January 31st, 2022
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 5)
This is Werner’s Weekly, your compass to new music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Leony – Remedy
(Wildcard this week) - Nile Marr – Only Time Can Break Your Heart
(Wildcard last week) - Caroline & Claude – It’s Not That Bad
- Ederlezi – Run, Run, Run
- Ellis Newman – Leaving The Party
- Mitski – Love Me More
- Sarpa Salpa – Somebody
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: Bloc Party, Charli XCX feat. Rina Sawayama, Franz Ferdinand, George Ezra, Selah Sue, and 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.
single track, soundtrackChriston – The Story About A Boy Who Jumped Off A Cliff And Landed Softly
Christon – The Story About A Boy Who Jumped Off A Cliff And Landed Softly
It’s been some time since Christon released music under his own name. He hasn’t exactly sat still though, writing and producing for other artists. International ones like Aloe Blacc, Ziggy Marley, Lost Frequencies and Mathieu Koss, as well as Dutch colleagues such as Guus Meeuwis, Ronnie Flex and Ellen ten Damme. Also, he’s currently presenting the TV programme ‘De Troubadours’, in which he writes a song in a day with fellow artists, based on their personal stories. And then of course, there are his other musical projects with names like Sir Notch and North [Sic].
Christon’s new single is called The Story About A Boy Who Jumped Off A Cliff And Landed Softly. This stripped down track is the title song of ‘De Jongen Die Van De Klif Sprong En Zacht Terechtkwam’, the debut novel of Dutch journalist Stefan Raatgever. This book deals with the coming of age and coming out of a 19-year-old boy. The book cover contains a sticker with the Spotify code of the song.
Raatgever interviewed Christon multiple times during his career as part of the band XYP, as front man of Rigby and as a solo artist. He became a fan and asked the singer to write a theme song for his book. This challenge was accepted.
“To me, Christon is one of the best songwriters in the Netherlands”, Raatgever explains. “He often deploys his talents for others, but I’m happy he sang this song himself. I’m proud of the beautiful way he put the theme of my first book to music. It’s a wonderful, Johnny Cash-like track.”
Christon, who already produced a soundtrack to his own debut thriller, ‘Adam’, adds he tried to stick as much to Raatgever’s story as possible. “I recorded this song in an intimate, acoustic setting. It incorporates both the struggle and the acceptance of the main character.”
Recommended as well:
Closer To A New Day
Younger Than Before
Where Do We Go From Here
Perfect World (feat. Maxime Barlag)
Follow Christon on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
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 trackTiarni Hope – Salt In The Wound
Tiarni Hope – Salt In The Wound
Tiarni Hope is a 24-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who works as a session drummer, among other things. On the Australian Gold Coast and in Brisbane, she built up a strong reputation with her powerful live shows. Now, it’s time to spread her wings.
Three years after her debut single Resist, she drops her second track. Salt In The Wound is a powerful song with influences ranging from country and blues to rock. Americana from down under, is that even possible?
About the meaning of the track, Hope says: “When I was writing this song, I felt like I was drowning under the weight of so many expectations, self-imposed or otherwise, that I couldn’t see a way out the other side. It became a way to tell myself that despite the doubts and the harsh words I harbored for myself, that I could pull through, even if better seems a ways to go.”
Salt In The Wound doesn’t only showcase Hope on drums and percussion, bass, guitars (both acoustic and electric), banjo, mandolin, and a plethora of vocal layers. It also features indie jazz songstress Hazel Mei on keyboards and organs, and slide guitar from producer Jared Adlam.
Follow Tiarni Hope on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
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 trackKuzko – Penelope
Kuzko – Penelope
Kuzko are Danique van der Vlugt and Sam Ouwehand, two artists who do everything themselves. They may be Rotterdam-based, but their music has international potential. Their catchy synth-pop will go down well with fans of acts like Confidence Man, Sofi Tukker and Purple Disco Machine. Meanwhile, their lyrics are witty, and deal with everything from consumerism and high school dramas to cliché love adventures.
As they recently proved with their show at the ESNS 2022 festival, Kuzko are a fun live act. But don’t be mistaken, they’re skilled musicians as well, and Van der Vlugt is a really good singer. During the set they played tracks off their first EP Teardrops On The Dancefloor. But they also premiered two brand-new songs: Rich And Famous and Penelope.
The latter is the duo’s new single. In the best Kuzko tradition it’s a colourful tune with plenty ‘80s influences and another one of their contagious vocal hooks. Sure to put a smile on your face! Penelope is the first track to be released ahead of their sophomore EP that’s scheduled to appear this spring.
Recommended as well:
My Mama Says
Follow Kuzko on Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
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 trackRex Orange County – Keep It Up
Rex Orange County – Keep It Up
British singer-songwriter Alex O’Connor, better known as Rex Orange County, has announced his next album. His fourth studio album, Who Cares?, will be released 11 March. It’ll contain a feature of one of his earliest supporters: Tyler, The Creator. Rex recorded the long-player with Dutch singer and producer Benny Sings.
The cooperation was born out of coincidence. When Rex had to abort his 2020 Pony Tour, he headed to Amsterdam to meet Benny. What was meant to be a jam session with no strings attached, ended up in a recording session in Benny’s studio that lasted for days. A session with plenty of strings by the way, as you can hear in the project’s first single…
Keep It Up opens with lush string melodies that are being replaced by a groovy bassline and synth chords. However, the strings keep coming back throughout the song. It’s an uplifting tune with encouraging lyrics. Rex sings about the struggles of life and why they’re worth persevering through. A fitting theme in these COVID times. The track comes with an inspired, nostalgic video that was also shot in Amsterdam.
