March 7th, 2022
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 10)
This is Werner’s Weekly, your compass to new music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Two Year Vacation – Chasing The Morning
(Wildcard this week) - Dylan – No Romeo
(Wildcard last week) - Jung feat. Lova – Cause In The End We Know That Everybody Dies
- RoseeLu – Overthinking
- Lucia – Rocket On My Feet
- The Vaccines – Thunder Fever
- xPropaganda – Don’t (You Mess With Me)
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: Alice Merton, Charli XCX, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stromae, 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.
single trackInterlopers – Move On
Interlopers – Move On
Okay kids, and now for something completely different. Let me take you back to the early ‘90s of the last century. You probably weren’t even born then. That was a time I was very fond of Scottish band The Big Dish. Especially their album Satellites, which included the wonderful single Miss America. Sophisticated pop at its best. Alas, the trio split up soon after due to a lack of commercial success. A real pity!
Subsequently, the band’s front man Steven Lindsay released two critically acclaimed solo albums, before turning a successful painter. However, when lockdown put art exhibitions on hold, he had time to assess approximately 50 songs he’d written the years prior. He picked the best ten, which will appear on the self-titled debut album of his new project Interlopers. It’ll be out on 30 May and will close with a cover of an unfinished Associates song, which Lindsay completed. The record features his first new music in 15 years’ time.
Next to vocal duties, the multi-instrumentalist also plays guitar, bass and keyboards on the long-player. That’s true for its new single as well. Move On is a delicate song with a vocal melody somewhere half way The Airborne Toxic Event’s Somewhere Around Midnight and David Guetta (feat. Kelly Rowland)’s When Love Takes Over. Brings back fond memories of The Big Dish.
Lindsay says about it: “I wrote a song about an existential crisis. When we know a change in our life is required but taking that first step is the biggest one. Do we need to get on or off the train? Sometimes it’s ok not to have all the answers.”
Follow Interlopers 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 trackMolly Burman – Pretty Girl
Molly Burman – Pretty Girl
20-year-old Molly Burman is an up and coming singer-songwriter from North London. She comes from a very musical family and is about to extend their legacy with her relatable songs. New single Pretty Girl will appeal to anyone who’s ever felt uncomfortable in their own skin, or less attractive than those around them.
In her own words: “I wrote Pretty Girl a few years ago desperately trying to become what I thought was ‘perfect’. (…) Over time I started to realise that I could only truly be pretty when I felt it; when I was doing things that I loved, wearing colourful clothes and not trying to be someone else. This song is about being completely yourself and feeling absolutely beautiful while doing it.“
Pretty Girl opens with just Burman’s Kate Nash-like voice over nothing more than a piano. Vulnerable and touching, she couldn’t be more exposed. However, the song slowly but surely builds up with strings and acoustic guitars. A reflection of her need to be seen becoming more powerful.
Follow Molly Burman 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 trackGang Of Youths – Forbearance
Gang Of Youths – Forbearance
After the success of their 2017 album Go Farther In Lightness, Sydney band Gang Of Youths relocated to London. They just put out their biggest statement yet, their new long-player Angel In Realtime. Essentially a concept album, it explores the death of front man David Le’aupepe’s father in 2018, and the grief, guilt and acceptance surrounding it.
The record takes the five-piece’s already present ambition to a next level. Some may find the band’s stadium-sized pop/rock bombastic. Personally, I’d rather describe it with words like anthemic, epic and cinematic, thanks to the inclusion of strings, urgent drums and layers of guitar.
My favourite album track Forbearance is a good example. It has the atmosphere of U2’s With Or Without You, but with drum and bass like drum patterns.
Recommended as well:
Unison
The Heart Is A Muscle
Follow Gang Of Youths 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 trackLucky Number You – Clown World Rises
Lucky Number You – Clown World Rises
Lucky Number You is a three-piece band from Birmingham, UK. When they started as a studio project, during 2020, they had only one aim: to produce a full album whilst being locked down in their home studios. They accomplished their mission, for their self-written, recorded and produced debut album Aftercare will be released in Spring 2022. It was preceded by Lucky Number You’s very first single Disassociator in January, and its follow-up is out now.
The band’s sophomore single Clown World Rises is a love letter to the bombastic pop of the 1980s. It has a sophisticated sound, akin to The 1975’s, but with added big, Phil Collins-like drums. Lyrically, the song explores themes of confusion, ageing, and feeling alien in one’s environment. Dark issues on a bed a bright pop music.
Follow Lucky Number You 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 trackDaimy Lotus – Never Get Me
Daimy Lotus – Never Get Me
Daimy Lotus was only 12 years old when she decided to pursue a career in song-writing. In 2015, six years later, she released her debut EP 15. It contained her first single Saturday Girl, but it was follow-up single Cannonball that attracted the attention by Dutch radio station 3FM. This resulted in Lotus playing many festivals and a headline tour in her home country.
