November 5th, 2017
border breaker, single trackAngèle – La Loi De Murphy
Angèle – La Loi De Murphy
If you ever wondered why a slice of bread is always falling with the buttered side face-down: that’s Murphy’s Law. In general terms, it says: ‘If anything can go wrong, it will’. Murphy’s Law is a law about the opposite of coincidence. In fact, it’s about the certainty that mother nature is a bitch 😉 . The best you can do is laugh about it…
That said, Murphy’s Law was also the inspiration for a great new track. La Loi De Murphy is the debut single of 21-year-old Belgian singer Angèle Van Laeken. She’s from a musical family: her father Marka was in the band Allez Allez and her brother Roméo Elvis is a Belgian rap star. Listening to her debut single, I wouldn’t be surprised is Angèle is a fan of Christine & The Queens.
La Loi De Murphy is already an airplay hit in Belgium, and is now crossing over to France, causing the song to enter in this week’s European Border Breakers Chart. Hopefully more countries will follow, knowing that – despite its French title – most of the lyrics are in English…
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
They Might Be Giants – I Left My Body
John Flansburgh and John Linnell are masters in producing nerdy, humourous power pop music, and must be two of the most prolific pop artists ever. Their band They Might Be Giants, named after the same-titled 1971 movie, exists exactly 35 years now. Between 1985 and 2000, the band issued hundreds of (often short) songs, demo’s and works in progress through the Dial-A-Song telephone service, which was followed by the dialasong.com website.
Also, so far, the band released 19 studio albums, 9 live albums, 10 compilations and numerous singles. In 2015 alone, They Might Be Giants put out one single every week(!), followed by another 31 singles in 2016.
After taking a break following their 2016 US tour, the band are now back with I Left My Body. A 100% They Might Be Giants track, so don’t bother if you didn’t like them anyway. Me however, I’m a huge fan and I’d love to introduce them to you. If you didn’t already know them, this may be the moment to connect. Their new album I Like Fun is scheduled for release on 19 January 2018.
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.
album track
The Sound Of Arrows (feat. Annie) – Wicked Ways
Swedish electronic pop duo The Sound Of Arrows have often been compared to Pet Shop Boys. Over five years after their critically acclaimed debut album Voyage, Stefan Storm and Oskar Gullstrand didn’t let themselves get rushed into a second opus. They took the time to record it and dropped the tracks Beautiful Life, In The Shade Of Your Love (feat. Niki & The Dove) and Don’t Worry over the past half year, only to release the complete album Stay Free last week.
One of the stand-out tracks on it is Wicked Ways, which has a trip hop kind of feel. It’s an all-Scandinavian collaboration, featuring Norwegian pop princess Annie, whose Heartbeat, Greatest Hit and My Love Is Better are among the best pop songs of the zeroes.
For me, The Sound Of Arrows hit bulls eye with Wicked Ways!
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 3 November 2017
Dua Lipa, Alan Walker, Anne-Marie, Alma… These are just a few names of European hit artists that first became visible on a European level in the European Border Breakers Chart. Want to know who tomorrow’s superstars are? They might be among the seven newcomers the Top 100 welcomes today…
Talking about Alan Walker: this winner of a European Border Breakers Award scores the highest entry in this week’s chart. His new single All Falls Down (feat. Noah Cyrus & Digital Farm Animals) comes in at a respectable #18. Other entries are Tom Gregory – Run To You (#70), Touts – Bombscare (#80), Angèle – La Loi De Murphy (#87), Sälen – I Am Champagne, (#95), Suzi Wu – Taken Care Of (#96), and Dutch indie sensation Pip Blom (#99; pictured).
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
Plan B – Heartbeat
Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew is better known as Plan B, originally a hip hop artist, who likes to incorporate elements of genres like soul and drum & bass into his music. The first time he did so, on his second album The Defamation of Strickland Banks (his alter ego), he shot straight to number one.
After the follow-up Ill Manors though, he went through – in his own words – a ‘complete identity crisis’, including drinking too much Jack Daniels and Coke. He announced a hip hop concept album of which he predicted “I know radio ain’t gonna play it”, but that didn’t see the light.
What did see the light though, was a baby girl. That may be one of the reasons his next album will be more personal than before. The record isn’t finished yet, but it does already have a title (Heaven Before All Hell Breaks Loose) and a release date: 13 April 2018.
Already available now is the single Heartbeat. A welcome return to soul and drum & bass, giving the track a sound akin to Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy.
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
Enter Shikari – The Sights
Obviously, Enter Shikari has nothing to do with Shakira. In fact, the band called themselves Hybrid, when they formed in 1999. Only four years later they adopted their present name. At the time, they combined punk rock and hardcore punk with electronic influences.
Enter Shikari are particularly successful as an album act and a live band. In their home country Great Britain, but also far abroad. Apart from specialist media, the radio support hasn’t been overwhelming yet. That might change with this new single, that still rocks, but is definitely ‘milder’ than earlier output.
The Sights is taken from Enter Shikari’s latest album The Spark, that has been released on CD, vinyl and even cassette.
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
Your favourites (October 2017)
There is more great new music than I can recommend on this blog. On these pages I usually restrict myself to emerging bands, but obviously, successful bands (or less successful bands with a lengthy career nevertheless) can still release fantastic music as well. My container playlist Carte Blanche Music, consisting of all of my musical tips for 2017, has no limitations in that respect. It contains over 800 songs, worth nearly 49 hours of damn fine new music. If you’re a musical omnivore, ready to be surprised on a daily basis, please follow that list.
Somehow, I still managed to recommend over 550 out of those 800+ tracks on this blog since its start on 1 January 2017. Each of them good enough for me to dare and ask you to spend a few minutes of your time. So, that’s my request to you. But how do you respond to my plees? In other words, which of my recommendations have indeed been followed?
These are the 10 blogs that have been read the most during the month of October:
- Philip Selway feat. Lou Rhodes – Walk
- Arcade Hearts – Running
- Columbia Mills – This City Doesn’t Feel Like Home To Me
- Childcare – Getting Over You (By Dressing Up Like You) (WC)
- Kara Marni – Golden
- Eli Cripps – Poison Arrow
- Firewoodisland – Dearest Brother
- Culture Wars – Bones
- Sleigh Bells – Rainmaker
- The Royal Engineers – Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Let You Down
I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!
NB: it should be noted that Bokito – Aloof, Sol Heilo – Killing Karma and Dangers Of The Sea – Mathilda all reached the same number of views as The Royal Engineers, but they were posted slightly earlier. Nevertheless: cheers to them as well.
All of the above – and about 800 more great tracks – are compiled in my 2017 playlist:
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 44):
Wildcard (week 44):
MisterWives – Never Give Up On Me
Anno 2017 MisterWives, that started off as an 80’s cover band, has a nice bundle of original songs under their belt. To me, Our Own House and Machine (a Carte Blanche Music Wildcard early this year) are stand-out tracks in their repertoire, and there obviously is more to come.
After releasing their second album Connecting The Dots only last Spring, the American six-piece wastes no time and already gives us a completely new track. A new highlight in their catalogue, with a guitar riff destined to make audiences jump.
Never Give Up On Me is sure to brighten up Carte Blanche Music this coming week; I added it with love to the ever expanding Wildcards 2017 playlist, featuring the best songs of the year so far!
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.
