Search results for "georgia"
Georgia – Running Up That Hill
Last January, Georgia’s one-woman concert at ESNS was one of my highlights of the showcase festival. She played most of the tracks of her second album Seeking Thrills, which had been released a week earlier. But one of the stand-out songs she played was not on the record: a cover of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill.
That omission has now been corrected. Last week, the ‘Ultimate Thrills Edition’ of Georgia’s album came out. 27 extra tunes make it a whopping 40-track release. 26 of those are (previously released and unreleased) remixes of the many singles off the album. And then there is Running Up That Hill. Georgia’s career was an up-hill affair already, by this cover, that fits her like a glove, will push it even further.
On the track, Georgia says: “Closing my live sets with Running Up That Hill has been a pure joy, and it sparked the idea to record it. But, it didn’t start there. Kate Bush has been part of my life and a major influence on my work since I could sing a note. Her music was always played by both my mum and dad, and when I began to understand the way that sound and production worked, I embarked on my own intimate and personal journey with her music. For me, it was more than just a cover, it was emotional, and an experience I’ll always treasure.”
Recommended as well:
Never Let You Go
About Work The Dancefloor
Started Out
Feel It
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
electronic | indie | popWildcard (week 39):
Georgia – Never Let You Go
I can’t wait for the new year, for it’s sure to start with a bang. On 10 January 2020, Georgia will release her second album Seeking Thrills. Each new single off it is better than the one before. The best so far, About Work The Dancefloor, was a Carte Blanche Music Wildcard in April.
Now, Georgia repeats that feat with her brand-new single Never Let You Go. A Robyn-esque song with a ludicrous catchiness, that was entirely played by the talented London artist and producer. Easily one of the best pop songs of the year so far, this is the one that should propel her onto radio playlists around the globe. If not, music directors should be fired and replaced by people with ears.
As a stamp of approval, let me remind you one last time that Georgia is the daughter of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes. But soon, he’ll be referred to as the father of Georgia. Never Let You Go is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. The repeat button was invented for this kind of songs.
Recommended as well:
Georgia About Work The Dancefloor
Georgia – Started Out
Georgia – Feel It
In the Wildcards 2019 playlist you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
electronic | indie | popWildcard (week 14):
Georgia – About Work The Dancefloor
If you follow Carte Blanche Music since it started, back in January 2017, you may remember me recommending Georgia’s singles Feel It and Started Out. If you don’t, no offence 😉
Georgia, the 27-year-old daughter of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes, started her career as a session drummer, before releasing her self-titled debut album in 2015. The singles I mentioned came out later, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
While these two songs set the stage for Georgia, her new single might just be the track to properly launch her career. About Work The Dancefloor is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard! It sounds like the best song Robyn never wrote, and incorporates a great Kraftwerk-like synth line. Lyrically (“I was just thinking ‘bout work the dancefloor”) it has a grammatical construction that’s so awkward, it can’t help but get stuck in your head.
“About Work The Dancefloor is a song written in response to the clubbing culture I experienced in cities whilst touring,” Georgia said in a statement. “Going out and getting that emotion or sensation from a collective energy in various spaces. It’s that stuff of old school disco, the thrill of the dance floor.”
In the Wildcards 2019 playlist you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
electronic | indie | popGeorgia – Started Out
One of the first recommendations I wrote, in January 2017, was for Georgia’s single Feel It. Since then, the daughter of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes has been working on new music, with Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips, for instance. Although there is no album in sight yet, she does give us a new single.
Started Out is an upbeat and euphoric track. It has a throwback feel, caused by electronic claps, squelchy bass lines and dreamy, misty-eyed vocals. “I used a 909 drum machine, an SH-101 synth… Everything you hear on the recording is analogue,” she says, “But I also wanted it to be poppy. As well as being nostalgic, I wanted stuff to be quite modern, because otherwise it’s just a cheap copy. I wanted to add my flare.”
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
electronic | popGeorgia – Feel It
Georgia Barnes is the 25 year old daughter of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes, so no-one was surprised when she started a musical career for herself. She developed into a multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter, who only released her self-titled debut album in 2015. On the back of that the London-based artist criss-crossed the continent in 2016 on a hectic touring schedule.
