September 6th, 2021
Werner’s Weekly (week 36)
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:
- Self Esteem – How Can I Help You (Wildcard this week)
- Caroline & Claude – Stir The Pot (Wildcard last week)
- Almost Monday – Cool Enough
- Charlie Collins – Just My Luck
- Evie Irie – Bleed
- Mina Okabe – Miss Those Days
- siné – 2Good2U
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: Charli XCX, Florrie, Pixey, and more.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Louis Berry – Are You Alone?
Louis Berry launched a great new single, but alas it was largely overlooked last New Music Friday. It’s called Are You Alone? and I’d like to draw your attention to it. Especially because the title is appropriate in a sad way. In a message to his fans, Louis announced he caught COVID-19 ‘in a bad way’, and so has his 88-year-old grandad. They’re both in hospital right now. Hopefully, they can draw strength from the energy and power in this new single.
I bet he’ll get better. He’s a survivor. Louis was born in Liverpool to a heroin addict father and a mother desperate to keep him on the right side of the law. He once said about his youth: “The only way I could get respect was by doing bad things.” Luckily, he eventually turned to music. Good for him; good for us.
I’ve been following Louis since his 2015 single .45. That was a blues-rock track. His new single Are You Alone? is another upbeat banger, and just a rootsy. It’s folky in a Waterboys kind of way. You won’t regret taking 3 minutes of your time to get to know this one.
Get well soon Louis, and your grandad too!
Follow Louis Berry on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Certain Animals – Younger Than Now
Dutch retro-pop band Certain Animals are currently recording their sophomore album. Ahead of this long-player (whose release date is kept under wraps for now), they wet our appetite with another song. Following Sun King and Hold On, Younger Than Now is the third single to come out ahead of the record.
The band, consisting of Thijs van Leeuwen (vocals, guitars), Niels-Jan van Dijk (bass, vocals) and Kees Braam (drums, vocals) describe Younger Than Now as ‘a summary of a human life in just under three and a half minutes’. But that’s not all. It’s a summary of music history as well. Especially fans of jangle-pop bands like The Byrds can’t afford to miss this gem. But it gets even better, for Certain Animals also add brass instruments to the mix. What’s not to like about that?
The band’s last two singles reached audiences all over the world, both via streaming services and ‘old-fashioned’ radio airplay. If Younger Than Now would only become half as successful as its predecessors, I’d consider it a huge hit. But the good news is: by the sound of it, the new single will easily top these accomplishments and help reach even more people. Deservedly so!
Recommended as well:
Certain Animals – Hold On
Certain Animals – TV
Follow the band on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Broods – Piece Of My Mind
Following collaborations with Ladyhawke and Bad Sounds, Broods just released their first ‘headlining’ single of 2021. With Piece Of My Mind, the New Zealand sibling duo (Georgia and Caleb Nott) created another anthemic, arena-ready track. It features dry beats and dreamy synths, which at times produce a futuristic atmosphere. That’s on purpose, for Piece Of My Mind is the first track off an upcoming album named Space Island. It comes with an artistic visual, inspired by sci-fi B-movies.
Musically, it may sound bright and carefree, but the lyrics are a darker affair. They deal with escapism and mental health issues. Georgia Nott: “The song describes the many paradoxes we encounter when we try to escape our problems. The more we try to run away from our problems and ourselves, the more we are confronted with the aspects of each that we don’t like.”
Recommended as well:
Broods – Everything Goes (Wow)
Broods – Peach
Follow Broods on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Jacob Fitzgerald – Pretty Good For My Mind
Melbourne-based Jacob Fitzgerald began his career as a singer-songwriter, but he explored new sounds and genres during the lockdowns. In 2021, he feels best at home in the pop-rock field. He’s currently recording his second 7-track EP Pretty Good For My Mind, and released the title track as its first single.
Pretty Good For My Mind is an energetic song with punchy drums, warm guitars and vocoder backing vocals. It even features a good old saxophone solo. Speaking of the tune’s lyrical theme, Fitzgerald shares: “Whilst this track is conceptually about how my folks met, the overall message is that our partner should bring out the best in us. They should be good for our minds!”
Follow Jacob Fitzgerald on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Halsey – Honey
Since Ashley Frangipane rearranged the letters of her first name, she goes by the stage name of Halsey. She’s currently the #30 most streamed artist on Spotify. Well-done, since both her sound and lyrics have a dark edge. In that respect the news that her new album would be produced by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross wasn’t a real surprise.
