Browsing Tag indie
Wildcard (week 16):
Dive In – Give Me A Reason
Dive In released two EP’s in 2015 and a handful of singles the year after. The Glastonbury band just put out their first track in four years. ‘And certainly not the last’, they promise on social media.
Let’s hope so, for new single Give Me A Reason has an epic sound. Equal parts electronic and guitar-pop, it’s made for festivals. The one in their backyard for starters, although that’ll have to wait until 2021.
By the way: also check out the artwork to Dive In’s releases, which has been remarkably consistent (as well as beautiful) throughout the years.
In the Wildcards 2020 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 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:
- Izo FitzRoy – Red Line (Wildcard this week)
- Roquemore – Blame (Wildcard last week)
- AKA George – Bad For You
- Bessie Turner – Donkey
- Jealous Of The Birds – Ode To Fire
- Liza Anne – Bad Vacation
- Sondre Lerche – You Are Not Who I Thought I Was
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: The Aces, Izzy Bizu, The Kooks, Rat Boy, Twenty One Pilots, 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.
Helmut Fritz – Ça M’énerve [2020 Version]
There are several ways artists cope with the corona crisis and the implications it has on their lives. Most responses have a serious and rather heavy tone (which one can understand). Others take a more humorous and light-hearted approach (which makes for a welcome change in my opinion).
First, let me take you back in time. In 2009, French artist Éric Greff scored a huge hit in France, Belgium and Switzerland with his single Ça M’énerve (‘that’s irritating’). In it, he portrays German dandy Helmut Fritz, living in Paris. After two more hits, the fun seemed to be over. Until now…
Fritz has returned with a new version of his first novelty hit, complete with corona-inspired lyrics. It started as a Facebook joke, but after 2 million views, he decided to make a proper recording and put it out. Even if you can’t understand what he says/sings, it’s still as infectious as a virus, but a whole lot less dangerous.
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.
Rat Boy – Brave New World
Jordan Cardy’s musical heroes are Blur, Babyshambles, The Beastie Boys, Kasabian and Rancid. All of these influences shine through in his own music project Rat Boy. In his four active years so far, he put out two EP’s and two full albums.
Ahead of his next long-form release, he just unleashed Brave New World. Yet another energetic single full of swagger, with lyrics that once again reveal his critical views. Musically, it’s the driving cocktail of rap, rock, and grooves that we’ve come to love him for.
Recommended as well:
Victim Of A System
Public Identity
Turn Round M8
Revolution
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.
Liss – Waste My Time
Danish quartet Liss were just teenagers when they first gained international acclaim with their debut single Try in 2015. It was the first display of the band’s grungey take on r&b, soul and alternative pop.
They just released a brand-new double single, featuring the tracks Waste My Time and Off Today. I like the first best. Waste My Time is an up-tempo, summery indie pop song about youthful confusion in an overly large world with endless possibilities. Its slightly melancholy tone is perfectly complemented by the danceable instrumentation, including a catchy guitar hook.
Liss’ third EP is expected later this year.
Recommended as well:
Liss – Talk To Me
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.
Someone – You Live In My Phone
Someone is the multimedia project of talented Dutch songwriter, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and visual artist Tessa Rose Jackson. Since 2017, she released three EP’s. Her debut album Orbit II will come out on 20 June.
Indie-pop song You Live In My Phone is Someone’s new single. Its laidback drums, and funky bass and organ parts make it sound like a relaxed springtime love song. But in reality, it’s a love song about an unhealthy, obsessive relationship: the love for one’s smartphone.
A fun tune, that brings Tom Helsen’s Sun In Her Eyes to mind.
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.
Alfie Templeman – Happiness In Liquid Form
Alfie Templeman may be only 17 years old, he already has three EP’s under his belt. Like An Animal (2018), Sunday Morning Cereal (2019), and Don’t Go Wasting Time (2019).
He must have thought: ‘new year, new music’, so here it is. Happiness In Fluid Form features Alfie’s signature sound of shimmering guitars, upbeat synths and animated drums. It’s another infectiously charming track, which he wrote with Justin Young.
Alfie calls it ‘the most colourful sugary disco-pop song I’ve put out so far’. He explains: “It came about so easily one day in the studio with Justin from The Vaccines and his right hand man Will and by the end of the day we knew we had something special on our hands. It’s a tough time for everyone right now so hope this brings a little happiness into people’s lives!”
Recommended as well:
Alfie Templeman – Tragic 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.
Wildcard (week 15):
Izo FitzRoy – Red Line
I recommended Red Line by Izo Fitzroy before, but some songs just can’t get enough attention. An ultimate spring track, it’s this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
On Red Line, alongside her own band, FitzRoy is backed by The Haggis Horns and The Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir. Already a great track on her album How The Mighty Fall, the radio version is a beefed up affair. It’s got even more drive than the original and puts greater emphasis on the horns (which is never a bad idea). You might want to check this live version as well, by the way!
The long-player was produced by Colin Elliott, who worked with Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker and Paul Weller amongst others. Disco don Dimitri From Paris and Young Gun Silver Fox’s Shawn Lee lent a hand as well. With this album on repeat, you won’t even think about leaving the house!
In the Wildcards 2020 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 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:
- Roquemore – Blame (Wildcard this week)
- The Spitfires – (Just Won’t) Keep Me Down (Wildcard last week)
- Áslaug – In My Head
- Awolnation feat. Alice Merton – The Best
- Hope D – Second
- James Righton – Start
- Kakkmaddafakka – Moonshine
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: Pet Shop Boys, The Weeknd, Zuzu, 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.
Spector – When Did We Get So Normal?
London-based band Spector are the bundling kind. They just combined their three most recent singles with one new track on the ‘Extended Play’ EP. And 29 April, they’ll release ‘Non-Fiction’, a compilation of their three most recent EP’s.
The fourth and final track to be taken from Extended Play is new single When Did We Get So Normal? Although it was written and recorded before the global crisis, current circumstances add a new layer to its lyrics.
Frontman Fred Macpherson: “We wrote it back when everything in life was starting to feel a little too repetitive and routine, which feels a long time ago now. It’s inspired by the pathos of spending too much time with the same people, getting bored of seeing, hearing and eating the same things as everyone else, looking in the mirror and realising your life is no longer the adventure it once felt like. I guess we’re all in the same boat now though. Even the sexy interesting people are staying in watching TV and waiting for packages. So maybe it’s a good soundtrack to the new normality. I’ll never complain about Cornwall again.”
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.
