The James Weldon Johnson Hip-Hop Festival will return to JWJ Park in Downtown Jacksonville for its second iteration in February. This year’s fest once again includes a lineup of emcees, lyricists, visual artists and DJs. The 2023 JWJ Hip-Hop Festival will also honor Paten Locke, highlighting the life and work of the late, and unimpeachably great, Jacksonville rapper and producer …
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best live music in Jacksonville. 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 Parks and Razz, Mommy’s Little Helpers, Tonal – Tuesday, December 20 …
The holidays are always fun and festive, especially for fans of local music. While we have plenty of national and international acts coming through this region, December is a time for putting the spotlight on local artists and organizations, many of whom have special programmes of music, custom-made for the season. Here’s our guide to the best holiday music events …
A pall has been hanging over hip-hop this year: the ongoing criminalization of being a rapper looms large. The genre has faced over-policing and sensationalism before, dating back to the NYPD’s rap intelligence unit in 1999, but the scope of the crusade has expanded: lyrics continue to be treated like transcripts by the law, rappers are painted as crime lords …
As many Americans step out and reconnect to a version of what their musical lives were before the pandemic, I remain, stubbornly, at home. No, I don’t have “cave syndrome,” but I’ve not had COVID and I want to keep it that way. My last concert was March 8, 2020, when I gleefully let the sounds of Third Coast Percussion …
It’s been several decades now since MTV’s programming consisted primarily of music videos (and occasionally imbecilic cartoon characters watching music videos). Though the art of — and money devoted to — music videos may have peaked long ago, artists continue to view visual representations of their work as both an extension of their creative pursuit and a worthwhile promotional vehicle …
We’re all about music discovery here at the Jacksonville Music Experience. And as we unearth new tunes from artists around the globe, we love to shine the high beams of our Local Spotlight series on the beautiful noise emerging from Northeast Florida. This week, we’ve got three great new tracks by Jacksonville artists. A reminder: You can hear the best …
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best live music in Jacksonville. 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. Jam Toubab Krewe – Wednesday, December 14 1904 Music Hall | Downtown …
“I don’t have a lot to say,” Alex Giannascoli, who performs as Alex G, says with a laugh after his first song behind the Tiny Desk. Judging from his discography alone, that’s not something you might ordinarily accuse the Philly singer-songwriter of: nine full-length albums in the last dozen years, in addition to a couple EPs and a film soundtrack. …
We still believe in rock and roll — as a force for good, laughter, debauchery, introspection or whatever revs your energy on a Saturday night. In 2022, the top 10 rock albums took a pilgrimage to Memphis, communed with theologians and poets, found the interconnectedness of all beings and danced through pain and pleasure. Below, find a ranked list of …
In Washington, D.C., locals convene at Songbyrd Music House to discuss the merits of Tevin Campbell and Raphael Saadiq during R&B club, a monthly gathering for some of the genre’s devotees, taking deep dives into its rich history. The event was created by a few enthusiastic music people to wrangle and rally the supporters for a thing often wrongly presumed …
Hamish Kilgour, co-founder of influential New Zealand indie-rock band The Clean, was found dead Tuesday in Christchurch after being reported missing on Nov. 27. Merge Records, which released and reissued much of The Clean’s catalog, confirmed the reports of Kilgour’s death in a public statement posted on social media, but no cause of death has been announced. He was 65. …
Generations ago, gospel giants Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson each sang the rhetorical question, “Didn’t it rain, children?” and bent time with the emphatic answers they supplied. “Just listen how it’s rainin’,” they urged, adopting present tense, “all day, all night.” Their ebullient, imaginative readings of the scriptural event of the Great Flood testified to past divine judgment and …
Grammy Award-winning bluegrass phenom and former “Guitar Player of the Year” award-winner Billy Strings will hit the St. Augustine Amphitheatre for an epic three-night run beginning Thursday, April 20. The Michigan-born, Nashville-based Strings is known widely as a roots-music prodigy, his virtuosity earning him accolades from every major music publication, including Rolling Stone magazine, which called Strings “one of string …
Can you name another musician who has been road dogs with both Neil Young and Frank Sinatra? Or who boasts a fifth-degree black belt in Gong Kwon Yu Sul and owns a (wholly unsurprising) cannabis company? Maybe a “420”-lifestyle really is the key to longevity. Still going strong at age 89 and most assuredly smoking out his remaining peers both …
Shaky Knees, arguably one of the biggest music festivals in the Southeast, will return to Atlanta’s Central Park in May. This year’s lineup includes more than 60 acts performing on four stages over three days, with aughts rockers The Killers and The Muse, and neo-folkies The Lumineers getting top billing. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cypress Hill, Surf Curse and Digable Planets …
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best live music in Jacksonville. 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 Blue Jay Jazz Jam – Tuesday, December 6 Blue Jay Listening …
Featuring a few dozen new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists, our Fresh Squeeze playlist features the best new music emenanating from Northeast Florida and beyond. Handpicked by our team of contributors, there are no rules or genre restrictions; just songs we thought were worth a share. Our latest Fresh Squeeze playlist includes the return of singer-songwriter Weyes …
