Browsing Category album track
The Blue Stones – One By One
The Blue Stones are a Canadian band, formed by Tarek Jafar and Justin Tessier. In the year of their tenth anniversary, they release their second full-length album Hidden Gems. But despite this title, half of its ten tracks had surfaced before. Four had been released as singles in the last year and a half, and appeared on their recent live EP Live On Display. A fifth, Spirit, was put forward in February, along with the announcement of the album.
I’d like to introduce you to my favourite ‘deep cut’ (album track) though. Based on a brooding groove, it’s a softer song than you might expect from this rock duo. It’s very much a The Blue Stones track, it only channels blues rock, hip-hop, soul and funk differently from other songs of theirs. In that respect, Hidden Gems is a more varied album than their earlier output. This is probably a result of Paul Meany’s involvement. He produced Twenty One Pilots’ album Trench before. One By One is a good example of The Blue Stones’ new musical course.
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Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Lucy Spraggan – Heartbreak Suites
If you follow Lucy Spraggan’s socials, you see a woman full of self-confidence. Funny, one day vulnerable, the other day strong, but always 100% authentic. Proud of her body, and perhaps even prouder of her new, sixth album Choices. Rightly so, for she worked hard on both of them 😉. In this piece I’ll stick with the album though. A great pop record, and her highest charting one. It entered the UK Album Top 100 at #5 last week, without the help of a major label.
Choices contains 13 tracks, six of which have been released as singles before. The songs tell Spraggan’s story of the past years, which makes this her most personal album, so far. Heartbreak Suites is my favourite non-single track. To me, it stands out because of its infectious backing vocals, relatable lyrics and overall catchy production.
Listening to a ‘60s compilation album inspired her to make a tune with that sound. A job well done, for even though ooh sha la la’s are absent from the song, you can hear them in the back of your head. Heartbreak Suites may sound joyful, but she wrote it around the time her marriage sadly stranded, when she often stayed in hotels in order to flee from reality. Spraggan co-wrote the track with her long-time collaborator Joe Hammill. He also worked with quite a few Belgian artists, like Alice On The Roof, Tessa Dixson and Blanche.
Recommended as well:
Animal
Today Was A Good Day
Modern Day Frankenstein
Follow Lucy Spraggan on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Calogero – Vidéo
Calogero, a son of Italian parents, is one of the biggest French artists of the moment. His career started at the age of 15, when he formed the band Les Charts with his brother and a childhood friend. Calogero was the lead singer and songwriter of the trio.
By the end of the century, he started a solo career. He co-wrote songs with already popular artists like Zazie and Pascal Obispo, and released his solo debut. His sophomore self-titled album sold 1,4 million copies in France alone, a success he repeated with his third long-player 3. This album contained his largest international hit Face À La Mer, a duet with Passi.
Centre Ville is Calogero’s eighth studio album to date. The songs were written during the first lockdown. Vidéo is my favourite deep cut on the record. A trademark up-tempo Calogero song with a walking bassline, an ‘80s-inspired rhythm, punctuated by strings and a highly memorable chorus. Destined to become a hit, once released as a single!
Recommended as well:
La Rumeur
On Se Sait Par Coeur
1987
La Vraie Vie
Je Joue De La Musique
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Rea Garvey – Just A Minute
In 1998, Rea Garvey moved from his home country Ireland to Germany. He had a demo CD in his pocket, but no band to record the songs with, or play live shows. Via an ad in a local paper, he found his band mates and formed Reamonn. This is an Irish form of the name Raymond, Rea’s real first name. Their 2000 debut single Supergirl was an immediate Top 5 hit, both in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. It went Top 10 in Switzerland. In 2010, after five successful studio albums, the band called it quits and Garvey went solo.
Since then, he released five studio albums as a solo artist well. His fifth, Hy Brasil, has just come out. As we have come to expect, it’s a collection of well-crafted pop songs. The record opens very strong, with the singles Talk To Your Body and Hey Hey Hey. These two are followed by a track that sounds like a future single. Just A Minute is a radio-friendly song with a pleasant tempo and simple, but uplifting violin parts.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
A Is For Arrows – Every Now And Then
Although singer Alessia Balasbas is their figurehead, Toronto electronic-pop duo A Is For Arrows is in fact a duo. Eric Robbs is her counterpart, in more ways than one. They couldn’t be more different from each other, but their bond over music led to the creation of their debut EP Roses. The two, both multi-instrumentalists, met in 2009, through their parents. Since then, they created an alt-pop sound that blends contemporary beats, soft synths and heartfelt lyrics. Bound to be liked by fans of artists like No Doubt, Charli XCX and The 1975.
A Is For Arrows’ EP Roses compiles the five singles the Canadian duo released in the last year. Additionally, it features two new songs: Every Now And Then, and All The Stars. The former is my favourite. Its soft verses contrast wonderfully with its upbeat chorus. All of the tracks were delicately produced by Joel Stouffer, who worked with bülow, Dragonette and others before.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
The Cribs – Siren Sing-Along
British rock band The Cribs just released their new album Night Network. And we have Dave Grohl to thank for its existence.
After parting ways with their long-time management in the Autumn of 2017, the band made a shocking discovery. They found out that, thanks to various deals that they were unaware of, they didn’t own the rights to their back catalogue. The band decided to focus on gaining ownership before signing a new deal and making a new album. When Dave Grohl learned about this situation, he invited The Cribs to use Foo Fighters’ own Studio 606. There, they recorded their eighth studio album.
