June 11th, 2018
Sheila & The Kit – Time Again
Sheila & The Kit consists of Suzanne Kipping, Bo Koek, Ralf Pouw (all Dutch) and Chris Doyle (USA). Two years ago, Suzanne and Bo felt it was time to begin a live act with music that they themselves would want to dance to throughout the night. They disappeared into the studio for months and soon the first ideas emerged. With help from Ralf and Chris these ideas were translated into melodic synth-driven songs that are electronic and groovy, and flirt with sounds of the ’80s while retaining a modern feel.
Their singles are getting better and better, and the best one so far is out now: Time Again will get you and the band ready for the summer festival season.
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Werner’s Weekly (week 24)
Monday morning, Werner’s Weekly time! Long story short: here it is, your compass to the music that matters:
- The 1975 – Give Yourself A Try (Wildcard this week)
- Yukon Blonde – Too Close To Love (Wildcard last week)
- Betty Who – All Things
- Bob Moses – Heaven Only Knows
- Calogero – 1987
- Gurr – Hot Summer
You can listen to all of these tracks via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar and click on the links above for more information.
As always, this ‘best of the best’ playlist is only the tip of the iceberg. You can find much more great new music in my 2018 container playlist Carte Blanche Music, which I updated with fine fresh tracks by Dagny, Efecto Mariposa, Interpol, The Smashing Pumpkins, Suede, Sunset Sons, The Vaccines, Young Gun Silver Fox, Youngr and many more in the past week. Enjoy!
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Betty Who – All Things
On 15 June, Netflix will globally roll out Season 2 of its series ‘Queer Eye’. The first series only premiered in February 2018, but was an instant hit. Just like the original version of the series, back in 2003.
For this second instalment of the Netflix version, Australia-born and Los Angeles-based pop star Betty Who revamped the ‘Queer Eye’ theme song, which was originally performed by Widefire feat. Simone Denny.
Betty Who’s version clocks in at 1’44. It doesn’t happen often I wished a song lasted double its time.
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
European Border Breakers Chart 8 June 2018
This week’s European Border Breakers Chart counts no less than 30 (re)entries. That’s 30 pieces of new European music for you to discover: the most promising talent from this continent.
One of the most important success stories of this week comes from Albin Lee Meldau (pictured). Not only is his song Try one of the 8 first-timers in the Top 100, he also sees his tracks The Weight Is Gone and I Need Your Love re-enter the chart.
The 8 entries below are all-fresh in the EBBChart this week:
#36: Naestro feat. Vitaa, Dadju, Slimane, Maître Gims – Bella Ciao
#66: Lump – Shake Your Shelter
#80: ZieZie – Fine Girl
#89: Albin Lee Meldau – Try
#92: Stinemako – Blue
#93: Greg Houben – Animal
#98: NSG – Pushing Up
#99: Yxng Bane feat. Maleek Berry – Corner
For the full 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 also listen to all of the tracks and watch their videos, as well as share them via social media.
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Blow – Power
The four members of Paris band Blow have been friends for years. In the three years of its existence, Blow released three EP’s: I (2015), Fall In The Deep (2017) and Vertigo Introduction at the start of 2018. The latter precedes Blow’s first album Vertigo, to be released on 8 June.
All four band members have strong musical backgrounds, mostly rooted in rock music. Bassist Thomas, for example, was a member of the band Her. Blow however combines electronic and pop music. If you don’t know them yet, Jungle is a good reference. Jungle the band, that is, not the genre.
Power is Blow’s new single, and it’s a very fine one!
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
whenyoung – Heaven On Earth
whenyoung was formed in 2016 after Aoife Power (vocals, bass), Niall Burns (guitar) and Andrew Flood (drums), all hailing from the Irish town of Limerick, had moved to London.
Heaven On Earth is the follow-up to Pretty Pure. Another infectious rock banger full of melody and great hooks.
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Calogero – 1987
In August last year, French super star Calogero released his latest album Liberté Chérie, which went straight into the French album chart at #1. Around that time, I already wrote about my favourite track 1987, an homage to the singer’s much-loved musical era. I was so fond of the song, that although it wasn’t a single at the time, I made it a Carte Blanche Music Wildcard.
My ears haven’t failed me, for nine month later, my wishes have come true. 1987 is Calogero’s new single. They don’t come any more retro than this and I love 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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 23):
The 1975 – Give Yourself A Try
At the start of their career, Manchester band The 1975 scored mainly with singles who’s titles had only one word in it: Chocolate, Sex and Girls, for instance. With the title of their second album, they explored the other end of the spectrum: I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It was the album with the longest title ever to reach #1 in the United States. It spawned two powerplays (now: Wildcards) in my then radio show Carte Blanche: Love Me and She’s American.
After releasing a cover of Sade’s By Your Side and a live album in 2017, The 1975 come up with a third long player in October. Another one with a great title: A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. And that’s not all: the follow-up has been announced already as well: Notes On A Conditional Form is planned for May 2019.
But first things first. Give Yourself A Try is the first taster off the band’s upcoming album. A haunting track, built around a fuzzy guitar melody that’s backed with a beat straight out of a drum machine. I’ve chosen this high energy pop tune as The 1975’s third Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, meaning it features here prominently this week.
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Gurr – Hot Summer
Laura Lee and Andreya Casablanca both studied North America Studies in their home town Berlin in 2011. Laura used to walk around with a Joy Division tote back, and Andreya had a Ramones one, so they became friends. A year later they decided to start a band.
Hot Summer is their new single. It may sound like a summer celebration, but in fact it’s an anti-summer song. Gurr says about the song: “We wrote the song on a very grey day in London and I think this added to us focusing on the darker sides of summer. (…) It’s a celebration of the imperfect summer, and everyday neurosis.”
Hot Summer is equal parts Bangles and The Breeders.
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Fanny Lu & Andrés Cepeda – Amor Verdadero
Both Fanny Lu and Andrés Cepeda are artists from Colombia, but they have more in common. They’re both popular in their home country, have both been coaches in TV talent show ‘La Voz Kids’ in recent years and they’re both from 1973.
Fanny Lu will bring out her album 45 Años De Lu this year and the first single is a duet with Cepeda. Amor Verdadero (‘true love’) is about the value of the simple and really strong in life, according to the artists.
A timeless pop song with a pleasant melody, both lyrically and musically, that deserves to score beyond the latin world.
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
