Browsing Tag indie
Albert Hammond Jr. – More To Life
The Strokes have a few European festival shows in their agenda, but that doesn’t stop Albert Hammond Jr. from exploiting his solo career. After 2018’s album Francis Trouble, he released the single Fast Times (which hadn’t made it onto the long-player) last February. That same month, he was spotted in the studio with Natalie Imbruglia, and I’m very curious to hear what came out of those sessions!
What we don’t have to wait for, however, is another one-off track by Hammond Jr. He says about the new song in a statement: “More To Life was recorded at Sunset Sound in Studio 3. (…) It was recorded live through a collection of analogue gear, Prince’s mojo (he lived in this studio in the late-’80s) and our ever present digital medium that held all these beautiful melodies. (…) This is my first full L.A. production. I hope you enjoy and please play it loud!”
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.
John Van Deusen – Whatever Makes You Mine
John Van Deusen’s music is difficult to pin down. In his early career he was the frontman and primary songwriter of indie rock band The Lonely Forest, and currently, he yells and plays bass in hardcore punk band Buffet. Meanwhile, he also pursues a solo career, which I’ll focus on here.
As a solo artist, Van Deusen is working on a four-part album series, titled (I Am) Origami. Part 1 (The Universal Sigh) and Part 2 (Every Power Wide Awake) are out already. (I Am) Origami Part 3 (A Catacomb Hymn) is set for release on 19 July, and might be his most raw and personal release yet. The album is centred on fear, doubt and depression.
About the first single, Whatever Makes You Mine, Van Deusen says: “Alone at a lodge in the Cascade Mountains, right at the heart of Bigfoot territory, I kept feeling like some big hairy creature was watching me sleep. I was frightened by the eerie creaks and noises while my mind obsessed over dark Sasquatch legends. I wrote Whatever Makes You Mine in the dead of night as a response to my loneliness and fear; my desire to be with someone (anyone), was overwhelming.”
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.
Mosa – Losts And Founds
Six years ago, David Ashbourne’s musical project Samual Zasada went into hiatus. Since then, he had a difficult time with personal setbacks, and concentrated on making music for video games in his home studio near Oxford, UK.
Now, Ashbourne continues where he left off, with a new project named Mosa. He brought the electronic edge of his music for games into the Mosa sound to complement his guitar and deep vocals. This results in a more powerful, soulful sound, with electronic influences added to his folky roots. His new single Losts And Founds is a fine example of where Ashbourne now stands as a person and as an artist.
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.
Otherkin – On And On
As a rock band, Otherkin enjoyed significant success in recent times. But instead of continuing on the chosen path, the Irish quartet have changed its course by adding an electronic edge to their sound.
New single On And On is driven by a dirty synth bassline, and features a kick ass guitar riff alongside screaming keyboards and a catchy chorus. Richly produced and with an Oasis or Kasabian-like swagger to it. In one word: epic.
Speaking on their inspiration, the band say: ‘’We were listening to a ton of French House before making On And On, and felt inspired to make a song for the dance floor. As we were approaching it from the context of being a guitar band, we thought it would be cool to break the song up with a huge riff, bringing the two worlds together. We paired it with a story of a guy we know who’s a conniving, scheming weasel that’ll never change his ways, regardless of what happens to him. This song is like one fist in the air and one middle finger in the air to him.’’
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.
Lucy Spraggan – Today Was A Good Day
At 19, Lucy Spraggan had the guts to play her own song Last Night (Bear Fear) during her participation in X Factor 2012. While still in the show, it became a Top 20 hit, and her self-released debut album hit the charts as well.
A month ago, she put out her fifth long-player Today Was A Good Day. It’s a confident album full of musical stories, inspired by real-life themes such as marrying her girlfriend and fostering children together. Spraggan explains: “We’ve had 14 kids stay with us so far. We are also trying for our own child so we will see what happens. All this has played a huge part in my writing. It’s an album about growing up.”
The title track is one of the quieter songs on the record, where the singer is accompanied by only an acoustic guitar and strings, to great effect. This would be a wonderful single!
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 23)
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:
- boy pablo – 50 Souls And A Discobowl (Wildcard this week)
- Countless Numbers – Twice As Hard (Wildcard last week)
- Delmoro – Dove Siamo Finiti
- Girli – Up And Down
- Inhaler – My Honest Face
- Izzy Bizu (feat. Chris Martin) – Someone That Loves You ’19
- The Snuts – All Your Friends
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: Bakermat, Circa Waves, Hot Chip, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, 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.
IAMJJ – My Two Eyes
IAMJJ is the artist name of a 25-year-old Danish singer-songwriter, who writes and performs in English. Following in the footsteps of his heroes Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen, his tracks are drenched in melancholy. Both musically and lyrically. A modern crooner!
He now drops My Two Eyes, the first new track since his 2018 debut album Bloody Future. Where he previously wrote songs full of pictorial metaphors and poetic lyrics, My Two Eyes is a more direct story of love. Easier to relate to than his earlier output, this might be just the song his career needed to expand beyond his current fan base.
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.
Bess Atwell – Swimming Pool
Bess Hildick-Smith, known by her stage name Bess Atwell, grew up in the English countryside, one of four children to an eclectic family of artists, songwriters and doctors. Soon after starting her own musical career, she was described in the press as ‘a promising folk poet of suppression and inner anxiety’ and ‘a gifted singer-songwriter with a voice like slow, cool water’. Eventually, her former solo project evolved into a full band affair, incorporating traces of traditional folk music with newer indie-rock influences.
Atwell’s just-released EP Big Blue includes the new tracks Harvested and Ventnor Villas. The other three songs have been issued as singles via Spotify, but were never actively promoted outside her home country. Swimming Pool, which was met with praise in late 2018, now gets a proper promotional treatment outside the UK. A romantic yet realistic song, influenced by the likes of The National, Fleet Foxes, and Sharon Van Etten.
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.
Delmoro – Dove Siamo Finiti
After graduating in architecture, Mattia Del Moro reinvented himself and turned a singer by the stage name of Delmoro. A year after his debut album Il Primo Viaggio, he released the EP Balìa, including the singles Filippiche and Idiosincrasia, as well as three new songs.
One of those three is his new single Dove Siamo Finiti (‘where we end’). The song is rooted in the Italian song tradition from the ‘60s to the ‘90s, coloured with balearic beats and disco influences.
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.
Inhaler – My Honest Face
Inhaler are a four-piece rock band from Dublin, consisting of Elijah Hewson (vocals, guitar), Josh Jenkinson-Tansia (guitar), Robert Keating (bass), and Ryan McMahon (drums). They met while still at school and formed the band in 2016. Inspired by artists such as Joy Division and The Stone Roses, they mostly sound like a younger version of U2. This hardly comes as a surprise, since Hewson is Bono’s son. That said, Inhaler can do without this reference. Although they only have a handful of songs out, they can easily stand on their own feet.
Last week, the band added two new tracks to their tiny catalogue: There’s No Other Place and My Honest Face. The latter, my favourite, has the rhythm tandem working their asses off, with its driving drums and bass line. Great song!
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.
