Browsing Tag indie
Chateau Chateau – Burn Me Alive
When I was allowed an early listen of Chateau Chateau’s upcoming 5-track EP Evidence, I thought the title track and Burn Me Alive were the two tunes that immediately stood out. The latter has now been chosen as the Tucson seven-piece’s third single ahead of the EP.
Burn Me Alive is another up-tempo, and irresistibly danceable piece of indie pop, with its bouncy and sticky guitar hook. Commenting on the track’s lyrics, the band comment: “Burn Me Alive is about taking the plunge, burning it all down, and never looking back.”
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 15):
Suns Up – Just Because
Sussex four-piece Suns Up have chosen the perfect name for their band. There’s nothing wrong with their indie-pop tunes in the autumn and winter, but they appear to be made for the spring and summer. Like their first two singles Stay and Love You Back, Just Because is a sun-kissed song, combining infectious guitar hooks, feel-good vibes and sparkling vocal harmonies. It is, as the band characterise it beautifully: ‘music made with guitars to sing and dance to’.
When talking about how the song came to life, front man Dave explains: “We had an idea which we kept coming back to at rehearsals. I had an opening line and a melody that I really liked, but the rest took time to get right. I’m not a very open person, but I find in my music that I am. This song turned out to be quite personal to me about someone close and I wanted the music to do justice to that.”
Just Because by Suns Up is this week’s Carte Blanche Music 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.
Middle Kids – Real Thing
Only a year after their debut album Lost Friends, Australian indie rock trio Middle Kids have an all-new mini album ready. New Songs For Old Problems will be out on 24 may, and is set to include six tracks.
One of those, Real Thing, is released as a teaser single. A melancholic, yet catchy and accessible slice of power pop, that puts Hannah Joy’s beautiful voice in the limelight.
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.
HÆLOS – End Of The World Party
HÆLOS is an ambitious musical project, whose sound is not easy to pigeonhole. It has many references, but the main ingredients are indie-pop and experimental dance.
The band’s second album Any Random Kindness lands on 10 May and End Of World Party is its brand-new single. A track full of old-school samples, from the hip-hop leaning breakbeat to the various screams incorporated. There’s a lot of fun production in it. In a press release, HÆLOS described the track as ‘a satirical look at disregarding the apocalyptic aspects of humanity and focusing on the now’.
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 15)
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. No complaints about diversity, I’d say, 6 out of the 7 being female(-fronted) acts:
- Georgia – About Work The Dancefloor (Wildcard this week)
- Maggie Lindemann – Friends Go (Wildcard last week)
- Moddi – Kriegspiel
- Self Esteem – Girl Crush
- Stefanie Heinzmann – You Get Me
- The Veronicas – Think Of Me
- Yonaka – Lose Our Heads
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: Alex Lahey, Circa Waves, The Heavy, Vampire Weekend, whenyoung, 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.
Yonaka – Lose Our Heads
Following numerous singles and the EP’s Heavy, Teach Me To Fight, and Creature, Brighton four-piece Yonaka are ready for their full-length debut Don’t Wait ‘til Tomorrow. The album is set for release on 31 May. The band, who’ve commanded a stellar list of producers to date, including Tom Dalgety (Pixies, Royal Blood), Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys) and Rodaidh McDonald (King Krule, The xx), made the bold move to engineer and produce the album themselves.
Ahead of the record, frontwoman/songwriter Theresa Jarvis and her crew unleash the single Lose Our Heads, a track that reflects on the current generation’s dependence on technology, and dares them to experience life without it, with all its pain and heartbreak.
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 14):
Georgia – About Work The Dancefloor
If you follow Carte Blanche Music since it started, back in January 2017, you may remember me recommending Georgia’s singles Feel It and Started Out. If you don’t, no offence 😉
Georgia, the 27-year-old daughter of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes, started her career as a session drummer, before releasing her self-titled debut album in 2015. The singles I mentioned came out later, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
While these two songs set the stage for Georgia, her new single might just be the track to properly launch her career. About Work The Dancefloor is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard! It sounds like the best song Robyn never wrote, and incorporates a great Kraftwerk-like synth line. Lyrically (“I was just thinking ‘bout work the dancefloor”) it has a grammatical construction that’s so awkward, it can’t help but get stuck in your head.
“About Work The Dancefloor is a song written in response to the clubbing culture I experienced in cities whilst touring,” Georgia said in a statement. “Going out and getting that emotion or sensation from a collective energy in various spaces. It’s that stuff of old school disco, the thrill of the dance floor.”
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 14)
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:
- Maggie Lindemann – Friends Go (Wildcard this week)
- Shanguy – Toukassé (Wildcard last week)
- Kakkmaddafakka – Sin
- Model Depose – Damage Control
- Neo Minor – Run
- Vant – Propaganda Machine
- Vendredi Sur Mer – La Nuit
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, Perry Farrell, Rammstein, 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.
Kakkmaddafakka – Sin
When Kakkmaddafakka released their album KMF, back in 2016, I was afraid they were about to shorten their ‘controversial’ band name. Luckily, they didn’t (so far…).
The Norwegian band’s new album is called Diplomacy. Ahead of its release, the tracks Naked Blue, Runaway Girl and The Rest were put forward. Sin would be a great choice to be single #4. This catchy, up-tempo, funky number sounds a lot like On My Mind by Disciples, and would do great on the radio.
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.
Model Depose – Damage Control
Nicknaming Model Depose ‘Model Depeche’ is understandable, but too easy. But you’re not to blame… until now. For the Dutch electronic pop band re-invented themselves with a new sound, which is more guitar-driven. Call it indie, rock or alternative pop, but I like it!
Damage Control is Model Depose’s new single. “When an influential person or loved one is on a collision course, the best you can do is keep dancing, sing along and make the best of it”, according to the band.
Not only is Damage Control the new single, it’s also the title track off their second album. Model Depose promise ‘a full-fledged piece of music in which everything fits together like a puzzle, where grit and a soothing atmosphere always find balance through raw beats, dynamic vocals and subdued synthesizer melodies’. The long-player will be out in September. Until then, the band release a new single and video each month.
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.
