Gizmo Varillas’ mix of folk and pop with tropical instrumentation, Latin and Afrobeat rhythms never disappoints. His latest album Out Of The Darkness is full of the kind of music we need in the current climate. However, as the title suggests, there’s more to the songs than sunshine and happiness alone.

Take Varillas’ new single for instance, which is about his own personal journey overcoming depression.  On the other hand, it’s a song of hope, that can be of comfort to those going through difficult times. And aren’t we all going through difficult times the last few months? Although the track was written at a different time and in a different world, it speaks perfectly to the state of global upheaval and sustained lack of conclusion we are all living right now.

A song called Rise can only be up-beat, positive and uplifting, can it? And indeed, it is. “Perseverance and taking little steps, no matter how small, will help you get to where you want to be”, according to Varillas.

Recommended as well:
Gizmo Varillas – Born Again
Gizmo Varillas – Losing You

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

Werner Schlosser

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.

www.carteblanchemusic.nl

Since her early EP’s To Whom It May Concern and See You Soon, Alex The Astronaut released more than a handful of songs. All of them can now be found on her debut album The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing. As a consequence, you could already have known 7 of the album’s 10 songs (not counting the outro).

While many radio makers are only just discovering January’s joyous Wildcard I Think You’re Great, Alex hasn’t sat still. The upcoming Aussie singer-songwriter celebrates the release of her album with yet another happy single. Produced by Ball Park Music’s Sam Cromack, Caught In The Middle features all the elements we’ve come to love her for. It’s upbeat, folky, has relatable lyrics and obviously features Alex’s unmistakable voice.

In the video, she hits the tennis court with Australian music legend and drummer from the influential band The Go-Betweens, Lindy Morrison.

Recommended as well:
Banksia
Split The Sky
I Think You’re Great

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

Werner Schlosser

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.

www.carteblanchemusic.nl

Is there something in the water in Australia? I don’t know, but there’s a whole generation of great new artists coming up at the moment. Most of them females, by the way. Harper Bloom is one of the most recent additions to this bunch. She’s a singer-songwriter who was born in Perth, but is currently Melbourne-based.

Bloom’s songs deal with issues like vulnerability, same-sex love, and self-acceptance. Multi-instrumentalist/producer Benjamin McCarthy (Alex The Astronaut, Gordi, G-Flip) is an ideal musical partner. He turns her disarming indie-folk tunes into catchy pop songs. Late July, Harper Bloom will release her debut EP Faith, Sex And Skin.

Walk My Way is only her second single. According to a press release, it revolves around ‘the sense of self-doubt that tends to accompany a one-sided crush’. “I think Walk My Way applies to anyone who feels like they’re not good enough for someone, whether that’s due to wealth, looks, gender, etc.”, she adds. “As the song unfolds, it reveals that learning to overcome self-doubt is important, because there are beautiful people in this world who see through all those superficial things and choose to love you, despite the judgement of others.”

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

Werner Schlosser

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.

www.carteblanchemusic.nl

I’m very much looking forward to Alex The Astronaut’s upcoming debut album The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing. Can’t wait ‘til 21 August! Australian singer-songwriter Alexandra Lynn (her real name) is a natural born storyteller, depicting everyday experiences in her folk-inflected pop songs. The album is said to explore friendship, love, loss, pain and change. Funny observations, but deeply personal ones as well.

New single Banksia falls in the latter category. Banksias are a native Australian flower that lines lots of the suburban streets, including the street Alex was walking down when she found out her friend passed away. “It’s a song about my friend, Maddie Clarke, who was a beautiful person who passed away too young”, Lynn notes. “She was always smiling when I saw her, no one always feels like that but that’s what she showed me.”

Recommended as well:
Alex The Astronaut – Split The Sky
Alex The Astronaut – I Think You’re Great

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

Werner Schlosser

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.

www.carteblanchemusic.nl

Radio stations and curators don’t just put any song on their playlists. Generally, each submission must include a solid marketing plan or at least a great story. Now here’s an artist with a great story, and – equally important – lots of talent.

In 2011, Northern Irish singer-songwriter Janet Devlin competed in the eighth series of ‘The X Factor’. She ended fifth. In interviews, Courtney Love said that she believed Janet and her family to be distant relatives of Kurt Cobain. In response, Devlin herself stated that she was unaware of any connection.

She raised money to record her debut album Hide And Seek through crowd funding. Paying fans received the limited edition album in July 2013. Only in June 2014, it was released to the rest of the world. This was quite a different album however. It had a new title (Running With Scissors) and it contained new songs plus reworkings of tracks from Hide And Seek. The single Wonderful was record of the week in my then Carte Blanche radio show.

5 June, Devlin releases her sophomore album Confessional, which was five years in the making. That same day, she publishes her autobiography My Confessional. Both offer an intimate look into the last decade of the 25-year-old’s life. Away With The Fairies is her new single. At first listen, it’s ‘just’ a light folk-pop song, dipped in mandolin, bodhran, cello, and harp. The hidden subject matter of the song however, is Devlin’s teenage battle with an addiction to alcohol.

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

Werner Schlosser

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.

www.carteblanchemusic.nl

The Rehats are a young band from Freiburg in Germany. They have only released three singles so far, all of which will be on their debut album. This first long-player, Nothing But The Truth, is due out later this month. It was produced by award-winning producer Wolfgang Stach. He worked with many top German bands before, with multiple gold and platinum success.

The record’s title track, Nothing But The Truth, is The Rehats’ new single. Feel-good indie pop with smooth harmony vocals, which sounds like a slightly folkier version of The Kooks.

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

Werner Schlosser

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.

www.carteblanchemusic.nl

Maia is a 19-year-old Californian singer-songwriter who produces music as mxmtoon (pronounced as ‘em-ex-em-toon’). Her DIY fairy tale started with a ukulele, a YouTube account and secret recording sessions from her bedroom. Not even her parents and friends were aware of the acoustic covers and self-written songs she put on her channel. But then she got snapped up by music blogs, resulting in hundreds of millions of views and fans all over the world. The rest, as they say, is history…

mxmtoon released her first EP Plum Blossom in 2018, followed by the full album The Masquerade in 2019. So far, her songs have been pretty introvert, but the tracks on her new EP Dawn are more outward focussed. “’Happier’ songs have never come easily to me”, Maia says about the project. However, fun tunes like her new single No Faker prove she found a way around this ‘problem’. It explores the sunny side of life, adding fun, fresh beats and infectious rhythms to the mix. In her own words: “I want to lift people up. I still love making sad songs, but I wanted to make something that felt refreshing to me this time.”

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

Werner Schlosser

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.

www.carteblanchemusic.nl