Browsing Tag rock
beabadoobee – Charlie Brown
In September 2017, beabadoobee released her very first single Coffee. It immediately made heads turn at Dirty Hit Records, home to The 1975, Pale Waves, Wolf Alice and many others. Also, it drew 300.000 viewers on YouTube and grabbed the attention of Canadian rapper Powfu. He incorporated a sample of the track in his single Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head), which became a worldwide hit in early 2020. In an interview, beabadoobee said about that: “I kinda hated it. I hated more people knowing about the first song I’d ever written and not my others.” Nevertheless, it formed a perfect launch pad for her own career.
In the last months, she released no less than five singles ahead of her debut album Fake It Flowers. Care, Sorry, Worth It, How Was Your Day? and Together are all on it. My favourite track however is Charlie Brown. Not exactly because of its light-hearted theme, because it’s a dark song about auto-mutilation. But it’s also a driving song, full of energy. Explosive even, in a Nirvana kind of way. Epic stuff by a very promising artist who is only 20 years of age.
Recommended as well:
beabadoobee – She Plays Bass
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.
Eliza & The Delusionals – Sentimental
My recommendation of Eliza & The Delusionals’ Just Exist is one of the all time best-read posts on this blog. Apparently, the Australian band around Eliza Klatt already had a huge following early in their career. Undoubtedly, the number of fans has blown up since then, seeing their steady stream of great pop/rock tracks to date.
Following last Spring’s EP A State Of Living In An Objective Reality, they are now back with a brand-new song. It was written in collaboration with award winning Australian pop writer Sarah Aarons (Cosmo’s Midnight, Childish Gambino) and American songwriter/producer John Hill (WAFIA, Portugal. The Man). As hinted by the title Sentimental, it’s a song with a somewhat nostalgic feeling to it. Musically, it brings us back to the indie rock of the ‘90s and early ‘00s.
Eliza explains how it came together: “Kurt started playing some chords in a tuning he made on the tour bus. We knew we were going in for a writing session, so after coming up with a few ideas around the chords, we brought it into the studio with Sarah and John, and they really helped bring it to life. After having a few months of listening to the demo over and over, myself and Kurt added a bridge and the other parts before taking it into the studio with Ruby and Tex to record it.”
Recommended as well:
Eliza & The Delusionals – Swimming Pool
Eliza & The Delusionals – Just Exist
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.
Chateau Chateau – Hey There
Chateau Chateau is an evolving community of musicians led by power couple Alex (vocals and guitar) and Rachel (vocals and keytar). Tom (drums), Jordan (keyboard and guitar), and Zach (bass and guitar) complete the line-up. In true DIY fashion, they do everything from start to finish. In addition to song-writing, this includes recording songs, printing shirts, building props, and sewing stage costumes.
Just over 2,5 year after they formed, Chateau Chateau already prove a Carte Blanche Music favourite. The Tucson, Arizona band is well-known for combining flamboyant glam-rock with lyrics that are much more sober and dark. Think of subjects like mental illnesses, addiction, and suicide.
But in 2020, things are different. On their new single Hey There, the music is as dark as the lyrics. It’s a melancholic ballad about the struggles of choosing for short-term comfort instead of long-term consequences. Alas a theme that fits the shifting spirits now that the pandemic lasts longer than some had expected.
Recommended as well:
Burn Me Alive
Evidence
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 Beths – Mars, The God Of War
One can hear the fun The Beths are having while playing their songs. Take their new single Mars, The God Of War, for instance. A well-crafted, driving rock song that’s lifted from their sophomore album Jump Rope Gazers, which dropped last July. It brings a smile to your face, and then you haven’t seen the video yet.
The clip was directed by long-time collaborators Callum Devlin and Annabel Kean of Sports Team. It shows an attempted robbery by the New Zealand rock quartet.
Singer/guitarist Elizabeth Stokes comments: “Since NZ is COVID-free, it is a noticeable joy and euphoria to come together and do something. We feel very happy and the sports team kicked it out of the park again.”
The Beths are set to tour their home country in November, hopefully followed by a European tour kicking off in March next year.
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 43):
Abbie Ozard – True Romance
If you like artists like Lauran Hibberd and whenyoung (I happen to love them!), do listen to Abbie Ozard as well. After years of writing and playing music in and outside of school, she won a song-writing competition in her hometown. Subsequently, the now Manchester-based artist began to independently release music in 2018. Gradually, she developed her own gritty, ‘80s and ‘90s inspired indie-pop style, with the help of co-producer Rich Turvey (Oscar Lang, Vistas, Blossoms).
True Romance, named after the Quentin Tarantino-written movie from 1993, is Abbie Ozard’s new single. An escapist, upbeat track with guitars, drums and bass equally prominent in the mix.
Just like its predecessor TV Kween, it’s a song that’s romanticising what is actually happening. She explains: “Growing up and living in a small town has made me dream of better things, and being a better person outside the bubble that I live in at the moment. I feel like I’m constantly having some form of identity crisis. I watched True Romance and thought ‘fuck, i just want to be Alabama in this film’ and live this mad life with a cool leopard print coat on and a pink Cadillac. Hopefully one day I’ll be happy with everything that’s going on and the way I am, but for now I’m just gonna carry on wishing I was in True Romance.”
