There’s so much great music coming out, seemingly everyday, that keeping up with it all can feel overwhelming. The JME team is here to help. Each month, JME contributors pick the juiciest noise emanating from Northeast Florida and beyond for our monthly Fresh Squeeze playlist. Featuring a few dozen new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists, there are …
Go | What to see & hear this week in Jacksonville
Rock & Blues & SOL
Last week marked the return of St. Augustine’s Sing Out Loud Festival. The month-long fest features more than 100 performances, including big-time headliners and dozens of local acts. There’s more to check out in St. Johns County. You can read about all of our SOL staff picks here. There’s also plenty of music in Duval this week. Here are our …
Local Spotlight | ‘Blood On My Birkenstock’ is Freddy Bricks’ fourth album (this year)
Something clicked for Freddy Bricks in 2020. He’d had been floating around the Jacksonville music scene for more than a decade before releasing his first studio album The Man Who Remembered Too Much, which earned Bricks high marks that year from Duval County’s hip-hop community. Then the floodgates opened. That same year, he fed the scene, 11 Forks 1 Knife, …
Kick Out the (Jazz) Jams | A guide to Jacksonville’s many jam sessions
The jam session has played a central role in the evolution of American music for over a century. As with so many other things, the jam session concept has its roots in Storyville, New Orleans, where jazz music began in the late 1800’s. In the era before records, before radio and before the modern touring infrastructure, the prominent musicians of …
Go | Live Music Recommendations
Time to Sing Out Loud
The month-long Sing Out Loud Festival kicks off in St. Johns County this week. With more than 100 performances scheduled in and around St. Augustine’s historic district, SOL is set to dominate the September calendars of JME Contributors. (You can read our staff picks for SOL here.) It’s a busy month of music. Here’s what the JME team will be …
JME Recommends | Our fave songs of 2021 (So Far)
JME contributors pick their fave local and not-local releases of the year
The JME team has already reviewed a lot of great local music this year. And it’s only July. Just to catch our breath, we decided to dig through everything that’s come across our speakers or headphones during the first six months of 2021 and pick out our faves. Here are JME contributors’ picks for the best local and best not-local …
Local Spotlight | The best new tracks from Jacksonville artists out this week
Regular readers of JME are surely familiar by now with multi-instrumentalist Nick Garcia’s project Lost Club. Garcia’s been slowly releasing singles, each one seemingly more refined than the next. Same can be said for Duval hip-hop collective L.O.V.E. Culture, who, after a smattering of EPs and singles, dropped its debut full-length to much fanfare last week. We’ve got new tracks …
Daily’s Place will require proof of negative COVID test for Jonas Brothers show
Those attending the Jonas Brothers performance at Daily’s Place Amphitheater in Downtown Jacksonville on October 15 will be required to show printed proof of a negative COVID test, according to the venue’s website. The pop megastars announced on Monday via their Instagram page that they would be making proof of a negative test or proof of vaccination a requirement for …
Sound & Vision | Visual artist Overstreet Ducasse curates a sonic palette mix
R.E.M., Steely Dan, Wu-Tang Clan inspire Ducasse's latest output
Sound & Vision is a semi-regular feature that examines how music influences Northeast Florida artists. Accompanying playlists for each Sound & Vision feature can be found on JME’s spotify channel. Overstreet Ducasse taps into the realm of signifiers and symbols to create paintings that merge the political with the cryptic. Mixed-media works feature the human body suspended over shooting range …
Local Spotlight | 3 new releases by Jax artists
New local music to add to your playlist
As wild fires rage out west and the Delta Variant burns through the Southeast, the world certainly appears to be in peril. And the local releases that came across the JME desk this week find Jacksonville artists responding to the current (and horrifying) milieu in unique ways. While multi-instrumentalist Reggie Froom waxed existential, singer-songwriter Stacey Bennett gathered her friends to, …
Fresh Squeeze | August 2021 playlist
The juiciest playlist around
Each month, JME Contributors pick the juiciest noise emanating from Northeast Florida and beyond for our monthly Fresh Squeeze playlist. Featuring a several 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. Playlist Highlights: “Behaviour” by Glove “Damn” by Ada Lea “Uh Huh Okay” …
Local Spotlight | 3 new songs by Jax artists out now
New tunes to add to your playlist immediately.
