Browsing Tag blues
Werner’s Weekly (week 44)
Who said rock is dead? Last week, Buffalo Tom, Johnny Marr, Nothing But Thieves, Sam Fender, The Struts and White Lies all came up with great tracks, that I gladly added to the Carte Blanche Music playlist. As you may know, it only contains the best new songs for you to discover (not only rock, by the way, but music, great music). Just follow that playlist and let me do the ‘dirty’ work. I love it!
As an example of what you’ll find there, below is my ‘best of the best’ selection: Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters. If you can spare 26 minutes, you can hear them all in full via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar. Otherwise, just click the links of the tracks of your liking to find out more (including the song itself, of course).
- Isaac Gracie – Show Me Love (Wildcard this week)
- Harts – Shake Ya Pants (Wildcard last week)
- FIDLAR – Can’t You See
- Jealous Of The Birds – Marrow
- Leoniden – People
- Noémie Wolfs – Let Me Down
- Only Yours – Everlasting
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
FIDLAR – Can’t You See
L.A. band FIDLAR (which is short for ‘Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk’) have their third album coming up. Almost Free will be let loose on 25 January 2019. It was produced by Ricky Reed, who worked Twenty One Pilots and Phantogram before. Singer/guitarist Zac Carper says about the record: “A lot of the vibe was, ‘Well, why can’t we do that? Why can’t we have horns? Why can’t we have key changes? Why can’t we have a harmonica loop?’ It was about taking the ceiling off. Having it be limitless. Ain’t no rules.”
The long player was preceded by the singles Alcohol and Too Real, and the album announcement came with third single Can’t You See. The track appears to signal a change in musical direction for the band, that used to be a punk outfit. Can’t You See is much more easy-going and has more of a funky blues feel to it. It even features a fair amount of piano.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
Werner’s Weekly (week 36)
For most of us, the summer holidays are over. If you, too, enjoyed some nice weeks off, you may have a feeling you missed out on a lot of great new music. And indeed, you did 😉.
But catching up is easier than ever these days. I’ve continued to update my ‘best of 2018’ playlist Carte Blanche Music on a daily basis, so if you follow it and sort it by ‘recently added’ (or through the calendar icon on your desktop app), the latest new songs are automatically displayed at the top of the list. You’re welcome!
Last week, I added new music by Jonathan Jeremiah, Muse, Nothing But Thieves, The Struts feat. Kesha, Twenty One Pilots, The Wombats and others. You can find the most recent Wildcards and the other tracks that particularly stood out below. They’re presented in alphabetical order in my ‘best of the best’ playlist Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters:
- Lauren Daigle – Still Rolling Stones (Wildcard this week)
- Say Lou Lou – Golden Child (Wildcard last week)
- Barns Courtney – “99”
- Eckhardt & The House – Put Me In A Cape
- Joe Bonamassa – Evil Mama
- Oh Pep! – What’s The Deal With David?
- You Me At Six – Back Again
Click the links for more info about each song, and if you can spare 21 minutes, you can listen to six of the above via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar. Joe Bonamassa is missing from the Spotify playlist, simply because it isn’t available on streaming platforms yet. You can check the video instead. Enjoy!
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
Joe Bonamassa – Evil Mama
21 September sees the return of two-time Grammy-nominated blues-rock giant Joe Bonamassa with a brand-new studio album, Redemption. His 13th already, and his most ambitious yet, as he continues to redefine and push the barriers of his repertoire. The album is once again produced by Kevin Shirley, who worked with everyone from Aerosmith and Iron Maiden to The Black Crows and Rush. “From a producer’s perspective, this is far and away the most challenging and diverse album that Joe has ever made,” Shirley says.
Evil Mama is Bonamassa’s new single. It has a great groove, the horns add a touch of funk and the backing vocals make his trademark blues-rock soulful. Not exactly the sound of contemporary hit music, but all the better for it. Timeless class!