The long-player, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, contains 13 tracks. Honey is my favourite. A great car song, with its up-tempo rhythm. Very recognizable drums as well. From the first note on, it’s clear Dave Grohl is behind the kit. It’s not the first time that Reznor worked with Grohl though. He also enlisted the former Nirvana drummer for seven songs on Nine Inch Nails’ 2005 album With Teeth, and collaborated with him again alongside Josh Homme for Grohl’s film Sound City.
Recommended as well:
Halsey – 3AM
Follow Halsey on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Breakaway – I’m Feeling Dead
TikTok users say they discover a lot of ‘new’ music on the platform. But when you’re young and you hear Fleetwood Mac for the first time, that’s new to you as well. Meanwhile, some brand new songs have a very old-school sound to it. That’s completely fine as far as I’m concerned.
Take the new single by Breakaway for instance. I’m Feeling Dead sounds like a classic emo/punk-pop song. Except for the first 10 seconds, when the Australian five-piece put you on the wrong track. With a marching snare line and a subtle piano, it opens deceivingly as a mellow song. Soon enough however, all the stops are pulled out. They up the tempo, and introduce kicking drums and heavy guitars. All of a sudden a potential tear-jerker turns into a stadium-ready banger.
The band’s new EP Death Valley will be out on 24 September.
Follow Breakaway on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Merci, Mercy – Winnie Crush
In March 2020, Mercedes Thorne released her first proper single Fucked Myself Up as Merci, Mercy. It was a song about dependence on alcohol. Her new single Winnie Crush has the same theme, lyrically. In a press release, the singer explains it’s “about a toxic relationship that I have with myself [and] these bad habits that I’m letting take control over my life. I can barely afford what is good for my body let alone what’s bad for it.”
If you now think ‘not much has changed in that year and a half’, think again. Following her break-through EP No Thank You, No Thanks, Merci, Mercy signed a record deal with Capitol Records in the US and EMI in the UK. Both companies are part of the world’s largest record company, Universal Music Group. So, now that she’s become a household name in her native Australia, the world is next on her roadmap.
Winnie Crush is a catchy track with walking bass lines, funky guitars and a bearable level of vocoder. As always, Merci, Mercy doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve. Her lyrics are direct, brutally honest and very relatable. A potential future star.
Recommended as well:
Merci, Mercy – Fucked Myself Up
Follow Merci, Mercy on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
King Stingray – Milkumana
King Stingray are a five-piece band from Yirrkala, a community in North-Australia. It was formed by Roy Kellaway and Yirrŋa Yunupiŋu, who are relatives of Yothu Yindi founders Stu Kellaway and Mandawuy Yunupiŋu. In the early ‘90s, Yothu Yindi were instrumental in voicing the push for Aboriginal recognition. Their hit single Treaty is one of the most important tracks in Australian history.
So, there are big shoes to fill here, but King Stingray’s star is rising fast! Milkhumana is only their third single, following accidental lockdown anthem Get Me Out and debut single Hey Wanhaka. It’s an upbeat track with a disco-leaning groove. Although it’s partly sung in Yolŋu Matha, it’s catchy enough to sing along to (or pretending to do so). Kellaway explains: “It’s about role models and the importance of setting good examples for the new generation.” Who could be against that?
Follow King Stingray on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 35):
Self Esteem – How Can I Help You
Are you ready for ‘something completely different’ (as Monty Python would have it)? I can help you! How? By introducing you to Self Esteem’s new single. Built around only drums, vocals and voice effects, it doesn’t sound like anything else out there. And If you think this minimal set-up sounds dull, you couldn’t be more wrong. Maybe this is the right time to hit the play button below, while you read on…
I don’t know shit, but How Can I Help You is a ferocious beast of a song. A track born of frustration (to quote James). Rebecca Lucy Taylor (her real name) describes it in a press release as ‘a biting response to the misogynistic standards and objectification that women are subjected to’. And yes, that’s Self Esteem herself playing the drums.
Be sure to check the video as well. It captures a live solo performance of the song that’s sticky in more ways than one. The artist explains: “I wanted to play the drums in the video to reclaim how often I used to feel self conscious playing them. The physical act of a woman playing a drum means your tits move – all I ever wanted to do was play but it always came with this fear of being looked at in that way. Now my tits move for me, my song, my video. I’m also aware it’s probs a nice watch if you’re that way inclined, but I’m afraid if you wanna watch it you have to hear what I’ve got to say. Click for the tits, stay for the feminism!”
This powerhouse of a track is taken from Self Esteem’s upcoming second album Prioritise Pleasure, set for release on 22 October.
How Can I Help You is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It’ll feature here prominently for seven full days. At your service!
Recommended as well:
Self Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure
Self Esteem – Girl Crush
Follow Self Esteem on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