Not much later, she opted to combine writing songs for herself with penning tunes for other artists. She worked for Markus Schulz, Timmy Trumpet, Paris Hilton and Julian Jordan, among others.
Meanwhile, she continued to release her own tracks. International sounding pop songs with a bite. Never Get Me, an upbeat slice of electro-pop/rock, is Lotus’ new single. It combines driving guitars riffs and punchy drum patterns to great effect. Lyrically, it’s an empowering female anthem. It encourages young women to realise their own strength and confidence after being sexualised by men.
Follow Daimy Lotus 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 trackThe New Shining – Thief
The New Shining – Thief
Life isn’t all joy and pleasure. It never has been, by the way. Yet, only the last years more and more artists share their darker sides. That’s great, for openness can create more understanding.
Dutch singer and guitarist Xander Stok has been dealing with depression for over 20 years now. Music, whether it’s writing or making it, has always been his medicine to keep sane amidst increasing insanity. That’s why the just released album of his band The New Shining is called Antidote. The record is dedicated to depression awareness.
It’s Xander’s passion to give a voice to the invisibles, the people living with a mental illness. Therefore, the album features songs of comfort and pain, hope and defeat, truth and deceit, struggle and victory, light and darkness, poison and Antidote.
Thief is The New Shining’s new single. A dark track with impressive synths, a beautiful drum sound and great guitars during the epic end part.
The band have this to say about Thief: “Depression robs you of joy, steals what makes you ‘You’ and casts a shadow over your life. It poisons everything you are, feel and do. Just like when people you love, you trust, betray you and take advantage of you. It’s traumatising. Beware of the thief that comes to steal and destroy….”
Follow The New Shining 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 trackNikki & The Waves – Online Chess
Nikki & The Waves – Online Chess
Nikki Milla, Tom Spencer and Tom Want are Nikki & The Waves. They’re a Liverpool-based band that released its first EP Look How Blue The Night Looks in 2018. Four years and more than a handful of tracks later, their second EP is coming up. Entitled Songs To Play Tennis To, it’ll be out in April. All six tracks on it were recorded in just two days, and produced by Joel Patchett (King Krule, The Orielles and Billy Ocean).
Talking to online magazine Bido Lito, the band say the EP shows their more playful side. Both musically and lyrically. It represents something of a love letter to pop, R&B and funk and the songs are about genuinely mundane things.
Online Chess is the EP’s first single. An infectious track built around a squelching bass sound, simple but effective trombone notes and some fine Rhodes piano.
Recommended as well:
Anywhere
Shirts
Follow Nikki & The Waves 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 trackReddi – The Show
Reddi – The Show
Reddi are a brand-new, all Danish, all female pop/rock band. They’re brought together by one of the Danish music industry’s biggest names over the past couple of decades, Chief1 (Lars Pedersen) and drummer Ihan Haydar. The latter is joined in the quartet by Siggy Savery (vocals and guitar), Agnes Roslund (guitar) and Ida Bergkvist (bass).
The Show is their great debut single, which was written as their contribution to the Melodi Grand Prix, Denmark’s qualifying round for the Eurovision Song Contest. They won gloriously and will represent Denmark next May in Turin.
Reddi’s winning entry starts as a piano ballad, but one minute into the song, it shows its true colours. An up-tempo guitar riff and pounding drums turn the track into a punky rock song with empowering lyrics.
The band say about it: “It’s a song that encourages you to listen to yourself and go after your dreams, no matter what others say and think. We want to inspire you to never hold back, no matter what you want in life!”
I’m completely Reddi for this band to rock our socks off!
Follow Reddi 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 track, wildcardWildcard (week 9):
Wildcard (week 9):
Two Year Vacation – Chasing The Morning
Two Year Vacation are a quintet from Gothenburg, Sweden’s second city, known for its rain, headwind and greyness. Their music however is the exact opposite. Influenced by everyone from ABBA to Fatboy Slim through early Daft Punk, MGMT, Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend and Peter Björn & John, they produce rhythmic radio-friendly indie pop. Or, as the Swedish press called it, ‘tropical kraut-pop’.
The band spent the summer of 2021 in the legendary ‘Silence Studios’. A well-chosen name for a place deep in the Swedish wilderness, far away from everything. They passed the time BBQing, recording, swimming in the lake and having the best of times. It may not have been a ‘two year vacation’, but it sure felt like it. The five musicians managed to catch the atmosphere on tape, as we will be able to hear on their upcoming EP High Hopes/Low Expectations.
Chasing The Morning is the first single to be released ahead of it. Sound-wise, it paints a decent picture of the fun experience. It’s a feel-good sing-along song with rhythmic beats and tasty melodies. A great start of a new era for the band. And to make it even better, Chasing The Morning by Two Year Vacation is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. This means it’ll feature at the top of this blog for a full week.
Recommended as well:
Stop Making Sense
I Forgot Your Name (But I Like You)
Follow Two Year Vacation 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.
