On the heels of a promotional campaign with big-time beverage brand Sprite, Duval hip-hop collective L.O.V.E. Culture released perhaps the most talked about local record of 2021: 1827 N Pearl. Featuring five artists, each with his or her own distinctive skill sets — Che Forreign, Rob Mari, Spiritxiii, Flash the Samurai and Easyin2d — the group finds strength in numbers, …
Summer of Sharing | Who Wants Free Music?
Vinyl, concert tickets, swag and more!
The Jacksonville Music Experience is all about sharing — It’s what we do all day long on The Independent 89.9 HD4 when we share the latest from new and inventive artists. And what we do on jaxmusic.org when we dive even deeper to share the latest music news, reviews, profiles, and live music events. But this summer we’re sharing even …
Fresh Rotation | 3 Songs We Can’t Stop Listening To
Avant-pop from Dummy, folk punk from Pigeon Pit and a mythic free-jazz reissue
Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to add to the rotation on The Independent 89.9 HD4 (and to our tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our monthly 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 …
Just Announced | Jack White at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Multifarious artist, producer and ambassador of cool music brings his Supply Issues tour to The Amp
Multi-instrumentalist, producer and White Stripes’ founder Jack White has announced additional dates to his ongoing Supply Chain Issues tour, with a stop at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in September. Since emerging from the Detroit music scene fronting one of the pre-eminent acts of the early-aughts garage-rock revival, The White Stripes, White has established himself not only as a distinctive voice …
The Black Origins of Country Music
Black artists have played a prominent role in country music from its beginnings to today
June is Black Music Appreciation month. This month we’ll be celebrating the musical contributions of Black artists, including those from Jacksonville. And, with the help of our friends at FairPlay, we’re offering readers a deeper look into the Black origins of various popular music genres, from country to shoegaze, punk, reggaeton and more. From the African origins of the banjo — an …
The enduring, expanding legacy of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”
From LaVilla to Coachella, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" continues to resonate
In observance of Black Music Appreciation Month, we’re celebrating the musical contributions of Black artists, including those from Jacksonville. This article was originally published in July of 2021. It was 1919 when the NAACP first declared that “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” was the official Negro National Anthem; that status has never been challenged. Indeed, the passage of time has only burnished …
Just Announced | Tampa post-punk band Glove returns to Jax in August
Still basking in the buzz generated by their 2022 full-length album, Boom Nights, and their newly minted status as festival-main-stage mainstays, synthy post-punk Tampa band Glove will return to Jacksonville in August, performing at Jack Rabbits in San Marco. Never Miss A Show. Checkout our comprehensive community live music calendar. Before teaming with Cage The Elephant’s Brad Schultz (production credit …
Robby Krieger of the Doors Returns to Jacksonville for a Night of Legendary Music
The iconic guitarist on the band's early influences, writing his memoir and more
The Doors are many things for many people: mythical ‘60s band fronted by a singer mired in even greater mystery; a soundtrack for baby boomer history; a potent merger of inventive poetry and sophisticated music, even a cautionary tale of excess pushed to saturation. Guitarist Robby Krieger has remained a viable force since the Doors disbanded decades ago. In the …
FKA twigs | Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
This year, NPR Music is celebrating Black Music Month with an array of brand new Tiny Desk concerts — both from home and from behind our beloved Desk. Together, these artists represent the past, present and future of Black music. This month of carefully curated shows is a celebration of Black artists expressing themselves in ways we’ve never seen before, …
French artist, and Art Camp host, Lucas Beaufort Shares the Music that Fuels his Practice
A playlist of peace, love, understanding and Radiohead
Sound & Vision is a semi-regular feature that examines how music fuels and inspires creativity. Accompanying playlists for each Sound & Vision feature can be found on JME’s spotify channel. Birds loom large in popular music. From The Trashmen’s puerile “Surfin’ Bird” to Leonard Cohen’s fortifying “Bird on a Wire” to the inventive R&B of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” to Skynyrd’s anthemic …
The Black Origins of Shoegaze
The ethereal mix of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback and overwhelming volume traces much of its sound to the influence of Black musicians
June is Black Music Appreciation month. This month we’ll be celebrating the musical contributions of Black artists, including those from Jacksonville. And, with the help of our friends at FairPlay, we’re offering readers a deeper look into the Black origins of various popular music genres, from country to shoegaze, punk, reggaeton and more. Though widely associated with artists like My …
Julee Cruise, otherworldly crooner on ‘Twin Peaks,’ dies at 65
Julee Cruise, the singer best known for her collaborations with director David Lynch and The B-52s, died Thursday. Her husband, author Edward Grinnan, confirmed to NPR that Cruise died by suicide, and had struggled with “lupus, depression and alcohol and drug addiction” in the past. She was 65. “She left this realm on her own terms,” Grinnan wrote of Cruise …
The Train to Fame Travels at 132 BPM
In the early '90s, a string of hits produced by Jacksonville artists carried Southern hip-hop to the masses
In observance of Black Music Appreciation Month, we’re celebrating the musical contributions of Black artists, including those from Jacksonville. This article was originally published in June of 2021. Boom. Bottom. Slump. Knock. Quake. Drop. All aliases for the mover and shaker: Bass. The syrupy low end of countless hip-hop albums serves as the sonic signature of an entire genre: Bass …
Fresh Rotation | 4 New Songs We Really Dig
New tracks from keyboard maestro Brandon Coleman, campy Californians The Garden, indie-R&B singer SiR and classical-folky Andrew Bird
Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to add to the rotation on The Independent 89.9 HD4 (and to our tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our monthly 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 …
Your Guide to this Weekend’s Jacksonville Jazz Festival
What to see and hear at this weekend’s free fest
The Jacksonville Jazz Festival returns this weekend. And from icons like Herbie Hancock to rising stars like Jazzmeia Horn and Christian Sands to contemporary barrier-breakers like Robert Glasper, the festival’s 2022 lineup is arguably its best in years –– given the revered 40-plus-year history of the festival, that’s saying something. Aside from the big names and local standouts playing the …
Celebrate David Byrne’s Birthday on The Independent 89.9 HD4
Put on a baggy suit, bust out your angular dance moves and turn on the radio.
