Browsing Tag indie
Werner’s Weekly (week 49)
Although the same number of new tracks is released on Spotify as in other parts of the year, the quality shows the end of 2018 is near. Or perhaps it’s just me getting more critical as another great music year is drawing to a close 😉.
Anyhow, last week I only added brand new songs by Alice Merton, Def Leppard, Joe Jackson, MØ (feat. Foster The People) and a few others to my constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
The absolute highlights, however, are reserved for Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters. The links point to my earlier recommendations, and all of the tracks are in the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar for your listening pleasure as well.
- The Lighthouse – Catch Fire (Wildcard this week)
- Starcrawler – Hollywood Ending (Wildcard last week)
- Bent Van Looy – Make Believe
- Caezar – Somewhere New
- Corine – Un Air De Fête
- Jenifer – Hey Jen
- The Smashing Pumpkins – Alienation
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 48):
The Lighthouse – Catch Fire
Last week, I introduced you to The Lighthouse’s new single. In the meantime, this great song really ‘caught fire’ with me (pun intended). Therefore, Catch Fire is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard! This means that The Lighthouse, as a true beacon, will feature prominently on the site for a whole week, shining its light upon all of us.
The Lighthouse are 5 Belgian guys who share the love of melodically well-written pop songs. They describe their musical cocktail of polyphonic vocals, guitars, keys and swinging drums as ‘songs that feel like Fridays’.
So far, the band put out two EPs: the self-released Let’s Make A Scene, and Joyride, which was backed by Sony Music. Despite the latter EP’s success, and the doors it opened to stages, festivals and radio stations in Belgium and abroad, The Lighthouse decided to go back to the indie-route for upcoming releases. Their debut album is already planned for the autumn of 2019.
In the Wildcards 2018 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.
Ana & The Changes feat. Dan Byron – Take My Hand
Ana Ćurčin is a singer-songwriter born in Baghdad, raised in Moscow and based in Belgrade, Serbia. She and her band The Changes (Goran Antović – keyboards, Marko Cvetković – bass and Marko Benini – drums) surprised me live at Eurosonic Noorderslag last January. Following up on 2016’s album Sketches Of Belonging, the quartet release their second album Differences in the Spring of 2019.
Its first single is called Take My Hand. The almost unrecognizable original version was written by Igor Simic and Ana Ćurčin for the soundtrack Radio Nostalgia From Mars of the video game Golf Club Wasteland. It has now been re-recorded, featuring Dan Byron, a Romanian singer-songwriter and frontman of the alternative rock band Byron. This new version has a driving, Coldplay-like piano part, which makes it a great radio track.
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.
Piroshka – Everlastingly Yours
Miki Berenyi, frontwoman of British shoegazers Lush, has revealed a new project, where she is joined by her partner, KJ McKillop (from the band Moose), as well as their friends, Mick Conroy (Modern English) and Justin Welch (Elastica). Their indie supergroup is named Piroshka, after the Hungarian word for Little Red Riding Hood. Debut album Brickbat is on its way, but the band already shared their first ever single, Everlastingly Yours.
Although it’s a dreamy guitar pop song, don’t be mistaken: Berenyi sings about cruelty and violation. “Trample my dreams on the ground / Tear up my flowers / And scatter the petals around” for instance. Or: “I’m not afraid to reach down inside to something within me / That gives me the power to rip out his heart / And shatter his bones with a smile.” The track closes just as optimistic: “Nobody here / Ever escapes / With no blood on their hands.” Party time, peeps! 😉
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.
Caezar – Somewhere New
The two founding members of Caezar, singer Chris Quigley and guitarist Rich Gills, decided to form a band in 2014, when they were both suffering from sports injuries that meant they would no longer be able to play rugby for their local club. Their first outfit, rock band Quigley, was rather successful, but when they met keyboard player and vocalist Zoe Dwyer, with her soft synths and sweet-as-honey backing vocals, they changed their musical direction and their name as well; Caezar relates to the initials of all three band members: C (Chris), Z (Zoe) and R (Rich).
