. She was featured at the jazz festival in 2023, dazzling the crowd in a Sunday set mere blocks away from where she’ll perform this October. Having …
Song of the Day | “The Hardest Part” by Washed Out
On “The Hardest Part,” a new single from a forthcoming full length, multi-disciplinary artist Ernest Greene, AKA Washed Out, displays his knack for whimsical soundscapes. With a bubbly bassline and a rigid lead melody, it’s more pop-y and perhaps less ethereal than the music that made Washed Out ubiquitous in the mid-aughts (“Feel It All Around,” if you recall, was …
Acoustic Alt-Rock Legends Violent Femmes Return to Northeast Florida
Before “Black Hole Sun,” there was “Blister in the Sun.” No offense to the 1994 Soundgarden grunge classic, but prior to the Seattle rock explosion and subsequent alternative rock shrapnel of the ‘90s, an all-acoustic band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin had a 1983 college-radio hit with “Blister in the Sun,” an evergreen favorite that seems to only grow in popularity due …
The 75th Season of the Jacksonville Symphony Celebrates Classical, Pop Music and the Silver Screen
The Jacksonville Symphony closes out its 2023/2024 season on June 7 and 8. But the local institution is already gearing up for their 2024/2025 season. This year’s programming includes the symphony performing classical favorites, featured guest vocalists, exclusive world premieres, holiday pops, matinee and coffee performances and family-geared films. As part of the 2024/2025 Pop Series, the Symphony will also celebrate …
Jax Music Hour Playlist | May 18
Last week on the Jax Music Hour (Saturdays at 8PM on WJCT News 89.9 FM), we spun an hour’s worth of artists we’ll be hearing at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival next weekend, May 24-26, at Metropolitan Park and Daily’s Place in Downtown Jacksonville. It’s free to attend but you can get VIP tickets and learn more about the festival here. …
Song of the Day | “Sexy to Someone” by Clairo
While there may be a strong candidate for song of the summer among the 12 pop bops on Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, indie-pop luminary Clairo also has a song for your consideration. The first from a new album, Charm (out July 12), “Sexy to Someone” a winkingly lusty ditty about the power of being desired and seeing …
The Neighborhood Playlist | May 18
How’s it going, Neighbors? I hope you enjoyed last weekend’s show. If you missed it, below is the list of jams I played, with links to stream at your convenience. I shared a snippet of a conversation I had with pianist, producer, and regal gentleman Bruce V. Allen. We had lunch at Celestia’s Coastal Cuisine (which was tasty) and reflected …
Song of the Day | “Lorelei” by Mrcy
London-based soul duo Mrcy’s debut on Dead Oceans, the eight-track Volume 1, is full of enjoyable updates on retro sounds. Made up of producer Barney Lister and vocalist Kojo Degraft-Johnson, Mrcy (pronounced Mercy) combines a full spectrum of atmospheric samples with tight grooves and Degraft-Johnson’s mighty, world-class vocals. Volume 1‘s lead single, “Lorelei,” is a prime example of the duo’s …
Meet the 2024 Tiny Desk Contest winner
Nearly 7,000 independent artists entered this year’s Tiny Desk Contest, NPR Music’s annual search for the next great undiscovered artist. Earlier today, Morning Edition revealed the winner: a Sacramento producer, singer, rapper and multi-instrumentalist who performs as The Philharmonik. As he soaks in his big win and prepares to travel to NPR’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to perform a Tiny …
Song of the Day | “One Last Dance” by Baby Rose with BADBADNOTGOOD
Baby Rose has the kind of voice that stops you in your tracks. The Washington, D.C.-bred singer and musician has collaborated with a wide range of artists, standing out on projects by Robert Glasper, Max Martian, and Big K.R.I.T., among others. On “One Last Dance” – the lead single from a Rose’s new EP, Slow Burn, (out now on unimpeachably …
Song of the Day | “Dog Days” by Dehd
Just about two years since the release of their Fat Possum records debut, the well-received Blue Skies (which got heavy airplay on our music discovery station), the energetic Chicago trio is back with Poetry (out now), 14 melodious and rhythmically primal ditties. Accompanied by a raucous honky-tonk-set music video by frequent collaborator Glam Hag, Poetry’s opening cut, “Dog Days,” is …
Black Kids and Visitation Keyboardist and Singer Ali Youngblood’s Gear Essentials
For decades, Jacksonville’s own Ali Youngblood has been making synth-pop magic happen in bands like Black Kids. “I come from the old time of little cutesy indie rock where people just used toy keyboards and Fisher Price items to make songs,” says the keyboardist and singer. (Has there ever been a more apt description of 2008 indie rock? We think …
With New Memoir and Music, Jacksonville Artist Jennifer Chase Makes Sense Out of a Lifetime of Artistic Serenity and Insanity