The video is the fourth studio performance Bonamassa has issued in the last several weeks, in anticipation of the new album’s release. Similar to the clips for King Bee Shakedown, Molly O and Redemption, Evil Mama presents Bonamassa and his (great!) band performing the song in the recording studio.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
The Revivalists – All My Friends
Hozier and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’s successes appear to have inspired many other contemporary artists in making a musical cocktail containing blues, rock and soul. That often turns out good, to my liking. This is one more example.
Don’t forget, however, that New Orleans 8-piece The Revivalists have been a hard-working band for 10 years, but they are now on the verge of breaking outside the US and Canada. This new song might do the trick.
All My Friends was produced by Dave Bassett, who worked with Elle King before, herself known for the infectious mix of genres I just described. In cooperation with the band, Bassett turned the track into a floor-stomping song, which a press release calls ‘striking, sharp, and soulful, with swaggering piano and boisterous horns’. And that’s just what it is…
All My Friends is the first single off The Revivalists’ upcoming fourth studio album, set to be released this autumn.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
Werner’s Weekly (week 29)
A diverse set of music acts, ranging from Suede and The Hunna, via Galantis and Sigrid to Sofi Tukker and Confidence Man, was added to my 2018 gross list Carte Blanche Music last week. That playlist is updated constantly and contains the best music that the year 2018 produced so far. It’s impossible for me to review all of those tracks here, so please follow that list for a bigger picture of great new music. All killers, no fillers.
Every Monday I present you with a more condensed overview. Werner’s Weekly features only the best of the best, and is your compass to the music that matters. You can listen to them all via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar and get more information by clicking the links below. Enjoy!
- Satellite Stories – Carried Away (Wildcard this week)
- Carlos Jean feat. Teyou & Annya – Yucatán (Wildcard last week)
- DRMS & L’Isle – La Vague
- Johnny Marr – Day In Day Out
- Laurence Jones – Don’t You Let Me Go
- teddy<3 – I Was In A Cult
- TenTemPiés – Only You
- The Bamboos – Night Time People
- Vanille – Glace Vanille
For more great new music follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
Laurence Jones – Don’t You Let Me Go
This guitar talent from Liverpool is often dubbed ‘the future of the blues’. The Truth is his fifth album in six years’ time and Jones currently plays a hell of a lot of concerts to promote it. This way, he’s slowly but surely crossing over to a larger audience.
Don’t You Let Me Go might be just the single Jones needs to be fully embraced by the mainstream. The smooth background vocals make it poppy enough for the radio, but it’s rocky enough to please live crowds and bluesy enough to appeal to his oldest fans.
For more great new music follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
Lead Pony – Soul Sucker
Lead Pony are a San Diego based ‘dirty blues rock band’, that only formed in early 2017. The quartet, featuring Jesse Hofstee, Dylan Stallard, Hillary Laughery and R. Fillmore, brings you songs of love, death, and every social statement in-between, that are rooted in the past, with colourful fuzz, dangerous piano, and feverish drumming.
Their new, double A-sided release Two Love Songs does indeed contain two songs (how appropriate):
- Breaker (Don’t Touch Me) is a hard driving tune that questions the meaning of the trials of partnership
- Soul Sucker, my favourite, explores the darker paths our minds tend to conjure, perhaps more than we care to admit
Both tracks come ahead of the band’s first full length, to be released by the end of summer. A second album has already been announced for early 2019.
For more great new music follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
Human – Higher
Human is a new Swedish pop collective fronted by Daniel Adams-Ray. Higher is their debut single. An infectious mix of blues and pop, rich in rhythm and melody, and very well-produced. In other words: a potential future Scandinavian pop hit, like so many great songs from the region.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
Joseph J. Jones – Crawl
The impact of artists like Hozier and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man is incredible. Both of them being only at the beginning of their (commercial) careers, they already amassed a huge following. Of fans, but also of other artists who fish in the same musical pond.
Joseph J. Jones, whose grandfather was a jazz guitarist with the BBC, brings a fine mix of folk, blues and soul to the table, with intimate lyrics, sung with an incredible voice. Last year, he collaborated with co-writer/producer Richard Frenneaux, who worked with artists like Ella Eyre and Parson James before.
Jones’s promising new single is entitled Crawl.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a cd club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Charts.
