Browsing Tag indie
The Allergies (feat. The Cuban Brothers) – Let Them Know
It may be summer for months in large parts of Europe, but meteorologically, it has only just begun. Right on time, The Allergies release their sunny new single Let Them Know.
Bristol’s finest serve up a hotbed of big hip-hop drums, huge funky horns, and dynamite boogaloo rhythms. This provides the perfect backdrop for the vocals of party starters The Cuban Brothers. Boosted by a massively catchy chorus, the track creates a full-on carnival atmosphere.
Let Them Know is the latest single to be released ahead of The Allergies’ upcoming album Say The Word. Let’s get this party started!
Recommended as well:
The Allergies (feat. Andy Cooper) – 2 Much!
The Allergies (feat. Andy Cooper) – It Won’t Be 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.
Wildcard (week 25):
Hoshi feat. Corine – Larmes De Croco
In the last few years, two female artists rose to the top of the French charts from out of nowhere. Both of them featured multiple times on Carte Blanche Music: Hoshi (Mathide Gerner) and Corine (Aurore Imbert).
So far, these two phenomena each operated in their own genres, but things have changed. Hoshi just released her sophomore album Sommeil Levant, which is more produced than her debut Il Suffit D’y Croire. It contains more synths, which pulls its sound more towards Corine’s disco-pop.
Hoshi and Corine fans will be delighted to hear the album contains a duet between their favourites. Unsurprisingly, this collaboration between two of France’s biggest contemporary talents sounds exactly the way you hoped. A full on electro-pop song, Larmes De Croco (‘crocodile tears’) is the best possible mix of Hoshi’s and Corine’s musical universes. Four minutes of fun!
Although it’s not a single (yet), it’s the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
Recommended as well:
Hoshi – Amour Censure
Hoshi – Je Vous Trouve Un Charme Fou
In the Wildcards 2020 playlist you’ll 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 25)
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:
- Julie Bergan – Commando (Wildcard this week)
- Certain Animals – TV (Wildcard last week)
- Fixkes – Dardennen
- Rhea – Under My Skin
- Sarah Wolfe feat. The Flowers – 100 Times
- Self Talk – Food Court
- Tia Gostelow – Psycho
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: Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, The Snuts, Young Gun Silver Fox, 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.
Dopha – The Game
In her homeland Denmark, Sofie Daugaard Andersen is a rising artist who performs as Dopha. Since she moved from her town of birth, Romalt, to the country’s capital Copenhagen, she released two popular songs. Her debut single September Till June (November 2019) was followed by the radio hit Happy For Me (last April).
But I’m pretty sure she’ll be third time lucky. For me, her new indie-pop single The Game hits the jackpot. It’s mesmerizing and convincing, and proves she has a talent to write songs that could travel well beyond the Danish borders. The Game is the title song of her upcoming debut album.
This is how I would love Lana Del Rey to sound. Until then, I’m a fan of Dopha instead!
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.
Felix Riebl – Black Room
Felix Riebl is the frontman of Australia’s The Cat Empire. He released two solo albums: Into The Rain (2011) and Paper Doors (2016). Also, he collaborated with bandmate Ollie McGill and the Marliya choir to form Spinifex Gum. They released two studio albums as well.
New solo material is on its way. Riebl just announced a new EP, Black Room White Walls, is set for release on 21 August. He said the EP takes inspiration from a very diverse range of artists, including New Order and Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. Black Room is the set’s first single. The track’s alt-rock sound differs largely to the funk stylings typically associated with The Cat Empire.
“With Black Room I wanted to write a song that hit people with a blast of something that was equal parts angst and positivity”, Riebl said in a statement. “I wanted something with no fat at all, the guitars and synth hooks direct, the sort of thing you can imagine a band playing at a big festival.”
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.
Lola Le Lann – Portofino
Lola Le Lann is the daughter of French actress Valérie Stroh and trumpet player Eric Le Lann. In 2015, at the age of 19, she entered the French cinema world herself. In the film Un Moment D’égarement (‘a wild moment’) she played one of the leading roles.