Jacksonville artists continue to swing for the fences. This week brought us new tunes from multi-instrumentalist and producer Shane Malone, Afro-cuban salsa orchestra LPT, and hip-hop artist Jahny Steel. Whether working within the strictures of hip-hop, indie rock or salsa, the artists featured herein are expanding the scope of their preferred genre, while simultaneously redefining what music from Northeast Florida …
Go | This Week’s Live Music Recommendations
Big name bands are beginning to return to Northeast Florida, providing opportunities for the region’s standout acts to lend support while getting in front of a larger audience. This week, local indie rock youngsters Faze Wave will open for Cold War Kids at The Amp’s backyard stage. It’s one of the three shows JME contributors recommend checking out this week. …
Watch | LPT drops new single and video “Se Quema El Mundo”
LPT seeks light among the darkness; emerges with a scorching new tune
What is LPT––Jacksonville’s mighty 10-piece Afro-Cuban salsa orchestra––without a dance floor? It’s a question that the band, which began its world-beating run performing in dank clubs in and around Northeast Florida, enticing revelrous, full-capacity crowds onto the dance floor (and all but daring the fire marshal to shut them down), was forced to reckon with in the face of an …
Local Spotlight | ‘Seclusion of Sanity’ by Mindfield
An expert and uncompromising nine-song discourse in Sunshine State aggression
The chimera was born for modern metal. The hybrid monstrosity of Greek mythology, an aberration fire-breather with a serpent’s tail, goat’s body, and a roaring lion’s head, is the ideal emblem of a music that is a fusion of roiling thrash, glacial doom, guttural defiance, and resolute nihilism. The debut from Jacksonville’s Mindfield is an impressive and informed evolution of …
Go | Live music recommendations
Jazz Jam plus a dinner and a show
Here’s what we’re looking forward to this week. Jazz Blue Jay Jazz Jam – Tuesday, July 26 Blue Jay Listening Room | Jacksonville Beach Every Tuesday, fun-size Jax Beach venue Blue Jay Listening Room hosts one of the city’s premier jazz jams. Standouts from the region’s avant-garde come together for an evening of improvisation in Blue Jay’s intimate environs. This …
Just Announced | Leon Bridges, Thievery Corporation, Galactic, all coming to St. Johns County
Is the small-market touring boom upon us?
After more than a year in hibernation, live music has come roaring back. And it seems we’re just getting started. If Pitchfork is to be believed, a small-market touring boom is underway. As booking agents battle it out for rooms in major market cities (New York City, Los Angeles, Austin), they’re increasingly having to get creative. In the grand scheme …
Local Spotlight | “All Good” by Leo Sun
Leo Sun's new indie pop ditty encompasses all things good.
The second single by Leo Sun, the moniker of Jacksonville native Matilda Phan, is a summer tune meant for blasting at full volume whilst driving to a beach picnic, replaying last night’s blissful encounter with your latest crush. Sun’s vocals have a signature flutter that showcase their pipes, all the while blending a country vibrato with pop sensibilities painted across …
Go | Multifaceted guitarist Ron Artis II at Hotel Palms
Hawaiian-born guitarist and songwriter brings top-notch chops to Atlantic Beach
World-renowned, multifaceted guitarist Ron Artis II brings his topnotch chops and impressive improvisational skills to the courtyard of Atlantic Beach’s unimpeachably hip hangout, Hotel Palms, on Thursday, July 15. The Hawaiian-born Artis is best known for his work with his group Ron Artis and Thunderstorm, but his reputation as a crack accompanying player has made him an in-demand musical partner …
Local Spotlight | “Alone” by Lost Club
The first single from Lost Club's new EP is a savvy, technical dream-pop ditty
Hot off the somber heels of last year’s Phantasmagoria EP, comes Lost Club’s forthcoming sophomore release: saudade. Thankfully, the five-song set is no slump. Club founding and lone member Nick Garcia has racked up an impressive racket with bands Weekend Atlas and Dog Apollo. A kind of extension of those group’s similar whip-smart, 21st-century Romanticism finds Lost Club asking the …
Just Announced | Sing Out Loud Fest returns to St. Augustine
Parquet Courts, TLC, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Yola headline an eclectic month of music in St. Augustine.
