I mentioned De Nieuwe Lichting (‘the new class’) here before. That’s the yearly talent competition of Studio Brussel. Over the last weeks, the Belgian alternative pop radio station announced the participants in the 2021 edition. Aili Maruyama, who moved from Japan to Belgium at the age of 7, is one of them.

She made her debut single Dansu with producer Orson Wouters, better known as Transistorcake. It’s an astonishing, hypnotic track, which blends genres like electronica and left-field pop. The intro alone sounds like a slowed down mix of the metallic snaredrum in A Flock Of Seagull’s Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) and the bassline in The Artilleryman And The Fighting Machine from Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds. Which says it all…

And that’s only the music. The lyrics attract your attention in their own way, because they’re sung in a mixture of Japanese and English.

Both funky and spacey, Dansu is a hymn to dancing the night away. As far as De Nieuwe Lichting is concerned, it’s a winner if you’d ask me.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

Werner Schlosser

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.