Browsing Category album track
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
T99 vs. Youngr – Anasthasia [Youngr Bootleg]
I like to see myself as a musical omnivore, but obviously, I’ve got my preferences. Overall, dance is not one of them. Still, there are terrific dance tracks. In 1991, T99, a rave act from Belgium came to the scene. At that time, I was even less into dance than now. But boy, did I like their singles Anasthasia and Nocturne!
Fast forward to 2020… Bootleg boss Youngr was given access to the complete Armada Music catalogue. He chose ten tracks and poured his trademark musical twists and mix magic over them. This resulted in his new album Bootleg Mixtape, Vol. 1. Among others, it contains reworkings of Afro Medusa’s Pasilda, Phats & Small’s Turn Around, and, as you could have guessed, of T99’s Anasthasia.
To the latter, Youngr added guitars, percussion and accessible synth melodies. At heart, it remains the big and bold rave classic it always was, but ready for today’s dancefloors. Epic in overdrive!
Recommended as well:
Youngr – Ooh Lordy
Youngr x Endor – Give It Up
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.
Tom Aspaul – Black Country Disco
Tom Aspaul is an artist from The Black Country, an area of the West Midlands in England. Hence the title of debut album: Black Country Disco.
Seven years ago, Aspaul wrote and recorded the track Indiana, which ended up being reimagined by Kylie Minogue as Feels So Good. This kickstarted his career as a songwriter proper. Since then, he also wrote for the likes of AlunaGeorge (Mediator), Little Boots (Working Girl) and Louise (Villain).
Following the end of a long-term relationship, as well as a growing disillusionment with the music industry, Aspaul moved out of London back home to the West Midlands. By writing his debut album, which takes listeners through all of the emotions of a breakup, he found himself again.
The title track, which closes the album, is my favourite song on it. It’s up-beat and uplifting. A happy song with a positive outlook and a clear message: this man is free and he loves 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.
The Radar Station – Zanzara [2020 Version]
If you think 2020 is a strange year, remember The Radar Station had two of those years in a row. In 2019, they were forced to change their then band name Sun Gods, just before releasing their first album. As The Radar Station, they re-recorded some of their earlier singles and continued working on their debut. In the process, they won ‘De Nieuwe Lichting 2020’, a band competition on Studio Brussel.
The support of the Belgian alternative pop radio station would have helped propel The Radar Station into the world. However, shortly after winning the competition, COVID-19 changed everything. Most of the promotional plans had to be cancelled, but the band proved creative in keeping their fans engaged. Now that their album Life Inside A Tornado has finally seen the light, we can conclude it’s been worth the wait.
The album title was taken from the lyrics of Zanzara and After The Tornado (two totally different versions of the same song). The band explain: “The lyrics of this song were based on a quote by the Dalai Lama: “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito in the room.” We found this reassuring and befitting of our own outlook on life. So try to be a mosquito, but less annoying if possible.”
The re-recorded version of Zanzara, already a single in early 2019, still is one of my favourite songs on the album. A great slice of ‘big music’, channelling Peter Gabriel and Simple Minds, while adding contemporary elements of new musical heroes like The War On Drugs and Editors. Well worth a re-release as a single!
Recommended as well:
The Radar Station – The Giant
The Radar Station – Subtle Science [2020 Version]
Sun Gods – Zanzara
Sun Gods – Subtle Science
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.
Alfie Templeman – Things I Thought Were Mine
British teen Alfie Templeman is one of the most talented young artists around. And also one of the most prolific, as well. His brand-new EP is called Happiness In Liquid Form, and the title track is an absolute highlight.
My other personal favourite is Things I Thought Were Mine. A minimalistic, laid-back summer tune, based around a wonky synth melody and a funky guitar. Templeman wrote, produced and mixed this one himself, and deliberately made it very dry-sounding.
Lyrically, it’s just as light-hearted. “It doesn’t have this hugely profound meaning. It’s just an honest song from this time in my life. Kind of like a midpoint between leaving school and childhood and coming into my adulthood, or whatever. This song is just about how, in order to go forward, you have to lose a lot of things as well.”
Recommended as well:
Alfie Templeman – Happiness In Liquid Form
Alfie Templeman – Tragic Love
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.
