Carte Blanche Music

Picture This – Modern Love

February 22nd, 2019

Since their self-titled debut album came out in August 2017, Picture This have gone on to become the biggest selling Irish act in 2017 and 2018. Last week, they released its follow-up, MDRN LV, which is even for sale as a cassette. In interviews, the band claim not to have felt any pressure producing the record, but I bet their label feels pressure to make it just as successful as the first one 😉 .

The long-player opens with Modern Love, more or less the title track, and the song whose lyrics inspired the album’s title. The track marks a different sound for the band, with tight, clean The 1975-like production. Destined to become a live favourite.

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

single track

Barrie – Clovers

February 21st, 2019

Barrie is a Brooklyn five-piece, named after Barrie Lindsay, and also featuring Dominic Apa, Spurge Carter, Sabine Holler, and Noah Prebish. Appropriately, their 2018 debut EP Singles contained all of the tracks they released so far. Now, the band are ready to take the next step.

3 May, Barrie will put out their first full album Happy To Be Here. Lindsay largely wrote these songs late into the night, alone in her apartment. Barrie, the band, is primarily her project. On the record, she plays guitar, piano, synth and bass. But still, Barrie is distinctly not a solo project; all of the others contributed their talents to the long-player. Lindsay says: “We’re very different, but we cover each other’s gaps personally and creatively, and are eager to learn from each other.”

Clovers is the first single off Barrie’s debut album.

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

indie | pop

single track

Simple Creatures – Drug

February 21st, 2019

Both their bands being between albums, Mark Hoppus (blink-182) and Alex Gaskarth (All Time Low) found some down-time to start a side-project: Simple Creatures. Their debut EP is due out in March and was produced by Zakk Cervini (blink-182 and All Time Low, but Yungblud and 5 Seconds Of Summer as well).

Drug is the duo’s first single. After a short intro, it starts with a ‘Nanana’ bit that could’ve been ripped off of Pink’s So What. The sound and attitude of that song are echoing throughout the whole of Drug. Lyrically, it’s about being destroyed by the things you love.

Gaskarth: “Drug is a song about someone or something you want the most, being terrible for you… Feels great until it doesn’t, but then you can’t stop. In the studio it felt immediately like it was the song that best defined Simple Creatures; it’s gritty, grimy, rooted in the musicality we both came up on, but with a twist that takes it away from anything we’ve worked on before.”

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

indie | pop | rock

single track

Dombresky – Soul Sacrifice

February 20th, 2019

Dombresky is a French producer who was discovered in 2015 by A-Trak. Since then, he proved himself to be one of the most exciting producers on the scene. In addition to his originals, he remixed the likes of A-Trak, A$AP Rocky, and Alessia Cara.

Soul Sacrifice is Dombresky’s highly infectious new single. But am I getting old, or are my fellow music bloggers ignorant or plain lazy? None of the other reviews I read, mention the fact that Soul Sacrifice is based on De La Soul’s 1991 hit Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey), which in itself is a cover of Curiosity Killed The Cat’s Name And Number from two years earlier. Both highly recommended as well!

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

dance

single track, wildcard

Wildcard (week 8):
Vendredi Sur Mer – Chewing-Gum

February 20th, 2019

French music is the most sensual music around. There, I said it!

Feel free not to believe me (or even to disagree), but for me, Vendredi Sur Mer’s new single Chewing-Gum is just another affirmation of my thesis. Only a few years on the scene, Swiss-born Charline Mignot already inspired Munya’s song Hotel Delmaro, and her star is rising fast.

22 March, Vendredi Sur Mer’s debut album Premiers Émois will be released. Ahead of it, the singer unveils her new single Chewing-Gum. A song with the classic ingredients, that make me so fond of French music. Basically a chanson, it’s also got a funky groove (that bassline!) and even features a flute and a xylophone. Throughout, Mignot displays her typical vocal style, halfway between singing and speaking. All of this creates an atmosphere of sensuality only matched by certain latin songs, in my opinion.

