Pharoah Sanders, Giant of Spirit-Driven Jazz, Dies at 81

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Pharoah Sanders, the revered and influential tenor saxophonist who explored and extended the boundaries of his instrument, notably alongside John Coltrane in the 1960s, died on Saturday morning in Los Angeles. His death was announced in a post on social media by the record label Luaka Bop, which had released his celebrated 2021 album Promises and confirmed by a publicist …

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Go | The Best Concerts of the Week in and Around Jax

Jax Symphony returns, Lucius on the Backyard Stage and more

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Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Of note: Sing Out Loud, the month-long St. Augustine-based music festival continues this week. To dig in deeper on this year’s festival, consult our interactive guide to this year’s …

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“What’s Health Got to Do with It” – Season Two Launch

Media Contact: Neily BrarenPromotion & Marketing Associate, WJCTnbraren@wjct.org WJCT Public Media Announces Second Season of “What’s Health Got To Do With It?” Popular health program hosted by Dr. Joe Sirven, returns on Saturday, September 24 with expanded podcast platform distribution  Jacksonville, Fla. — Sept. 22, 2022 — WJCT Public Media today announced the second season of “What’s Health Got To …

Another Side of Bad Madonna

Jax singer and guitarist Alexis Rhode goes electric on her new EP

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As Bad Madonna, singer-songwriter Alexis Rhode encapsulates what it means to be genre-bending, something so many artists tag on to the back of their bios but rarely succeed in achieving.  Earlier this year, the Jax-based Rhode released the debut Bad Madonna EP, Velvet Glove, a collection of five songs that sound like country-twanged journal entries. Less than six months later, …

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The Uneasy Confessions of Alex G

The devout 'God Save the Animals' distills the songwriter's eccentric style

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With over a decade of released music behind him, Alex G has long taken a playfully distorted approach to songwriting, like he’s filtering his music through a funhouse mirror. The 29-year-old artist often addresses or morphs into fictional characters: insecure teenage girls and children with names like Sarah, Alina, Sandy. Flashes of storybook innocence, tales of guarded treehouses and stolen …

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How Charley Crockett Makes New Music Sound Old (and Old Music Sound Brand New)

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Charley Crockett knows his story seems far-fetched. “People always tell me, ‘Man, you didn’t ride trains — that’s not possible, no one does that anymore,’” he says, sitting at his tour bus’s small table. Crockett is clearly frustrated – the fact that he’s traded train cars for tour buses and street corners for venerable stages that he shares with even …

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Go | The Best Concerts in and around Jax this week

St. Aug Songwriters Fest, HC at Underbelly, indie at the Walrus and Shovels & Rope

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Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Of note: Sing Out Loud, the month-long St. Augustine-based music festival that features national headliners and dozens of local performers popping up a local venues around town, …

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Marc Bolan and T. Rex Blended the Visionary with the Saccharine

A deep dive into the glam-rock pioneer's varied catalog

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There are so many alleged geniuses in music that the field has grown fallow. Marc Bolan wasn’t a genius. But judging by his body of songs, and the overall harvest, he was absolutely guided by a conditional brilliance. Equal parts Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry and John Keats, the late UK glam god seemed to misplace the stolen promethean fire of …

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Allison Russell | Tiny Desk Concert

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“I am grateful and I am proud for this circle of goddesses,” said Allison Russell during her joyful, rousing Tiny Desk set, reaching toward the six women surrounding her. Russell has cultivated this band’s harmoniousness in the year she’s been touring in support of her astounding, unclassifiable album Outside Child, which tells the singer’s life story, from her childhood escaping …

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Watch | Sailor Goon live at Blue Jay Listening Room

Jax singer-songwriter Sailor Goon spins and sings in Jax Beach

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With the release of several singles that blend jazz, neo-soul, psychedelia and pop under her alter ego Sailor Goon, Jacksonville vocalist Kayla Le has had our attention for some time now. Indeed, at the beginning of the year we named her one of the 10 Jacksonville artists to watch in 2022. Just a few months after the release of her …

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Sudan Archives’ vibrant music of exploration

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Sudan Archives’ music celebrates digging. With infectious curiosity, her oddball collages of hip-hop, electronic and globally sourced folk bridge worlds and tramp through them, encouraging you to forge your own routes as well. Across two EPs and an album, the self-taught violinist, producer, and songwriter has honed a distinct blend of layered vocals and instrumentation that both pleases the ear …

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Local Spotlight | 4 Great New Tracks from Jax Artists Out Now

Bad Madonna, Bedford Cords, Jacob Hudson and a Kate Bush cover

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We’re always keeping our ear to the ground in order to shine the high beams of our Local Spotlight series on Jacksonville regional artists. This week, Jacksonville Music Experience contributors share four new songs by local artists that we think you’ll dig. Let’s dive in. “Jaded” by Bad Madonna As artists attempt to crack the mysterious (arbitrary?) code of streaming-service …

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Go | The Best Concerts In and Around Jax this Week

Sing Out Loud continues. Plus Built To Spill, Pup, The Fixx and more!

