Browsing Tag indie
Bear Ghost – Haunt, The Cartoon Heart
Have you ever asked yourself the question what it would sound like if Frank Zappa would have been a member of Queen (or of Muse, for that matter)? The answer is: Bear Ghost. This Phoenix, Arizona rock band consists of musical craftsmen who effortlessly combine epic melodies and song structures into a sound wholly their own.
Their first EP Your Parents Are Only Marginally Disappointed In Your Musical Taste (2014) was proof of that, and the band took it to the next level on their debut album Blasterpiece (2016).
After signing with 80/20 Records last year, Bear Ghost recorded (and released, thankfully) their new single Haunt, The Cartoon Heart. On their Bandcamp page, the quartet describe the track as ‘a song about emotional instability, illustrated by a tumultuous relationship between a Ghost and his Heart who have both fallen in love with the same woman, but can’t find a way to reconcile their differences’.
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.
Roads To Roam – For A Better Day
Dutch 5-piece Roads To Roam released their debut EP A Guide To Your Mind in 2015, and issued the follow-up EP The Shadow Of Myself in 2017. That alone is reason enough to assume their third EP will see the light of day in 2019. And if so, one might expect it to include last year’s single Believe and the track they put out last week: For A Better Day.
The latter, once again produced by Martijn Groeneveld, was inspired by the passing of a good friend’s mother. It’s a song about loss, which describes the feeling of powerlessness, unfairness and even anger that can arise in such a situation.
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 17)
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:
- Hey Violet – Better By Myself (Wildcard this week)
- Suns Up – Just Because (Wildcard last week)
- Angèle – Balance Ton Quoi
- Charmless I – Cold Queen Killer
- Cyn – Terrible Ideas
- Saltwater Sun – Blood
- Stay Lunar – Brainshake
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: Blossoms, morgxn, Santana feat. Buika, 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.
Vant – Exoskeleton
Following a tumultuous time after the release of debut album Dumb Blood in 2017, Vant frontman Mattie Vant returned earlier this year with Thank Lucifer and Propaganda Machine. He recorded these tracks with a new set of musicians: Jamie Hall (Nancy, Tigercub – guitar), and Alice Costelloe (Big Deal, Superfood – backing vocals).
The same goes for his brand-new single Exoskeleton, of which Mattie explains: “This one is very much for the fans and everyone that has stuck by me over the last 18 months. It’s all about having support systems in place to keep you going through dark times. This transitional period has been the most challenging of my life so far. (…) I think it’s the best song I’ve ever been a part of writing. I wrote it with my friends Jamie Reed Schefman and Noah Gersh (Partybaby) when I spent a month in LA last summer. I didn’t have a clue what it was about then, but looking back on it now it seems much clearer to me.”
Exoskeleton is part of Vant’s new 3-track EP, which also features Thank Lucifer and Propaganda Machine. The EP can be bought through the band’s website.
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.
Charmless I – Cold Queen Killer
How about this for a prolific band? Ten months after their debut single Fire Up (Here We Go), Charmless I just put out their seventh effort, Cold Queen Killer. So far, the previous singles provided the band with a string of #1 hits in the Dutch Indie Charts, which in itself triggered lots of interest from international music blogs. This latest track has the potential to cross-over from indie stations that picked up on the band straight away, to larger radio stations that so far waited for their turn to jump on the band wagon.
Coming to an end less than two and half a minute after it started, Cold Queen Killer is a short and radio-friendly power explosion, built around the analogue Korg synth bass, combined with the pulsating sound of an organically whacked Precision Bass. The lyrical contents however, are even more interesting here: this song is about having a fetish for mentally as well as physically strong women, to whom a man can’t but obey. No less than a huge social statement in 2019.
The track is taken from Charmless I’s upcoming second EP Next Level. After the intended third EP, later in 2019, the band plan to consolidate all 12 by then released tracks on an exclusive, limited edition vinyl record.
