Search results for ""alex lahey""
cover, single trackAlex Lahey – This Kiss
Alex Lahey – This Kiss
When Faith Hill released This Kiss, back in 1998, I didn’t particularly like it. Country pop just wasn’t the music I was into at the time. Looking back however, I must admit it’s a great tune. One of the characteristics of a good composition is the fact it holds firm, also when recorded in a totally different genre.
Enter Alex Lahey…
For Women’s History Month 2021, she turned the track into a fuzzed-out indie rock song. This version still possesses the original’s country twang, but it ups the distortion a few notches. Lahey said she’d had the idea for the arrangement for years. “Two key changes, that iconic chorus, a million vocal harmonies – what more could you want?”, she said.
Recorded as an exclusive ‘Amazon Original’ last year, it’s now finally available on all streaming platforms.
Recommended as well:
Isabella
I Love You Like A Brother
Lotto In Reverse / I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself
You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me
Follow Alex Lahey on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
album trackAlex Lahey – Isabella
Alex Lahey – Isabella
Only in the autumn of 2017, a year and a half after she broke through in her native Australia, Alex Lahey was picked up in the rest of the world. Her debut album I Love You Like A Brother was an up-tempo trip down guitar lane, but her new album The Best Of Luck Club is a more varied affair.
Isabella, to me, is one of the stand-out tracks, with lyrics as playful as the piano melody it’s built around. Lahey explains: “Isabella doesn’t really need much of an explanation. It’s about a vibrator of which the brand is called ‘Izzy’. The song is about what I think Izzy would be like if it were a person. Basically, she’d be a fucking legend.”
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
album trackAlex Lahey – I Love You Like A Brother
Alex Lahey – I Love You Like A Brother
This girl simply doesn’t stop producing great tracks. Her name: Alex Lahey. I already told you more about her when I reviewed her singles You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me, Lotto In Reverse and I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself. A year and a half after that first track broke her in her native Australia, the talented singer put out her full-length debut. And boy, does it deliver!
The album I Love You Like A Brother is one up-tempo trip that doesn’t slow down until its closing song. All of the singles (except You Don’t Think…) are there, and I’d like to propose the title track – in which she addresses her now-repaired relationship with her brother – as a possible follow-up. A great sing-along rock song, made for the arenas!
single trackAlex Lahey – Lotto In Reverse / I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself
Alex Lahey – Lotto In Reverse / I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself
As far as Alex Lahey is concerned, Europe is lagging behind Australia. In her homeland, the singer broke through in the spring of 2016 with her single You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me, a year before it was picked up by European radio stations. Over here, Lotto In Reverse is her new single; down under she already released the follow-up I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself. Two equally great tracks, both of which I’d like to introduce to you (as I do below).
6 October her debut album I Love You Like A Brother comes out, also featuring first single Every Day’s A Weekend.
Lotto In Reverse:
I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself:
single trackAlex Lahey – You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me
Alex Lahey – You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me
Alex Lahey is a 24-year old singer from Melbourne. Her debut EP B-Grade University contains the singles Wes Anderson and You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me. The latter, a very likable song about being disliked, was a hit in Australia exactly one year ago, but it’s only now starting to cross-over to the rest of the world.
Alex Lahey could be for 2017 what Courtney Barnett was for 2015: the female rocker we were waiting for.
playlist
Additions to the Carte Blanche Music playlist (week 13)
Not all, but only the *best* new music. Added to the playlist this week (alphabetically):
- Sahara Beck – Hunter
electronic | indie | pop - Louise Burns – Bloom
indie | pop - The Cat Empire – Thunder Rumbles indie | latin | pop
- Deadletter – The Snitching Hour
indie | pop | rock - Glob – Gaffer Tape indie | pop | rock
- Lottie Gray – Get Lost indie | pop | rock
- Kingdom Calm – In My Mind indie | rock
- Alex Lahey – They Wouldn’t Let Me In indie | rock
- Francesca Luker – Nobody Seems indie | pop
- Notchyy feat. Jess Pink – U&I electronic | indie | pop
- Parker Fans – Bricks
indie | pop | rock - psychosurfer – Waves That Kill
indie | pop | rock - The Ramona Flowers – Enter The Room indie | pop
- Tillie – Bless Ur Heart indie | pop | rock
Check them all in the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music Spotify playlist.