The British trio now fuse dance beats with soaring pop melodies, as you can hear from their new single Somewhere New. It precedes their debut EP Hail!, that will be out this week. Already a live favourite, Somewhere New starts off delicately, but the band up the tempo as soon as the pre-chorus sets in. A well-produced modern pop song for early Bastille 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 Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart.
Werner’s Weekly (week 48)
As musically diverse as Andy Burrows & Matt Haig, Harts, Metric, Sam Fender, Weezer, Within Temptation (feat. Jasper Steverlinck) and Youngr may seem, they all have one thing in common: all of them released new music last week, which I added to my Carte Blanche Music playlist. They are in very good company, for it’s not at all my intention to add all new releases to this collection. And tracks that are only so-so in my ears, don’t make the list either. After a very heavy selection procedure, I only added 20 new songs last week.
Only the very best of those additions can be found in my definitive round-up Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters. Check them below and/or via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar. Follow the links for more information.
- Starcrawler – Hollywood Ending (Wildcard this week)
- Jonas Brøg feat. Laura Mathilde – I Think Of You I Cry (Wildcard last week)
- Broods – Everything Goes (Wow)
- I Wear* Experiment – Almere
- Navarone – The Strong Survive
- The Lighthouse – Catch Fire
- Yonaka – Death By 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.
Yonaka – Death By Love
Yonaka are one of the most exciting new bands from the UK. From Brighton, to be exact, which is an extra seal of quality nowadays. Fronted by lead singer Theresa Jarvis, the band serves dark alt.pop with cool riffs and catchy hooks.
Following numerous singles and the EP’s Heavy and Teach Me To Fight, Yonaka just released their third EP Creature. Death By Love is my favourite track off it. A great display of what the band stands for musically, and lyrically intriguing as well; the song is written from a serial killer’s perspective…
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.
The Lighthouse – Catch Fire
The Lighthouse are 5 Belgian guys who share the love of melodically well-written pop songs. They describe their musical cocktail of polyphonic vocals, guitars, keys and swinging drums as ‘songs that feel like Fridays’.
So far, the band put out two EPs: the self-released Let’s Make A Scene, and Joyride, which was backed by Sony Music. Despite the latter EP’s success, and the doors it opened to stages, festivals and radio stations in Belgium and abroad, The Lighthouse decided to go back to the indie-route for upcoming releases. Their debut album is already planned for the autumn of 2019.
This week marks the release of the long player’s first single. Catch Fire finds two people waking up after a wild night re-connecting with each other, asking the question if their relationship will ever really ‘catch fire’. A well-crafted sophisticated pop song that will surely delight the fans of bands like The 1975.
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 47):
Starcrawler – Hollywood Ending
Ever since their debut single Ants, L.A. garage rockers Starcrawler had a rollercoaster of a year. The band, fronted by maniacal and bloodthirsty teenage singer Arrow de Wilde, released their rousing self-titled debut album, toured with the likes of Foo Fighters and the Distillers, and won praise from big-name fans such as Garbage’s Shirley Manson.
Next up is their brand new single, which was produced by Ryan Adams and has an intro that reminds me of Todd Rundgren’s classic I Saw The Light. “Hollywood Ending is my version of a prayer,” de Wilde says. “In the song I pray for ‘The End.’ The end of being lied to, toyed with, the end of false friendships and relationships. I’m begging for a clean start. Let me walk into the light.”
Let me start by putting the spotlights on the singer, her band and their single this week. Hollywood Ending by Starcrawler is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
In the Wildcards 2018 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.
Deanna Petcoff – Stress
Asked to describe her activities in short, Toronto-based Deanna Petcoff replies: ‘writing happy songs about sad things’. Her second single is a good example.
“My new single Stress is about frustration, loss of hope and acceptance of a situation that will never be fixed. The unbearable weight of not feeling good enough for the person you want; thinking they might want you back but can’t follow through with their flirtatious actions is a common feeling. I wanted to encapsulate the frustration that accompanies this.”
Meanwhile, however, she has the confidence and self-worth to remain open and optimistic to interpersonal exchange. Long story short: Deanna Petcoff is serious fun.
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.
