Carte Blanche Music

Nikki’s Wives – Lemonade

February 26th, 2019

Spending their time between Canada and the USA, alt-rock powerhouse Nikki’s Wives have currently set up shop in a Hollywood Hills home, where they built their own recording studio and will be filming music videos and continuing to write music until next month. In other words: the three-piece are working hard to force their breakthrough in 2019.

Lemonade is their first single of the year. Huge drums and a driving guitar propel Lemonade forward, perfectly complemented by lead singer Nikki’s powerful vocals, making this their most catchy song, so far.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

single track

Faico – Half Of It

February 25th, 2019

Faico is a Dutch five-piece, which was started in 2016 by brothers Sep and Jesse Eshuis. Their debut EP Finish Your Song reveals the band’s roots. Raised with The Eagles, and inspired by American folk-rock band Dawes, Faico makes a poppy version of Americana music.

Half Of It is their new single.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

pop | rock

werner's weekly

Werner’s Weekly (week 9)

February 25th, 2019

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:

Vendredi Sur Mer – Chewing-Gum (Wildcard this week)
Stats – The Family Business (Wildcard last week)
Badflower – Promise Me
Barrie – Clovers
Dombresky – Soul Sacrifice
PLYA – Adenaline
Two Year Vacation – I Forgot Your Name (But I Like You)

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, My Baby, Johnny Marr, Weezer, and many more.

single track

Badflower – Promise Me

February 22nd, 2019

Before she departed to Universal Music, Taylor Swift was the labelmate of Badflower. It’s hard to imagine them working together though, as Badflower are an emo rock band. On the other hand, stranger collaborations have happened… (Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney, anyone?)

Today, Badflower released their debut album OK, I’m Sick. It was already preceded by the singles Heroin, Ghost, x ANA x, and their most recent one: Promise Me. The latter has expressive lyrics and smooth guitar riffs, that punctuate its message. On the one hand, it’s about holding on to love and the hope of youth, on the other it’s about accepting loss and moving on.

Lead singer Josh Katz says of it: “This is probably my favourite song on the album. Not only because it’s a departure from what we normally do musically and lyrically, but because it really feels like a story with a beginning, middle, and end. It describes the feeling of growing up, losing youth and losing love – which is a simple concept that scares the hell out of me.”

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

pop | rock

album track

Picture This – Modern Love

February 22nd, 2019

Since their self-titled debut album came out in August 2017, Picture This have gone on to become the biggest selling Irish act in 2017 and 2018. Last week, they released its follow-up, MDRN LV, which is even for sale as a cassette. In interviews, the band claim not to have felt any pressure producing the record, but I bet their label feels pressure to make it just as successful as the first one 😉 .

The long-player opens with Modern Love, more or less the title track, and the song whose lyrics inspired the album’s title. The track marks a different sound for the band, with tight, clean The 1975-like production. Destined to become a live favourite.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

pop | rock

single track

Barrie – Clovers

February 21st, 2019

Barrie is a Brooklyn five-piece, named after Barrie Lindsay, and also featuring Dominic Apa, Spurge Carter, Sabine Holler, and Noah Prebish. Appropriately, their 2018 debut EP Singles contained all of the tracks they released so far. Now, the band are ready to take the next step.

3 May, Barrie will put out their first full album Happy To Be Here. Lindsay largely wrote these songs late into the night, alone in her apartment. Barrie, the band, is primarily her project. On the record, she plays guitar, piano, synth and bass. But still, Barrie is distinctly not a solo project; all of the others contributed their talents to the long-player. Lindsay says: “We’re very different, but we cover each other’s gaps personally and creatively, and are eager to learn from each other.”

Clovers is the first single off Barrie’s debut album.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

indie | pop

single track

Simple Creatures – Drug

February 21st, 2019

Both their bands being between albums, Mark Hoppus (blink-182) and Alex Gaskarth (All Time Low) found some down-time to start a side-project: Simple Creatures. Their debut EP is due out in March and was produced by Zakk Cervini (blink-182 and All Time Low, but Yungblud and 5 Seconds Of Summer as well).

Drug is the duo’s first single. After a short intro, it starts with a ‘Nanana’ bit that could’ve been ripped off of Pink’s So What. The sound and attitude of that song are echoing throughout the whole of Drug. Lyrically, it’s about being destroyed by the things you love.

Gaskarth: “Drug is a song about someone or something you want the most, being terrible for you… Feels great until it doesn’t, but then you can’t stop. In the studio it felt immediately like it was the song that best defined Simple Creatures; it’s gritty, grimy, rooted in the musicality we both came up on, but with a twist that takes it away from anything we’ve worked on before.”

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

indie | pop | rock

single track

Dombresky – Soul Sacrifice

February 20th, 2019

Dombresky is a French producer who was discovered in 2015 by A-Trak. Since then, he proved himself to be one of the most exciting producers on the scene. In addition to his originals, he remixed the likes of A-Trak, A$AP Rocky, and Alessia Cara.

Soul Sacrifice is Dombresky’s highly infectious new single. But am I getting old, or are my fellow music bloggers ignorant or plain lazy? None of the other reviews I read, mention the fact that Soul Sacrifice is based on De La Soul’s 1991 hit Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey), which in itself is a cover of Curiosity Killed The Cat’s Name And Number from two years earlier. Both highly recommended as well!

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

dance

single track, wildcard

Wildcard (week 8):
Vendredi Sur Mer – Chewing-Gum

February 20th, 2019

French music is the most sensual music around. There, I said it!

Feel free not to believe me (or even to disagree), but for me, Vendredi Sur Mer’s new single Chewing-Gum is just another affirmation of my thesis. Only a few years on the scene, Swiss-born Charline Mignot already inspired Munya’s song Hotel Delmaro, and her star is rising fast.

22 March, Vendredi Sur Mer’s debut album Premiers Émois will be released. Ahead of it, the singer unveils her new single Chewing-Gum. A song with the classic ingredients, that make me so fond of French music. Basically a chanson, it’s also got a funky groove (that bassline!) and even features a flute and a xylophone. Throughout, Mignot displays her typical vocal style, halfway between singing and speaking. All of this creates an atmosphere of sensuality only matched by certain latin songs, in my opinion.

Chewing-Gum is as catchy and sticky as one can expect from a song with that title. It’s this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!

In the Wildcards 2019 playlist you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.

chanson | funk | pop

single track

Billie – Always On The Run

February 19th, 2019

Billie Bentein, who gained popularity after featuring on several Netsky singles, has built a nice career of her own. She scored solo hits – especially in her homeland Belgium – with her singles Caught By The Tide and Give Me The Knife, which were collected on her first EP Talking Loud.

Almost ready to release her second EP, the singer drops its first single Always On The Run (not a Lenny Kravitz cover by the way). Her first new material in nearly two years’ time, it sounds a little bit more experimental than her previous work, but it’s still as contagious and danceable as ever.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

electronic | pop

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Nikki’s Wives – Lemonade

Faico – Half Of It

Werner’s Weekly (week 9)

Badflower – Promise Me

Picture This – Modern Love

Barrie – Clovers

Simple Creatures – Drug

Dombresky – Soul Sacrifice

Wildcard (week 8):
Vendredi Sur Mer – Chewing-Gum

Billie – Always On The Run

Wildcard (week 11)

Werner’s Weekly (week 12)

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Wildcard (week 11)

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