Follow (click ‘♥’) to hear the best new music first.
single track
Teen Jesus & The Jean Teasers – Miss Your Birthday
Anna Ryan (vocals), Scarlett McKahey (guitar/vocals), Jaida Stephenson (bass) and Neve van Boxsel (drums) met in high school. There, they formed the most likeable of female punk-rock bands: Teen Jesus & The Jean Teasers. 10 points for that name alone.
They are not too prolific. Their 2017 debut single was followed by two singles in 2019, one in 2020 and two in 2021. But, in a good old-fashioned case of quality over quantity, every track they put out is a banger.
Their latest tune is no exception. On the contrary. Miss Your Birthday was co-written with Alex Lahey and produced by Violent Soho guitarist James Tidswell. It combines rough and rugged riffs with ultra-bright melodies and a soaring hook. Packing a punch both musically and thematically, the track touches on the idea of being comfortable in your parents’ home yet yearning for freedom out of home.
Speaking of the release, Scarlett McKahey shares: “Miss Your Birthday was written during the first COVID lockdown, when I was staying in Melbourne and really homesick. I wrote it with Alex Lahey (which was an absolute dream) and we wanted to write something relatable, referencing share house couches and dirty bathrooms. It’s about the internal battle of wanting to be back at your Mum’s cosy house without abandoning your new ‘grown up’ life. Sometimes going home is the only option!”
Recommended as well:
Teen Jesus & The Jean Teasers – Ahhhh!
Follow Teen Jesus & The Jean Teasers on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 43)
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:
- Wallows – I Don’t Want To Talk (Wildcard this week)
- Jaguar Jonze – Who Died And Made You King? (Wildcard last week)
- Coeur De Pirate – Tu Peux Crever Là-Bas
- Dancer – Fears
- elison – Meet Me Halfway
- Inge van Calkar – Rise
- Underline & Gissberg – Get Down With It
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: Alex Lahey, James Morrison, Train, and more.
single track
Sweater Curse – Close
First things first. ‘Sweater curse’ is a term used by knitters. It describes the superstition that if a knitter gives a hand-knit sweater to a significant other, it will lead to the recipient breaking up with the knitter. But, more in line with this blog, Sweater Curse is also a band from Brisbane, Australia. It consists of guitarist Chris Langenberg, lead singer/bassist Monica Sottile and drummer Rei Bingham.
Last year, after a string of singles, the trio released their debut EP See You. Close is Sweater Curse’s first release since that EP. A great tune with a pounding bass and grungy guitar parts. A bit like certain Smashing Pumpkins songs. The vocal melodies on the other hand have a bubble-gum pop sensibility, culminating in anthemic choruses. These parts work together very well, creating a cool, bouncy rock song.
Langenberg says of the lyrical themes of song: “It talks of the struggles within a relationship (friendship, general or romantic) and at times it explores themes and emotions of self-deprecating.”
Close is taken from an as-of-yet untitled EP, due out later this year. The track was produced by Ball Park Music’s Sam Cromack, and co-written by Carte Blanche Music favourite Alex Lahey. Lahey herself released the surprise EP Between The Kitchen And The Living Room this week. It contains stripped down versions of five of her songs, each recorded in different rooms of her house.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
single track
San Mei – Hard To Face
Emily Hamilton is the daughter of Chinese-Malaysian and New Zealand born parents, who immigrated to Australia at an early age. Encouraged by them, she began her musical journey at the keys of her family piano. Ultimately, armed with just a MIDI-keyboard and a Macbook, San Mei was born. She describes her current musical direction as ‘guitar heavy, delay ridden, dreamy pop’. Basically, this means: listen for yourself to find out.
Her new single Hard To Face is an excellent reason to start checking her out, if you didn’t already. It was produced by Oscar Dawson (Holy Holy, Ali Barter, Alex Lahey), and introduces her upcoming EP.
With Hard To Face, San Mei brings awareness to a widely relatable feeling that is not often articulated. “It felt like every time I looked around everyone else was kicking goals and ticking boxes”, she explains. “And I just felt kind of stuck, and wanted to be where they were or have what they had.” Hard To Face was born out of that frustration. “It felt good to write a song about it. Not that I don’t struggle from time to time, but I think focusing on all the positive things in life helps negate those feelings. I’m learning that having perspective and gratitude is vital in keeping a healthy state of mind.”
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
