November 10th, 2017
border breaker, single track
Millie Turner – Eyes On You
Only 17 years old, Millie Turner makes an impressive debut. Her songs, that she writes herself, are absolutely captivating. Earlier this year she put out her first single Underwater, so this follow-up is only her second offering.
Eyes On You is great song, that reminds me of Maggie Rogers’s Alaska. It’s powered by an acoustic guitar that would’ve fitted a modern pop dance production (à la Lost Frequencies) as well, underpinned by a deep bass line throughout. Midway, as an added bonus, a piano melody comes in that’s simple and subtle, yet so effective. And on top of all that, there’s the London singer’s mesmerizing voice.
The song could have done without the fade-out, but other than that it’s clear Millie Turner is a talent to reckon with.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
chart, ebbchart
European Border Breakers Chart 10 November 2017
After two #4 singles (Dye My Hair and Chasing Highs), Finnish rising superstar Alma (pictured) scores her first Top 3 hit in the European Border Breakers Charts with Phases (feat. French Montana). It must have been long ago a Finnish artist was as commercially successful outside her home country as this rapper.
Elsewhere in the Top 100 ten emerging European artists are entering the chart, eventually hoping to optain the same amount of success as Alma: Vargas & Lagola – Rolling Stone (#44), Bishop Briggs – Dream (#47), Lewis Capaldi – Mercy (#49), Raye feat. Mr Eazi – Decline (#65), Dermot Kennedy – Moments Passed (#72), Alien Stadium – This One’s For The Humans (#77), Goat Girl – Cracker Drool (#80), Royaume – If We (#97), The Orielles – Let Your Dogtooth Grow (#98) and Declan McKenna – Why Do You Feel So Down (#100).
For the complete Top 100, click the ‘EBBChart’ tab in the top menu of this blog (loading of the PDF may take a little while). More charts (like the Tips, ranking the tracks that are on their way to the Top 100), are available at www.europeanborderbreakerschart.eu, where you can listen to all of the tracks and watch their videos as well.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
single track
Joan As Police Woman – Warning Bell
As a session singer, guitarist and violin player, Joan Wasser can be heard on numourous albums. She was Jeff Buckley’s girl friend when he sadly drowned in 1997, joined Anthony & The Johnsons afterwards, and also records her own music as Joan As Police Woman.
Her next album Damned Devotion will be out 9 February 2018. “It is darker and more well-considered,” she says about it. If the first single Warning Bell is anything to go by, Aimee Mann fans will be delighted!
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
cover, single track
She Drew The Gun – Sweet Harmony
She Drew The Gun started in 2013 as a solo project by singer-songwriter Louisa Roach. Her debut album Memories Of The Future (2015) was produced by James Skelly, who added haunting riffs and an electronic element to Roach’s poetic narrative lyrics.
Since then, the project gradually expanded. Siân Monaghan (drums), Jack Turner (guitar) and Jenni Kickhefer (keyboards) joined, and made She Drew The Gun the four-piece it currently is.
In 2016, they won Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent Competition and subsequently played the John Peel Stage at the legendary festival. And recently, as part of the ‘25 Years of Parr Street Studios’ project, they recorded a cover version of The Beloved’s 1993 smash Sweet Harmony. Or actually, they re-invented it. Adding a rap and a far more rocky vibe than the sugar-coated original, She Drew The Gun’s version sounds like a song of their own.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
single track
Loïc Nottet – Doctor
Let me start with a confession: I’m not one of those billions of people that like to watch tv talent shows in general, and the Eurovision Song Contest in particular. On the other hand, I don’t like it that (wannabe) artists who take part in such a show are often earmarked for the rest of their careers. Personally, I judge every singer or band by their qualities as a musician, not by the platform they chose to display them.
That said, Loïc Nottet finished second in the third season of The Voice Belgique in 2014 and represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, where he ended fourth. Well, doesn’t that prove the people in his past, who bullied him for having a ‘girly’ voice instead of a manly voice, wrong?
