Browsing Tag rock
Monowhales – All Or Nothing
Since Monowhales released their debut EP Control Freak, several tracks off it were featured in Netflix and CBC television series. The Canadian indie-rock band raised their profile even further by opening for artists like K.Flay, Sloan, and Marianas Trench.
While on tour, they wrote new songs and instantly tested them in front of their audiences. Back in the studio, they recorded their upcoming album with JUNO-award nominated producer Ryan Worsley. So far, two singles were released off it. Recent single RWLYD (Really Wanna Let You Down) and All Or Nothing.
The latter came about as Monowhales’ drummer Jordan Circosta was about to quit his job to work on the band full-time, after getting out of a long-term relationship. “It was a scary time full of uncertainty and risk, but there was no doubt in his mind that he was on the right path”, the band say about it. “We want this song to be an anthem for you to take risks to and believe in the power of your own will.”
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.
Shuffalo – Whispers
Following their 2018 debut EP Heart Attack, Canadian outfit Shuffalo are releasing a series of new tracks this summer.
Whispers is their new single. “An ode to the darkness,” as they call it, “it’s made for dancing and singing along to on summer nights. What happens in the dark isn’t always bad. It can be a great opportunity to socialize, ruminate, hide, and love.”
A danceable rock song, great to shake your hips and sing along to. Not whispering, but at full volume.
Recommended as well:
Shuffalo – Stay On 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.
San Mei – Midnight
On the surface, Midnight sounds like a dream-pop single with a kind of 60’s pop feel. But at the same time, it’s San Mei’s most personal song so far. It was nothing less than a therapeutic track for her. She wrote it to cope with the passing of her mother.
The Australian singer-songwriter (real name: Emily Hamilton) explains: “She was my best friend, and losing her was so very hard. (…) I wrote the chorus lyrics ‘go sweetly, out into the night‘ as a sentiment of letting go, because I decided I didn’t want to keep trying to hold on to something I wasn’t going to get back. I wanted this song to be a celebration and a sweet send-off, and my way of finally saying goodbye.”
Midnight is the first song San Mei produced herself, helped by Michael McCartney and Holy Holy’s Oscar Dawson.
Recommended as well:
San Mei – Hard To Face
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 36):
Red Rum Club – Ballerino
If you like upbeat, optimistic, catchy summer tunes full of hooks and with a triumphant horn section (like I do), look no further! Red Rum Club, specialists in ‘hands in the air’ music, have a great new track out.
With their trademark feelgood songs, the Liverpool sextet are ambassadors and catalysts of good times. New single Ballerino is no exception. Lyrically, this track tackles toxic masculinity and the fear of really letting go.
Lead singer Fran Doran says: “I am always the fool that gets up first at a wedding. The ‘ballerino’ is me. The way I see it is that if I’m dancing, then I don’t know what you’re doing sitting there, you should be too. Ultimately, it’s about boys not dancing and that sense of unnecessary, toxic masculinity that stops people expressing themselves. It’s like a Billy Elliot story, just forget what anyone else thinks and dance!”
Ballerino is the third single in anticipation of Red Rum Club’s sophomore album The Hollow Of Humdrum. It’s set to be released on 2 October and was produced by Chris Taylor. He worked with Blossoms and The Coral before.
This week, Ballerino is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, and will feature prominently at the top of this blog for a full 7 days!
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.
Sarah Wolfe – You Don’t Know Me
Etcetc is an Australian music label that released some pretty epic electronic and indie music the last 10 years. Two Door Cinema Club, Duke Dumont, PNAU, Jax Jones, Duck Sauce, and Datarock are only a few of the names on their roster. Commemorating this more than successful period, the label compiled a Decade Of Dance playlist with it’s best releases. Other artists were then challenged to make their own creative covers of any track from that playlist. Winners were given the means to properly record their version.
Top picks from the competition will be released on the upcoming compilation Decade Of Dance: Reworked. The first track to emerge is Sarah Wolfe’s fab re-interpretation of Jax Jones’ You Don’t Know Me. She turned an already great dance track into a sassy, bass-driven indie-pop stomper.
Recommended as well:
Sarah Wolfe feat. The Flowers – 100 Times
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.
Delta Spirit – The Pressure
Six years after their latest offering, Delta Spirit come back on 11 September with their new album What Is There. The 10-song set was produced by the band and mixed by Tchad Blake (Crowded House, The Black Keys, U2). It was dedicated to the memory of the band’s friend and musical inspiration, Richard Swift.
