February 5th, 2022
single tracktreesreach – How It Seems
treesreach – How It Seems
Dillon Rairdin and Riley Thurm met in the fall of 2010 in their hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They started playing acoustic shows as Live Broadcast. In 2014, drummer Luke Long joined the band. The trio played bars in and around Iowa, quickly cultivating a small but loyal fanbase. In 2017, they changed their name to treesreach. Their first full-length release, in January 2018, was the double album Some Night You Will Hear Me Crowing. Influences ranged from Fleet Foxes to Pink Floyd, and from Radiohead to Simon & Garfunkel or even Built To Spill.
That was then, but this is now. How it Seems is treesreach’s first release of 2022, and it displays a new direction for the band. It moves away from the lush, overdub-heavy sonic landscapes of previous releases, into a dynamic and passionate new rock setting.
Songwriter Dillon Rairdin calls it ‘a song for The Great Resignation – for all the people who just want to leave their mind-numbing jobs, drive away, and never come back’. He explains: “The song encapsulates the mindset I was in just before I quit my desk job. How sick I was of it, yet how trapped I felt. And, after playing the song for some people, I soon found out I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.”
Follow treesreach 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.
single trackFindlay – Night Sweats
Findlay – Night Sweats
2020 was a busy year for singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Natalie Rose Findlay. She released multiple singles and an album with Ttrruuces, a new project with her long-time collaborator Jules Apollinaire. Meanwhile, the two worked on her sophomore album as Findlay. That record, The Last Of The 20th Century Girls, will be out on 13 May.
Last year, she released the singles Life Is But A Dream and Strange One ahead of the album. Night Sweats is their follow-up. Drenched in synth sounds and driving beats, it’s an immediately appealing track. Inspired by ‘80s new wave music, it’s charming and cheerful.
Findlay says about it: “Night Sweats came to me in a kind of stoned fever dream. I was on holiday in Lisbon when the riff just came into my head and I was wandering around my Airbnb singing it for ages, then when we got home and came to put down the riff it sounded miles better faster. It was a pretty instant decision then to make it more ’80s sounding as the riff lent itself to that in a big way.”
Recommended as well:
Waste My Time
Follow Findlay 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.
album trackTippy Balady – Soul Eater
Tippy Balady – Soul Eater
Hailing from Dallas, Tippy Balady is currently studying popular music at the University of South Carolina. She may be a solo artist, but her music is the result of a rather permanent collaboration with producer Jason Burt. He’s been helping her shape her musical vision since 2018. Together, they created the entirety of Tippy’s discography and plan on continuing to work together in the future.
Following the release of ten of Tippy’s tracks, she just put out her first EP The Dallas Sessions. It contains her two 2021 singles German Boy and Family Dinners, and two brand-new songs. Soul Eater is my favourite of that pair. It’s a friendly-sounding song in that ‘Tippycal’ style: neo-soul with a bedroom pop vibe. Her strumming on the ukulele adds a folky element though, while the instrument also adds a latin kind of flavour.
Follow Tippy Balady 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.
single trackDear Rouge – Small Talk
Dear Rouge – Small Talk
This year, it’s 10 years ago Drew and Danielle McTaggart formed Dear Rouge. After winning some nice prizes early in their career, they were named Breakthrough Group of the Year at the 2016 Juno Awards. Only two years later, the duo received a West Canadian Music Award as Pop Artist of the Year.
Dear Rouge has yet to break out of their home country, and their new single sounds like a great opportunity. Small Talk is a modern pop song with plenty catchy la la la’s in the pre-chorus. It was originally written by American band Shaed, who eventually didn’t use it themselves. The song was passed on to the McTaggarts, who made it a tune of their own. Small Talk asserts how the reality of the world right now has changed our needs. We are all aching for authentic connection and don’t have the time or space for ‘cheap love’.
The band explain: “This song was inspired by the feeling of being at a celebration where everyone around you seems to be having a fantastic, life changing time. Yet, you’re feeling like the last place you would want to be is at that party. It’s a strange sensation because you long for that connection with people who truly ‘see’ you, but often those party type settings can be empty. And the cherry on top of it all is all the small talk. When you’re going through a lot, small talk seems meaningless.”
Small Talk follows Life Goes By And I Can’t Keep Up and Fake Fame. It’s the third single off Dear Rouge’s upcoming album Spirit, to be released on 22 April.
Follow Dear Rouge 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.
single trackAlexa Cappelli – Body Language
Alexa Cappelli – Body Language
Alexa Cappelli is a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Southern California. She already started taking voice lessons at 7, which helped her come out of her shell. At the Orange County School of The Arts she studied Commercial Music. Judging from her recent songs, she paid very good attention.
Ahead of her second EP Confused @ 22 – due out on 22 February – she releases her new single Body Language. An addictive song with equal parts electro-pop and darkwave, and above all a great groove.
