Browsing Tag rock
whenyoung – Never Let Go
2018 was a good year for Irish-born, London-based band whenyoung. Their debut single Pretty Pure was a banger straight away, just like their first EP Given Up, which featured follow-up Heaven On Earth.
Never Let Go is the band’s first offering of the new year. Vocalist and bassist Aoife Power explains: “It’s a song about mental health and hope. It’s a message to let people know that you can share your pain with others. It’s a reminder that someone is always there for you even in the darkest times. There is always a reason to not let go.”
The band photo on the artwork shows what you can also hear in the music: it has become more stylish, more sophisticated. The guitars are less prominent in the mix, in favour of synths. This gives the song a fuller sound, ready for radio and hopefully a next step towards the masses.
If you happen to be at showcase festival ESNS in Groningen, the Netherlands: tomorrow (18 January) they play in venue Vrijdag from 10:50PM. See you 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.
American Authors – Stay Around
The members of American Authors met while attending Berklee College of Music in 2006. The quartet spent their first years in Boston, recording and performing music under the name the Blue Pages. In 2010, the band relocated to Brooklyn, where they changed their name to American Authors in 2012.
Now, five year since their break-through single Best Days Of My Life, the band are about to issue their third album Seasons. It contains the last year released singles Deep Water, Say Amen, Neighborhood and the brand-new track Stay Around. A beat-driven, up-tempo song!
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 3):
Jon Tessier – For A Little Eye Candy
Jon Tessier is a Brazilian-French singer-songwriter and music producer, who spent childhood and most of his teenage years in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The last three years however, he’s been working on his music from Ibiza (Spain) and Paris (France).
He draws inspiration from a diverse range of musical heroes, including Mötley Crüe, Depeche Mode, The Doors, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers as well as the Brazilian bossa nova artist João Gilberto. None of them are overtly present in the music Tessier makes himself, which can be described as guitar-driven pop music with an alternative rock edge. A new artist with a fresh sound, that I like very much.
For A Little Eye Candy, Jon Tessier’s new single, is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, which means it features prominently on this blog for seven full days.
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 3)
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:
- Lizzo – Juice (Wildcard this week)
- The Lottery Winners – That’s Not Entertainment (Wildcard last week)
- As December Falls – On The Edge
- Chateau Chateau – Evidence
- Evil Edna – Isle Of Dogs
- Mamas Gun – Golden Days
- Uncle Frank – Lay It All At His Feet
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: Blood Red Shoes, The Chemical Brothers, Janelle Monáe, Joe Jackson, Radiohead, White Lies 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.
Garbage (feat. John Doe & Exene Cervenka) – Destroying Angels
While on tour with Blondie and LA punk band X, Garbage worked with John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X to write and produce Destroying Angels. The track, which Garbage describe as a murder ballad, was released as a 7” single on 23 November 2018 for Record Store Day: Black Friday. The initial physical release was limited to only 3.000 copies, but now, the song is available digitally for everyone interested.
The B-side is the band’s take on David Bowie’s 1972 classic Starman, originally recorded for American DJ Howard Stern’s all-star Bowie tribute, which aired in February 2018.
Beyond Destroying Angels, Garbage is also working on their 7th studio album. Last summer, No Horses was our first taste of where this new record is going…
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 – Evidence
Only a year ago, in the beginning of 2018, Chateau Chateau was formed in Tucson, Arizona. It took the 7-piece band exactly one single, Crisis Party (released in early summer), to get the attention of Amsterdam-based music label TCBYML (This Could Be Your Music Label).
The parties signed an agreement to release Chateau Chateau’s first 5-track EP, Evidence, in early 2019. It will be preceded by three singles, the first being the EP’s title track. A wonderful up-tempo indie pop song that sounds like a love child of Satellite Stories and Vampire Weekend.
What more do you need to know to hit the play button?
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.
Evil Edna – Isle Of Dogs
Evil Edna are Paul Cockerham (vocals, harmonica), Joe Thompson (drums), Sam Taylor (bass), and Simon Land (guitar), a rockabilly punk band from London. They have a unique, genre-crossing sound, which blends gypsy harmonica, psychobilly guitar, thumping bass and upbeat drums, as if Madness, The Pogues and the Bintangs were put in a blender. Gogol Bordello fans will be delighted!
If you’re ready to stomp your feet and shake your hips, please meet Evil Edna!
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.
Bear Hands (feat. Ursula Rose) – Blue Lips
Since the release of their 2007 debut EP Golden, and first full album Burning Bush Supper Club three years later, Bear Hands did a lot of touring, including opening slots for like-minded larger bands like Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit, and MGMT. In 2013, they scored their first real hit, when Giants became a surprise Top 10 hit on Billboard’s Alternative Chart.
Now, the Brooklyn indie band kickstarts 2019 with laid-back, groovy new single Blue Lips, which features Ursula Rose. She also co-wrote the track, and a couple of other ones to be released later. Lead singer Dylan Rau says about Blue Lips: “The song is about listening to someone’s problems over and over and over until you die and your lips turn blue. Excuses, promises, optimism crashing on the rocks of reality and getting bored with someone’s schtick and hanging up on them.”
The song is part of an EP, that also contains new track Ignoring The Truth, as well as 2016 single 2AM, and Back Seat Driver (Spirit Guide), which was released last 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.
As December Falls – On The Edge
One of the great things of 2018 was the resurgence of female fronted rock, although it didn’t really reach the mainstream yet. Will As December Falls do the trick? They just might…
Although they sound like a great mix of Paramore and Fall Out Boy, they’re in fact a British quintet, formed in 2014 by Bethany Curtis (vocals), Ande Hunter (lead guitar/vocals), Will Brown (rhythm guitar), Timmy Francis (bass) and Lukas James (drums).
After a few EP’s and singles, the band founded their own label ADF Records to release their upcoming self-titled debut album. Following Ride and One More Night, On The Edge is the record’s well-produced third single, and their strongest so far.
Curtis says about it: “I wanted to write a song that said that it’s okay to feel how you feel. You don’t need to conform to something that you’re expected to be. (…) I wanted to say that it’s okay to be crazy. It’s okay to not be happy. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to get angry and not look perfect all the time. It’s okay to be you.”
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 2)
After last week’s Carte Blanche Music Top 2018, which was Werner’s Yearly, basically, here is a brand-new edition of Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters. As always, it contains the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best new releases in alphabetical order:
- The Lottery Winners – That’s Not Entertainment (Wildcard this week)
- Mokono – Signs (Wildcard last week)
- Cat Pierce – Human Experience
- Christon – Closer To A New Day
- Emmy Wildwood – Everything Hurts
- 900 Miles feat. The Kooks – Hold Tight
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 Gift, Sofi Tukker, Sting, Reel Big Fish, 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.