Recommended as well:
10/10
Sunflower
Follow Rex Orange County on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
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 trackBetty Boo – Get Me To The Weekend
Betty Boo – Get Me To The Weekend
Around 1990, Hey DJ/I Can’t Dance (To That Music You’re Playing) by The Beatmasters feat. Betty Boo, and the singer’s solo singles Doin’ The Do and Where Are You Baby? added a little colour and fun to the airwaves. They were all included on her debut album Boomania, which reached the Top 5 in her home country Great-Britain. Its 1992 follow-up Grrr! It’s Betty Boo failed to match this success (or even come close), and she left the spotlights.
In 2006, she briefly re-emerged as half of the duo Wigwam with Blur’s Alex James. However, after one self-titled single, the act disappeared. In the years after, she made a few guest appearances and composed songs for Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Paloma Faith, among others. But only now Betty Boo (born Alison Clarkson) releases her first solo music since 1992.
Just like her earlier output, Get Me To The Weekend is another perfect pop song, based around a universal sentiment. It might come just in time for a much-needed party season. Catchy as hell, the song is simply irresistible. Not in the least because of the recognizable sample from The Human League’s Love Action. Boo says about the track: “The muse came back out of nowhere during lockdown and I have made the record I should have made when I was 25.”
Follow Betty Boo on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
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 trackOK Cool – Time And A Half
OK Cool – Time And A Half
It would be a big mistake to name your band OK Cool, if it weren’t cool at all. Thankfully, this Chicago-based duo (Bridget Stiebris and Haley Blomquist) tick all the right boxes.
Sprung from pandemic boredom, they began writing and recording demos in the Spring of 2020. That June, they released their first EP Anomia. Their sophomore EP Surrealist followed in March 2021, to much fanfare. OK Cool’s music is energetic and uplifting, lo-fi and indie, catchy and punky. Up-tempo dreampop, so to say, or fresh-sounding shoegaze, if you want.
The duo’s new single Time And A Half once again features twangy guitar riffs, and captivating vocal melodies and harmonies. Not wasting any time on an intro, the track kicks in immediately. It doesn’t slow down until the final note which, alas, already follows one and a half minute later. The kind of song the repeat button was invented for.
Time And A Half is described by the band as a reaction to the twisted sense of time caused by the ongoing pandemic. “Everything we used to mark the passing of time has disappeared. It’s about grappling with your changing sense of what you knew and thinking… maybe none of that mattered anyway.“
This new single is half of a couple of songs. Together with the upcoming tune Self-Sow (out on 4 February) it’ll form OK Cool’s 2-track single Songs From The Spare Room.
Follow OK Cool on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
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 trackThe Spitfires – Save Me
The Spitfires – Save Me
It’s no news this whole COVID-19 thing sucks. And the lack of support for the industries that have been hit the hardest – culture, entertainment and events – is appalling. Especially since these are exactly the activities that are good for peoples’ mental health. So sad many enterprises and individuals in these sectors, worldwide, have been left in the cold.
British band The Spitfires are amongst the victims of this injustice. Last month, in a farewell letter to their fans, they announced their split. The band wrote: ‘Under the current climate of uncertainty within the music industry and the lack of support, the band can no longer function in the way we require, to move forward’.
25 February, The Sp(l)itfires will release their final album Play For Today. A record that will see them go out with a bang. Produced by Simon Dine (Dexys Midnight Runners, Paul Weller, The Waterboys), it’ll combine influences from new wave, 2 Tone and Britpop, with electronic hooks and big choruses. Advance single Save Me has the wonderful, baggy Madchester vibe of 1990. It sets the tone for the long-player, exploring escapism in a warped, conservative version of suburbia. A great example of what wasted talent sounds like.
Recommended as well:
(Just Won’t) Keep Me Down
Follow The Spitfires on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
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 4):
Wildcard (week 4):
Leony – Remedy
German singer Leonie Burger first rose to prominence via ‘Rising Star’ in 2014. At the age of 17, she won this TV talent show gloriously with her band Unknown Passenger. They split soon after however, and Leonie changed her first name a bit into her current moniker. She continued her career as a solo artist.
Eventually she broke through with a new version of Modern Talking’s Brother Louie, featuring Imanbek, Vize and former Modern Talking member Dieter Bohlen. Her biggest solo hit was last year’s Faded Love, which spent over 30 weeks in the German charts. She also worked with artists like Alan Walker, Sam Feldt and Dimitri Vegas. All of her tracks and collabs combined, Leony has over 250 million Spotify streams to her name.
Remedy is her brand-new single. A great song with, contradictory as it may sound, a trendy retro vibe. It’s very much inspired by ‘80s synth-pop in the best The Weeknd tradition.
This one deserves to be picked up broadly; allow me to set an example. Remedy by Leony is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, so it’ll feature prominently at the top of the blog for a whole week.
Follow Leony on Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
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 4)
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:
- Nile Marr – Only Time Can Break Your Heart (Wildcard this week)
- Iris Gold – Piece Of Mine
(Wildcard last week) - Bash! – In My Head
- Emma Dilemma – Vulnerability
- Mamas Gun – Looking For Moses
- Niko Rubio – Hold Me Down
- Stacey Jackson – Flipside
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: Aurora, Billy Talent, Purple Disco Machine + Sophie & The Giants, and 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.