Judging by the early-21st-century proliferation of the memoir, there is a deficiency of connectedness in this world. Social media is a certain culprit, with its fertile platforms that allow us to offer curated life-narratives while internally some are dying on the vine. Combined with the proliferation of wellness podcasts and attendant merchandising, the early 21st-century is apparently a place to …
Steve Albini, Iconoclastic Rock Musician and Engineer, Dies at 61
Updated May 8, 2024 at 5:26 PM ET Steve Albini, renowned for decades as a distinctive musician and recording engineer, died Tuesday night of a heart attack. Staff at his Chicago recording studio, Electrical Audio, confirmed news of his death with NPR. Albini was 61 years old. As a performer, he fronted Shellac and Big Black, two indie-rock bands that …
JME Staff Picks | The Jazz at the 2024 Jacksonville Jazz Festival
A jazz festival is a curious proposition in 2024. This summer, for example, the admats for some of the country’s most notable jazz festivals give top billing to artists and bands that would seem to have little or nothing to do with America’s original artform. Celebrating its 70th year, Rhode Island’s Newport Jazz Festival, lists British new wave singer-songwriter Elvis …
UK Goth-Rock legends The Sisters of Mercy bring their Darkness and “Corrosion” to the St. Augustine Amphitheatre this Fall
Local fans of first-wave gothic rock have a chance to experience a rare performance of The Sisters of Mercy, when the British band performs with openers Blaqk Audio at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Thursday, September 26. Formed in Leeds, England in 1980 by Gary Marx and Andrew Eldritch, the band found their name courtesy of the Leonard Cohen song, …
Song of the Day | “Like I Say (I runaway)” by Nilüfer Yanya
The first new music from UK songwriter Nilüfer Yanya since her breakthrough 2022 long player, Painless, finds the singular indie rocker flexing her distinctive ear for sonic interplay. “Like I Say (I runaway)” opens with clink-clank electronic drums and the hypnotic warble of Yanya’s electric guitar before morphing into a layered, distorted hook, with Yanya lending delicate, ethereal vocals to …
Jax Music Hour Playlist | April 27
Last week on the Jax Music Hour, we celebrated the sounds of the First Coast: homegrown and passing through. The hour included local bands like Howdy, Yaupon Holly, and Tidal Daze, and touring artists such as Sweeping Promises, The Association, and Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. We also heard from a band that fits both categories, local and touring: …
Electro Lounge Playlist | April 27
The Electro Lounge is back and rolling out weekly dreamscapes — an eclectic hour of chillout, downtempo cuts every Saturday at 10 p.m. on WJCT News 89.9. Here’s what we played on April 27. 1 Gare Du Nord – Whats Up (feat. Erik Truffaz)Stream 2 The Blue Monk – Jazz in the Jungle (feat. Larry Elam)Stream 3 Gare Du Nord – …
Song of the Day | “Push It” by Vicky Farewell
Orange County, CA songwriter and producer Vicky Farewell makes distinctively woozy pop. The classically-trained multi-instrumentalist’s veracity as a consumer of offbeat music from marginal genres is evident in the twinkling, downtempo, borderline-New-Age single, “Push It,” from Give A Damn, her new full-length due out on slacker-pop darling Mac DeMarco’s record label on May 10. All songs featured in our Song …
The Mighty Terence Blanchard Closes out the Jacksonville Symphony’s Jazz Series
On Sunday, May 5, the revered trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard performs original works and songs from Wayne Shorter’s catalog with E-Collective and Turtle Island String Quartet at Jacoby Symphony Hall inside the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts. It’s the final installment of the Jacksonville Symphony’s Chase Jazz Series. Blanchard has maintained a prime position in the global hierarchy …
Australia’s Hockey Dad Try to Keep It Together on New Single “Safety Pin”
It’s hard to say which Australian trademark is more consistently killer: the wildlife or the guitar-pop bands. New South Wales duo Hockey Dad fall into the latter category, and they recently shared “Safety Pin,” the best single yet from their forthcoming album Rebuild Repeat (June 14, Farmer & The Owl / BMG). Fans of Melbourne’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever will …
Kurt Vile on how George Jones, Pianos Everywhere and a Gathering of Collaborators made for “Another Good Year for the Roses”
Kurt Vile has always displayed a kind of sly, self awareness. The singer-songwriter and guitarist named his debut solo album Constant Hitmaker. That was 2008. And whether Vile was years ahead of the TikTok manifestation trend or just throwing out an audacious title for a debut, he has, over the course of a dozen or so albums, earned his share …
Song of the Day | “Megabus” by French Cassettes