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.
Cyn – Terrible Ideas
Cyn (the stage name of Cynthia Nabozny) was discovered by Katy Perry after hearing her single Only With You. Perry subsequently signed her to UnSub Records in 2016. Since then, Cyn toured with the likes of Years & Years, Sigrid and la Perry herself, while dates with Anna Of The North are in the books.
Terrible Ideas is Cyn’s new single. Powerful, edgy and dark, it marks a decided shift in sound, where the singer-songwriter’s light and airy voice works in harmony with heavier, industrial parts. About this evolution she says: “This song sounds different than anything else I’ve released because I continue to be confident enough to write things that are true to me in the moment, from the lyrics to the production.”
Defying usual song structures and melodies, the dynamics between the soft verses and the percussive, hands-in-the-air choruses make for an element of surprise that is most welcome in modern-day pop music.
Cyn is a talent to watch, and if this single describes the terrible ideas in her book, I can’t wait to hear her good ideas.
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.
Stay Lunar – Brainshake
Formed in Swindon (UK) in 2018, Stay Lunar started as a solo bedroom project of Harry Leigh. A year later, it’s already a 5-piece indie-pop band, so who knows where this will end…
Together, Stay Lunar fuse dreamy and funky elements into their riff-fuelled sound, which is sure to get the movers moving, as well as the thinkers thinking. The latter is a consequence of Harry’s often dark-themed lyrics and honest words, which are his strategy to relieve himself of pessimistic thoughts, and instead spinning them into hopeful and optimistic pieces. Through his music, the singer-songwriter is determined to spread awareness of mental health issues. He is determined to prove to those who suffer, that no matter how bad things get in your head, focusing on a dream is an amazing medicine.
Brainshake is only Stay Lunar’s debut single, but a very promising one! It was produced by Ady Hall and Lee McCarthy, who worked with bands such as Pale Waves and Viola Beach before.
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.
Cherry Lotus – Fake Leather Attitude
Bournemouth (UK) rock band Cherry Lotus were formed by Joe Grange (vocals, guitar) and Aidan OHara (guitar), and soon afterwards, Paul Nicola-Miller joined on drums. After they recorded their debut single Get What You Want, Ben Miller (bass) completed the current line-up. In other words, this second single is the first to include all four of the lads.
However, the main riff in Fake Leather Attitude dates back to a time when Joe and Aiden were in a previous band together. Being bored of that outfit’s acoustic nature, Joe tried something harder, which worked out nicely as you can hear.
The lyrics are about a girl who left her old friends behind to follow the crowd at university. The song title describes how she started wearing a (fake) leather jacket around the 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.
Saltwater Sun – Blood
Five childhood friends, Saltwater Sun formed in Reading (UK) a few years ago. They combine sun-drenched pop, garage rock and elements of shoegaze and indie in their band’s sound.
Last week, Jennifer Stearnes, Dan Kingham, Joel Neale, Rob Carter and Benny Chandler released their new EP The Great Deceiver. Blood is the first single off it. A positive and uplifting tune by the sound of its wonderful guitar chords, but at the same time it’s a very personal song about family and the legacy we leave behind. It deals with love, death, grief and all the things in between. Lead singer Jennifer Stearnes wrote the song with her father in mind, who passed away ten years ago this year. However, despite the apparent sadness, Blood is ultimately an indie-pop anthem for hope and all the beautiful things that life has to offer.
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 16)
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:
- Suns Up – Just Because (Wildcard this week)
- Georgia – About Work The Dancefloor (Wildcard last week)
- Anteros – Breakfast [2019 Version]
- Chateau Chateau – Burn Me Alive
- HÆLOS – End Of The World Party
- Hatchie – Stay With Me
- Yuna – Forevermore
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: Band Of Skulls, The Chemical Brothers, Mark Ronson & Lykke Li, Royal Republic, Tame Impala, 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.