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Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Of note: Sing Out Loud, the month-long St. Augustine-based music festival that features national headliners and dozens of local performers popping up a local venues around town, …

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Jax Resident and Videographer Richard Borders Illuminated the ‘60s Rock Scene and Beyond

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The world has grown a little darker with the recent passing of Richard Borders. For more than a half century, the Northeast Florida resident was a proud member (and storied survivor) of the mid-20th-century counterculture. A childhood fan of the phantasmagoric and horror films, Borders was a pioneering artist who worked in the nascent psychedelic light shows of the 1960s, …

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Sing Out Loud Staff Picks

What to see & hear (for free) at this year’s festival

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With tons of free music events at a dozen or so venues throughout the month of September, there’s a lot to look forward to at this year’s Sing Out Loud. And it’s all free! There’s so much, in fact, that it’d be impossible to see and hear it all. The team at the Jacksonville Music Experience will be on the …

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A lawsuit over Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ naked baby album cover is dismissed (again)

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Teenage angst pays off well, as Nirvana‘s Kurt Cobain sang. But a lawsuit from a man who appeared as a naked baby on the band’s landmark Nevermind album still isn’t paying off: a federal judge has once again dismissed the lawsuit. Spencer Elden is appealing the dismissal, his lawyers told NPR, arguing that the judge in the case has misinterpreted …

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Go | The Best Concerts in and around Jax this Week

Sing Out Loud kicks off with lots of local talent

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Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. This week marks the start of Sing Out Loud, the month-long St. Augustine-based music festival that features national headliners and dozens of local performers popping up a …

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Interview | EDM artist Darude on his upcoming 904 Day DJ set in Jax

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Darude, one of electronic dance music’s most influential stars, will spin a set at Myth Nighclub on Sunday, September 4 (aka 904 Day). The Finnish DJ and producer, whose real name is Ville Virtanen, is best known for his 1999 hit “Sandstorm,” which went on to became one of the best-selling electronic dance singles in music history. Since its release, “Sandstorm,” which …

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Playlist | The Best New Music Out Now

September's Fresh Squeeze is here!

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Each month JME contributors pick the juiciest noise emanating from Northeast Florida and beyond for our Fresh Squeeze playlist. Featuring a few dozen new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists, there are no rules or genre restrictions; just songs we thought were worth a share. This month we’ve got a ton of great new music in rotation, including tracks …

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Against the odds | How Blondie shattered the conventions of punk and pop

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By the early 1970s, the Greenwich Village folk scene had faded, and a new sound was wafting up from the street. New York Dolls frontman David Johansen says it found a home just north of Bleecker Street and east of Washington Square. “I was friends with Eric Emerson, who had a band called Magic Tramps, and he said that he …

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Go | The Best Concerts in Jax this Week

$uicideboy$, Rod Stewart, Dispatch & O.A.R., Spaceface and more

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Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and around Jacksonville this week. Hip-Hop $uicideboy$ – Thursday, September 1 Daily’s Place | …

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Jax Symphony’s Courtney Lewis Debuts at the Hollywood Bowl

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It was a hot, rainy, muggy Monday afternoon in Jacksonville, but the weather was perfect in Los Angeles, where Jacksonville Symphony Music Director Courtney Lewis found himself touching down on Sunday, August 22. Lewis was in the thick of preparations for the symphony’s 2022-2023 season, when he was asked to step in for a special guest conducting gig with his …

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Local Spotlight | 4 Great New Tracks by Jax Artists Out Now

Introducing The Jax, plus three more local tunes

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We’re always keeping our ear to the ground in order to shine the high beams of our Local Spotlight series on Jacksonville regional artists. This week, Jacksonville Music Experience contributors share four new songs by local artists that we think you’ll dig. Let’s dive in. “The Seven” by The Jax What does one do when a Jacksonville super-group forms a …

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Just Announced | Legendary Zamrock group W.I.T.C.H. on the JME Soundstage

A very special night of music at WJCT Studios

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Legendary Zambian psych-rock band W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend to Cause Havoc) are currently on tour and heading to Jacksonville ahead of the band’s appearance at Austin’s Levitation Festival. Mid-fi indie-rock group PAINT will support W.I.T.C.H. on all upcoming tour dates, including a performance on the JME Soundstage at WJCT Studios on October 21. The lineup for the October 21 show also …

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Go | The Best Concerts of the Week in Jax

Post-punk, hip-hop, pop, hardcore and more.

