Browsing Tag indie
Wildcard (week 50):
Kakkmaddafakka – Baby
Norwegian six-piece Kakkmaddafakka had a prolific year. They released their sixth album Diplomacy and a slew of great singles, as you may have read here before. This week, they gave birth to another ‘baby’. Hopefully, the brand-new track precedes more fresh material.
With Kakkmaddafakka’s happy indie-pop music, summer is always around the corner. New single Baby is no exception. It’s as upbeat, catchy and energetic as always, with fat drums and a driving piano underpinning the sing-along lyrics. The well-crafted, feel-good kind of song radio used to fall for. And they still should.
Not only are Kakkmaddafakka’s tunes perfect for the radio, they also make for a great live party. Do yourself a favour and go see in February, March or April 2020 on their upcoming European tour. For now, Baby is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
Recommended as well:
Kakkmaddafakka – Get Go
Kakkmaddafakka – Sin
Kakkmaddafakka – Runaway Girl
Kakkmaddafakka – Young You
In the Wildcards 2019 playlist you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
Werner’s Weekly (week 50)
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:
- Julie Zenatti – Tout Est Plus Pop (Wildcard this week)
- Sebu – The Secret Is Out [Lucas Vidal Arrangement] (Wildcard last week)
- Corine – Un Air De Fête À Tokyo [Japanese Version]
- Fitz & The Tantrums – I Just Wanna Shine
- North Parade – Keepthingscasual
- Peggy Sue – Validate Me
- Spacey Jane – Head Cold
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: Alanis Morissette, Polish Club, Regina Spektor, and many more.
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
Superbird – Think You Got Me
I consider myself a fan of British band Superbird, and it’s all their fault. Kicking off the year in funky fashion, they released their maiden single Cola Bottle Fizz on 4 January. It was requested by Sara Cox herself to become the official theme-tune for her brand-new ITV programme ‘The Sara Cox Show’.
Throughout the year, Superbird put out songs by an average of one every two months. Indeed, Think You Got Me is their sixth single already. Its first notes bring Let’s Stick Together by Bryan Ferry to mind, but ten seconds into the track it’s clear it possesses all of Superbird’s trademark elements. Think You Got Me is another funky indie-pop gem with disco drum rolls, horn stabs and irresistible vocal hooks.
I think they got me the first time around, but I’m sure they got me now.
Recommended as well:
Superbird – Super Superior
Superbird – Year On String Along
Superbird – Cola Bottle Fizz
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
Hoshi – Amour Censure
The last two years, Hoshi broke through in her home country France. Singles like Ta Marinière and Je Vous Trouve Un Charme Fou became hits and ended up on her debut album Il Suffit D’y Croire. Last week, she announced her sophomore long-player will come out in 2020.
Talking of coming out: in the same announcement, Hoshi presented her new single Amour Censure. A song that denounces homophobia. ‘There’s no censored love / There’s only true love’, she sings. Hoshi declared to have been a victim of aggression herself, six years ago.
Recommended as well:
Hoshi – Je Vous Trouve Un Charme Fou
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
Lorelei – Skylight
If you enjoy The Cure or, more recently, Pale Waves, you should try this as well. Lorelei is an Australian duo, consisting of Claudia Schmidt and Arlen McCarthy. They produce a dark, passionate and catchy mix of shoegaze and dream-pop.
Skylight is only Lorelei’s second single. It follows their debut I Am A Road, which came out earlier this year. The band recorded both songs (and hopefully more) with Lachlan Mitchell of The Jezabels.
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
North Parade – Keepthingscasual
North Parade are an upcoming indie-pop band formed in Birmingham, but currently based in London. It consists of Henry Plumridge (vocals/guitar/piano), Chris Ettinger (guitar/vocals/synth), James Dewing (bass) and Ollie Clark (drums/percussion/vocals). In anticipation of their new EP How To Be Good, they shared its lead single Keepthingscasual. A track they say was written ‘entirely on a phone between a notes app and music software loops’.
Keepthingscasual is an up-tempo pop/rock song full of hooks and with an infectious chorus. It brings The Wombats to mind, which is never a bad thing. One can hear the band had fun recording it, and you’ll surely have fun listening to it.
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
Peggy Sue – Validate Me
When I was on holiday last October, Peggy Sue released the great single Motorcade. I didn’t get to write about it, but it’s still worth checking out, obviously. Now, the London duo come up with follow-up track Validate Me. A folky rock song, with a fresh lead melody, backed with fuzzy guitars.
Katy Young of the duo says: “We were listening to a lot of Ramones, and female bands that borrow from them – like Colleen Green and Vivian Girls. Validate Me takes inspiration from the way they can combine sweet and vulnerable and seething and heavy all in one track. This song owns up to a set of emotions that aren’t particularly empowering – to getting validation from someone else’s desire for you. But there’s something empowering about admitting to them.”
Motorcade and Validate Me, along with their 2017 single Slow Fade, will appear on Peggy Sue’s next album Vices. Released on 21 February 2020, it will be their first long-player in 6 years’ time.
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
Nada Surf – Something I Should Do
Way, way, way back, in 1996, Nada Surf scored a worldwide hit: the aptly titled Popular. A highly melodic, somewhat nerdy, but extremely lovable rock song. The fact they didn’t have another hit like that in later years, is everyone’s fault but theirs. For the band never stopped making brilliant music. Radio stations may have overlooked that, but the fans didn’t. Nada Surf has always been a very successful live act, although they didn’t tour much in recent years.
Mid-January 2020 however, a new world tour will start in the US. End of February, they’ll cross the Atlantic for an extensive European visit, only to return to Canadian and American stages in May and June.
The tour supports Nada Surf’s upcoming ninth album Never Not Together, which will be out on 7 February 2020. Something I Should Do is the first single off the record. A delicious rock song with spacey synths and, most importantly, a spoken word section that reminds of Popular. Nada Surf has come full circle. How about radio doing the same?
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
Wildcard (week 49):
Julie Zenatti – Tout Est Plus Pop
Julie Zenatti is a French singer and actress of Algerian, Italian and Jewish descent. After being discovered in a karaoke bar in 1994, at the age of 13, she recorded two songs with Lenny Kravitz, but those were never released. She only released her first album in the year 2000.
Zenatti’s ninth album is expected to be due next spring, accompanied by concerts in April 2020. The first single off the album is Tout Est Plus Pop, a title that couldn’t have been more appropriate. It’s light, accessible, sparkling, catchy, memorable, short and snappy… an invitation to sing along. Probably the best song Lio (Amoureux Solitaires) never recorded.
In the newly-released video, the singer travels through 40 years of pop music, based on gems she finds in her record collection. About the clip she says: “It’s not meant to be nostalgic, just an ode to music entering our lives and creating memories.” This might as well have been a description of Carte Blanche Music…
Tout Est Plus Pop by Julie Zenatti is the new Wildcard!
In the Wildcards 2019 playlist you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
Bad Nerves – Can’t Be Mine
Bad Nerves don’t have an album out yet, but after only four singles, ‘people in the know’ are convinced: these East-Londoners might be the next big thing. In case you missed it a year ago, the British band just re-released their single Can’t Be Mine.
Sounding like a bastard child of The Ramones and The Strokes, ‘Supergrass on speed’ is another good description. Can’t Be Mine is fast and furious, but melodic throughout. Catch them at showcase festival Eurosonic Noorderslag in the Dutch city of Groningen mid-January 2020, if you can!
Recommended as well:
Bad Nerves – Dreaming
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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
