Browsing Tag rock
Liza Anne – Bad Vacation
These are bizarre times. And in days like these, people need music for their entertainment. Nevertheless, many artists postpone the release of their new albums, because ‘it doesn’t feel right’. Luckily, there are artists like Georgia-born Liza Anne as well. She states: “It feels like a strange time to release music, but an even stranger time not to.”
Bad Vacation is her newest single. It’s a bold and frenetic track about the manic pain and joy of freeing yourself from an unhealthy relationship. Catchy, synth-driven and with a killer bassline. “Writing this song was a mental playground for me”, Liza Anne explains. “Turning pain into satire and imaging a hope-filled world with no ceilings. I wanted to bottle up that electricity that happens when you’re free of something taxing.”
Recommended as well:
Liza Anne – Panic Attack
Liza Anne – Paranoia
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 – Split The Sky
Split The Sky is Aussie singer, songwriter and storyteller Alex The Astronaut’s new single. It follows her former Carte Blanche Music Wildcard I Think You’re Great. Both tracks will appear on her upcoming debut album The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing.
Alex (full name: Alexandra Lynn), wrote Split The Sky from her experience of caring for someone close to her in a time of sickness. It was an overwhelming experience (“I wanted to go back to childhood joy and stop all this adult stuff from happening”, she says) but it was one that gave her a new perspective on life. “I think this song is also a message of hope. No matter what happens, you can go on to joy, happiness and calm – it just takes time.”
The song comes with a unique video, stitched together from footage from Alex’s previous music videos. Her solution to not being able to shoot a new clip amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Recommended as well:
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.
AKA George – Bad For You
George Barnett (a.k.a. AKA George) releases one stone cold classic after another. His tracks are known for their driving rhythms, massive guitar hooks, punchy beats and solid vocals. Luckily, his electrifying new single Bad For You is no exception. It’s the title track off his debut EP, which is set for release on 10 April.
Although Bad For You is about relentless desire in relationships, it can also be seen as a coronavirus lockdown anthem. The lyrics could be perceived as a light-hearted letter from the virus itself. It comes with a homemade video that sees the artist offering some advice about self-isolating.
Recommended as well:
AKA George – Manic Machine
AKA George – Stone Cold Classic
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.
Jealous Of The Birds – Ode To Fire
Jealous Of The Birds are back with a single that will slowly ensconce itself in your brain. Ode To Fire was produced by Marta Salogni (Björk, M.I.A.). The song is built around a soothing guitar melody, which appears to hint Indian influences. However, the track was conceived in Portugal.
Irish singer-songwriter Naomie Hamilton is the woman behind Jealous Of The Birds. She explains: “Ode To Fire was written during a solo trip I took to Lisbon, Portugal in the spring of last year. I’d burnt myself out and travelled there with the hope of clearing my head and recharging creatively. In the afternoons I explored the city by foot and then spent the evenings working on songs in a tiny apartment. While I was there I lived a pretty monastic existence, especially considering that I knew no one and couldn’t speak the language. The song expresses that despite how idyllic experiencing a new place and culture is, it can be difficult to fully relish in these things when one is geographically separated from one’s partner. Joy is often diluted when it’s not shared.”
Recommended as well:
Jealous Of The Birds – Blue Eyes
Jealous Of The Birds – Marrow
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.
Bessie Turner – Donkey
Suffolk alt-pop artist Bessie Turner released her debut single Big Sleep in April 2017. Three years on, her new track Donkey is her eighth. It comes after Bessie overcame health hurdles, being diagnosed with sepsis.
Although the lyrics are rather dark, Donkey is a triumphant-sounding guitar-based tune. “It’s an observational song referring to the loss of a loved one and the chaotic time that went hand in hand with grief”, she comments. “About uncertainty and the fact that we actually have no idea what we’re really doing in life for a lot of it. (…) It’s about late, late nights and trying to lose your head. About desperation and finding peace.”
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 14):
Roquemore – Blame
Nicolas Carette was the lead singer of Canadian band The Vasts. The past tense in this sentence does not apply to the frontman, he’s still very much alive. The band however has been disbanded. Carette will from now on be known as Roquemore.
On its Facebook page, Roquemore is described as ‘a beat-driven, baroque-orchestral rock project’. It was ‘born of a desire to recklessly reframe personal turmoil and world events’. Alrighty then… WTF?!?
I guess the best you can do is listen to Roquemore’s debut single, which is plain wonderful. Entitled Blame, it sounds like a cross of early Arcade Fire and Massive Attack. Expect tragic string arrangements, compact grooves and tormented vocals, but boy, what a beauty. Blame was engineered by Jean Massicotte, who worked with Bran Van 3000 and Patrick Watson before.
I truly can’t wait for more! Until then, Blame by Roquemore is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard.
In the Wildcards 2020 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 14)
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:
- The Spitfires – (Just Won’t) Keep Me Down (Wildcard this week)
- Hollie Col – She Knows (Wildcard last week)
- Izo FitzRoy – Red Line
- Lime – Surf N Turf
- Magnus Bechmann – What Do You Know
- Saint Motel – A Good Song Never Dies
- Shingai – Coming Home
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: Dua Lipa, Pearl Jam, Sondre Lerche, 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.
Awolnation feat. Alice Merton – The Best
Earlier this year, Awolnation released the single Mayday!!! Fiësta Fever. It featured Ima Robot and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros singer Alex Ebert. Apparently, the US band is still in duet mode. This time however, they go in full overdrive with an epic new release. Their new single The Best totally lives up to its title.
When first released in late 2019, The Best was an Awolnation-only production. That was enough for it to reach Top 5 positions in Billboards Alternative Songs Chart and Alternative Radio Chart. A brand-new version of the track is sure to take it even higher. The gorgeous and distinct vocals of upcoming German singer Alice Merton make The Best even better. A reworking and collaboration by the book, even though it came together while both parties were in self-isolation in different parts of the world.
The track is taken from Awolnation’s forthcoming album Angel Miners And The Lightning Riders, due for release on 24 April.
Recommended as well:
Awolnation – Miracle Man
Awolnation – Passion
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.
Pacific Estate – She
If you’re as old as I am (ouch), ‘Pacific Estate’ may wrongly remind you of Pacific State by 808 State. An electronic music track from 1989 that stood out because of its birdsong and saxophone melody. However, Pacific Estate has absolutely nothing to do with it, so you might as well forget about this introduction.
This Canadian rock band was formed in 2013 by a few high school kids looking to play Rush covers. They released two tracks in 2016 and are currently recording their debut album. She is the first single to be released ahead of it. Pacific Estate’s trademark high powered vocals and air tight rhythm section make for an energetic track, which only slows down for the last 40 seconds.
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.
Hope D – Second
Hope Defteros is a 20-year-old singer-songwriter from Brisbane, Australia. During high school, she released three albums under her full name. Since then, a lot has changed. Her debut single as Hope D, Swim, landed her the QMusic Emerging Artist Award, last year. It also led to various festival performances, as well as sold-out headline shows in her hometown.
Hope D’s sophomore track is aptly-titled Second. Now with a full band behind her, it’s an edgy, pulsing track with driving guitars, whirling synths, and angsty vocals. Or, to put it short and snappy: it’s an indie pop-rock banger.
“Second is about a period of time in my life where I was going out partying too frequently and not being able to recall much from the night before”, Hope D explains. “It emphasises the thought of wanting to have a good time for at least a second. But I was doing this for so many ‘seconds’, that the time added up to what felt like years of forgotten nights.”
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.
