January 31st, 2018
Coeur De Pirate – Prémonition
Canadian singer-songwriter Béatrice Martin started her career as Her Pirate Heart, but translated that name to French when she stopped writing songs in English. That was ten years ago. Coeur De Pirate’s jubilee will be celebrated with her sixth studio album, due out later this year.
As a taster for the album, she released the single Prémonition, which is as musically uplifting as it’s lyrically sad. “It’s a song about the cycle of toxic relationships”, Martin says. Suitably, the clip captures a pair of ill-suited lovers who are unable to give each other up.

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.
Anderson East – Girlfriend
Nashville may be known as the country capital, but the music scene is so much more diverse there… It is also the place Anderson East calls home, an artist who is more into soul and jazz.
His latest album Encore features a song that he wrote with Avicii. At first sight, this may appear to be an odd combination, but their ten-hour-long writing session ended up in a great track. Girlfriend is a horn-heavy blaster about falling in love with another guy’s girl. Is it about his own girlfriend then, country music superstar Miranda Lambert, whom he started dating after she broke up with her husband Blake Shelton? Nope, it’s not, East claims. Just so you know…

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.
Wildcard (week 5):
Fall Out Boy – Church
Does a band with hundreds of millions of streams and views to their name need a Carte Blanche Music review? Of course not. But on the other hand: this blog is about great new music, and Fall Out Boy happen to have made a great new song. ‘Great’ in every way: it’s fantastic, but it’s also full of grandeur. It’s epic. A cinematic track.
Fall Out Boy has never shied away from bombast, but with this new single they outdid themselves. Church is equal parts rock and gospel. Its lyrics go: “If you were a church, I’d get on my knees.” But what follows may very well be the loudest prayer ever.
Church by Fall Out Boy is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. You can find all of them in the Wildcards 2018 playlist. If you’re interested in how this song came about, you should definitely check out this video of Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump explaining the ‘making of’. If not, just enjoy the regular clip:

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.
Mylène Farmer – Rolling Stone
You may have noticed here that I have a weak spot for music from France. Brand new acts as well as artists that have been around for quite some time. Like Mylène Farmer. Obviously, the French themselves love her as well. ln 30 years’ time, she sold over 30 million albums, reached the Top 10 of the French charts with 49 singles, 16 of which made it all the way to number 1. This makes Mylène Farmer easily the most popular French artist alive.
During her career, the singer didn’t leave a single musical genre untouched, often surrounding herself with producers ‘du jour’, like Moby and The Avener. This new single was produced and co-written by fellow Frenchman Feder. Rolling Stone precedes Farmer’s same-titled album (slated for an April release) and instantly shot to number 1 in France, as you would’ve expected. Now, it’s here for you to discover…

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.
Glen Hansard – Roll On Slow
Since 1990, Glen Hansard is the frontman of Irish rock band The Frames. But he also released three solo albums to date, Between Two Shores being the most recent one. Roll On Slow is the new single off that record. It features a great horn arrangement.
Hansard says about the track: “Roll On Slow was written while I was living in a former women’s refuge called the Florence Mission on Bleecker Street in New York City. My girlfriend was away in Europe and I was drinking too much. I was walking home from a bar at dawn, which was happening a few too many mornings in a row. The song is simply about missing your girl and being unable to take care of yourself.”
In support of his new album, Glen Hansard and his band will play twelve gigs in Europe this February.

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.
L’Impératrice – Matahari
In a way, French music is always surrounded by an sense of sensuality. Whether it’s the melancholy whispering, even moaning singing technique of many a chanteuse, or the sultry, groovy, tropical disco like instrumentation, in French music passion and desire are never far away. Take L’Impératrice (French for ‘the empress’), for example…
L’Impératrice is a six-piece band from Paris (where else? ). Since 2012, they released four EP’s and a handful of stand-alone singles. Only 2 March their debut album Matahari will come out. The title track is the new single, and with a subject like that, it can only be a sensual track, can it? Well… it is!

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 (week 5)
A week with new music by The Aces, Buffalo Tom, Franz Ferdinand, The Fratellis, and The Go! Team can only be a good week. And to let you join in the fun, I put all of these tracks in the Carte Blanche Music playlist.
But there was more, as you may have read here throughout the week. If you haven’t, don’t worry. Each Monday morning I present you with Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters. The songs aren’t only below (in alphabetical order), but also in the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar. The links point you to my original recommendations. What a way to start the working week!
- The Nectars – Heaven (Wildcard this week)
- Paloma Faith – ‘til I’m Done (Wildcard last week)
- Lissie – Best Days
- Stalking Like Candy – Can You See The Light
- Tom Grennan – Sober
- Youngr – Ooh Lordy
- Yungblud – Polygraph Eyes

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.
Roe – Wasted.Patient.Thinking
Roe is the moniker of 18-year-old multi-instrumentalist Roísín Donald, from Derry in Northern Ireland. Only a year into her career she already earned herself a slot at the legendary Glastonbury festival, and she played at showcase festival ESNS in Groningen, the Netherlands, last week.
The singer-songwriter combines poppy songs with lush synths, big drum machines and guitars. ‘Grumpy electro pop’, in her own words. Wasted.Patient.Thinking is her new single!

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.
European Border Breakers Chart 26 January 2018
One week ago, many European radio stations attended the ESNS showcase festival in Groningen, the Netherlands. Some of the appearing artists clearly made a big impression, resulting in significant airplay. This shows in this week’s European Border Breakers Chart…
Yungblud (pictured) has four tracks (or five, if you want) inside the Top 100: I Love You, Will You Marry Me sits at #17, his latest single Polygraph Eyes enters at #34, the mash-up of Camilla Cabello’s Havana and Dua Lipa’s New Rules that he played for Studio Brussel comes in at #74 thanks to airplay on that Belgian station, and the song that started his career, King Charles, re-enters at #93.
Another artist that clearly took advantage of his presence at the festival, is EBBA winner Youngr. His collab with Endor, Give It Up, is still at #33, his new single Ooh Lordy is new at #62 and the track that won him his EBBA, Out Of My System, re-enters at #89. Tom Grennan holds three positions as well: Found What I’ve Been Looking For (#21), Royal Highness (#24), but the best of them all, his just-released single Sober, crashes in at #48.
Jade Bird hits the jackpot with her latest single Lottery as well, by entering at #59, and Arp Frique‘s Nos Magia is new at #82.
Other entries this week are Amber Arcades – It Changes (#60), Lotto Boyzz feat. Vianni – Bim Bam (#69), Sea Girls – What For (#73), Harry Styles – Wild Thoughts (#78), Farah Elle – Teardrop (#95), Rosie Carney – Awake Me (#96), and The Surfing Magazines – New Day (#98).
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), the Airplay Chart and the Streaming Chart, 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.
Yungblud – Polygraph Eyes
As soon as Yorkshire-born Dominic Harrison is ‘on duty’, he’s Yungblud. An eclectic artist, who loves to mix musical genres, from rap metal via Britpop and ska to punk.
His eponymous 5-track debut EP already spawned three singles: King Charles; I Love You, Will You Marry Me; and Tin Pan Boy. Now, a fourth track has been put forward: Polygraph Eyes. It’s his first song where he steps off the gas.

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.