Siren Sing-Along is my favourite track on the long-player. Including all the elements that make The Cribs such a great band, it’s as sunny as rock songs get. This is in large part due to the opening notes of the intro and chorus, which bring Dusty Springfield’s I Only Want To Be With You to mind. Great sing-along stuff indeed!
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Two Year Vacation – Stop Making Sense
When you judge Two Year Vacation by their music, it’s hard to believe they’re from Gothenburg. Sweden’s second city, with its seaport, is known for its rain, headwind and greyness. Historically, it’s home to a lively heavy metal scene. In spite of all that, this quintet makes rhythmic radio-friendly indie pop. Their musical influences range from ABBA to Fatboy Slim through early Daft Punk, MGMT, Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend and Peter, Björn & John. The band call their fascinating blend of rock, Caribbean kraut, and disco ‘tropical disco kraut pop’.
Two Year Vacation draw inspiration from trivial daily routines, like the laundry day we’re all familiar with. This explains the title of their new album. To me, Stop Making Sense is a highlight on Laundry Day. Unsurprisingly, the fresh, upbeat song has nothing to do with Talking Heads’ concert movie of the same name. On Facebook, they explain: “Stop Making Sense is a song about the friendships of your youth. About growing up with each other, exploring adolescence together and reminiscing about how it used to be, while also longing for the uncynical joy and the fears that you used to feel.”
Recommended as well:
Two Year Vacation – I Forgot Your Name (But I Like You)
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Stats – The Truth Is Naked
Stats’ new album Powys 1999 got its name from the Welsh town where front man Ed Seed grew up. It was recorded in a residential recording studio near that place. Seed’s idea was to make a record about where he came from. In order to create the right atmosphere for the band to ‘get’ this place, he wanted them to be able to soak in the surroundings and mountainous setting. Therefore, they all moved to this rural studio for a week.
Luckily for Stats, all of this took place in Autumn 2019. In an interview with Daily Star Online, Seed explains: “Because the point of the album was getting all the band in Wales in a room, the physicality and landscape was so important. I realised that if we had done it six months later, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
The band spent the week jamming and recording. Seed would then pick selections of the sessions, mash, loop and mix them together, and create songs out of them. This resulted in a sonically mind-blowing record. Influences range from straight-up electronic pop and funk to art rock and disco.
The Truth Is Naked is a stand-out track on the album. Usually, I’m not too fond of parlando (spoken word sections in songs), but here, they work very well. The spoken verses add to the dynamics of the song, as they alternate with its up-tempo choruses. Musically, I hear some echoes of Simple Minds’ Alive And Kicking in it, which is never a bad thing.
Recommended as well:
Naturalise Me
The Family Business
Lose It
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
beabadoobee – Charlie Brown
In September 2017, beabadoobee released her very first single Coffee. It immediately made heads turn at Dirty Hit Records, home to The 1975, Pale Waves, Wolf Alice and many others. Also, it drew 300.000 viewers on YouTube and grabbed the attention of Canadian rapper Powfu. He incorporated a sample of the track in his single Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head), which became a worldwide hit in early 2020. In an interview, beabadoobee said about that: “I kinda hated it. I hated more people knowing about the first song I’d ever written and not my others.” Nevertheless, it formed a perfect launch pad for her own career.
In the last months, she released no less than five singles ahead of her debut album Fake It Flowers. Care, Sorry, Worth It, How Was Your Day? and Together are all on it. My favourite track however is Charlie Brown. Not exactly because of its light-hearted theme, because it’s a dark song about auto-mutilation. But it’s also a driving song, full of energy. Explosive even, in a Nirvana kind of way. Epic stuff by a very promising artist who is only 20 years of age.
Recommended as well:
beabadoobee – She Plays Bass
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Semisonic – Basement Tapes
Thanks to great tunes like Closing Time, Secret Smile and Chemistry, Semisonic are one of my favourite bands from around the turn of the century. In 2002, following their third album All About Chemistry, the band went on an indefinite hiatus. However, they never broke up. In the meantime, frontman Dan Wilson built a successful career of his own. He was a songwriter and producer for the likes of Pink, Dixie Chicks and Adele, as wel as a solo artist. He is quoted as saying he found it difficult to write new material that sounded like Semisonic.
In 2017, Wilson met Liam Gallagher with the intention to write new songs for the latter. Eventually, the two didn’t work together. Wilson felt the sketches of the songs he wrote for Gallagher were more suitable for Semisonic instead.
In the summer of that year, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their 2016 debut album Great Divide, Semisonic reunited for a series of shows. At these occasions, they played Great Divide in its entirety. At the end of that year, commemorating the upcoming 20th anniversary of their sophomore album Feeling Strangely Fine, they performed the whole of that album a few times. Last year, they came together again to do some more gigs. During these 2017-2019 shows, they also played some of Wilson’s new, previously unreleased ‘Gallagher’ songs.
These tracks have now been properly recorded and released on the EP You’re Not Alone. This is Semisonic’s first collection of new material in 19 years. It contains five fine examples of craft song-writing, as we’ve come to expect. Basement Tapes is my favourite. A great pop-rock song, very well sung and executed by Wilson and his band. A welcome return.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Has been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, he developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
