Carte Blanche Music |

Werner’s Weekly (week 21)

May 25th, 2020

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:

Gizmo Varillas – Born Again (Wildcard this week)
Bloxx – Lie Out Loud (Wildcard last week)
May-a – Green
Moby Rich & Bishop Briggs – Friends*
The Rehats – Nothing But The Truth
Washington – Dark Parts
X Ambassadors with K.Flay & grandson – Zen

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: Editors, Ozark Henry, Indigo Girls, The Jayhawks, and many more.

single track

Stuck On Planet Earth – Ghosts On The Radio

May 23rd, 2020

Adam Bianchi (guitars/vocals), Al Capo (bass/vocals), and Andrew Testa (drums) are Toronto-based alternative rock band Stuck On Planet Earth. They formed the band as teenagers in 2007. Since then, they developed their sound over thousands of hours of playing together on stage and in the studio. In 2020, SOPE are known for their primal, high-energy live shows and a signature mix of alternative rock and R&B.

13 years after its formation, the band is finally set to release its debut album Beautiful Nowhere on 26 June. Ghosts On The Radio is their new single. A rock track with big guitars and hard hitting drums, with the vocals front and center in the mix. Stuck On Planet Earth call the new track ‘an homage to some of our biggest musical inspirations,’ delivering ‘a bass line that has Dr. Dre’s The Chronic vibe and bright guitar style chanks channelling The Police’s Andy Summers’.

Recommended as well:
Stuck On Planet Earth – Rising

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

indie | pop | rock

single track

Liza Anne – Bummer Days

May 23rd, 2020

After earlier tracks like Paranoia, Panic Attack and Bad Vacation, new single Bummer Days adds to the party vibe 😉. Don’t be mistaken however. Okay, on her upcoming album Bad Vacation (out on 24 July) Nashville pop-rocker Liza Anne reflects on mental health, destructive habits, and toxic relationships, but all in all it’s an empowering affair.

“I was writing what I needed to hear”, Liza explains. “I was writing what I needed to feel. Quite literally I was writing a stronger, more empowered version of myself into existence.” This makes her fourth long-player a collection of liberating, thoughtful and confident songs. Art rock anthems, new wave jams, and power pop earworms, set to provide her with her well-deserved breakthrough.

New single Bummer Days is a catchy self-critique of wallowing in sadness. “I don’t know what I want but I know that I feel bad / And then when I feel good I think I make myself sad”, Liza Anne sings. “I wanna feel like I can get out of my own way.”

Recommended as well:
Bad Vacation
Panic Attack
Paranoia

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

indie | pop | rock

album track

Dagny – Coulda Woulda Shoulda

May 23rd, 2020

Ever since releasing her debut single Backbeat in October 2015, Norwegian songstress Dagny Sandvik has been promising us an album. However, she hasn’t delivered yet and keeps the excitement going. So far, she delivered the Ultraviolet EP in 2016, and four years on, here’s her second EP Strangers/Lovers. Together, the two hold 11 songs, which could be considered an album. Fair enough then 😉

On her website however, the six tracks she just released are described as ‘Side A of my debut album Strangers/Lovers’. I can’t wait for the B-side! Two of these tracks, Come Over and Somebody, have previously been released as singles. But the best track in my opinion is Coulda Woulda Shoulda. They don’t come any catchier than this. Wait for this girl to become one of the future global pop stars.

Recommended as well:
Come Over
Love You Like That
Backbeat

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

electronic | pop

single track

Daði Freyr & Gagnamagnið – Where We Wanna Be

May 23rd, 2020

Daði Freyr and his band Gagnamagnið should have won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with Think About Things. Alas, the event was cancelled. But in March and April, it was one of the most popular songs on Carte Blanche Music, and things are looking good for May as well.

Meanwhile, Freyr doesn’t wait for things to happen. He makes things happen all by himself. His new single Where We Wanna Be continues the sound we’ve come to expect. It’s funk, it’s disco, it’s cool and it’s totally unique at the same time. Instantly recognizable, Daði Freyr & Gagnamagnið have taken off and are sure to fly way past the borders of their homeland. I bet they’ll be an established act by the time they represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.

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

disco | funk | indie | pop

single track

Josephien – Talk To Me

May 23rd, 2020

Incredible how a small country like Belgium can hold so much talent. Take Josefien Deloof, for instance. In 2018, she and her band won the public’s choice award at the Rock Rally competition. Since then, they toured a lot in Belgium and its neighbouring countries. During that time, she changed stage names a few times. Josefien became Josephine, but she now goes by the moniker of Josephien. Details matter!

Early this year, I saw her performing a Warner Music showcase at the ESNS festival. An impressive set, even though she was onstage with only a keyboard. And honestly, her recognizable, husky voice (reminiscent of Selah Sue’s) doesn’t need much instrumental accompaniment. Her debut single Talk To Me is great proof of that. The start of it, with only a simple guitar melody alongside her voice, immediately makes for a lounge-y feel. Only a few soft high synth notes and a languid rhythm section are added, and that’s all the song needs.

