On the latest episode of Top Shelf — a series on NPR Music’s YouTube channel highlighting the best entries from the Tiny Desk Contest — Contest judges Sudan Archives and Baby Rose shared their top picks. Having both performed Tiny Desk concerts in early 2020, these Tiny Desk alums know exactly what it takes to make a performance shine. Their …
The Tiny Desk Contest is back for 2023, with a new panel of judges and another opportunity for unsigned artists to earn an invite to perform on the revered, improvised stage in front of Bob Boilen’s desk at NPR Music HQ. Tens of thousands of musicians submitted their videos before the March 13 deadline — including nearly two-dozen artists from …
The Sing Out Loud Festival returns this year to St. Augustine and features a lineup of popular Grammy-winning artists as well as emerging national and regional performers. This year’s SOL includes the two-day Francis Field Showcase, featuring a roster of impressive acts, including the indie-to-arena style blues rock of The Black Keys, innovative UK soul of Yola, the new-country stylings …
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. For the comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Singer-Songwriter Melissa Etheridge – Tuesday, May 9 Thrasher Horne Center | Orange Park Nearly four decades after her debut album became an underground sensation, singer-songwriter and guitarist Melissa Etheridge continues to chase her …
Currently on a tour of North America, Tuareg musician Mdou Moctar will visit the Bier Hall inside Intuition Ale Works on Tuesday, May 2 as part of our JME Presents Music Discovery Series. If you’re unfamiliar with Moctar (pronounced em-dew mock-tar)’s work, the singer, songwriter, actor and activist is best known as something of a guitar hero. Moctar taught himself …
On the rap internet, “scaring the hoes” has become code for a certain type of hip-hop: anything abrasive or weird or super-lyrical, designed for repeat close listening. More broadly, the phrase has evolved into a euphemism for any rap considered unfit for a party or similar social setting. To play Death Grips at the function is to scare the hoes. …
A recent NPR story addressed the proliferation of “therapy talk,” an increasing form of vulnerability in contemporary conversation that is, by default a design, tantamount to a carny talk of the heart. In the sense that in lieu of a direct transmission of what one is actually feeling, those very same emotions are tied up a little too tightly in …
The elusive R&B star Frank Ocean, known for avoiding the spotlight, performed on the largest stage at Coachella on Sunday night. Ocean was a headliner this weekend alongside Bad Bunny and BLACKPINK — forming one of the most diverse line-ups in the music festival’s history. In his set, Ocean performed reworked versions of some of his most iconic songs like …
Last autumn, locals Racewall Mosquitoes gave us the concept album The Recital of Annie Lytle, which was a tribute to the rumored-to-be-haunted Public School Number Four. The real strength in that release was main-Mosquito singer-songwriter Matt Morgan’s ability to put melodicism and vulnerability square in the spotlight. The band are still incrementally doling out transmissions from Annie Lytle: the latest …
Jacksonville-based hip-hop artist Mecca thA Marvelous faces his audience, and more so himself, on “Relapse,” a reflective song from his new full-length album Jane Doe. Finnish producer SBLMNL’s beat extends Mecca the opportunity to be vulnerable, as the young rapper uses the soundscape as a canvas for painting reminders to himself of the perils of falling victim to the jones. …
Vinyl is (has been) back. And it’s arguably here to stay. For the last two years, sales of vinyl records easily outpaced those of CDs. And purchases weren’t confined to ultra-hip indie music shops. Big-box retailers like Target and Walmart are now big-time players, selling re-pressings of classic albums, as well as new drops from some of the world’s most …
For most jazz performers, a song is part of a performance. For Ahmad Jamal, each song was a performance. Over the course of a remarkable eight-decade career, Jamal, who passed away Sunday at the age of 92, created stellar recordings both as an ambitious youth and a sagely veteran. Jamal’s death was confirmed by his daughter, Sumayah Jamal. He died …
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. For the comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Rock/Tuareg Guitar Mdou Moctar – Tuesday, May 2 Intuition Ale Works | Downtown Jacksonville Tuareg singer, songwriter and guitar sensation Mdou Moctar plays Intuition Ale Works as part of our JME Presents series …
