November 28th, 2025
single track, wildcard
Wildcard (week 48): Mid Drift – Whiplash
Wildcard (week 48): Mid Drift – Whiplash
This week, news broke that a historically low percentage of music consumed via streaming platforms is from Australian artists. As you know if you’re a regular Carte Blanche Music visitor, this has nothing to do with a lack of Aussie talent. On the contrary, it’s the continent that houses many of my favourite bands. This week, I add a new one to that lot.
Mid Drift is a lovely Brisbane-based band. They take inspiration from some of the greats in the surf rock genre, like Ocean Alley, Spacey Jane and Rum Jungle. The band combines Sarah Engstrom’s mellow vocals with the wickedly talented instrumentals from Rowan Bowyer (drums), Dan Larsen (guitar), George Swan (guitar) and John Reid (bass). Their songs burst with sun-soaked melodies and woozy guitar licks.
Ever since their 2023 debut single Know Your Name more and more people started to, well, know their name. Mid Drift, it is. The indie-rock sweethearts have swiftly captured hearts all across Australia selling out two national headliner tours in 2025. They’ve also played support slots for Aussie crowd favourites Ocean Alley, Old Mervs, and DICE. On top of that, they appeared at renowned Australian festivals such as Spaced Out and Rolling Sets.
After the release of their first EP Lemon Lime And Tan Lines, early this year, the female fronted 5-piece show no signs of slowing down. They just announced their sophomore EP is set to come out in February 2026. Whiplash is the third single to be released ahead of it, and I think it’s their finest moment. It reminds me of the most upbeat stuff The Smiths put out. And Engstrom’s powerhouse vocals are spot on!
Whiplash by Mid Drift is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.
Follow Mid Drift 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.
geen categorie, playlist
Additions to the Carte Blanche Music playlist (week 48)
Even in this, musically, least interesting time of year (imho), there are still some gems to be found. Added to the playlist this week (alphabetically):
- Olivia Booth – I’m Not Yours
indie | pop | rock - Gunmoll – Fuck Everything Up
indie | pop | rock - Mid Drift – Whiplash
indie | pop | rock - Joe Mungovan – Hurts indie | pop
- Palaye Royale – Sad Generation
indie | pop | rock - Georgia Scarlett – Nothing More To Talk About indie | melancholic | pop
- Telquist – Rosanna
electronic | indie | pop - Laura Tesoro – Girlfriend
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 48)
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:
- Pash – Tracy (Wildcard this week)
- Tygermylk – Local Girl, Always Tired (Wildcard last week)
- The Cheap Thrills – Walton Vale
- Congratulations – Fought 4 Love
- The Indie Pea – Lights On, Lights Out
- Mamas Gun – Food For The Flames
- Moving Into Tucson – Love Is Real
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
Wildcard (week 47):
Wildcard (week 47):
Pash – Tracy
Pash are Adelaide lads Jett Gazley, Nic Bergoc, Orlando Elliot and Danny Maclean. After releasing music for a few years now, they’ve got four singles and an EP tot heir name.
They spent much of 2025 playing shows, signing a global record deal and writing new music. The latter resulted in the band’s first single of the year, Tracy. They call it a ‘sonic and aesthetic love-child of INXS and 1975’, but I beg to differ. To me, Tracy sound like a great mix of Hanson’s Mmmbob and Stacy’s Mom by Fountains Of Wayne.
“This is one of those songs that came into fruition effortlessly,” the Australian band said in a statement. “We wanted to channel the nostalgia of the late ‘90s and this playful tune about young obsessive love came bursting out.”
Tracy by Pash is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.
