Browsing Tag rock
Wildcard (week 37):
Devon – I Don’t Want 2 B Ur Friend
Devon Cassells is a 20-year-old producer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. He is inspired by artists ranging from Michael Jackson and Beck to The Neighbourhood and Twenty One Pilots. Having played the guitar in numerous bands since he was 10, he nowadays writes, records and produces his music himself.
Following his debut single Weirdo (2017), and the tracks Day Dreaming and Plastic Statues (2018), he just put out his fourth song. I Don’t Want 2 B Ur Friend is an up-tempo slice of indie pop-rock. Short (just over 2 minutes), but snappy, with a catchy chorus and an ever-flowing energy. It doesn’t happen very often I wish a song would last longer.
This week, I Don’t Want 2 B Ur Friend by Devon is the new 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.
Con Brio & Lyrics Born – Mistakes
In 2017, Con Brio first shared the stage with rapper Lyrics Born. From that moment on, they knew they wanted to work with him. This resulted in a recording session in Con Brio’s own studio. The session produced two songs: Sundown, to be released later this month, and new single Mistakes.
The latter combines the band’s rocking soul with the rapper’s cool, contemporary raps. Think Anderson .Paak, but funkier. “In the studio, I felt like I understood them instantly, and it was effortless”, Lyric Born said about Con Brio. “I gave my input in the recording process as a band, and they knew how to bring the best out of me as well. It has been nothing good vibes since day one, which will ultimately come across in the recordings.”
Both tracks are perfect promotion for Con Brio and Lyrics Born’s collaborative tour along the American East Coast, next October.
Recommended as well:
Con Brio – Too Lit 2 Quit
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 37)
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:
- Agat – I’ve Done It Again (Wildcard this week)
- Lush Puppy – Ms. Grey (Wildcard last week)
- Citizen Kay – Ego
- Miss June – Anomaly
- Simple Creatures – Thanks, I Hate It
- Skylar Grey – Shame On You
- Superbird – Super Superior
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: Camila Cabello, Editors, Elvis Crespo, Foster The People, Hooverphonic, The Allergies, 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.
Wildcard (week 36):
Agat – I’ve Done It Again
Not much is known about Tel Aviv, Israel-based four-piece Agat. The band consists of Agat Schwarz (vocals, keys), Gal Oved (keys), Nir Horowitz (bass) and Tamuz Dolev (drums).
I’ve Done It Again is only their first single. Yet, it already has a unique sound, involving both electronic sounds and live instruments. Think trip hop à la Portishead, with the same dark undertones, but fresher. Agat’s intimate vocals float over industrial bass sounds, fuzzy guitars, spooky strings and experimental beats, resulting in an eerie atmosphere.
The band’s Horowitz-produced debut album will be out in December. In the meantime, fans of Billie Eilish – and who isn’t, nowadays? – should really check this dark fairy-tale.
I’ve Done It Again by Agat is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard! It may not grab you the first time around, but it will grow on you. Slowly and surely, just like the song itself.
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 36)
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:
- Lush Puppy – Ms. Grey (Wildcard this week)
- Nicolah – Holiday (Wildcard last week)
- Ana & The Changes – Differences
- beabadoobee – She Plays Bass
- Raffaella – Ballerina
- Union Duke – 123
- Zuzu – Get Off [2019 Version]
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Werner’s Weekly player below. Only Differences by Ana & The Changes is not available on Spotify yet.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: Cigarettes After Sex, Sheryl Crow & St. Vincent, Beth Hart, Alphabeat, Sløtface, 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.
Simple Creatures – Thanks, I Hate It
Early this year, Mark Hoppus (blink-182) and Alex Gaskarth (All Time Low) surprised many with their side-project Simple Creatures. Hot on the heels of their first EP Strange Love, they just announced its follow-up. The EP Everything Opposite is slated for release on 11 October.
The 6-track EP will open with the previously released single Special. And it will be closed by the song Thanks, I Hate It. A distortion-heavy song with an intro that reminds me a little of She’s Got Me Dancing by Tommy Sparks. Elsewhere, it sounds like an early Beck tune. Great references, as far as I’m concerned!
