August 31st, 2017
Rat Boy – Turn Round M8
After fine singles like Wasteman, Get Over It , Move and Revolution, Rat Boy finally released his full length debut Scum earlier this month. An album, recorded in Damon Albarn (Blur) his studio, that doesn’t only include all of the tracks we’ve come to love Jordan Cardy and his bandmates for, but also a collaboration with Blur’s Graham Coxon. He plays guitar on most recent single Laidback. And perhaps most important of all, Kendrick Lamar sampled the track Knock Knock Knock – originally from a 2015 Rat Boy mixtape – on the song Lust. from his album Damn.
But all of the name dropping aside, Scum features a song that stands out on its own as a potential next single. I absolutely love it. How do you like the album opener Turn Round M8?
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.
Grace Mitchell – Capital Letters
Grace Mitchell is an American singer-songwriter, born (just over 20 years ago) and raised in Portland, Oregon. SoundCloud helped her reach and grow a public for her songs, but it was a cover of the Hall & Oates classic Maneater that really got things going for her. Since then she made an EP produced by Mark Foster (of Foster The People), for instance.
But her latest single is easily her best, in my opinion. Capital Letters starts lo-fi yet dancible, and quickly grows into a guitar-laden, bass-heavy affair. It’s a track about defiance and rebellion, even if there are immediate consequences. Sounds like fun? Then hit that play button!
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.
Intergalactic Lovers – River
15 September, Belgium’s Intergalactic Lovers release their new album Exhale. It was recorded in the UK, with Gil Norton (Foo Fighters, Pixies) at the helm. “I was pretty intimidated at first,” singer Lara Chedraoui explains. “Gil works with so many bands and we were this little band from Flanders trying to prove to him that we’re even bigger than any name he’s ever worked with.”
But the collaboration worked out just fine, resulting in their most promising album so far. First single Between The Lines was a great introduction already, and the follow-up River surely makes you long for more. How much more? Lara says: “World domination is on my list. I’ve put the bar there.”
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 35):
AKA George – Stone Cold Classic
George Barnett (a.k.a. AKA George) ranked up tens of millions of YouTube streams with a mix of his own material and superb covers. This got him the attention of every publisher and record label in the UK, but he decided that didn’t feel right. He subsequently tore down everything he had created on the internet, losing all of those tens of millions of views in the process. Then, he started again.
This spring, AKA George released his album First Friday on his own record label, but he is already writing his next album. Talking about that process, he says: “I’m not interested in writing small songs that live on the internet. When I write, I write big pop songs that will sound amazing at Glastonbury. That’s my measure: Does it sound huge?”
Listening to the first fruit of that upcoming album, the track Stone Cold Classic, one can only conclude: yes, it does!
Tom Robinson said about AKA George: “He is one song away from superstardom.” This could very well be that one song, and to help it just a tiny bit more, I made it this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard…
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.
Cristobal & The Sea – Steal My Phone
Cristobal & The Sea are a truly pan-European band: based in London, but consisting of people from Spain (Alejandro ‘Ale’ Romero – bass, vocals), Portugal (João Seixas – guitar, vocals), Corsica/France (Leïla Séguin – flute, vocals) and the UK (Elliott Arndt – drums). And their music is just as multifaceted, incorporating bossa-nova, Afro-pop and Western folk and rock.
They name bands like Fleet Foxes, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & The Papas and Fleetwood Mac as their influences. This results in a rhythmic and colourful sound, as you can hear on their new single Steal My Phone.
22 September, Cristobal & The Sea will release their new album Exotica.
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.
Basement Jaxx – Rendez-Vu (Jesse Garcia Remix)
Basement Jaxx have never shied away from mixing various genres into their own steaming musical cocktail. Never a dull moment, in none of their tracks. Red Alert, Rendez-Vu, Bingo Bango, Where’s Your Head At?, Good Luck, Take Me Back To Your House, Mermaid Of Bahia (do you want me to go on?)… I can’t get enough of them! Not in the least because of the great singers they work with.
Their new single is, in fact, an old one. 1999’s Rendez-Vu has been remixed by Jesse Garcia, who hasn’t altered it too radically – although a large chunk of the lyrics (“I got you in my heart, I got you in my head”) has disappeared in this version. Furthermore, it’s still the great song it has always been.
Garcia made two versions: a Club Mix and a Tribal Mix. You choose…
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.
Kettcar – Sommer ’89 (Er Schnitt Löcher In Den Zaun)
As a boy, I used to have a Kettcar, and I loved it. And just now, I discovered there is also a band with that name, that formed 16 years ago. I love their new single just as much as my own skelter, in my youth…
Kettcar is a five-piece from Hamburg, who already released four studio albums. Their next one, Ich vs. Wir, will appear 13 October. Sommer ’89 is its first single. The song’s structure, with its true storytelling approach, reminds of Hey Pretty by Poe.
Sommer ’89 is a commentary on the fugitive crisis. It describes a flight (in the summer of 1989, obviously) from the German Democratic Republic into the Federal Republic of Germany, seen from the perspective of someone who helps the fugitives achieve their goal. An impressive story with an impressive video, which you can see below…
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)
Besides many upcoming acts that are worth checking, I added new tracks by Beck, Feeder, Neil Finn, Lissie, Nicole Atkins, The War On Drugs and many others to my 2017 container playlist Carte Blanche Music last week. If you are a musical omnivore, like me, that’s a playlist worth following, if I may say so myself.
If the six best songs of the past week are enough for you, look no further. I selected them for you and present them here, in alphabetical order.
Click the links for a little bit of background and meanwhile, listen to all six of them through the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar…
- Julian Velard – Don’t Ask Me About Hamilton (Anymore) (Wildcard this week)
- Saint Etienne – Dive (Wildcard last week)
- Alice Merton – Hit The Ground Running
- Childhood – Nothing Ever Seems Right
- Fjokra – Bang On The Door
- Olsson – No Sugar
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.
Olsson – No Sugar
Last year, Christian Olsson debuted with his great single Hold On, featuring fellow Swede Mapei. Also the follow-up singles One In A Million and Ça M’est Égal are on his first album Millions, that came out last spring.
And now, Olsson comes up with single #4. All-new music, not to found on his album. Apparently, he has moved on already. No Sugar is an irresistible song, based on a Madchester kind of beat with some gospel thrown into the mix. Love it!
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.
Jasper Erkens – Hop On The Rhythm
Jasper Erkens is already something of a phenomenon in his country of birth, Belgium. He won his first awards when he was 15, scored his first hit a year later and was, at 16, the youngest artist ever to play the prestigious Rock Werchter festival. Since then, the story has only gone better… He graduated with distinction at BRIT School in London as a singer, producer and songwriter, following in the footsteps of Amy Winehouse, The Kooks, Katie Melua and many others.
Nowadays based in Amsterdam, Erkens is recording his new album with Jim Eliot (Kylie Minogue, Ellie Goulding, etc.). The release is expected in October, but in the meantime, here is his new single Hop On The Rhythm for you to enjoy!
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.
