Carte Blanche Music |

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:

Dylan Cartlidge – Hang My Head (Wildcard this week)
Dua Lipa – Love Again (Wildcard last week)
Alba August – Old Love
Bakermat (feat. LaShun Pace) – Ain’t Nobody
Greta – Vibrant
Lena – Strip
Not A Boys Name – Psychopath

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, Lorde, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Tones & I, and more.

single track

Niko Rubio – Bed

June 12th, 2021

Surveys (often commissioned by radio stations) appear to indicate most people still discover new music via the radio. That may be true, but I can’t believe most people discover new artists via the radio. The reason is simple: radio hardly plays any new artists. When they play new music, 95 out of 100 times it’s new music by well-known artists. Alas, radio doesn’t take any chances anymore. Every station plays the same music, servicing the same group of people. Not the most adventurous people.

Meanwhile, there’s an explosion of new music by emerging artists on streaming services. Over 60.000 (mostly new) tracks are added to Spotify every day! Not all equally good, of course, so how do you find the needles in that enormous hay stack? Well, via blogs like Carte Blanche Music for instance. Where the bloggers select their own music, and write about it out of genuine enthusiasm. Without any commercial interest. Hell no, this hobby only costs us money… For the love of music!

Five weeks ago, I hoped to help you discover Niko Rubio. I absolutely loved her debut single You Could Be The One, and I still do. In line with the song’s title, I thought she might be a future superstar. Actually, I still do. It just hasn’t materialized yet. The track deserved more than the 50.000 streams it attracted.

But here is Rubio’s new single, Bed! It unfolds in sultry grooves and snarling guitar riffs as Niko slips into a state of feverish infatuation. ‘I like it when you say my name / Tastes like candy on my brain / I’m so dumb for you, love’.

Both tracks will be on her forthcoming debut EP, slated for release this Summer.

Recommended as well:
Niko Rubio – You Could Be The One

Follow Niko Rubio on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

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

pop | rock

single track

Sam & Sounds – Does It Matter?

June 12th, 2021

It’s hard to believe Samuel Gemmell only released his first track a year ago. A lot has changed since than. Also for Sam. Over the course of nine singles, he amassed almost 3 million streams and 65.000 Instagram followers, to mention but a few highlights. He laid the foundations for this success busking the streets of Tunbridge Wells and Crawley in 2019.

Now, it’s time for Sam’s 10^th single Does It Matter? One of the cheerful, poppy rock songs we’ve come to like him for. It’s a cry to live it up and live care free, whilst we are young, and with life ahead of us.

“We’ve had a year of being stuck at home and with little opportunity to live it up”, says Sam. “So many young people have had their youth curtailed by restrictions in the last 18 months, and as we approach summer – I feel we need to get out and remember to enjoy life.”

Recommended as well:
Sam & Sounds – Silly

Follow Sam & Sounds on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

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

indie | pop | rock

single track

K.Flay (feat. Travis Barker) – Dating My Dad

June 12th, 2021

Travis Barker is one of the most featured artists in recent history. Only the last few years, he featured on singles by the likes of Pitbull, Machine Gun Kelly, Maggie Lindemann, The Hunna, Demi Lovato, Amy Shark, and Willow. That’s only a very selective list, to which we can now add alt-indie singer K.Flay. She a very popular featured artist herself as well, by the way.

Dating My Dad by K.Flay (feat. Travis Barker) is a great tune. Just like most tracks the blink-182 drummer is involved in, and just like most of Kristine Flaherty’s songs. In other words: this cooperation that couldn’t have gone wrong. It’s an energetic rock song, where K.Flay’s funny observations are accompanied by spacey sounds, memorable hooks and of course Barker’s tight beats.

The singer says of the song: “This is basically 6 months of therapy condensed into a single song. You spend so much of your life thinking that you’re the exception, but at the end of the day, you’re just like everyone else – becoming a version of your parents or falling in love with one. Or both. (…) There are patterns in our lives and in our families that we can either choose to perpetuate or choose to stop. That’s what growing up feels like, at least to me.”

You can find Dating My Dad and four more tracks on K.Flay’s new EP Inside Voices.

Recommended as well:
K.Flay – Not In California
K.Flay – Sister

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

indie | rock

single track

Oscar Lang – 21st Century Hobby

June 12th, 2021

True to their name, the Dirty Hit label produced quite some (dirty) hits already. It’s home to successful artists like The 1975, Pale Waves, beabadoobee, Wolf Alice, Marika Hackman and London based artist/multi-instrumentalist Oscar Lang. All of them featured on Carte Blanche Music before.

Lang, particularly, is a prolific artist. And astonishingly, all of his output has the same high quality. In only four years’ time, he released numerous EP’s and a full-length album. He just announced his next long-player Chew The Scenery, due out on 16 July.

Following Stuck and Are You Happy?, 21^st Century Hobby is the album’s third single. A strumming song with fuzzy guitars; upbeat and catchy, despite its touches of psychedelia. A perfect radio song in my ears.

As is so often the case recently, there’s a more gloomy message behind the uplifting instrumentation. “21^st Century Hobby’ is a tune based on the idea of society’s obsession with sharing your life online and comparing yourself to other people”, Lang says in a press release. “There was one point where I was spending 13 hours a week on social media, which equated to about a month every year. That was a really dark time for me – I always thought that it would never affect me, but it took some time to realise that it was subconsciously affecting my mental health.”

The main strength of this song is the fact it never tries too hard to get the message across. You’ll find yourself humming and singing along without being aware of it. In the end, it’s up to you to take action or not. If you’re completely happy with your ‘21^st century hobby’, good for you!

