Browsing Tag rock
Werner’s Weekly (week 35)
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:
- Nicolah – Holiday (Wildcard this week)
- Terouz – Outstanding (Wildcard last week)
- Caravan Palace – Supersonics
- Enter Shikari – Stop The Clocks
- Nasty Cherry – Live Forever
- Sarpa Salpa – Before It Goes Dark
- Tom Sail – Wounded
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: Ava Max, Incubus, K.Flay, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Smash Mouth, Yungblud, 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.
You Me At Six – What’s It Like
You Me At Six’s latest album VI was quite a sonic departure from… well, anything you had heard from the band before. A great experiment as far as I’m concerned, which spawned some of their best songs to date. Now, they go even further…
What’s It Like is the quintet’s first new song since last year. This time, they add trap/hip hop influences to the electronic rock sound they developed last year. If that sounds deliciously kaleidoscopic on paper, just click the link of your choice below. You’ll hear it’s even better!
Frontman Josh Franceschi explains the song is the band ‘flexing their creative muscles’. “Combining our favourite genres and bringing them together in one track. For me lyrically, it’s looking at our society in parts in 2019. I definitely feel as though we are living in a time where we’ve lost our way a little bit. There are great innovators and pioneers which we can rely on, but there is also a feeling of the blind leading the blind and a lack of humility present. Within the title and the chorus I sort of poke fun at those who are libertines or self serving – ‘What’s it like being perfect all the time?’ Life’s not a competition, but people have a tendency to play it out that way.”
Recommended as well:
You Me At Six – Back Again
You Me At Six – 3AM
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.
Enter Shikari – Stop The Clocks
Following their most recent album The Spark (2017), Enter Shikari toured a lot. Enough to release not one, but two live albums this year. Toward the end of 2018, the band added the song Stop The Clocks to their live sets. A great track, more poppy than the band ever sounded before.
A brand-new studio version of Stop The Clocks is Enter Shikari’s new single. This catchy, up-beat song begins with glitchy keys and features Queen-like vocal bursts. Lyrically, it’s about ‘the joys of human connection’.
Frontman Rou Reynolds explains: “When someone is open and honest about their vulnerabilities, others can connect with them, and then all of us can feel stronger and more comfortable. It conveys the relief, warmth and freeing nature of the normalization of mental health struggles following decades of stigmatism. A flickering flame of positivity in these difficult and regressive times.”
Recommended as well:
Enter Shikari – The Sights
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.
Tom Sail – Wounded
The haunting opening tones of Tom Sail’s second single Wounded remind me of Jamaica’s I Think I Like U 2. Not because they sound the same, but because both are fun, up-beat, indie-pop songs with a retro feel.
Sail played every instrument on Wounded himself. “I come from a very musical family, and taught myself to play since I was 10 years old,” he says. “Some of the ideas for my music were generated during a six-month trip through South-East Asia, Australia and America and written in the back of a camper van on a tiny guitar I bought in Vietnam.”
He’s currently working on a 12-song album to be released later this year. Expect echoes of The Beatles, The War on Drugs, Oasis and Motown in Sail’s music. Asked by indie-music.co to describe his upcoming album in five words, he answered: “Retro. Melancholic. Hopeful. Dreamy. Pensive.”
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.
Sarpa Salpa – Before It Goes Dark
Sarpa Salpa are a 4-piece alt-pop band from Northampton. George (guitar), Marcus (vocals/guitar), Ethan (bass) and Charlie (drums) take their influences from Foals, Tame Impala and Friendly Fires. Apparently, they’re not afraid to raise high expectations. Even better: they don’t disappoint.
Their first two, independently released, singles were met with praise, airplay and packed shows. Now, they’re now working on their debut EP, which is due out at the end of the year. Before It Goes Dark is the band’s new single. A mid-tempo, yet danceable track. It tackles the frustration of not being able to stop the inevitable. On top of that, it proves parlandos don’t have to be daft.
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.
Phantogram – Mister Impossible
In 2007, Josh Carter (vocals, guitar) and Sarah Barthel (vocals, keyboards) started the band Charlie Everywhere. But it wasn’t until they changed the band name to Phantogram that success fell their way. Their debut album Eyelid Movies came out in 2009, but its follow-up meant their break-through. Second long-player Voices contained the single Fall In Love, which was a worldwide hit. The same goes for You Don’t Get Me High Anymore, off 2016 album Three.
After a few rather quiet years, Phantogram speeded things up recently. Late May, they returned with Into Happiness, and Mister Impossible out now. Looks like a fourth album is on its way…
Mister Impossible is a self-written and -produced tune with a certain suspense to it. This is imposed by a booming beat and stretched-out synth bursts. In the bridge of the song, the vocal melody is doubled with a keyboard melody, which adds a sense of urgency. Great comeback!
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.
Nasty Cherry – Live Forever
Charli XCX is ready to release her third album in less than a month. But besides that, she’s helping her protégés of Nasty Cherry launch their career. The band consists of model Gabriella Bechtel (vocals), Chloe Chaidez of the band Kitten (guitar), Georgia Somary (bass), and Deborah Knox-Hewson (Charli’s drummer). Half of them living in London and half of them residing in Los Angeles, this is not the best example of a logistic success story. However, when they come together to write, there is instant chemistry.
Nasty Cherry just released their third single, Live Forever. Once again co-written by Charli XCX, it’s a song where the loud drums and catchy chorus stand out. Live Forever follows the quartet’s awesome debut single Win and What Do You Like In Me.
Recommended as well:
Nasty Cherry – Win
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 34)
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:
- Terouz – Outstanding (Wildcard this week)
- The Howl & The Hum – Human Contact (Wildcard last week)
- MisterWives – Whywhywhy
- Nouvelle Vague feat. Julie Delpy – Lalala
- Sofía Ellar – La Revolución
- Son Mieux – Nothing
- The Man Who – Give Me Something
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: Death Cab For Cutie, Liam Gallagher, Simply Red, Stereophonics, Two Door Cinema Club, 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.
Temples – You’re Either On Something
Ahead of their third studio album Hot Motion (due out on 27 September), British band Temples just released its second single. Being a psychedelic pop band, recent single Hot Motion leaned more towards psychedelic, whereas You’re Either On Something is more pop. That may not be good news for hardcore fans, but it certainly is for a band that deserves to make a next step in their career. Good stuff!
Frontman James Bagshaw says about it: “I’m really proud of You’re Either On Something lyrically. On that track, I can hear influences of stuff that I listened to when I was growing up. There’s almost a nostalgia to that track, even though it’s very forward-looking. (…) You’re Either On Something tackles the theme of bliss, and the perception of people’s experiences of it. We delved into the idea that some people are inherently carefree, and others more anxious. Some people may use a chemical cocktail to reach a blissful state.”
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 Man Who – Give Me Something
Toronto, Canada-based alt-rock trio The Man Who recorded their new single Give Me Something in Los Angeles. This explains the song’s carefree California vibe. With its characteristic spacey synth riffs and distorted beats, it’s a track that will stand out on radio and streaming playlists alike. Give Me Something is only the band’s second major label release, so now it’s up to the label to show what they’re worth.
If you think The Man Who named themselves after the 1999 Travis album, think again. The band took their name from a quote by philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The world makes way for the man who knows where he’s going.”
For the record: Travis named their album after the book ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat’ by neurologist Oliver Sacks. A highly recommended book, by the way. You’re welcome.
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.