Thanks, I Hate It is a tongue-in-cheek take on all the, ehm… haters out there. Gaskarth wrote about it: “Had a day in the studio where we were feeling bad about ourselves because SOME PEOPLE don’t appreciate angry synthesizers. Now we get to shake our hips to that neg energy in a healthy and productive way. Everybody wins.”
Recommended as well:
Simple Creatures – Drug
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.
Miss June – Anomaly
Post-punk, no-wave and rock are not the first things I think about regarding New Zealand. Still, Auckland four-piece Miss June have got it all. Listening to their music, one can imagine why they’ve once been described as ‘some unholy union between Sonic Youth and Le Tigre’.
Frontwoman Annabel Liddell, guitarist Jun Park, bass player Chris Marshall and drummer Tom Leggett create a blistering, reckless sound. Tomorrow, 6 September, Miss June release their debut album Bad Luck Party. It contains 11 tracks, with standard ingredients like noisy guitars, melodic hooks and overdriven riffs.
Two of the album’s songs, Best Girl and Enemies, have been released before. Third teaser Anomaly is out now as well. “I have an incredible ability to attract individuals that are as flawed as I am”, singer Annabel says. “It’s made my life chaotic and beautiful. This song is about a girl. A girl I will never understand. A girl that’s a gun, a burning sun and an anomaly 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.
The Vices – Life Grows
Only nine months after changing their name from Ten Years After, The Vices give birth to their debut EP. Life Grows will see the light on 20 September. They wrote the songs in between their first ever shows supporting Yungblud, a gig at Eurosonic and a UK tour. The band make an accessible mix of surf, rock and garage, a bit like The Strokes.
Title track Life Grows may sound like a happy tune, but The Vices went deep for this one. Frontman Floris van Luijtelaar explains: “Life in the city, where everything you do and say is seen and heard, can be confusing and frustrating. They always try to tell you if it’s right or wrong, ain’t there nothing in between? Sometimes self-reflection is being blocked by all the noise of others’ opinions….”
Life Grows’ was written in a night of insecurity, where Van Luijtelaar realised that as long as you’re behind your own decisions, it doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks.
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.
beabadoobee – She Plays Bass
There’s nothing wrong with Bea Kristi’s real name. But her artist name beabadoobee is genuinely swinging. So far, the 18-year-old London singer-songwriter’s musical style has mostly been pigeon-holed as ‘bedroom pop’. A description that relates more to technical issues than to content, in my opinion. Nevertheless, more and more artists pop up in this category. Time for beabadoobee to move on…
Her new single is called She Plays Bass, so you’re right when you presume it to feature a dominant bass line. This, along with a shift towards ’90s indie-rock, gives the song a nostalgic, New Order kind of vibe. However, according to a press release, it was inspired by Sleater-Kinney and The Breeders. No complaints there…
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.
Zuzu – Get Off [2019 Version]
In 2016, I spent as much time looking for great new music as I do now. By then, however, I didn’t post those songs on this blog, but I played them in my Carte Blanche radio show. Almost exactly three years ago, I discovered Zuzu, a singer-songwriter from Liverpool with a rough edge to her voice. I instantly liked her debut single Get Off, which she said was influenced by Pavement and Courtney Barnett.
She was quickly signed by Virgin/EMI, part of major record company Universal Music. They just released a new version of Get Off as Zuzu’s next single. By the sound of it, it’s clear there was more money available than the first time around. It all sounds much fresher and this mix leaves more room for all of the instruments. As if a blanket was pulled off of the song.
That doesn’t mean the first version was bad though. I’d still fall for it if it wouldn’t have been remixed. Therefore, I think it’s a little bit daft that the original version has now been removed from streaming services, like it never existed. Because it did, and it still does 😉. Great song, which should finally signal her break-through!
Recommended as well:
Zuzu – How It Feels
Zuzu – Beauty Queen
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.