Recommended as well:
Oscar Lang – Get Out
Oscar Lang – Apple Juice

Follow Oscar Lang on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

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

indie | pop | rock

album track

Japanese Breakfast – Paprika

June 12th, 2021

Michelle Zauner (a.k.a. Japanese Breakfast) just released her third album Jubilee. It’s lovely! I was immediately grabbed by the opening track, the rather bombastic – and brilliantly titled – Paprika. To me, it’s the best song on the album. I love its marching band feel, and the strings and horn parts in the chorus. It’s both weird and wonderful.

In an interview with Stereogum, Zauner explains how the album, and this song in particular, came about. She explains: “My biggest fear for this record was that I didn’t want to be the kind of artist that pivots to pop in this very obvious way. I think that as you grow as an indie musician, the logical step is to enter into that world and play bigger venues and have more mainstream music or whatever. So I was really inspired by the greats… like Kate Bush. I think it’s really amazing that she’s someone who has such massive appeal but is, like, the biggest freak and has the most surreal, bizarre lyrics and has this really strange, proggy instrumentation. So I was really influenced by Kate Bush on this record and leaned towards surreal lyrics a little bit more on Paprika.”

About the song title she says: “I called it Paprika because it reminded me of this Susumu Hirasawa song called Parade that’s in the movie Paprika. There’s a big marching band and it’s this really psychotic parade dream sequence, and so that’s why I called it Paprika.”

It may sound like a strange choice, but I think this would make a great single!

Recommended as well:
Japanese Breakfast – Be Sweet

Follow Japanese Breakfast on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

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

indie | pop

single track

bülow – Revolver

June 12th, 2021

Born in Germany, Megan Bülow grew up and lived in the UK, Canada and the United States. Nowadays however, the 21-year-old globetrotter operates from the Netherlands.

In 2017 already, her debut EP Damaged, Vol. 1 landed her the title New Artist Of The Week by Apple Music Canada. Three-and-a-half years later, the singer and songwriter worked with the likes of Ty Dolla $ign, Mura Masa and Fall Out Boy, gaining half a billion streams in the process.

bülow recently experimented with genres like trap and future bass, but her new single Revolver has more of a drum & bass vibe. They don’t come any more upbeat and catchy than this!

Follow bülow on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

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

drum & bass | pop

single track

Milo Meskens – Daddy Issues

June 12th, 2021

Belgium got to know singer and songwriter Milo Meskens in 2015 via ‘De Nieuwe Lichting’ (‘the new class’). This is the talent programme of radio station Studio Brussel. Since releasing his debut single Here With Me in 2016, he scored eight hits in his home country. On top of that, he gathered a reasonable following in neighbouring country the Netherlands. Now, it’s time for him to break out of the Benelux. His new single might be the right track to achieve that.

Daddy Issues is a melodic and catchy pop-rock song, with trauma and education as it’s main themes. It deals with the fact that old sorrow and concerns can pass on from one generation to the other. ‘Treat your daughter like a father / or don’t be one at all’, he sings. A dark subject matter, packed in an energetic and enticing song with great guitar licks and wicked horns.

Follow Milo Meskens on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

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

pop | rock

single track

Silvertwin – Saviour

June 12th, 2021

Do you remember me writing about Wait For Me by Super db, last month? I think it sounds like a Westcoast take on Olivia Newton-John & ELO’s Xanadu. Well, they’re not the only band to be inspired by Jeff Lynne’s musical legacy…

Let me introduce you to Silvertwin. A London quintet around Isaac Shalam, with like-minded souls Alicia Barisani, Dan Edery, Lauric Mackintosh and Antonio Naccache. They too are raised on a diet of ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s music. And now, Shalam has found himself the vehicle to recreate this beloved sound. There’s no copy-pasting however, he writes all of the songs himself, carefully following his heroes’ examples.

Silvertwin’s new single Saviour is equal parts Electric Light Orchestra, Paul McCartney, Supertramp and Steely Dan (including the famous Reelin’ In The Years riff). The track has come out ahead of the band’s upcoming self-titled debut album, set for release on 16 July.

Follow Silvertwin on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

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

indie | pop

single track, wildcard

Wildcard (week 23):
Dylan Cartlidge – Hang My Head

June 9th, 2021

North Yorkshire artist Dylan Cartlidge didn’t have the easiest of youths. In 2018, he appeared on the BBC documentary The Mighty Redcar, which followed people’s struggles in a town that has faced its fair share of hardship. This documentary proved a turning point for Cartlidge. The years since then have been nothing short of amazing for him. His music grabbed the attention of the likes of NME and BBC Radio One. Also, he performed at festivals like Glastonbury and SXSW.

9 July, he’ll release his debut album Hope Above Adversity, which has been his long-time motto. He created the record with world-class producers and engineers such as Eg White, James Dring, Dan Parry and Edmund Irwin-Singer from Glass Animals.

Hang My Head is the album’s new single. Although the song has come from a place of pain, it’s a euphoric feel-good track. It opens and closes with a catchy whistle. In between, we hear a groovy bass, upbeat drums, an uplifting choir and motivational lyrics about positivity and self-reflection. Cartlidge’s voice is stirring throughout. To me, the song sounds like a perfect mix of Around Town by The Kooks and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Sacrilege.

Speaking on his new single, he says: “Hang My Head is a track about when you take a wrong turn or make a bad choice and feel like you’ve let yourself and others down. It’s then also about learning from your mistakes, growing from within and trying to get yourself back out the front door, knowing that you are doing yourself, your work and your family justice.”

This week, Hang You Head by Dylan Cartlidge is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. As such it’ll feature prominently at the top of the blog for a full seven days.

Follow Dylan Cartlidge on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.

hip hop | indie | pop | soul

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