Now she’s back with an energetic, beat-laden new track. That’s no surprise either, since Georgia is a very promising drummer herself. The video shows five other female drummers of all ages and backgrounds, expressing what they feel when playing. The universal message, according to Georgia, is ‘that whoever you are or wherever you’re from, we all share rhythm and heightened feelings’.
electronic | popWerner’s Weekly (week 52)
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:
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: Clean Bandit (feat. Yasmin Green) vs. Crystal Waters, KT Tunstall, Pale Waves, and more.
electronic | hip hop | indie | pop | rock | soulAaron Frazer – If I Got It (Your Love Brought It)
Singing drummers, you gotta love ‘em. We all know Phil Collins, Don Henley and Sheila E., but there’s a new generation coming up. How about Georgia or Aaron Frazer? The latter is best known for his work behind the drum kit of Durand Jones & The Indications, where he’s also second vocalist. And a very decent one, that is.
8 January 2021, his solo debut album will come out. Although you may know him already, it’s modestly named Introducing…. Frazer recorded it with a little help from some friends. For starters, it was produced by Dan Auerbach. The album was recorded in a weeks’ time at The Black Keys front man’s Nashville studio. He called on a crew of heavy session players, including people who played on Dusty Springfield’s Son Of A Preacher Man and Aretha Franklin’s You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman, as well as the renowned Daptone Horns.
Following previous singles Bad News and Over You, If I Got It (Your Love Brought It) is the third single to be released off it. The track’s title was inspired by a 1950s lorry advertisement slogan: ‘If you got it, a truck brought it’. Musically, it draws inspiration from ‘70s soul music. Within its first 30 seconds you’ll have heard all of the song’s trademark ingredients. A Wurlitzer piano, plucking bass, swinging percussion, a blend of brass instruments and Frazer’s falsetto voice. What more do you need?
The track even ends with an old-school fade-out. Pretty unique, nowadays…
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
indie | pop | soulWerner’s Weekly (week 39)
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:
- Penfriend – The Only Way Out Is Through (Wildcard this week)
- ONR (feat. Nile Rodgers) – Kill TV (Wildcard last week)
- Hedda Mae – Madness
- Lucas Hamming – Falling
- Smarts – Cling Wrap
- Stix Bones feat. Imani Coppola – Breakin’ The Dance Floor
- The Wannadies – Can’t Kill The Musikk
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: Annie, Georgia, Semisonic, and more.
disco | indie | pop | punk | rockWildcard (week 22):
Håkan Hellström – Alla Drömmar Är Uppfyllda
Long after Phil Collins, Don Henley, Sheila E. and several others, singing drummers are back again. Georgia is my favourite of the current bunch, but I just discovered Håkan Hellström as well. He recorded several albums as a drummer and bass player with acts like Broder Daniel and Honey Is Cool, before completely focusing on his solo career. He is very successful in his homeland Sweden. All but one of his ten albums so far reached #1.
Last week Hellström released his new album Rampljus Vol. 1, another chart topper. Alla Drömmar Är Uppfyllda, his new single, shot straight into the Swedish Top 10. I don’t know if it’s meant to be, but the track sounds like a pop quiz. How many historical references do you spot?
The song starts with a version of the ‘ging, gi-gi-gi-gi-ging’ part in Marlena Shaw’s Woman Of The Ghetto (the live version of which was famously sampled in Blue Boy’s Remember Me). The percussion must have been inspired by The Rolling Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil, Baba O’Riley by The Who is incorporated and Bruce Springsteen’s Jungleland springs to mind as well. With so many great influences, what could possibly go wrong? Well, nothing. Alla Drömmar Är Uppfyllda is both classic and timeless. Well done by Håkan Hellström and (Caesars and Teddybears frontman) Joakim Ahlund, who co-wrote and produced the song.
An edited version with English lyrics could very well become a hit outside of Sweden as well. But why wait? This week, Alla Drömmar Är Uppfyllda by Håkan Hellström will feature prominently at the top of the Carte Blanche Music blog as our new Wildcard!
In the Wildcards 2020 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
pop | rockLiza Anne – Bad Vacation
These are bizarre times. And in days like these, people need music for their entertainment. Nevertheless, many artists postpone the release of their new albums, because ‘it doesn’t feel right’. Luckily, there are artists like Georgia-born Liza Anne as well. She states: “It feels like a strange time to release music, but an even stranger time not to.”
Bad Vacation is her newest single. It’s a bold and frenetic track about the manic pain and joy of freeing yourself from an unhealthy relationship. Catchy, synth-driven and with a killer bassline. “Writing this song was a mental playground for me”, Liza Anne explains. “Turning pain into satire and imaging a hope-filled world with no ceilings. I wanted to bottle up that electricity that happens when you’re free of something taxing.”
Recommended as well:
Liza Anne – Panic Attack
Liza Anne – Paranoia
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
indie | pop | rock
