January 3rd, 2019
900 Miles feat. The Kooks – Hold Tight
I’d love to tell you more about 900 Miles than that it’s a new artist project by London-based producers Zdot & Krunchie. Alas, they keep all information under wraps, which is, of course, their good right.
Following up on Stuck On Loop (feat. Pepper Rose), Hold Tight is only their second single. It’s sung by The Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard, it’s also available in an acoustic version, and it’s going to be huge in no time. That’s all folks, let’s let the music do the talking…
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music 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.
Emmy Wildwood – Everything Hurts
In 2013, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Emmy Wildwood (ex-frontwoman of garage rock band Velta) started a solo career. This spring, she’ll release her new EP All My Blood, which will contain her recent single Down Down and the brand-new follow-up Everything Hurts.
The latter sounds like a very well executed attempt to make Fleetwood Mac’s Tango In The Night-era sound her own. The track even has the same driving rhythmic basis as Big Love. Lyrically, Everything Hurts is a triumphant empowerment anthem, inspired by ‘the moment that survival instincts kick in during a crisis’. “We’re taught as women to constantly withstand everything in all of our relationships, romantic or otherwise, so things have to be really bad to get the strength to fight for fair treatment and justice,” she says. “Because we’re taught not to speak out, it’s in those rock bottom situations that we tend to find or remember our power.”
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music 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.
Wildcard (week 1):
The Lottery Winners – That’s Not Entertainment
Let me start the new year with a song from late 2018, that was criminally overlooked by… well, everybody really. Including me. And being overlooked isn’t going to win this band the lottery, so I’d better set things straight…
The Lottery Winners are a British four-piece, formed in 2008 by Thom Rylance (vocals/guitar), Robert Lally (guitar/vocals), Katie Lloyd (bass/vocals), and Joe Singleton (drums). They were signed to Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Records, by music mogul Seymour Stein in 2016.
After releasing a few singles throughout the years, and extensive touring late 2016 and early 2017, the band are now working on their debut album. That’s Not Entertainment is the first, rather brilliant single off it, and it deserves to be a hit. For starters, it’s the first Carte Blanche Music Wildcard of 2019!
In the Wildcards 2019 playlist you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards 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.
Your Favourites (2018)
Happy New Year from ‘all of us’ (that’s me) at Carte Blanche Music! Like the past year, 2019 will undoubtedly be full of musical surprises. Especially when you’re open to let some new sounds into your life. And if you don’t have the time to find them yourself, please let me help! Simply follow the Carte Blanche Music playlist on Spotify for daily updates of great new music, or bookmark this blog.
Carte Blanche Music doesn’t intend to list all new releases. On the contrary: I make a strict selection and only give you the best new music, twice a day. Since last year, I restrict the number of recommendations to two per day: one around 9AM, and the other around 7PM (CET). This limitation provided for a 35% increase of the number of views per post in 2018.
This brings us to the question: which of my recommendations have been viewed the most throughout the year? In other words: what are your favourites of 2018? The answer is: a totally different set of songs than my year-end list, the Carte Blanche Music Top 2018 😉 and that’s totally fine!
Just a few statistics to kick things off:
- Your Favourites (2018) contain nine songs that were in Your Favourites (2017) already, and apparently stuck with you
- The full Top 3 of your list contains Dutch artists (in total, there are 21 tracks by acts from the Netherlands. Dutch fans are the best)
- 36% of the visitors are Dutch (like myself… Hi mom!)
- 19% of the visitors are Americans, 16% are from the UK; a total of 87 nationalities have come by in 2018 (dank je wel, thanks, merci, obrigado, danke schön, etc.!)
- 26% of all traffic comes from direct searches for specific titles, so Carte Blanche Music also seems to have an archive function
- Other important referrers are Facebook (22%), and Twitter (13%)
- Impressive: the relatively high position of Mokono’s debut single Signs, the final Carte Blanche Music Wildcard of 2018
Okay, I can hear you thinking: ‘Don’t bore us, get to the chorus’, so here they are… Just two more things: all of these great songs (plus 1.000 more) are in my Carte Blanche Music 2018 playlist, and the links below direct you to my original recommendations for more information. Now, enjoy the music! Read More →
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.
