Browsing Tag indie
The Twang – It Feels Like (You’re Wasting My Time)
In 2019, it’s 15 years since Phil Etheridge, Martin Saunders, Jon Watkin, Stu Hartland and Matthew Clinton formed The Twang. I’ve liked them ever since their 2007 debut single Wide Awake.
It took the band five years to come up with their fifth studio album If Confronted Just Go Mad. It marks a more poppy musical direction and the departure of Saunders. Also, it includes vocals from new female singers Cat Mctigue and Rio Hellyer. Both of them also perform for rising star Tom Grennan. Their contribution provides The Twang with a new optimistic sound, as you can hear on their new single It Feels Like (You’re Wasting My Time).
Recommended as well:
The Twang – Everytime
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.
Track Dogs – On The Last Night
Track Dogs are a four-piece, taking their name from the NY subway maintenance teams. Although its members are from Ireland, the US and UK, the band are based in Madrid, where they opted for cajón instead of drums and trumpet in place of electric guitar. However, it’s their four-part harmonies that steal the show.
Having recorded over 100 songs during their career, Track Dogs just released their new album Fire On The Rails. It’s only available in its entirety on Bandcamp, not yet on other platforms. The band recorded the album on a Studer A80 analogue tape machine that was recovered from the Abbey Road Studios.
New single On The Last Night contains all of Track Dogs’ trademarks. But the string arrangements by Eli Bishop (Grand Ole Opry, Wynton Marsalis) provide extra depth to their sound.
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.
Werner’s Weekly (week 47)
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:
- The Mowgli’s – Fighting With Yourself (Wildcard this week)
- Halie – Good Kids (Wildcard last week)
- Deva St. John – The Information Age
- Dubioza Kolektiv & Manu Chao – Cross The Line
- Jaguar Jonze – Kill Me With Your Love
- Lauran Hibberd – Sweat Patch
- Vant – Mary Don’t Mind
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: Angèle, Fall Out Boy, Neon Trees, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Pet Shop Boys, Sam Fender, The Veronicas, 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.
Jaguar Jonze – Kill Me With Your Love
Born in Japan to a Taiwanese mother and Australian father, Deena Lynch currently lives in Brisbane. She is an Instagram artist (as Spectator Jonze), a photographer (Dusky Jonze) and a musician (Jaguar Jonze). But before she picked up the guitar herself, she managed other artists, like The Jungle Giants and Confidence Man.
As a musician, Lynch is influenced by the likes of Portishead, The Last Shadow Puppets, Nick Cave and Angel Olsen. Kill Me With Your Love is only her third single. A spacey spaghetti western rock song, which laments the downsides to love.
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.
Lauran Hibberd – Sweat Patch
Hot on the heels of her critically acclaimed debut EP Everything is Dogs, Lauran Hibberd serves a brand new tune. Sweat Patch is another slice of sparkling slacker pop, where she delivers the lyrics in her signature conversational style.
Discussing the tune, Isle Of Wight’s indie darling explains: “Sweat Patch is arguably a song about drugs, but it’s not like I’m trying to be cool about it. I’m pretty much frigid with anything unprescribed. But because of that, this song is based on my idea of that world. There’s loads of songs about getting high, not as many songs about watching and I guess analysing other people do it. I guess this is me, soberly sat in a room watching all of my friends take drugs. I guess there’s also a nod to the elephant in the room, A DUDE. There’s always a dude! And I guess this song stemmed from me being into this guy, but he was pretty much into other things more.”
Recommended as well:
Lauran Hibberd – Hoochie
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.
Sorcha Richardson – High In The Garden
Irish singer-songwriter Sorcha Richardson left home for Brooklyn as a teenager to study creative writing. She’d assumed her background as a drummer would lead to her playing in a college band. Instead however, she ended up recording lo-fi demos in her dorm, which gradually picked up traction on SoundCloud. After living in New York for eight years, she moved back to Dublin, where she wrote many of the songs for her debut album First Prize Bravery.
One of my favourite tracks is High In The Garden, which revisits the bitter sweetness of summer. Its vocal melody, bubbly bassline and rhythm section, make for a toe-tappy earworm of a song.
Recommended as well:
Sorcha Richardson – Don’t Talk About 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.
Vant – Mary Don’t Mind
Frontman Mattie Vant reinvented his band Vant. He assembled a new set of musicians around him (Jamie Hall – guitar, and Alice Costelloe – backing vocals) and renewed his song-writing skills. He also started experimenting with every new instrument or bit of software he could get his hands on.
The first fruits of the new-born Vant were present on the EP Exoskeleton. Now, Mattie is ready to drop his second full album. Conceived In The Sky will be out on 10 January 2020. Mary Don’t Mind is further proof of Vant’s talents and gives you something to look out for.
Recommended as well:
Vant – Exoskeleton
Vant – Propaganda Machine
Vant – Beetlebum / Talk Like Thunder
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.
Dubioza Kolektiv & Manu Chao – Cross The Line
Dubioza Kolektiv are a must-see live act from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their live performances are characterized by power, energy and high-spirited flamboyance. Meanwhile, they balance heavy melodies and important statements.
Their new single Cross The Line is no exception. Musically, it contains their signature blend of traditional Balkan flavours, ska, punk, reggae, electronics, hip hop and rock. Lyrically, it holds an empowering message of freedom. It’s an ode to the determination, courage, and strength needed to leave one’s homeland and face all challenges of an uncertain future. Not for the first time, Dubioza Kolektiv team up with their friend Manu Chao (of Mano Negra fame).
Cross The Line is the band’s first new single ahead of their ninth studio album #fakenews, out in January 2020.
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 46):
The Mowgli’s – Fighting With Yourself
Formed around Venice Beach, California in 2010, The Mowgli’s were named after the dog of one of the band members. Obviously, the animal was named after the main character from the Jungle Book movie. Between 2013 and 2016, The Mowgli’s were a fixture in my Carte Blanche radio show. Their debut single San Francisco was my Record of the Week in early 2013, just like I’m Good, exactly two years later. The reason why? Their songs are ridiculously catchy.
Said radio show may have evolved into this blog, but The Mowgli’s are still around. They left their major label to continue as an independent band. With that in mind, it’s interesting to see the band describe their new single Fighting For Yourself as ‘a self-empowering rock anthem reminding you to get out of your own way and love yourself’.
Following the departure of lead singer Colin Dieden from the band, Katie Jayne Earl is stepping into the spotlight for the first time to provide lead vocals. She does a great job on this single, which is rockier than we’ve come to expect from The Mowgli’s. With Fighting For Yourself, the band secure another Record of the Week spot on Carte Blanche Music. It’s 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.
Zuco 103 – Aruenda
As early as 1999, Lilian Vieira (vocals), Stefan Schmid (keys) and Stefan Kruger (drums) formed their first project Rec.A. Soon after, they adopted the Zuco 103 moniker. Combining dance, dub and Brazil sounds, the band described their music as ‘Brazilectro’. Soon after, this became an international household name and a scene with likeminded artists and deejays.
This year, Zuco 103 celebrated their 20th anniversary with the album Tripicalismo, containing old songs, new tracks and remixes. A completely new album is in the works already and is due for release in Spring 2020. Aruenda is the funky first single off 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.
