Search results for "Gang Of Youths"
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
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For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Gang Of Youths – Unison
If you ever wondered how a mix of The Waterboys and The War On Drugs might sound, look no further. Gang Of Youths’ new single Unison is it.
The band was formed in Sydney, Australia in 2011. They quickly attracted a rabid fanbase with their expansive, widescreen take on indie-rock. After winning prestigious ARIA Awards in their home country, they started to conquer the rest of the world (which is a work in progress). In 2017, the band – consisting of Dave Le’aupepe (vocals, guitar), Max Dunn (bass), Jung Kim (guitar, keyboards), Donnie Borzestowski (drums) and Tom Hobden (keyboards, guitar, violin) – relocated to London.
Their new single Unison is a song Le’aupepe conceived in Samoa, his ancestral homeland. It contains samples of recordings made by David Fanshawe. He travelled to the Pacific Islands in the late 1970s and recorded one of the most extensive libraries of indigenous Pasifika music anywhere in the world. The same kind of field work Alan Lomax did ahead of World War 2. These samples bring a unique and wonderful atmosphere to the track. Unison may prove to be for indie-rock what acts like Deep Forest and Moby were to dance music in the ‘90s: ground-breaking.
Recommended as well:
Gang Of Youths – 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.
Gang Of Youths – The Heart Is A Muscle
Gang Of Youths are a quintet from Sydney, Australia, fronted by singer and songwriter Dave Le’aupepe, and complemented by a few friends from school and church: Joji Malani (lead guitar), Jung Kim (guitar/keyboards), Max Dunn (bass) and Donnie Borzestowski (drums).
The Heart Is A Muscle is a great song off their second album Go Farther In Lightness that was put out late last year. But the track has only now been edited down for radio stations, meaning the real campaign has just begun. I hope it gets the airplay it deserves.
For more great new music follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Maddy Jane – It’s A Lot
Maddy Jane is the stage name of Madeleine Jane Woolley. She made her debut with the single People, and collected its follow-up singles on her first EP Not Human At All (2018). The singles after that found a home on Maddy Jane’s 2020 debut album Not All Bad Or Good.
Since then, she’s released three brand-new songs, which hopefully indicates a new EP is on its way. Like its predecessor Island Time, Maddy co-wrote and recorded her new single It’s A Lot with producer Chris Collins (Gang Of Youths, Ruby Fields, Azure Ryder, Skeggs). It’s A Lot is an up-tempo song with driving drums and bursts of acoustic guitar, which give it a great energy.
Maddy Jane says about the new track: “It’s A Lot is a freeing but slightly frustrated song about the cycles we go through, like when you are watching yourself and others make the same mistakes that have been made before and they struggle to find a way to break these habits.”
Recommended as well:
Perfection’s A Thing And You’re It
Follow Maddy Jane on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Werner’s Weekly (week 11)
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:
- Iris Gold – Crushed Velvet
(Wildcard this week)
- Two Year Vacation – Chasing The Morning
(Wildcard last week)
- Daimy Lotus – Never Get Me
- Gang Of Youths – Forbearance
- Nikki & The Waves – Online Chess
- Reddi – The Show
- The New Shining – Thief
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: Florence & The Machine, Megan Thee Stallion & Dua Lipa, Sigrid, and more.
Buffalo Paradise – Buffalo Paradise
When I heard the intro of this single, I could’ve sworn it was a Bob Seger track. But is isn’t. This is the self-confident debut single of a Sydney-based five-piece named Buffalo Paradise. And just to make sure you don’t mistake them for another act, they named their first ever release after themselves. Or perhaps they named the band after the title of their introductory tune, but the result is the same…
When vocalist Lachie Pringle and guitarist Angus Armstrong met in late 2019, they discovered a common interest in the same bands. They were both inspired by fellow-Aussie acts like Spacey Jane, Lime Cordiale and Gang Of Youths (who are no complete strangers to Carte Blanche Music either). The two then recruited Angus’ brother, multi-instrumentalist Chris Armstrong, drummer Rory McDougall and bass player Naren ‘Funky Fingers’ Iyer, who completed the band.
As said, Buffalo Paradise is only their first single, and what a way to start a career! It’s an upbeat feel-good song with driving rock rhythms, thumping basslines, soaring guitars and catchy vocals. Sure to get you in a good mood!
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For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Dancer – Fears
After publisher Snowhill Songs did a great job putting Aussie quartet Dancer on the map, a label stepped in to – hopefully – finish the job. Mirror Records is part of Mirror Group, who manage Gang Of Youths and launched the career of Middle Kids. Sounds like a good home for the lads.
As happens more often, the label decided to start from scratch and pull all available music from the streaming platforms. Recently, it re-released last year’s Dreamer as the band’s official debut single with them. Dancer’s second single however, is brand-new. In line with its title – Fears – it has a frantic, almost hypnotic beat that adds suspense to the song. Lyrically, it explores the themes of fear and the relationship our world has with the concept.
Both Dreamer and Fears will appear on Dancer’s debut EP, which is due out on 3 December. It’ll contain a total of 6 tracks. One of these is a new version of last year’s Show Me The Way, which also disappeared from the internet since I wrote about it.
Recommended as well:
Show Me The Way
Dreamer
Follow Dancer on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Charlie Collins – Fuck It
At the age of 33, Australian singer-songwriter Charlie Collins already has a whole musical life behind her. When she was just 12, she formed a band with her siblings. A few years after the release of their debut album, she joined Sydney band Tigertown in 2011. Six EP’s later, Collins launched her solo career with the album Snowpine. It earned her an ARIA Award nomination for Best Country Album.
Her new single has little to do with country music. Fuck It is a driving guitar pop track. Collins wrote it after she became a topic of hurtful gossip following the end of a relationship. However, the song offers a raw, emotional and honest twist on your average breakup song. “At the time, when I was going through this separation, I needed a friend more than a critic,” she says. “This song is an acknowledgment of blame but also recognizing that you don’t need that judgement.”
Fuck It was produced by Scott Horscroft (DMA’S, Empire Of The Sun, Silverchair) with former Gang Of Youths guitarist Joji Malani.
Follow Charlie Collins on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Werner’s Weekly (week 14)
Werner’s Weekly is like a Swiss clock: it’s here every Monday morning (even at Easter), and it always contains the best new music of the past week. It’s your compass to the music that matters, even if you don’t manage to visit this blog each day.
So, in case you missed it, these are the best tracks of the past week, starting off with the two latest Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, complemented by other choice cuts, that are presented here in alphabetical order.
As always, you can listen to all of these tracks via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar.
- Tiny Fighter – New Century (Wildcard this week)
- Echosmith – Over My Head (Wildcard last week)
- Corine – Il Fait Chaud
- DMA’s – For Now
- Gang Of Youths – The Heart Is A Muscle
- Magnus Carlson & Weeping Willows – Wait For Love To Grow
- The Vaccines – Your Love Is My Favourite Band
Other notable additions to Carte Blanche Music 2018 longlist this week: Chvrches, eels, Daryl Hall & John Oates with Train, Franz Ferdinand, Sigrid, The Lemon Twigs, and Zak Abel.
For more great new music follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.