August 29th, 2025
single track, wildcard
Wildcard (week 35):
Wildcard (week 35):
Beach Bunny – Year Of The Optimist
Initially a solo project by guitarist and vocalist Lili Trifilio, Beach Bunny became a full band in 2017. She’s currently joined by bassist/lead guitarist Anthony Vaccaro and drummer Jon Alvarado.
Last spring they released their third album Tunnel Vison, full of urgent, guitar-based indie rock with pop melodies. It was met with critical acclaim. That long-player is now followed by a song that was written at the same time as Tunnel Vision. Year Of The Optimist pushes back on toxic vulnerability and Trifilio’s people pleasing tendencies.
“Put me on your pedestal, ’cause I’m the queen of self control,” she sings on the chorus. “I’ll smile when life hits the wall, but inside I’m afraid.” It ends with the promise (or is it a warning?): “I’m never gonna grow up, baby, I’m just gonna change.”
Year Of The Optimist by Beach Bunny is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.
More Beach Bunny @ Carte Blanche Music
Follow the band on Facebook | Instagram | B | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2025 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.
playlist
Additions to the Carte Blanche Music playlist (week 35)
Not all, but only the best new music. Added to the playlist this week (alphabetically):
- Richard Ashcroft – Lovin’ You
pop - Beach Bunny – Year Of The Optimist
indie | pop | rock - Dressed Like Boys – Pinnacles
indie | pop - The Hives – They Can’t Hear The Music (album track)
indie | rock - Audrey Hobert – Thirst Trap indie | pop
- Keli Holiday – Dancing2
indie | pop - Rene Kaaij – Sammy’s Song
indie | pop - Moving Into Tucson – All I Ever indie | pop
Check them all in the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music Spotify playlist.
Add it to your library (click ‘+’) to hear the best new music first.
Partly selected via input by Musosoup. Submit your music here. #sustainablecreators
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.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 35)
This is Werner’s Weekly, your guide to the best new music, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Wolf Alice – Just Two Girls (Wildcard this week)
- Jacoténe – Why’d You Do That? (Wildcard last week)
- Blackbird – Looking For You
- Confidence Man & Jade – Gossip
- Dinosaur Pile-Up – I’ve Felt Better
- Mackenzie – 9-5
- Molly Millington – Lovers Song
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.
Partly selected via input by Musosoup. Submit your music here. #sustainablecreators
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, wildcard
Wildcards (weeks 32, 33 and 34):
Wildcards (weeks 32, 33 and 34):
Vistas, Jacoténe and Wolf Alice
During my holidays I’ve chosen a weekly Wildcard, as always. Here they are, for the record…
Week 34
Wolf Alice – Just Two Girls
Last week, Wolf Alice released their fourth album The Clearing. They call it ‘a classic pop/rock album that nods to the ‘70s while remaining rooted firmly in the present. At its core, The Clearing is a record about arrival – not at a destination, but at a sense of peace with the journey’.
New single Just Two Girls is a great example of the songs’ timelessness. Lead by drums and piano, it’s a peppy and upbeat tune. It was inspired by singer Ellie Rowsell realising how validating the conversations with her girlfriends are to her.
Just Two Girls by Wolf Alice is the current Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.
More Wolf Alice @ Carte Blanche Music
Follow the band on Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
Week 33
Jacoténe – Why’d You Do That?
Ever since her first demos I’ve been a fan of Jacoténe. Her voice and appearance are and so are her songs and stage presence. That’s even more remarkable if you imagine she’s only 19 years old. I’ve been following and supporting her throughout her short career, but most other media still have to join me in doing so. But they will, eventually, and this Aussie talent will become a big star in the years to come.
Following her great debut EP Untitled (Read My Mind), Jacoténe is now back with her new single Why’d You Do That? With its subtle bass and addictive percussion, it’s a brooding, soul-trip hop blend. The song is the talented singer’s third Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. Hopefully she’s third time lucky!
More Jacoténe @ Carte Blanche Music
Follow her on Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
Week 32
Vistas – Take It From The Skies
29 August, Edinburgh band Vistas will put out their fourth album Cut The Cord. Listening to the singles off it, one can’t but conclude that the band made a huge leap forward. And their previous albums were so good already!
Take It From The Skies is the fourth and latest track to be released ahead of the album. It’s arguably the Scottish band’s best single so far. The fierce guitar riff immediately grabs the listeners’ attention, while powerful drums provide a great backbone. The only downside to the song is that it’s only 2½ minutes long. We want more! Looks like Cut The Cord will be one of the albums of the year 2025.