Updated November 30, 2022 at 3:58 PM ET NEW YORK — Christine McVie, the British-born Fleetwood Mac vocalist, songwriter and keyboard player whose cool, soulful contralto helped define such classics as “You Make Loving Fun,” “Everywhere” and “Don’t Stop,” died Wednesday at age 79. Her death was announced on the band’s social media accounts. No cause of death or other …
Beatrice Laus, who performs as beabadoobee, possesses the sort of soft, lilting voice that often runs the risk of getting lost in her signature sound — a mix of grungy, ’90s rock and noisy dream pop. Mix Laus the wrong way in a live setting and you miss out on vocals that lend whatever song they’re paired with an undeniable …
The Tiny Desk often forces radical changes to an artist’s sound and style, but Santigold faced more than most. There was the live band assembled for the occasion, which included George Lewis Jr. (aka Twin Shadow) on bass and drummer Chuck Treece, who’s worked with everyone from Bad Brains to Billy Joel. There was the lack of a microphone — …
For those of us old enough to remember when music discovery was widely a person-to-person interaction — whether via friend, older sibling or pretentious record store clerk — its easy to feel nostalgic for a time when “I’ll make you a mix” signified something a bit more laborious than the few-dozen click-and-drags it takes to create a streaming-service playlist. Still, …
Across 12 releases over three years, the London ensemble SAULT has posed a number of increasingly existential questions: “Why do fools always have something to say?” (7, 2019), “Can you forgive your people?” (Untitled (Black Is), 2020), “Can’t you see the light’s in your hands?” (Nine, 2021), “How do you fight for love?” (11, 2022). On Nov. 1, the group …
We use the word “apocalypse” to mean catastrophe, though the Greek word it’s derived from signifies a revelation. Natalie Mering opens her fifth album, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, with a small one of her own. She’s at a party, surrounded by people, and yet she feels unseen — no, it’s more complicated than that. Maybe these partygoers see …
A couple months back, I went to Synth Nite at Murray Hill bar/restaurant/venue The Walrus. To be honest, it was the first time I attended a concert that catered to experimental and atmospheric music. For Synth Nite, Jax’s Noah Schleifer, founder of new-and-used-synth online retailer and event promotion company Modular Noise, works with visual designers David Enicks, Mike Kennedy and …
Every year creatives gather to raise a glass to both the irresistible vibrations we call music and our flourishing arts community in support of The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Jacksonville. The AIGA Jax Design & Music Poster Show is back in a big way this year with performances from DJ Boborose, Folk is People and The Dog Apollo …
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best live music in Jacksonville. 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 Allman Family Revival – Wednesday, November 30 Florida Theatre | Downtown …
Black Friday, the annual glut of retail deals that traditionally follows the annual glut of holiday feasting, is upon us. And while you’re no doubt inundated with targeted advertisements for minimalist Le Creuset knockoffs, expensive-yet-precariously-easy-to-lose earbuds, Pelotons, et al. across all your social media feeds, we at the Jacksonville Music Experience encourage two things: Shop Local Buy Music If you’re …
In a 1997 documentary about Björk, U2 frontman Bono spoke of the Icelandic pop star’s voice as a weapon. “The girl has a voice like an ice pick. Such a pure sound,” he gushed. “When The Sugarcubes played with U2, I would be preparing in the dressing room, and even if I couldn’t hear the band … I could always …
Jacksonville’s creative community lost an integral, if not low-key, impresario this week. If you’ve been to a concert in Northeast Florida and seen a band that surprised you, or if you bought tickets to a show and thought, “Wow, I can’t believe this artist is coming to Jacksonville,” it’s likely that Tib Miller booked it. For nearly 25 years, working under …
Ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour have not gone, in the words of the chart-topping singer, all too well. Mixed messages, long wait times and temporary outages on the Ticketmaster website left scores of fans frustrated and empty-handed when the first wave of tickets for the 52-date Eras Tour, scheduled for next year and Swift’s first since 2018, went …
New York-based garage-psych band Acid Dad has built a substantial national following, blending ’70s guitar riffage with the primal energy of ’60s rock and roll across sprawling collections like 2021’s Take it From the Dead. The trio — Vaughn Hunt (vocals, guitar), Sean Fahey (vocals, guitar) and Trevor Mustoe (drums) — stopped through Jacksonville during a recent tour of the …
Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best live music in Jacksonville. 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. Jam The Hip Abduction – Friday, November 25 Intuition Ale Works | …
While barely in his twenties and fresh from dropping out of a college career studying religion and psychology, Randall Bramblett made his recording debut in 1970 with Goose Creek Symphony. Considering how esoteric and indefinable that particular drugs-meets-jug-band group were, it was an auspicious beginning for the young multi-instrumentalist whose career remains inventive and unpredictable. In the fifty years since, …
As frequently as music fans tend to point to the early 2000s as the dawn of our digital enlightenment, consider the ways those first few years online now feel like the dark ages. Bound by terrestrial radio formats, genres still mostly dared not mix on air — and when they did, a song that perfectly blended hip-hop and R&B might …
Locally founded and independently run nonprofit music festival Winterland will return to Downtown Jacksonville’s Riverfront Plaza in February, according to a press release. And if the headliners for this year’s event are any indication, Winterland V is set to be the biggest independent music festival in recent memory. And, like last year, it’s free to attend. Portland’s perennial purveyors of …