“The song is about getting to know someone in every possible way except for in person”, Cappelli says on the track. “It could be a long distance fling, or a new someone you meet online. They call and say all the right things, but in the heat of the spark, you remember they don’t actually know the real you. This song is a fun take on the idea to not judge a book by its cover, or even the preface for that matter. Good intentions are important for romantic relationships, but so is having a safe, accepting, and fun physical presence. How can you know when you haven’t spent much time in the same room?”
Follow Alexa Cappelli 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.
single trackMoonradio – Morningbreeze
Moonradio – Morningbreeze
Dutch alternative pop band Moonradio may exist for 15 years now, but they’ve only just begun. In 2022, this band of friends based in the north of the Netherlands consists of Richard Aeilkema (vocals, guitar), Jan van Veen (solo guitar), Gerco Mons (rhythm guitar), Geert-Jan Mulder (synths), Eddie van der Veen (bass) and Otto Overeem (drums). Influenced by bands like Nothing But Thieves and Radiohead, guitars, synths and effects are equally important in their indie sound.
Two years ago, the band was selected for talent development programme Hit The North, but soon after ‘something’ forced them to hit the brakes. As it turns out, they’ve come out stronger than ever. Morningbreeze, Moonradio’s new single, is proof of that. It’s the first track to be released ahead of an upcoming EP that’s due out later this year.
Gerco Mons laid the foundations for Morningbreeze, but the rest of the band polished it into the diamond it is today. They were helped by their Hit The North coach Ivo Severijns, who produced and mastered the EP recordings. Martijn Groeneveld (Rondé, Blaudzun and others) took care of the mix.
Morningbreeze is a slow burning pop-rock track. Its energy is contained in the instrumentation, rather than in the tempo. Lyrically, it’s about how social media currently cause polarization instead of connection. A song and message that deserve to be heard.
Follow Moonradio on Facebook | Instagram | 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.
single track
bülow – Don’t Break His Heart
Most artists that choose to go by only a part of their name, use their first name. Think of Janet, Madonna, Sia, Adele, Beyoncé… Megan Bülow however, chose her last name as her moniker. After spending the first eight years of her life in Germany, she moved to England, where she started busking by the age of eleven. After further stops in Canada (where her roots are) and the United States, she’s currently settled in the Netherlands.
Her 2017 debut EP Damaged Vol. 1 was an instant success, and since then she racked up over a billion streams. Obviously, her mix of alternative pop with clever observations and personal confessions has a huge appeal. Her list of collabs is long, and includes Ty Dolla $ign, Mura Masa, Fall Out Boy and The Chainsmokers.
Don’t Break His Heart is bülow’s new single. It’s as addictive as ever but has a rockier sound and more of a live feel. I’d love to hear this blast from the speakers on a festival.
Follow bülow 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.
single trackDice – Double Espresso
Dice – Double Espresso
The great thing of the earth having two hemispheres is that when it’s winter in Europe, it’s summer in Australia. In other words: there’s always a place where people produce sunny music to match the season they’re in.
Take Aussie band Dice for instance. They mix influences from bands like The Strokes and Beddy Rays with their own breezy indie surf-rock sound. This results in a constant stream of sunny feel-good songs. Double Espresso is another one of their summer anthems. This provides their country fellowmen with the perfect soundtrack for the warmer months, and people elsewhere with something to look forward to.
Follow Dice on Facebook | Instagram | | 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.
single track, wildcardWildcard (week 5):
Wildcard (week 5):
Confidence Man – Feels Like A Different Thing
I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve got the impression the ‘80s influences in today’s pop music are slowly shifting towards the early ‘90s. Take Confidence Man’s brilliant new single for instance. It’s called Feels Like A Different Thing, but it sounds wonderfully familiar. It made me think of Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy and Going Back To My Roots by FPI Project. House piano galore, and that gospel vibe is an absolute bliss. What a banger!
The Australian duo say about their new single: “Feels Like A Different Thing isn’t here to mess around. Two lyrics, one riff, no fuss. It’ll get your blood pumping. It’ll make your ears bleed (in a good way). It’ll steal your car and burn down your house and you’ll still say thanks.”
Following last year’s Holiday, Feels Like A Different Thing is the second track to be released ahead of the band’s sophomore album Tilt. It’s due out on 1 April, a date that’s marked in our agenda in flickering red neon lights. For starters, the new single is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, so it’ll feature at the top of the blog for a full seven days.
Recommended as well:
Try Your Luck
Bubblegum
Follow Confidence Man on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2022 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.
chart
Your favourites (January 2022)
Below, you can find all 10 of your favourites in the month of January; my recommendations that you read the most during that month. Great choices!
The links bring you directly to the original posts. Each of them features a player that allows you to listen to the track via the platform of your choice. Enjoy!
- Japanese Breakfast – Paprika
- Sera – Take A Chance
- Agnes – Here Comes The Night
- Mamas Gun – Looking For Moses
- Alta Falls – The Fire
- Eyjaa – The Wrecking Crew
- Stacey Jackson – Flipside
- Nona – Liar
- Angèle – Libre
- Ederlezi – Run, Run, Run
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.
