Carte Blanche Music

Last March, Friends Go by Maggie Lindemann was the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. The original was a funky pop song, incorporating ska elements. By then, she already hinted at a future remix that former blink-182 drummer Travis Barker made of the track. That version is out now, but it turns out not to be a remix at all.

Instead, Lindemann and Barker rebuilt the track and turned it into a badass rock version. A mix that sounds so natural, that it might as well have been the original version. Meanwhile, it wouldn’t sound out of place in the blink-182 catalogue either.

To me, this version is even better than the original, which I already liked a lot!

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

single track

Annabel Allum – When The Wind Stopped

June 24th, 2019

Guilford singer-songwriter Annabel Allum is making a name for herself with her relatable brand of slacker rock. She came to my radar last year, with her single Beat The Birds, which was also remixed by Rat Boy. It eventually ended up on her second EP Sorry I’m Not Perceptible.

She just returned with When The Wind Stopped, the second single (and title track) to be taken from her forthcoming third EP, due for release this autumn. A song with propulsive basslines, anthemic rhythms and the singer’s signature, matter-of-fact tone, it’s a passionate ode to not giving up on your childhood dreams as we mature.

Allum says of the inspiration behind it: “When I was a kid I had such big expectations of how life was gonna be. I think most people do, but somehow we lose track of our dreams and what we really want from life. It’s so easy to shut yourself in a societal box and put your dreams to bed. I say fuck that. If you want something, go fucking get it. Less moaning, more chasing.”

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

indie | pop | rock

album track

Alfie Templeman – Tragic Love

June 24th, 2019

Only 16 years ago, Alfie Templeman was born in a household full of musical stimuli. His sister is a pianist and plays trumpet, and his dad collects guitars. It was inevitable that Alfie would ask for drum lessons aged just seven years old, and at 13, he installed recording equipment in his bedroom. This is where he writes, records and produces everything he makes.

Templeman just released his second EP, Sunday Morning Cereal on Chess Club Records, home to MØ and Sundara Karma, and renowned for early releases from Wolf Alice, Jungle, and Mumford & Sons.

He tells about the EP: “There’s a lot of r&b and indie coming together in this record. I wanted to experiment a little more with groovy drum beats and ‘90s hip hop synths, while keeping the indie slacker vibe of my first EP.”

Alfie plays every instrument on the EP, and my favourite track off it is Tragic Love, a mid-tempo, bluesy song about a doomed relationship.

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

indie | pop

werner's weekly

Werner’s Weekly (week 26)

June 24th, 2019

This is Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:

Flay – Sister (Wildcard this week)
Jay Som – Superbike (Wildcard last week)
Akiva – Broken Ships
Ceylon Ceylon (feat. Graziella) – Why Don’t They Love You
Kasador – High Rise
Montaigne – Ready
Yorke – Thought I Could

Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Werner’s Weekly player below.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: !!!, Cold War Kids, The Cult, The Kooks, Robyn, Two Door Cinema Club, and many more.

electronic | funk | indie | pop | rock

single track

Ariana & The Rose – True Love

June 23rd, 2019

New York-based Ariana & The Rose is an artist who embraces an audio-visual approach to creativity, producing honest synth-driven songs. Ahead of the first instalment of her upcoming two-part Constellations EP (out on 26 July, with part two set for a 2020 release), she releases a series of singles.

The latest of these, True Love, is her most irresistibly jubilant song yet. It feels like a throwback to classic ‘80s synth pop, while also being undeniably current. Lyrically, the track honours the universal power of love, regardless of sexual orientation, skin colour, or age.

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

electronic | pop

single track

Caroline Polachek – Door

June 23rd, 2019

Throughout the last five years, Caroline Polachek released music using stage names like CEP and Ramona Lisa. But she’s probably best-known as one half of the duo Chairlift, which disbanded in 2017. They put out four albums in 11 years’ time, and scored a surprise hit when their single Bruises was chosen as the soundtrack for an iPod commercial in the late ‘00s.

Door is the first song Polachek released under her full name. A song with a fascinating instrumentation and a vocal melody that sounds as if it were played on a synthesizer. According to a press release, it’s ‘the first taste of a forthcoming, larger solo project from [Polachek] to be released later this year’.

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

pop

album track

Alex Lahey – Isabella

June 23rd, 2019

Only in the autumn of 2017, a year and a half after she broke through in her native Australia, Alex Lahey was picked up in the rest of the world. Her debut album I Love You Like A Brother was an up-tempo trip down guitar lane, but her new album The Best Of Luck Club is a more varied affair.

Isabella, to me, is one of the stand-out tracks, with lyrics as playful as the piano melody it’s built around. Lahey explains: “Isabella doesn’t really need much of an explanation. It’s about a vibrator of which the brand is called ‘Izzy’. The song is about what I think Izzy would be like if it were a person. Basically, she’d be a fucking legend.”

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

indie | pop

single track

Mamacita feat. Didy & Roy Paci – (Yo No Soy Tu) Nena

June 21st, 2019

One of the things that make summer a bloody fine season, are summer hits. This might be a good contender for this year, I think…

Mamacita is an Italian collective of producers, DJ’s, MC’s and performers, which has its own radio show, releases compilation albums, hosts festivals, curates playlists and puts out songs. Their new single also features Dominican singer/dancer Didy and singer/trumpet player Roy Paci.

With Nena (which comes in an Italian and a Spanish version) the summer has officially started, as far as I’m concerned.

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

hip hop | latin | pop | tropical

single track

Yorke – Thought I Could

June 21st, 2019

There are tons of great music coming from Australia, but alas not all of it catches on abroad. That must be due to the huge amount of releases in this streaming era, for purely based on song quality, the percentage of Australian hits should be much higher than it is.

Up and coming Byron Bay-born singer-songwriter Yorke (real name Grace Hughes) is another good example. She only released her appropriately named debut single First Light at the end of 2018 and her new single is only her third.

Thought I Could paints a dreamy indie-pop picture with cinematic production, dark keys, punchy drums, and a big chorus with a catchy hook. In the song, Yorke questions the reality of leaving her hometown to follow her dreams in Sydney, and the consequences of her decisions by having to leave someone behind.

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

electronic | pop

single track

The Beautiful Monument – Reaper

June 20th, 2019

Australian all-female rock quartet The Beautiful Monument consists of Lizi (vocals), Andy (guitar), Alex (guitar) and Amy (bass). On 28 June they’ll follow-up on their debut album I’m The Sin (2017) with their second long-player I’m The Reaper. You can expect energetic songs, powerful hooks and moody grooves, with influences from the likes of PVRIS and Evanescence.

Reaper, more or less the album’s title track, is The Beautiful Monument’s new single. It’s about the passing of a close friend of the band.

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

indie | rock

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Maggie Lindemann feat. Travis Barker – Friends Go

Annabel Allum – When The Wind Stopped

Alfie Templeman – Tragic Love

Werner’s Weekly (week 26)

Ariana & The Rose – True Love

Caroline Polachek – Door

Alex Lahey – Isabella

Mamacita feat. Didy & Roy Paci – (Yo No Soy Tu) Nena

Yorke – Thought I Could

The Beautiful Monument – Reaper

Wildcard (week 26)

Werner’s Weekly (week 26)

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Wildcard (week 26)

Werner’s Weekly (week 26)

Spotify playlist

Social Media

Subscribe via email

Categories

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