David Byrne turns 70-years young on Saturday. The singer, songwriter, filmmaker, writer, actor and music theorist has left an indelible mark on both popular music and American culture. Together with his art school pals in Talking Heads, Byrne turned contemporary music on its ear in the ’70s and ’80s. And, as he enters his septuagenarian years, Byrne shows no sign …
Just Announced | Herbie Hancock will headline Jacksonville Jazz Fest
George Benson, Christian Sands Trio, Jazzmeia Horn and John Lumpkin also announced
Headliners for the 2022 Jacksonville Jazz Festival have been announced. Back is guitar-phenom George Benson. Youngsters like 30-year-old vocalist and songwriter Jazzmeia Horn, as well as 32-year-old pianist and composer Christian Sands are on the bill. Local drummer and bandleader John Lumpkin will performa as well. But the big news: Herbie Hancock. A multi-instrumentalist and architect of post-bop best known …
Fresh Rotation | 3 new songs we’re listening to this week
Tuareg guitar-great Mdou Moctar, Aussie art-punks Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Winnipeg dynamo JayWood
Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to add into our tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our monthly 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 …
Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes has died at age 78
Updated January 12, 2022 at 7:16 PM ET Singer Ronnie Spector, who founded the girl group The Ronettes in 1961, has died after a brief battle with cancer. She was 78. “Our beloved earth angel, Ronnie, peacefully left this world today,” her family wrote on the singer’s website Wednesday. “She was with family and in the arms of her husband, …
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 …
This French Pianist Has Been Playing For 102 Years And Just Released A New Album
PARIS — Colette Maze welcomes me warmly into her apartment on the 14th floor of a building overlooking the Seine River. From her flowered balcony, she has a view of the Eiffel Tower. She offers me a whiskey or a cognac — along with a hearty laugh as it’s 10:30 in the morning. It’s that humor, a sense of optimism …
Turntable Tuesday Giveaway | Win a limited-edition Déjà Vu digital download
Tune in to Anthology for your chance to win a digital download of this limited-edition collection
In 1969, the supergroup consisting of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, who’d recently formed Crosby, Stills & Nash, became even more super, moving their ampersand and adding guitarist and emerging singer-songwriter Neil Young for a run of shows, including the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. The group set about recording an album later that year, bouncing between the …
Brandi Carlile Will Join NPR Music’s Listening Party For Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’
For its 50th anniversary, join us in an online listening party for Joni Mitchell‘s Blue. NPR Music’s Ann Powers will be joined by singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, who performed her own tribute to Blue in 2019, for a live conversation about this monumental album. The event will take place on the anniversary of the album’s release, June 22, at 2 p.m. …
Magic and Loss
Local musician Ryan Turk transforms personal tragedy into creative triumph after unspeakable loss
Ryan Turk has a baffling amount of energy. The longtime Jacksonville musician, recording engineer-producer, and DIY polymath is wired for all things sonic. In the mid-‘90s, the teenaged Turk worked at Warehouse Recording Studios, a facility tucked away in an actual industrial park, off Emerson Street deep in blue-collar Duval County. Just over a decade later, he and his wife …
The Music That Made Opal & Nev
Author Dawnie Walton on how Jacksonville’s music scene shaped her critically acclaimed novel
Dawnie Walton on growing up in Jacksonville, the in-group of outsiders at Einstein A Go-Go, and the iconography of Southern Rock.
For Those About to Uke
The five most important ukulele performances in pop music history
The ukulele is perhaps the most oft-overlooked instrument in popular music. Once a staple in jazz ensembles, the smaller, more portable member of the lute family, was largely cast aside in the latter part of the 20th century when the uke’s older, sexier brothers, the six-string and bass guitars, went electric. Still, in the dexterous hands of visionary artists, the …