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Each week the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and around Jacksonville this week. Post-Punk Glove – Thursday, August 25 Jack Rabbits | …

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Just Announced | Snail Mail, Shovels & Rope Among Headliners for Sing Out Loud 2022

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Sing Out Loud will return in September for a month of music programming and performances by international headliners as well as dozens of local artists. This year’s festival will be headlined by wildly popular indie singer-songwriter Snail Mail (Fri., Sept. 16 at The Amp Backyard Stage), alt-country rock guitarist Aaron Lee Tasjan (Sat., Sept. 17 at Colonial Oak Music Park), …

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‘Cheat Codes’ is the album Black Thought couldn’t have made until now

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For many years, the Black Thought solo album felt like an imaginary object, long rumored yet never revealed. It went by several names — Masterpiece Theatre, The Talented Mr. Trotter — and had many soft launches. The Philly rapper born Tariq Trotter had of course already displayed his otherworldly dexterity as frontman and co-founder of The Roots, and, beginning in …

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Andrew Bird and Iron & Wine | Tiny Desk Concert

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I’d been entertained and enchanted by the many of the 150 or so small concerts Andrew Bird performed on Instagram during the pandemic. Then I heard his new album, Inside Problems, and invited him to the desk. It had been six years since his first Tiny Desk performance, which was with a band; this time, I wanted an intimate solo …

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The Clash’s Crucial Reggae

We’re celebrating Joe Strummer’s Bday with a Punky Reggae Party

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The Clash, the amorphous British punks, remain one of the most influential bands of the 20th Century. Beginning with the unhinged cacophony of the quartet’s eponymous debut, the group remained on the cutting edge of a fast-changing musical landscape, gorging on everything from reggae to disco to hip-hop with the same gusto with which they ingested amphetamines.  The Clash’s embrace …

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Florida Public Media Wins National Murrow Award

Media Contact:Neily BrarenPromotion & Marketing Associate, WJCT904.318.2633 | nbraren@wjct.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WJCT Public Media was recognized along with other member stations in the digital category for “Class of COVID-19: An Education Crisis for Florida’s Vulnerable Students” August 16, 2022 — Jacksonville, Fla. – Florida Public Media is honored to announce the statewide public media collaboration, “Class of COVID-19: An …

August 16, 1974 | The Ramones Play First Show at CBGB

"1, 2, 3, 4..."

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Sometimes it can feel like the entire history of classic rock — every new direction, every iconic performance, every paradigm shift — was condensed into a little more than a decade. From The Beatles on Ed Sullivan (1964) to Pet Sounds (1966), Woodstock (1969) to the Sex Pistols on The Ed Grundy Show (1976), the cultural zeitgeist moved from “Her …

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Go | The Best Concerts in Jax this Week

Blue Jay anniversary, Devin the Dude, Lil Wayne and more

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Each week, the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and around Jacksonville this week. Hip-Hop City Morgue – Tuesday, August 16 Underbelly | …

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On ‘No Rules Sandy,’ Sylvan Esso finds freedom outside the formula

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Sylvan Esso‘s fourth album ends in a manner almost antithetical to the duo’s original musical impulses, putting the band’s early-days and present versions on opposite shores. As they’ve recounted, it all started when folk singer Amelia Meath — then best known as a member of the choral-forward group Mountain Man — conscripted electronic music producer Nick Sanborn to remix her …

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WJCT Public Media’s Music Director and Arts & Culture Editor Receive Florida Public Media’s Janyth Righter Innovation Award

Media Contact:Neily BrarenPromotion & Marketing Associate, WJCT904.318.2633 | nbraren@wjct.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE David Luckin and Matt Shaw’s work on The Independent 89.9 HD 4 gains statewide recognition  JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — August 10, 2022 — WJCT Public Media today announced that two of its staff members have received the 2022 Florida Public Media Janyth Righter Innovation Award. Head of Radio and …

Local Spotlight | 4 New Tracks by Jax Artists Out Now

New music from Huan, Bebe Deluxe, Primary School and Rhythm of Fear

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We’re always keeping our ear to the ground in order to shine the high beams of our Local Spotlight series on the beautiful noise created by artists working in the Jacksonville region. This week, Jacksonville Music Experience contributors share four new songs by local artists that we think you’ll dig. Let’s dive in. “Not Today” by Huan Ultra-chill Jax indie-pop …

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Go | Best Concerts in Jax this Week

Acid Dad for free, Jax Caribbean Carnival, Queer Country Disco and more

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Each week, the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and around Jacksonville this week. Rock Acid Dad – Wednesday, August 10 The Jessie …

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