Carte Blanche Music |

Altered By Mom – Better On The Page

August 8th, 2020

Setting yourself a task to release a new song every week for a whole year, doesn’t leave much room to dwell on each individual track. Not even when it’s such a great tune as last weeks Carte Blanche Music Wildcard: Altered By Mom’s Walking With The Enemy. But as predicted: the band already moved on.

This week, the Canadian duo share new song Better On The Page. And guess what? It isn’t some kind of filler, but another top track. An up-tempo song with staccato beats. The verses feature alternating vocals of Devon Lougheed and Gina Kennedy, whose voices blend beautifully in the choruses.

A project very much worth following, and you’ll end up with a great (and comprehensive) collection of songs by the end of the year.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

single track

Oscar Lang – Get Out

August 8th, 2020

20-year-old London singer-songwriter and producer Oscar Lang is on a roll. After his EP Overthunk from earlier this year, a new EP is already on its way. Entitled Hand Over Your Head, this new 7-track effort will be out on 11 September.

Following the great track Apple Juice, Get Out is the EP’s second single, with verses that bring Oasis to mind. Musically, it’s a happy song with bombastic beats, bright guitars and electronic elements. A timeless tune, in part thanks to co-producer Rich Turvey, who previously worked with Blossoms and The Coral.

Lang says about his new song: “Get Out was written in January but since then it’s taken on a whole new meaning. Originally I wrote it as a song to myself, to try and get myself outside a bit more. But now because of COVID-19, I guess the song actually applies to everyone!”

Recommended as well:
Oscar Lang – Apple Juice

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

indie | pop | rock

single track

Päter – Sleep

August 8th, 2020

Parmida Kakavand is a Canadian artist, who records and produces her own music in true DIY spirit. In the studio and on stage, she turns into Päter (which, as she explains herself, rhymes with later). She started her career impressively with her debut single Dam, Damn. This track, which collected almost 200.000 Spotify streams in only two months, is also included on her first EP SOLE. She describes the EP as ‘a six-song inquiry into the self’. “SOLE stands for solitude, isolation, and, well, the soul.”

Sleep is Päter’s new single. It’s an indie-rock song with beautiful vocals and an irresistibly catchy chorus. In her own words: “This is a song about feeling powerless in turbulent circumstances. Right now feels like a transitional period where the past isn’t worth returning to, and the future is full of uncertainty. Sleep grapples with that collective feeling of limbo. I wrote it on an afternoon in isolation when I gave up on using this time to be productive, and just took a long nap.”

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

indie | pop | rock

single track

Perfect Moment – Lost In Rome

August 8th, 2020

For over ten years, Alexander Gow was the front man of Aussie rock band Oh Mercy. Earlier this year however, he announced he had moved on. His new project is called Perfect Moment and has a decidedly different sound.

Gow explains: “I re-discovered my love of that strange music which is neither strictly ‘dance music’ nor ‘traditional song-writing music’ but instead, this charming third thing. (…) The writing process was the same it always has been – me at the piano with an acoustic guitar in my hand – but the execution was the difference. I sampled some kick sounds favoured by New Order and started building this music that had all the elements of my writing style but with added stylings and some useful limitations. (…) I asked Kim Moyes from The Presets to help me finish an EP. The indie musician had done enough. I needed someone that understood dance music to help me. Kim made me understand that I was on the right track. (…) The result was a much leaner, and exciting brand of my faux-dance music.”

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

indie | pop

single track

Amy Allen – Difficult

August 8th, 2020

Amy Allen is a self-taught artist. She began writing songs for herself and had learned to play five instruments by the age of 10. After graduating from Berklee College Of Music, she founded rock band Amy & The Engine in New York. But her career only really took off when she co-wrote Back To You for Selena Gomez in 2018. A worldwide hit, which opened the doors to collaborations with artists like Camila Cabello, Halsey, Sam Smith and Harry Styles.

After a short but very successful time in the shadows, Amy Allen has decided to go for the spotlights herself. Following her debut single Queen Of Silver Linings, she now releases her empowering anthem Difficult. A huge future hit!

Asked by Flaunt Magazine about its title and subject matter, she replied: “If you’re a woman and you’re really fighting for your career and pursuing it and you’re putting yourself first, you’ll be seen as difficult or whatever you want to call it. That’s what that song is about, jokingly calling myself difficult because I’ve been going after what I really want. I hope it will speak to a lot of women who have felt the same way.”

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

pop

single track

Liela Moss – Turn Your Back Around

August 8th, 2020

After releasing her 2018 debut solo album My Name Is Safe in Your Mouth, The Duke Spirit front woman Liela Moss entered a period of self-reflection. In preparation of her sophomore album, she even spent 10 days at a silent Vipassana Meditation center. This second long-player, Who The Power, produced by partner/producer Toby Butler, has just been released.