Name: Alana B.Title: “The Magic Recycling Bin”Grade: 3rd Grade
Name: Sophia L.Title: “Finding Coke & Cola”Grade: 3rd Grade
Name: Claire M.Title: “PET DAYZ”Grade: 3rd Grade
Name: Trisha S.Title: “BRAVE EMMA!”Grade: 2nd Grade
Name: Kiara W.Title: “The Time Machine”Grade: 2nd Grade
Name: Yolanda P.Title: “A Mysterious Mission”Grade: 2nd Grade
Name: Eesa A.Title: “Kindness Changes Hearts!”Grade: 1st Grade
Name: Noah N.Title: “Lincoln and the Dogs”Grade: 1st Grade
Name: Eliora N.Title: “Good Friends”Grade: 1st Grade
Name: Sophia A.Title: “Olivia”Grade: 1st Grade
Name: Mark M.Title: “Mr. Moo”Grade: K-5
Name: Jackson W.Title: “Jacson the Kid paleontologist and the Amazing Triceratops”Grade: K-5
Name: Ahmarie G.Title: “Lamor the Princess”Grade: K-5
The commercial machinations of the music industry detest stepwise maturation. Consider the constant chatter about what is young and novel, as if real excitement, engagement and even insight can flow only from the hitherto unknown. Yes, it is totally intoxicating to believe you are experiencing culture’s bleeding edge with every incoming tide pool of best new artists; it is demoralizing, …
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. For the comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Rock Billy Idol – Tuesday, April 25 The Amp | St. Augustine Eighties legend Billy Idol brings his power-pop-rock songbook (and iconic snarl) to the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Tuesday. Watch | Tickets …
When Fred again.. first proposed a Tiny Desk concert, it wasn’t immediately clear how he was going to make it work — not because he lacked creativity, but because translating purely electronic music at the Desk is a daunting task for anyone. How would an artist, whose performances take the form of DJ sets in front of massive audiences, curate …
Miami’s Ultra Music Festival, which is billed as “the world’s premiere electronic music festival,” returned to Bayfront Park in downtown Miami March 24-26 for its 23rd edition. As in the past, it served as the grand finale to Miami Music Week, a weeklong marathon of electronic music events. Thousands of fans representing 100 countries attended the sold-out festival, with another …
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. For the comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Jazz/R&B Moonchild – Tuesday, April 18 Underbelly | Downtown Jacksonville Eclecting L.A. fusion trio Moonchild performs at Jack Rabbits on Tuesday night. To learn more about the band, check out our concert announcement …
On the heels of the just-released “Waking Up in Los Angeles,” indie-folk rock outfit Fruit Bats have announced a North American tour, which includes a stop in Jacksonville at the end of April. The first newly composed material since the band’s 2021 full lengthThe Pet Parade, “Waking Up in Los Angeles” unspools as an introspective take on the concept of …
Duval artist Broadway Louie’s new song “lookin’’ foreshadows spring and summer car rides, nightlife explorations and the perennial search for connection; either in the moment, or forever. Producer Cheap Limosuine lends the track its enjoyably retro feel, with an active rhythm, that makes it easy for Louie to interject with his melodies. Louie’s lyrics, meanwhile, give “lookin’” a cheerful energy, …
Since relocating to Jacksonville from Chicago, musician Trent Holton has seamlessly embedded himself in the local scene – while also arguably doing as much as an interloper could to invigorate that same scene. After introducing his Ducats (pronounced duh-kits) project with a collection of primal, DIY garage tunes, Glob, in 2022, Holton’s band has, in short order, become one of …
There was “a tear in every word,” is how longtime producer Billy Sherrill once described Tammy Wynette’s singing voice. It was the first lady of country music’s signature: a trembling, anguished voice that seemed to hold a teardrop in each note. Wynette had the ability to sell songs like “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” or “I Don’t Wanna Play House,” ’60s suburban melodramas as …
Whether it’s a career comeback or an inevitable resolve, the return of the Julius Airwave with their new single “Slow Erode” is an object lesson in the ebb and flow of youth, music, relationships, the viability of balancing the two, arguably love and time. Some 20 years ago, the band were precociously young: dapper dressers with crooked neckties, popping off …
