June 28th, 2019
single track
Bye Beneco – It’s Not True Love
Hailing from Johannesburg, South Africa, Bye Beneco are an eclectic dream-pop band, led by impressive front woman Lenny-Dee Doucha. With their debut album Space Elephant (2014) and the EP Ghetto Disko (2017), they’ve already been making waves in both the underground and popular culture music scenes. This summer, they move to Berlin to further conquer Europe (and beyond).
Today, as a follow-up to their recent single I’m Not The One, Bye Beneco released their new song It’s Not True Love. Another danceable indie-pop track, and their best yet, in my opinion.
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.
single track
Annie Hamilton – Kitchen
Annie Hamilton was lead guitarist in Sydney band Little May, and currently plays guitar in Jack River. But she is also active outside the music business. She studied textiles and graphic design, and started her own clothing label. Next to that, she recently also started a career as singer-songwriter.
Hamilton started working her own music during a creative residency in the tiny, isolated Icelandic town of Ísafjörður. She spent two months holed up in her apartment, writing new songs. Fade and My New Tattooed Chameleon were the first fruits of that period, and she just released her third effort, Kitchen. A melodic, accessible rock song with a sound halfway Heather Nova and The Breeders.
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.
remake, single track
Maggie Lindemann feat. Travis Barker – Friends Go
Last March, Friends Go by Maggie Lindemann was the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. The original was a funky pop song, incorporating ska elements. By then, she already hinted at a future remix that former blink-182 drummer Travis Barker made of the track. That version is out now, but it turns out not to be a remix at all.
Instead, Lindemann and Barker rebuilt the track and turned it into a badass rock version. A mix that sounds so natural, that it might as well have been the original version. Meanwhile, it wouldn’t sound out of place in the blink-182 catalogue either.
To me, this version sounds even better than the original, which I already liked a lot!
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.
single track
Annabel Allum – When The Wind Stopped
Guilford singer-songwriter Annabel Allum is making a name for herself with her relatable brand of slacker rock. She came to my radar last year, with her single Beat The Birds, which was also remixed by Rat Boy. It eventually ended up on her second EP Sorry I’m Not Perceptible.
She just returned with When The Wind Stopped, the second single (and title track) to be taken from her forthcoming third EP, due for release this autumn. A song with propulsive basslines, anthemic rhythms and the singer’s signature, matter-of-fact tone, it’s a passionate ode to not giving up on your childhood dreams as we mature.
Allum says of the inspiration behind it: “When I was a kid I had such big expectations of how life was gonna be. I think most people do, but somehow we lose track of our dreams and what we really want from life. It’s so easy to shut yourself in a societal box and put your dreams to bed. I say fuck that. If you want something, go fucking get it. Less moaning, more chasing.”
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.
album track
Alfie Templeman – Tragic Love
Only 16 years ago, Alfie Templeman was born in a household full of musical stimuli. His sister is a pianist and plays trumpet, and his dad collects guitars. It was inevitable that Alfie would ask for drum lessons aged just seven years old, and at 13, he installed recording equipment in his bedroom. This is where he writes, records and produces everything he makes.
Templeman just released his second EP, Sunday Morning Cereal on Chess Club Records, home to MØ and Sundara Karma, and renowned for early releases from Wolf Alice, Jungle, and Mumford & Sons.
He tells about the EP: “There’s a lot of r&b and indie coming together in this record. I wanted to experiment a little more with groovy drum beats and ‘90s hip hop synths, while keeping the indie slacker vibe of my first EP.”
Alfie plays every instrument on the EP, and my favourite track off it is Tragic Love, a mid-tempo, bluesy song about a doomed relationship.
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.
single track, wildcardWildcard (week 26):
Wildcard (week 26):
Videoclub – En Nuit
Historically, English has always been the language in charts all over the world. But this is slowly changing. In recent years, we’ve seen songs in Spanish crossing over to non-Spanish-speaking territories, and it’s my guess that French will be next. The number of great acts from France (and from the French-speaking part of Belgium) is overwhelming. And the fun part is: really young artists appear to lead the way to global stardom.
Remember Belgian singer-songwriter Angèle (23), whom I wrote about many times? Allow me to remind you she’s one to watch! But equally impressive is the career that Videoclub are building. The duo consists of Adèle Castillon (17), a YouTube phenomenon with over 650.000 followers, and her friend Matthieu Reynaud. With only two singles under their belt, they built a large fanbase, mainly in the US. I can see that from the huge number of Americans that read my recommendation of their second single Roi, and who find Carte Blanche Music via organic searches through terms like ‘videoclub roi’ (duh) and ‘videoclub french band’.
Now, the up and coming electro-pop teens are back with their third single. It’s called ‘En Nuit’, which means ‘at night’, but it’s also a play at ‘ennui’, meaning ‘boredom’. Another ultra-catchy song with sweet synth-pop sounds and gripping ‘ooh-ooh’s, that serve as a pleasant backdrop to Adèle and Matthieu’s youthful and sultry vocals. Don’t forget to check the video as well. It’s made by Aube Perrie, who also directed the clip for La Thune by Angèle.
This week, En Nuit by Videoclub is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
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.
single track
Ariana & The Rose – True Love
New York-based Ariana & The Rose is an artist who embraces an audio-visual approach to creativity, producing honest synth-driven songs. Ahead of the first instalment of her upcoming two-part Constellations EP (out on 26 July, with part two set for a 2020 release), she releases a series of singles.
The latest of these, True Love, is her most irresistibly jubilant song yet. It feels like a throwback to classic ‘80s synth pop, while also being undeniably current. Lyrically, the track honours the universal power of love, regardless of sexual orientation, skin colour, or age.
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.
single trackCaroline Polachek – Door
Caroline Polachek – Door
Throughout the last five years, Caroline Polachek released music using stage names like CEP and Ramona Lisa. But she’s probably best-known as one half of the duo Chairlift, which disbanded in 2017. They put out four albums in 11 years’ time, and scored a surprise hit when their single Bruises was chosen as the soundtrack for an iPod commercial in the late ‘00s.
Door is the first song Polachek released under her full name. A song with a fascinating instrumentation and a vocal melody that sounds as if it were played on a synthesizer. According to a press release, it’s ‘the first taste of a forthcoming, larger solo project from [Polachek] to be released later this year’.
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.
album trackAlex Lahey – Isabella
Alex Lahey – Isabella
Only in the autumn of 2017, a year and a half after she broke through in her native Australia, Alex Lahey was picked up in the rest of the world. Her debut album I Love You Like A Brother was an up-tempo trip down guitar lane, but her new album The Best Of Luck Club is a more varied affair.
Isabella, to me, is one of the stand-out tracks, with lyrics as playful as the piano melody it’s built around. Lahey explains: “Isabella doesn’t really need much of an explanation. It’s about a vibrator of which the brand is called ‘Izzy’. The song is about what I think Izzy would be like if it were a person. Basically, she’d be a fucking legend.”
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.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 26)
This is Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Flay – Sister (Wildcard this week)
- Jay Som – Superbike (Wildcard last week)
- Akiva – Broken Ships
- Ceylon Ceylon (feat. Graziella) – Why Don’t They Love You
- Kasador – High Rise
- Montaigne – Ready
- Yorke – Thought I Could
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Werner’s Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: !!!, Cold War Kids, The Cult, The Kooks, Robyn, Two Door Cinema Club, and many 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.