On the surface, “Megabus,” a new single from harmonious and experimental San Francisco indie-rock trio French Cassettes’ forthcoming full length, Benzene (June 7 on Tender Loving Empire), is a twee, jangly, indie-folk strummer. But rather than heart-on-the-sleeve earnestness, Scott Huerta deploys his wry wit across a tune full of arch, apathetic lyrics. “Who do you love? Who’s getting drunk on …
Duval Singer Ebonique’s New Album ‘alterEBO’ is a Contemporary Spin on Millennium-Era R&B
Though she’s already made a name for herself regionally with a slew of singles and an EP, Duval-based singer Ebonique recently released her much anticipated debut long player, alterEBO. Featuring the previously-released singles “B.O.B” and “Respectfully”–the latter of which has earned heavy rotation on JME’s Saturday evening music programs – the album is a shining, local example of the kind …
Song of the Day | “Well Alright” by Johnny Cash
“Well Alright,” the latest posthumously released single by Johnny Cash, is about stumbling upon romance in an unlikely place (somewhere in which, it seems, Cash might have been washing a load of his all black duds). The tune is exemplary of Cash’s tight, efficient songwriting oeuvre. And comes with a cool backstory: Cash recorded the tune in 1993 as a …
Crumb Can’t Escape “The Bug” on Atmospheric New Single
Ahead of their third album AMAMA’s May release, Brooklyn psych-pop quartet Crumb have shared a new single, a blurred portrait of fixation called “The Bug,” and announced a North American headlining tour. The track feels like a dream—specifically, the kind that threatens to tip over into a nightmare at any moment. Pillowy synth and delicate percussion underpin Lila Ramani’s voice …
Jax Music Hour Playlist | April 20
Last week on the Jax Music Hour, we wove touring artists like The Turtles, Faye Webster, and Andy Grammer in with local acts such as K.UTIE, HUAN, and The Julius Airwave. Here’s what played on the Jax Music Hour on April 20. Catch future episodes of the show on the air on 89.9 WJCT News every Saturday at 8PM, part …
The Neighborhood Playlist | April 20
Hey Neighbors! Hope you enjoyed the show if you listened. If not, I have a playlist of tunes from the show below for your streaming pleasure. Thanks again to hip-hop emcee Seafood Sam for taking time to bless the neighbors with an interview. I truly enjoy his story and his music. May is ALREADY here! With that, I’m sending blessings …
Electro Lounge Playlist | April 20
The Electro Lounge is back and rolling out weekly dreamscapes — an eclectic hour of chillout, downtempo cuts every Saturday at 10 p.m. on WJCT News 89.9. Here’s what we played on April 20. 1 DE PHAZZ – Cherry Golden HoursStream 2 Eric Hilton – Midnight MilanStream 3 De Phazz – While The MoonStream 4 Lonnie Liston Smith, Adrian Younge, …
Song of the Day | “Insecurities” by Shabaka feat. Moses Sumney
On his much-anticipated, star-studded debut solo effort, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace (out now on Impulse!), renowned saxophonist Shabaka [he dropped his last name, Hutchings, for his solo debut], trades his brass for a variety of woodwinds. On “Insecurities,” Shabaka – who was influential in diverting André 3000 into the musical territory of New Blue Sun – goes to …
Song of the Day | “Mama Say” by Ibibio Sound Machine
“Mama say ‘Yeah’” goes the hypnotic refrain of “Mama Say,” the third and final preview of inimitable UK-formed electro-Afro-funk group Ibibio Sound Machine’s hotly anticipated new record Pull the Rope (out May 3 on Merge). The song pulses with electronic drums and a grinding synth-bass line, with flourishes of retro keys that bring to mind late-70’s Nigeria-based Casio-pop lord William …
Song of the Day | “Sun Without Heat” by Leyla McCalla
David Byrne once said, “The better a singer’s voice, the harder it is to believe what they are saying.” Byrne’s decidedly-art-rock logic aside, it could also be argued that the more instruments accompanying the singer, the harder it is to believe what they are saying. Either way, on her new full length, Sun Without Heat, the classical and American-roots musician …
Cher, Mary J. Blige and Ozzy Osbourne on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2024 list
The latest crop of musicians have been named as inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and span genres including rock, hip-hop and rhythm and blues. “Rock & Roll is an ever-evolving amalgam of sounds that impacts culture and moves generations,” said John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. “This diverse group of …
Song of the Day | “Fox Hunt” by Sierra Ferrell
Despite what impression mainstream country radio may impart, country music has always been a melting pot of influences. And since before she went from busking on street corners to performing on the hallowed Grand Ole Opry stage, West Virginia-bred singer and songwriter Sierra Ferrell was blending a range of traditional styles – bluegrass, gypsy jazz, even calypso – into country-tinged …