More Vistas @ Carte Blanche Music
Follow the band on Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2025 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.
playlist
Additions to the Carte Blanche Music playlist (weeks 32, 33 and 34)
Not all, but only the best new music from the past weeks. Added to the playlist during my holidays (alphabetically and sorted by week):
Week 34
- Blackbird – Looking For You indie | pop
- Capital Cities – Late For School indie | pop
- Rye Catchers (feat. Nikki Simmons) – Out Of Time indie | pop
- Confidence Man & Jade – Gossip electronic | pop
- Dinosaur Pile-Up – I’ve Felt Better indie | rock
- Maggie Lindemann – Spine indie | pop | rock
- Mackenzie – 9-5 indie | pop | rock
- Molly Millington – Lovers Song indie | pop
- Rudimental with Rag ‘n’ Bone Man – Nights Like These drum & bass | indie | pop
- Oswald Slain – Have You Got What You Came Here For? indie | rock
- Izzy S.O – Are We Doing This Again? indie | pop | rock
- Telenova – Bitcrush pop | rock
- Wolf Alice – Just Two Girls indie | pop
Week 33
- Grace Angelique – The Girl Next Door indie | pop | rock
- Blanko – Forever Is Now indie | pop
- The Hives – The Hives Forever Forever The Hives indie | rock
- Jacoténe – Why’d You Do That? pop | soul
- Josh Long – 405 indie | pop
- The Wild Things – I Can’t Wait indie | pop | rock
Week 32
- Les Trois Accords & Coeur De Pirate – Toujours Les Vacances
indie | pop - The Trusted – Yellowhammer indie | rock
Check them all in the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music Spotify playlist.
Add it to your library (click ‘+’) to hear the best new music first.
Partly selected via input by Musosoup. Submit your music here. #sustainablecreators
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.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 32)
This is Werner’s Weekly, your guide to the best new music, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Reneé Rapp – Kiss It Kiss It (Wildcard this week)
- Peach Fuzz – Fall Right Back To You (Wildcard last week)
- Hilltop Hoods – Rage Against The Fatigue
- Amaya Laucirica – Time It Takes
- Pistol Daisys – Honey!
- Rag ‘n’ Bone Man (feat. WizTheMc) – Goodlife (from ‘The Bad Guys 2’)
- Vistas – Take It From The Skies
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.
Partly selected via input by Musosoup. Submit your music here. #sustainablecreators
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 track, wildcard
Wildcard (week 31):
Wildcard (week 31):
Reneé Rapp – Kiss It Kiss It
Pop’s current landscape is bursting with female singer-songwriters boasting catchy tunes and bags of attitude. One of the future stars in this category is Reneé Rapp, who’s appeared here a few times already.
Her career took off as an actress. In 2018, Rapp won the ‘Best Actress’ award at the Blumey Awards, and ‘Best Performance by an Actress’ at the Jimmy Awards. This landed her a role in the ‘Mean Girls’ musical on Broadway (2019-2020). She reprised that role I the 2024 film adaptation of the play. Rapp also starred in the HBO Max series ‘The Sex Lives Of College Girls’ (2021-2024). Now, more empowered than ever, she turns her attention back to music, which is unapologetically about her own life.
Her sophomore album Bite Me is not a record for tidy emotional resolutions; it’s a unfiltered chronicle of the emotional turbulence following a breakup. It thrives on raw honesty.
Kiss It Kiss It is the album’s biggest pop moment. Although is has a groovy retro vibe, it’s state-of-the-art modern pop. The tune is steamy, vulgar, cheeky, flirtatious, and impossible not to dance to. Including a guitar lick that echoes Garbage’s Stupid Girl, it’s full of quotable lyrics. “I told her I’m from Carolina / I know a thing or two about rodeo”, for instance. Or when the singer, who came out as lesbian, recalls: “I think we almost made a baby / I mean, we can’t, but we came so close.”
Kiss It Kiss It by Reneé Rapp is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.
More Reneé Rapp @ Carte Blanche music
Follow her on Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2025 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.
playlist
Additions to the Carte Blanche Music playlist (week 31)
Not all, but only the best new music from a fat and fabulous release week. Added to the playlist this week (alphabetically):
- Hilltop Hoods – Rage Against The Fatigue pop
- In Good Hands – Integrity indie | pop | rock
- Amaya Laucirica – Time It Takes electronic | indie | pop
- Little Green – Energy indie | pop
- Long Island – All Or Nothing indie | pop | rock
- Pistol Daisys – Honey! indie | pop | rock
- Rag ‘n’ Bone Man (feat. WizTheMc) – Goodlife (from ‘The Bad Guys 2’) hip hop | pop
- Reneé Rapp – Shy / Kiss It Kiss It (album tracks) pop | rock
- Vistas – Take It From The Skies indie | rock
Check them all in the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music Spotify playlist.
Add it to your library (click ‘+’) to hear the best new music first.
Partly selected via input by Musosoup. Submit your music here. #sustainablecreators
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.