This week, True Romance by Abbie Ozard is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
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 43)
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:
- Palace Winter (feat. Penny Police) – Richard (Says Yes) (Wildcard this week)
- Little Quirks – Florence’s Town (Wildcard last week)
- A Girl Called Eddy – Been Around
- Charles – Far Gone
- Creature Comfort – Woke Up Drunk
- Genes – Super Single
- Lauran Hibberd – Boy Bye
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: Icona Pop & Sofi Tukker, Nothing But Thieves, Pearl Jam, Smith & Burrows, and 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.
Gin Wigmore – HBIC
After 10 years, New Zealand artist Gin Wigmore freed herself from, as she puts it, ‘the restraints of a major label’. She explains: “I’m not here to bash or belittle the story that is my past, as I had a very cool ride… for the most part. I am just really happy to be in a new chapter where I’m the HBIC.”
HBIC is also the title of Wigmore’s rocking new single. It stands for Head Bitch In Charge. In her own words: “This is a chapter that presents a true freedom with time, subject, implementation and expectation for my music.”
Now that she has complete control, she decided to release a new song roughly every six weeks. Since the start of this scheme, last Spring, HBIC is her fifth single. It’s a raucous celebration of her new-found freedom. And by the sound of it, Wigmore isn’t prepared to ever give it up again.
Recommended as well:
Gin Wigmore – Cabrona
Gin Wigmore – Beatnik Trip
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.
Efecto Pasillo feat. Huecco – Funketón [2020 Version]
Efecto Pasillo is a popular Spanish band, formed in 2007 on the Canary Island of Gran Canaria. Three years later (now 10 years ago), their first, self-titled album came out. The band have dedicated the whole of 2020 to the celebration of this milestone.
So far, Efecto Pasillo released four albums. Throughout this year, they’ve been releasing new versions of tracks off these albums, each with a guest artist. In the end, they’ll have released ten updated versions, and meanwhile, they’re working on three brand-new songs.
After collaborations with acts like Despistaos, David Otero and Georgina, the seventh jubilee single features Huecco. He is the creator of the rumbatón genre, which mixes rumba flamenco with reggaetón. To make things more complicated, Huecco collaborates with Efecto Pasillo on a reprise of their 2013 track Funketón. This results in an extremely catchy cocktail of funk and rumbatón.
I dare you to try and sit still to this one!
Recommended as well:
Efecto Pasillo feat. O’Funk’illo – Chacho [2020 Version]
Efecto Pasillo – Las Banderas
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.
Pyro – Come Back For You
Imagine a band that combines the energy of Foo Fighters with the holy fire of U2. Could that be possible? It is. Please meet Pyro, a Dutch rock band with Bas Soetens as its front man and main songwriter. The coming months, they’ll release four singles, which will eventually form their second EP Come Back For You. Just like their first EP Out Of The River, it was mixed by Ronald Prent (Rammstein, Simple Minds) and mastered by Ted Jensen (Green Day, Kings Of Leon).
Title track Come Back For You is Pyro’s new single. A driving rock song with pounding drums, epic guitar riffs, melancholy verses and a catchy chorus. Lyrically, it’s a love song about couples that take a break from their relation. It’s often when you’re away that you realize you already had what you’re looking for.
Also keep your eye out for a beautiful acoustic version of this banger, to be released in the coming weeks.
Recommended as well:
Pyro – F.O.M.O.
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.
Superbird – Operate
2019 was a hugely successful debut year for British funk-rock power-trio Superbird. They released no less than six singles, the very first (Cola Bottle Fizz) ending up as the theme tune for ITV’s ‘The Sara Cox Show’. This resulted in sold-out shows, and ultimately, they were crowned BBC Introducing’s ‘Band of the Year’.
Superbird just released their third single of 2020. Operate starts in soft mode, but builds up to an epic conclusion. A groovy track that sounds like a future live favourite. Unfortunately, live shows as we used to know them are not expected to resume any time soon. In a short Q&A, I asked drummer/vocalist Alex Ash about the consequences of the Corona pandemic for Superbird…
How did COVID-19 change your master plan?
Alex: “COVID forced us into full writing mode. We did our first writing session over Zoom and in a three hour session we wrote a whole new tune! This happened for the next four nights. Never before had we sat on so much material and were able to select which were the best. It has truly made such a difference and without a doubt taken our next release to another level.”
Nine tracks into your career, are you into the ‘album’ concept or will you just continue to release separate singles?
Alex: “We would love to do an album but with the way music is consumed now, we want to continue staying in people’s faces and have a lot more announcements. Recording an album would take us away from the hussle.”
What’s Operate about and/or what inspired it?
Alex: “Operate is a heartfelt, emotional rock-ballad of love and loss. The story depicts the tragic separation of two people, with the protagonist begging the question: can the person that broke your heart be the only one who can fix it?”
Recommended as well:
Think You Got Me
Super Superior
Year On String Along
Cola Bottle Fizz
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.