Chewing-Gum is as catchy and sticky as one can expect from a song with that title. It’s this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!

In the Wildcards 2019 playlist you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.

chanson | funk | pop

single track

Billie – Always On The Run

February 19th, 2019

Billie Bentein, who gained popularity after featuring on several Netsky singles, has built a nice career of her own. She scored solo hits – especially in her homeland Belgium – with her singles Caught By The Tide and Give Me The Knife, which were collected on her first EP Talking Loud.

Almost ready to release her second EP, the singer drops its first single Always On The Run (not a Lenny Kravitz cover by the way). Her first new material in nearly two years’ time, it sounds a little bit more experimental than her previous work, but it’s still as contagious and danceable as ever.

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

electronic | pop

single track

Two Year Vacation – I Forgot Your Name (But I Like You)

February 19th, 2019

After self-releasing a couple of singles and EP’s, Swedish band Two Year Vacation have rightfully been picked up by a major label. Their upcoming debut album is full of songs that a press release calls ‘reminiscent of warm summer days spent by the ocean: beams of sunlight on your skin, feet buried in the sand, cold beverage in hand, and worries banished beyond sea’.

Their music is a fascinating blend of rock, Caribbean kraut, and disco, dubbed ‘tropical disco kraut pop’ by the band. In case you wonder what that sounds like: their new single I Forgot Your Name (But I Like You) is a wonderful example.

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

indie | pop

single track

PLYA – Adenaline

February 18th, 2019

British band PLYA (pronounced ‘ply-ah’, Spanish for ‘beach’) has Julia Sykes as its centre point. The singer was brought up in Mallorca and Morocco, before she headed to the United Kingdom. There, she met bandmates Kris Taylor (guitar) and William Brown (drums). After years of playing together, they have captured their perfect sound: dreamy electronic pop.

PLYA just released the intimate and honest live video for their latest single Adrenaline. See it below, or listen to the studio version on the platform of your liking through here.

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

electronic | indie | pop

werner's weekly

Werner’s Weekly (week 8)

February 18th, 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:

Stats – The Family Business (Wildcard this week)
Billie Louise – Like Machines (Wildcard last week)
Elliphant – To The End
Mat Kerekes – Diamonds
Mauger – Grace Plays Alone
Pet Shop Boys – What Are We Going To Do About The Rich?
Sir Notch & Tommy The Sound – Miami Vice

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: Avril Lavigne & Nicki Minaj, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Christine & The Queens, Hozier, Stereophonics, and many more.

single track

Sir Notch & Tommy The Sound – Miami Vice

February 15th, 2019

My recommendation of Sir Notch’s single Gimme That Sunshine was one of last year’s best-read Carte Blanche Music posts, ending up third in Your Favourites (2018). So obviously, I won’t hold his new single back from you.

Christon Kloosterboer, under his Sir Notch alias, made the track with his youth pal, Thomas Onderwater (DJ Tommy The Sound). He wanted to make a contemporary disco tune, which I think they succeeded in doing. On Miami Vice, the two blend the funky guitar, synths and other sounds from the 80’s seamlessly with today’s beats. Meanwhile, the lyrics play the nostalgia card. The song’s artwork underlines that feeling masterly, while the lyric video is a trip down memory lane as well.

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

disco | electronic | pop

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Picture This – Modern Love

Barrie – Clovers

Simple Creatures – Drug

Dombresky – Soul Sacrifice

Wildcard (week 8):
Vendredi Sur Mer – Chewing-Gum

Billie – Always On The Run

Two Year Vacation – I Forgot Your Name (But I Like You)

PLYA – Adenaline

Werner’s Weekly (week 8)

Sir Notch & Tommy The Sound – Miami Vice

Wildcard (week 8)

Werner’s Weekly (week 8)

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Wildcard (week 8)

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