The Pressure is the long-player’s fourth single. A driving pop-rock song with a deeper meaning, as frontman Matthew Logan Vasquez detailed in Paste Magazine: “Psychological projection is a defense mechanism in which the human ego defends itself against unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others. We live in an unmanageable world, with unrealistic expectations of ourselves and each other. We are both the hero and villain of our own story. While our ego is trying to keep us the former, unbeknownst to us everyone around is possibly experiencing the latter. It’s been over a year since I wrote this song, and so much has obviously changed for all of us since then. I can’t help but laugh/cringe when I hear the lyric ‘the masks we made are wearing thin.’ Now in this time of COVID-19, BLM, and this upcoming election, I hope I can learn to share my convictions and experiences with those who disagree with me with the same love and grace that I am learning to offer myself.”
Recommended as well:
Delta Spirit – It Ain’t Easy
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 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:
- Archie X – Loud Boy (Wildcard this week)
- Town Of Cats – Lemons (Wildcard last week)
- Catherine Anne Davies & Bernard Butler – Sabotage (Looks So Easy)
- E^ST – I Wanna Be Here
- Ellie Dixon – Space Out!
- Mell & Vintage Future – Brand New Day
- The Flowers – You Don’t Say!
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: American Autors, Bright Eyes, Roosevelt, 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.
Felix Riebl – White Walls
The Cat Empire frontman Felix Riebl’s new solo EP is titled Black Room White Walls. No wonder, then, that its first single Black Room is now followed by the track White Walls.
The five-track EP was recorded over several years between New York and Melbourne. But due to an intense touring schedule with The Cat Empire and the release of their latest album he hadn’t had the opportunity to put it out yet. Then, COVID-19 struck and only four shows into their European tour, The Cat Empire rushed home. Just in time to escape the European lock-down. This gave Riebl enough time to prepare the EP’s release.
Don’t expect anything near the Cat Empire sound though. Other than his band’s fusion of latin, ska and funk, his solo tracks are darker and guitar-based with big choruses. The banging rockers combine elements of New Order and Coldplay, while Russian composer Rachmaninoff and Pink Floyd were influences as well.
“There’s an angst to it”, Felix Riebl says about White Walls. “A real dark energy in there, but in the anthemic chorus I feel that it is positive.”
The EP is set to be followed with a full-length album next year.
Recommended as well:
Felix Riebl – Black Room
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.
Dancer – Dreamer
Chris Quinton (CQ), Ben Graham, Bryce Crocombe and Josh Rea are Dancer. A brand-new band from the industrial beach town of Newcastle, Australia. They met in their younger years and even spent five years writing, recording and experimenting with songs, without even forming a band. But that’s a thing of the past. Earlier this year, amidst the chaos and the shut down of the music industry, the four decided to formally start a musical outfit, and named it Dancer.
The first song they put out was Fever, but Dreamer is their first proper single. A euphoric and uplifting song that sounds like a mix of The Killers and early Everything Everything. Think punchy indie-pop with huge choruses minus the falsetto. In other words: an epic radio song, that’s already been picked up by Australia’s alternative radio station Triple J Unearthed.
A friend of the band described listening to Dreamer as “…like riding down a giant hill without a helmet!” I’m already curious what else we’ll find underneath that hill. Hint: Dancer will release their first EP in the last quarter of the 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.
Ellur – Alive
Please allow me a little D-tour before properly introducing you to Ellur…
Remember the 1990s? Or, a little bit more specific: remember Britpop? What a glorious time for a music lover! Eventually, in 1995, this whole Britpop hype lead to nothing less than a good old musical war. ‘The battle of Britpop’. Blur vs. Oasis. Country House vs. Roll With It. I loved both bands, but I didn’t dare to say it, or someone would have chopped my head off. Like all wars, it was completely pointless. It didn’t progress Britpop, but ended it.
Luckily, Britpop was followed by post-Britpop. A second wave of bands, influenced by the first. Think The Verve, Radiohead, Travis, Stereophonics, and even Coldplay. But also Embrace. I love them for late ‘90s/early ‘00s gems like Come Back To What You Know and All You Good Good People. All of them (co)written by the band’s guitarist Richard McNamara.
Fast forward to 2020, we can conclude McNamara’s musical genes found a great new home in his daughter Ella. Always knowing she wanted to pursue a career in music herself, she started writing her own songs at the tender age of 11. She learnt to play the bass and piano, and these instruments also represent the different sides of Ellur’s repertoire. It ranges from piano ballads to full-on pop-rock songs. Alive is from the latter category. Produced by her father, it’s a huge track that sounds like Katy Perry with guitars.
Alive isn’t even Ellur’s most recent single, but I didn’t want you to miss it!
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.