The record opens with the self-affirming new single Turn Your Back Around. A compelling track, based upon ‘80s synths and fast-paced drums. It comes with a video where Moss twists and turns to her own track in an empty dance studio.

She explains: “As its almost game over for the planet, I’m enjoying one filthy upbeat downhearted close-your-eyes-and-dance by-yourself pop song and offering it as a parting gift to Mother Earth.”

Recommended as well:
Liela Moss – Atoms At Me

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

indie | pop

single track

The Vamps – Married In Vegas

August 8th, 2020

In 2014, Brad Simpson, Connor Ball, Tristan Evans and James McVey released their debut album Meet The Vamps. It went multi-platinum. Since then, the band put out two more albums (and various expanded editions of each), and continuously toured. A year ago, they were halfway recording their fourth full-length album. However, they decided to scrap all of the finished tracks and start from scratch.

The songs they recorded from that point on are collected on Cherry Blossom, to be released on 16 October. This title signifies a rebirth or rejuvenation, and that’s what this album feels like for the band.

The Vamps were done recording earlier this year and sent the completed work to their label. Shortly after however, in a session that took only a few hours, they wrote Married In Vegas and added it to the album.

Built around distorted drums, a bar piano and a killer chorus, it’s a banger of a track and a great way to introduce the album.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

pop | rock

single track

Fritz – Arrow

August 8th, 2020

Only shortly after releasing her self-titled debut album in 2017, Fritz started gaining momentum in her home country Australia. The singer-songwriter (real name: Tilly Murphy) played in clubs and on festivals, and won radio station Triple J’s Unearthed competition.

Surely, 2020 will see her reach the next level under the wings of her new independent label Inertia. Arrow, is her first single under the new deal. A mature track with hints of The Breeders, New Order and The Cure. Sounds like a future shoegaze classic!

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

indie | rock

single track, wildcard

Wildcard (week 32):
Altered By Mom – Walking With The Enemy

August 5th, 2020

As you may have noticed, Australia and Canada are currently two of my favourite sources of exciting new music. Altered By Mom are from Toronto.

The project started as an excuse for producer/songwriter Devon Lougheed to play with some of his favourite musicians from all across Canada. But it really took shape with the permanent addition of Gina Kennedy (bass/vocals) and Jamie Williamson (drums). Well, not really permanently actually, for in 2020, Altered By Mom are a duo consisting of Lougheed and Kennedy. In general, they play all instruments themselves.

Long before Corona kicked in, the band set a goal for themselves: they would release a song a week this year. That’s 52 songs. In other words: quite a lot! Still, they manage to maintain a high standard, combining a knack for infectious melodies and classic song-writing with a quirky sense of humour and a tongue-in-cheek post-grunge aesthetic. They describe themselves as ‘like Sloan had a baby with Barenaked Ladies… and then that baby stole your cigarettes’.

Walking With The Enemy is the pair’s latest single. Or, by the time you read this, they’ll probably have released a follow-up already. But Walking With The Enemy is a song worth servicing to radio stations and playlist curators. It’s an above par track which starts with an ‘80s, Neue Deutsche Welle kind of synth, before the drum kicks in. What follows is a tune so catchy, it deserves to be a hit (whatever that may mean these days).

As I like to put my money where my mouth is, Walking With The Enemy by Altered By Mom is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!

Recommended as well:
Altered By Mom – Hear That Sound

In the Wildcards 2020 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.

electronic | indie | pop | rock

chart

Your favourites (July 2020)

August 3rd, 2020

Below, you can find all 10 of Your Favourites in the month of July; my recommendations that you read the most. I appreciate you, dear readers, for not only liking the usual crop of British and American artists, but music from all over the world. Of course, most songs are in English, but I’m glad to also spot lyrics in French, Swedish and even a Belgian regional accent in your Top 10. And just below, at #11, La Oreja De Van Gogh appear, with their track Te Pareces Tanto A Mí, in Spanish.

The links below bring you directly to the original posts. Each of them features a player that lets you listen to the track via the platform of your choice. Enjoy!

^(WC) = former Carte Blanche Music Wildcard

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Altered By Mom – Better On The Page

Oscar Lang – Get Out

Päter – Sleep

Perfect Moment – Lost In Rome

Amy Allen – Difficult

Liela Moss – Turn Your Back Around

The Vamps – Married In Vegas

Fritz – Arrow

Wildcard (week 32):
Altered By Mom – Walking With The Enemy

Your favourites (July 2020)

Wildcard (week 32)

Werner’s Weekly (week 33)

Spotify playlist

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Facebook

Wildcard (week 32)

Werner’s Weekly (week 33)

Spotify playlist

Social Media

Subscribe via email

Categories

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