This year, Nottet released his debut album Selfocracy, with great tracks like Mud Blood. Not wasting any time, he now comes up with a brand new track, that’s not on the album. Once again, Doctor is a modern production, which is sure to be loved by admirers of Sia. And Halloween fans will love the rather creepy video.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
single track, wildcardWildcard (week 45):
Wildcard (week 45):
The Presets – Do What You Want
Sydney duo The Presets (Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes) are remixers for acts like Kings Of Leon, Silverchair and Lenny Kravitz, but are also musicians in their own right.
Their latest album Pacifica, which included the great single Promises, among others, dates back to 2012. Now, thankfully, there’s a new sign of life. Do What You Want is The Preset’s new single, and I love the way they announced in on their Facebook: “Do yourself a favour and buy it. Ha ha, just kidding. We know you’re not going to buy it. So stream it, sing it, scream it, feeeel it. We don’t care. Our love for you is unconditional. Do what you want.”
The track couples a pounding four-to-the-floor beat with a rocky sound and some old-school vocal sampling, resulting in a certified banger that combines the best of LCD Soundsystem and Audio Bullys. Or, as they describe it themselves: ‘pub rock techno’…
Find out how that sounds via Carte Blanche Music, where Do What You Want is this week’s Wildcard. Hence it will feature on the blog prominently, only one click away from discovery…
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
single track
The Orielles – Let Your Dogtooth Grow
Hailing from Halifax (UK), The Orielles are sisters Sidonie B and Esmé Dee Hand-Halford and their best friend Henry Carlyle Wade, whom they met at a house party just a few years ago. They have a shared love of alternative US bands from the 90’s such as Sonic Youth and Pixies as well as pioneering filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino. Musically, those inspirations result in a girl-group-go-garage thing. So it isn’t strange that their band name is a homage to the Shirelles.
The Orielles like to ‘do it themselves’. They learned their instruments on the road through gigging, design their own artwork and help with the video-making. After a string of singles, their new song Let Your Dogtooth Grow will hopefully force a break-through.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
single track
Zak Abel – Still Want UUU
My favourite track off Zak Abel’s debut album Only When We’re Naked, that I added to the Carte Blanche Music playlist a month ago, has now been chosen as his new single.
Late in the summer of 2015, Zak Abel first came on my radar with Running From Myself, a Justin Timberlake kind of track from his first EP One Hand On The Future. Half a year later he released the even better song Everybody Needs Love.
Since then Zak Abel released five singles that would end up on his debut album, but I can’t help but thinking he is still underrated. I’m confident however the best is yet to come, and Still Want UUU could do the trick. It’s a radio-friendly, modern sounding pop song, but hey, just hear for yourself:
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
single track
High Contrast – Love On A 45
Remember Shakin’ Stevens, kids? Probably not 😉 . So I won’t ask you about his manager… Anyway: the manager of the Welsh rock ‘n’ roll singer has a son: Lincoln Barrett, who is better known as remixer and drum & bass producer High Contrast.
This century, so far, High Contrast released one or more singles almost every year. And he is gaining ever more mainstream success, with his latest singles even hitting daytime radio playlists.
Recently, he dropped his 6th album Night Gallery, including the singles Shotgun Mouthwash, Questions and The Beat Don’t Feel The Same. But the best of them, I think, is Remind Me, which includes a fragment of Aretha Franklin’s 1965 single One Step Ahead.
Another one of my favourites on High Contrast’s album is an equally (northern) soulful affair: Love On A 45, which seems to have been inspired by an old record as well. However, he claims not to have used any direct samples on this album, instead recreating everything that might sound familiar. Anyway, this sounds like a hit to me!
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 45)
No better way to start a new music week than with a compact playlist containing the best new songs that were released in the past week. Werner’s Weekly is just that, and presents the tracks in alphabetical order:
- MisterWives – Never Give Up On Me (Wildcard this week)
- Dagny – Love You Like That (Wildcard last week)
- Angèle – La Loi De Murphy
- Eliza & The Bear – Hell
- Enter Shikari – The Sights
- Plan B – Heartbeat
- The Sound Of Arrows (feat. Annie) – Wicked Ways
- They Might Be Giants – I Left My Body
For more of 2017’s musical highlights so far, follow my container playlist Carte Blanche Music. Last week, I added many emerging artists, and better-known ones like The Fratellis, Tricky and Weezer.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