After a year of livestream-festival weirdness, things are slowly returning to normal. Lallapalooza kicks off in July, marking an earnest return to big-time summer festivals. Popular online music publication Pitchfork brings its indie-heavy fest back to Chicago in September. And here in Northeast Florida, music fans are reveling in the news that the multi-venue Sing Out Loud Festival with return …
Go | Live Music Recommendations
What’s all that jazz? And punk? And Americana?
Another quality week of live music is ahead of us. Here’s what JME Contributors recommend checking out. Jazz Jazz Jam/Various Artists – Wednesday, July 7 Breezy Jazz House | San Marco Popular San Marco music club and restaurant Breezy Jazz House has earned a reputation among the region’s avant garde, as well as fans of live improvisation, for top-notch performances …
Local Spotlight | 5 local songs out this week
L.O.V.E. Culture, Tenny Rudolph, DL Is OK, Jesebel and Denver Hall turned our ear this week
Jacksonville artists would not let June go quietly. The month started off with a slew of new and very good releases from Northeast Florida musicians working in a variety of genres. (You can listen to some of our local and non-local faves on June’s Fresh Squeeze playlist). Just as we prepared to coast into the month of July, an equally …
Local Spotlight | ‘Florida Baby’ EP
Bedroom hip-hop artist MoonChyldd boasts a distinctive sonic and visual style
Purveyor of chilled-out bedroom hip-hop Moonchyldd has emerged from the confines of her sonic fortress of solitude with her sophomore album Florida Baby. On the nine-track EP Moonchyldd (AKA Briana Hughes) reaches into her singular Duval cool and laid-back style, with contributions by fellow Jacksonville hip-hop artists Rose, SettBabyKeem and Hughes’ sidekick and best friend Ampton. Like most bedroom pop or …
Local Spotlight | ‘Blkout’ EP
Blk Jay drops a short but tight collection of crucial hip-hop.
On “Preach,” the opening cut of Blk Jay’s Blkout EP, the Duval-rapper testifies that “They’re gonna feel this: the reign of Black.” Over the course of the release’s short-but-tight collection, he backs up that testimony. Vibes sui generis crackle through Blkout. For one, there is the evident quality of restraint. Jay keeps the momentum at a lax first-gear: “F’sho” is …
Go | Live Music Recommendations
A couple of good reasons to enjoy music outdoors this week
One of the best things about Jacksonville’s recent return to live, in-person concerts has been the proliferation of outdoor listening experiences. From the City of Jacksonville dropping a stage on the grassy field where the Landing once stood to the Seawalk Pavilion in Jax Beach once again cranking up its bandshell to the Cummer Museum opening up its historic gardens …
JME Recommends
Five Jacksonville Indie Rock acts you should know
In the early 1960s, rock n’ roll infiltrated the suburbs, kicking off a decades-long run in which drums-guitar-bass-centric sounds dominated the charts, album and ticket sales, Top 40 radio and the youth-culture milieu in general. Rock n’ roll grew up (kinda) over the years, transformed into rock, then faded after its mid-70s peak, in some ways supplanted by other emerging …
Reveal: Jacksonville
January 28 at 12pm on 89.9 WJCT-FM
Calli Marie Bakes
Jacksonville baker Calli Marie, shares her story of how she became the food manager at popular coffee shop, BREW 5 Points.
Mayoral Debate
May 11 at 7PM on WJCT 89.9 FM
City of Bridges
Tune to WJCT Public Television Thursday night at 8, Channel 7.1 (Comcast Channel 8 & 440) for the WJCT documentary showcasing the bridges suspended over our beautiful waterway as part of “The Year of the River”. “City of Bridges” traces the growth that resulted from the construction of Jacksonville’s railroad and automobile bridges across the St. Johns River, and explores …
Jacksonville 2015: Mayoral Debate
LIVE! March 12 at 7pm on WJCT-TV, 89.9FM & online
ARS: Behind-the-Scenes DVD
On sale now!
Antiques Roadshow Jacksonville
Monday, October 20th at 8pm & 9pm
Antiques Roadshow Jacksonville
Monday, September 29
Corner Taco: Seared Asparagus
Local food truck owner, Chris Dickerson, demonstrates how to cook a simple seared asparagus.