A few films later, she decided to return to her first love: music. She’s been playing the piano as of a young age. Le Lann just released her debut EP Glaz. It features 5 different songs (and an acoustic version of its first single Lola À L’eau).
One of those songs is Portofino, which fits perfectly in a great tradition of French songs from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Soft beats, perky percussion, a funky guitar, Caribbean sounds, they’re all there. And then of course, there are Le Lann’s seductive Vanessa Paradis-like vocals.
Portofino was co-written and co-produced by Yohann Malory, whose great single Morceaux De Toi (feat. Yseult) I featured here last January.
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.
Francesco Gabbani – Il Sudore Ci Appiccica
Summer hits are often tunes that people have taken home from their holidays. That way, songs from popular holiday countries like Spain, Italy and France spread all over Europe in the past. But 2020 is another year altogether. After the recent developments, many people won’t spend their holidays abroad. Luckily, Carte Blanche Music brings the best and sunniest music to your doorstep. I’ll do so in the safest of ways: via your computer, laptop, tablet or mobile screen.
Each year, Italian artist Francesco Gabbani releases a summer hit contender. This year is no different. His new single Il Sudore Ci Appiccica (which means ‘sweat sticks to us’) is sure to bring out the sun. But on a deeper level, it’s meant to bring out hope.
Gabbani: “The term sweat takes on a double meaning in the song. Sweat is what unites us in fatigue and need. In this regard, I think of the real commitment made by everyone during the epidemic. But sweat is also the desire for light-heartedness and fun that we must be able to find in the coming months. Sweating stands for getting closer, sharing and reducing distances as well. Of course, as soon as all this will be possible.”
Recommended as well:
Francesco Gabbani – È Un’altra Cosa
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.
Gordi – Unready [aO2Sk Mix]
26 June, Gordi will release her sophomore album Our Two Skins. For the record: Gordi is Sophie Payten. She’s from Australia, like so many recommended artists on this blog.
Unready is the fourth song to be unveiled ahead of the album. The aO2Sk Mix, especially, is tastefully produced around Gordi’s emotive voice. Featuring prominent drums and vocal samples, it’s an electro-organic pop tune, reminiscent of Haim. Co-producers John Congleton, Chris Messina, and Zach Hanson did a lovely job! Lyrically, it’s about being caught off-guard by your life while you stand in the middle of it.
This track is made for the radio. But if I were you, I’d put it on my own playlist as well, just to be sure.
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.
Alex The Astronaut – Banksia
I’m very much looking forward to Alex The Astronaut’s upcoming debut album The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing. Can’t wait ‘til 21 August! Australian singer-songwriter Alexandra Lynn (her real name) is a natural born storyteller, depicting everyday experiences in her folk-inflected pop songs. The album is said to explore friendship, love, loss, pain and change. Funny observations, but deeply personal ones as well.
New single Banksia falls in the latter category. Banksias are a native Australian flower that lines lots of the suburban streets, including the street Alex was walking down when she found out her friend passed away. “It’s a song about my friend, Maddie Clarke, who was a beautiful person who passed away too young”, Lynn notes. “She was always smiling when I saw her, no one always feels like that but that’s what she showed me.”
Recommended as well:
Alex The Astronaut – Split The Sky
Alex The Astronaut – I Think You’re Great
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.
Tally Spear – Already Gone
Describing pop music can be a difficult task and often ends up inaccurate. The best you can do is hit the play button below. But for those who need a little encouragement: Tally Spear says she creates pop music with a punk attitude. Me, I hear some gothic elements in it. All in all, I’d say she sounds like a less electronic version of Billie Eilish. Should we file it under the catch-all term ‘alt-pop’, then? Just hit that play button, will you?
Already Gone is the 24-year-old Londoner’s third single of this year, her fourth altogether. “The track tackles feelings of detachment and distance”, Spear explains. “It is kind of the opposite of all the happy ‘honeymoon phase’ songs out there. I wanted to explore the sometimes negative thought processes surrounding new beginnings, and a desire for independence.”
The song was produced by Max Marlow (Kodaline, Declan MeKenna) and is the latest song to be taken from her debut EP, due out later this summer.
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.