Josephien doesn’t believe in musical monogamy. Therefore, she hasn’t decided upon her musical direction yet. But the restrained happiness of this confident, soulful debut single fits her like a glove.

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

pop | r&b | soul

single track

On Video – Bête Noire

May 23rd, 2020

This one is for all of you who think ‘they don’t make decent guitar music any more’. East London foursome On Video are currently building a reputation for their fast-paced punky garage rock. After listening to their new single Bête Noire, your appetite for hooks and guitar riffs will be fully satisfied.

Frontman Hassan Anderson says about the track: “Bête Noire is a song inspired by our bassist George Williams. He was very misbehaved in his early days at school and was told by a teacher: “You, boy, have a bête noire inside of you.” Since then, George has made minimal improvements. This song aims to document that.”
More generally, the track is about the experience of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and the stigmas that come with that.

Bête Noire (French for ‘black beast’) comes ahead of On Video’s new EP Stuntman.

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

indie | punk | rock

single track

Sophie Hunger – Everything Is Good

May 23rd, 2020

Sophie Hunger is a Swiss-born, Berlin-based singer, multi-instrumentalist and film composer. 28 August, she’ll release her seventh studio album Halluzinationen. Just like its predecessor Molecules, it was produced by Dan Carey (Franz Ferdinand, Bat For Lashes). The album was captured in Abbey Road, in a very special way. Over the course of two days, Hunger and her band played the entire album six times in live, continuous takes. The album was compiled out of these six takes. She identifies this approach as ‘full risk’, but it give the album a vulnerability and intimacy that would have not been possible any other way.

Everything Is Good is the album’s new single. A great upbeat synth-pop track with an original twist, that sounds like a video game soundtrack. The song’s name is taken from a design by British artist David Shrigley. A big ‘thumbs up’ for this tune!

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

indie | pop

single track

Boston Manor – Plasticine Dreams

May 23rd, 2020

Somehow, I missed this song, but I wouldn’t want you to miss it. So here we go, after all. First of all, a little introduction… Contrary to their band name, Boston Manor are from Blackpool, UK. However, the rocking five-piece have many fans in the country of Uncle Sam.

A month and a half ago, Plasticine Dreams was the fifth track Boston Manor released ahead of their album Glue. This third album finds the band questioning the state of the world around them. They hope the album will be a call to arms for everybody who listens to it.

Plasticine Dreams for instance, is about what frontman Henry Cox calls ‘the throwaway culture of media’. He says art is treated as content nowadays. “One minute something is plastered everywhere you look and the next it’s faded into obscurity. I also feel like because it’s so easy to go viral now it also encourages people to make ‘content’ rather than art. We’re getting so much information constantly thrown at us that nothing is really absorbed or appreciated, you just click next when it’s finished.”

With its huge singalong chorus, Plasticine Dreams is destined to become a live favourite.

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

indie | rock

single track, wildcard

Wildcard (week 21):
Gizmo Varillas – Born Again

May 20th, 2020

Since releasing his debut album El Dorado in early 2017, Spanish singer-songwriter Gizmo Varillas received praise from Yoko Ono, opened up for Jack Savoretti and was added to George Ezra’s Spotify playlist. Varillas’ mix of folky pop, tropical instrumentation, and Latin and Afrobeat rhythms make for an overall happy sound. But don’t be mistaken, in some cases this contrasts with sad lyrics.

His new single however, has a message of hope. In Gizmo’s own words, Born Again is ‘about personal transformation, changing from within and giving yourself the chance to start over’. “Even if we reach our lowest point, we can always rise up again. And in many ways, it’s about never giving up and empowering yourself to go on.”

Born Again is the third single off Varillas’ upcoming album Out Of The Darkness (out on 5 June). It’s also featured in the BBC’s brand-new series ‘Alabama’. The song’s chorus has a slight resemblance with XXL by Mylène Farmer, of whom I’m a big fan as well.

This week, Born Again by Gizmo Varillas is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. As a result, it’ll feature prominently at the top of this blog for a whole week.

Recommended as well:
Gizmo Varillas – Losing You

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

indie | pop

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Werner’s Weekly (week 21)

Stuck On Planet Earth – Ghosts On The Radio

Liza Anne – Bummer Days

Dagny – Coulda Woulda Shoulda

Daði Freyr & Gagnamagnið – Where We Wanna Be

Josephien – Talk To Me

On Video – Bête Noire

Sophie Hunger – Everything Is Good

Boston Manor – Plasticine Dreams

Wildcard (week 21):
Gizmo Varillas – Born Again

Wildcard (week 21)

Werner’s Weekly (week 22)

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