Follow Pash on 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 47)
Not all, but only the best new music. Added to the playlist this week (alphabetically):
- The Cheap Thrills – Walton Vale indie | pop
- Congratulations – Fought 4 Love funk | indie | rock
- The Indie Pea – Lights On, Lights Out christmas | indie | pop
- Mamas Gun – Food For The Flames indie | pop | soul
- Moving Into Tucson – Love Is Real indie | pop
- Pash – Tracy indie | pop
- Solar State & The Beach – Love Like That 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 47)
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:
- Tygermylk – Local Girl, Always Tired (Wildcard this week)
- Elle Coves – Fault Line
(Wildcard last week) - Benson Boone – Mr. Electric Blue
- Deadletter – To The Brim
- Girli – Better Undressed
- Robyn – Dopamine
- Peter Verdell feat. Isla June – Let’s Go, Let’s Go
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
Wildcard (week 46):
Wildcard (week 46):
Tygermylk – Local Girl, Always Tired
Tygermylk is the project of Hastings-based artist Hayz Harland, a fierce advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and disability inclusivity. Years of busking on London’s Southbank taught Harland the power of vulnerability, a quality that shines on their debut album Local Girl, Always Tired. It was ten years in the making and co-produced with Tony Burrata (Edie Bens, The Staves). The record enlists poetic and witty lyricism, dreamy vocals, infectious melodies and bountiful indie-pop earworms.
The title song is the long-player’s focus track. Local Girl, Always Tired pulls on Tygermylk’s experiences of moving back to their hometown during the pandemic. Small towns can mean close knit community and support, but they can also lack diversity and representation.
Harland explained; “Just before the first lockdown, I had a breakdown. I was completely burnt out and had to leave London and move back in with my parents. (…) I’d been badly bullied when I was younger and never had many friends, and suddenly in 2020 I was back in the same place that had been the source of so much trauma. The song is about that feeling: being stuck in a small town that doesn’t fundamentally align with who you are, dreaming of a bigger life, aching to escape.”
The title Local Girl, Always Tired came from a chance moment of inspiration. “The idea came from overhearing a job interview in a hotel foyer in Manchester. This girl was asked, ‘If you ever made the headlines, what would your headline be?’ She sighed: ‘Oh, I don’t know… Local Girl, Always Tired’.”
Local Girl, Always Tired by Tygermylk is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.
Follow them 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 46)
Not all, but only the best new music. Added to the playlist this week (alphabetically):
- Benson Boone – Mr. Electric Blue pop
- Deadletter – To The Brim indie | pop | rock
- Florence Road – Storm Warnings pop | rock
- Girli – Better Undressed electronic | indie | pop
- Grace Ives – Avalanche electronic | pop
- ixaras – You Wanted You Back indie rock
- Lucius – New Old Tape indie | rock
- Aimee Mann – Rainy Days And Mondays melancholic | pop
- Remember Sports – Bug rock
- Robyn – Dopamine electronic | indie | pop
- Tygermylk – Local Girl, Always Tired indie | pop | rock
- Peter Verdell feat. Isla June – Let’s Go, Let’s Go indie | pop | surf
- Lilly Wood & The Prick feat. Myd – Christina
country | indie | dance
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 46)
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:
- Elle Coves – Fault Line (Wildcard this week)
- props – Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is (Wildcard last week)
- Dark Tropics – You’re Mine
- Fickle Friends – Fantasy
- Romy – Love Who You Love
- St. Lucia – People Change
- Peter Verdell – Infinite
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
Wildcard (week 45):
Wildcard (week 45):
Elle Coves – Fault Line
Elena Coves Cascales, born in Germany to Spanish parents, moved to Ireland when she was thirteen. Inspired by Taylor Swift, Fleetwood Mac, Maggie Rogers and Sam Fender, she started writing songs shortly after. Coves merges personal, self-reflective storytelling with powerful melodies and stadium choruses.
Now a twenty-one-year-old, she can look back upon a flying start of her career. She has already toured with the likes of Lewis Capaldi and Niall Horan, and worked with some of the biggest writers and producers in the industry.
Her single Fault Line is Coves’ first new song since releasing her sophomore EP No Good At Hanging Up, last August. It’s a great, melancholic track that goes down very well in the season of falling leaves. Not only by the sound of it, but lyrically as well.
Fault Line explores the emotional turmoil and breaking point in a strained relationship. Through vivid and raw lyrics, she paints a picture of someone who feels trapped in a cycle of emotional pain and is finally choosing to walk away. The metaphor of a fault line (where earthquakes happen) powerfully conveys the constant tension and potential for emotional disaster.
Fault Line by Elle Coves is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.
More Elle Coves @ Carte Blanche Music
Follow her on 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.
