Browsing Category album track
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.
Wildcard (week 25):
Hoshi feat. Corine – Larmes De Croco
In the last few years, two female artists rose to the top of the French charts from out of nowhere. Both of them featured multiple times on Carte Blanche Music: Hoshi (Mathide Gerner) and Corine (Aurore Imbert).
So far, these two phenomena each operated in their own genres, but things have changed. Hoshi just released her sophomore album Sommeil Levant, which is more produced than her debut Il Suffit D’y Croire. It contains more synths, which pulls its sound more towards Corine’s disco-pop.
Hoshi and Corine fans will be delighted to hear the album contains a duet between their favourites. Unsurprisingly, this collaboration between two of France’s biggest contemporary talents sounds exactly the way you hoped. A full on electro-pop song, Larmes De Croco (‘crocodile tears’) is the best possible mix of Hoshi’s and Corine’s musical universes. Four minutes of fun!
Although it’s not a single (yet), it’s the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
Recommended as well:
Hoshi – Amour Censure
Hoshi – Je Vous Trouve Un Charme Fou
In the Wildcards 2020 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
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.
Lola Le Lann – Portofino
Lola Le Lann is the daughter of French actress Valérie Stroh and trumpet player Eric Le Lann. In 2015, at the age of 19, she entered the French cinema world herself. In the film Un Moment D’égarement (‘a wild moment’) she played one of the leading roles.
A few films later, she decided to return to her first love: music. She’s been playing the piano as of a young age. Le Lann just released her debut EP Glaz. It features 5 different songs (and an acoustic version of its first single Lola À L’eau).
One of those songs is Portofino, which fits perfectly in a great tradition of French songs from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Soft beats, perky percussion, a funky guitar, Caribbean sounds, they’re all there. And then of course, there are Le Lann’s seductive Vanessa Paradis-like vocals.
Portofino was co-written and co-produced by Yohann Malory, whose great single Morceaux De Toi (feat. Yseult) I featured here last January.
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.
Dagny – Coulda Woulda Shoulda
Ever since releasing her debut single Backbeat in October 2015, Norwegian songstress Dagny Sandvik has been promising us an album. However, she hasn’t delivered yet and keeps the excitement going. So far, she delivered the Ultraviolet EP in 2016, and four years on, here’s her second EP Strangers/Lovers. Together, the two hold 11 songs, which could be considered an album. Fair enough then 😉
On her website however, the six tracks she just released are described as ‘Side A of my debut album Strangers/Lovers’. I can’t wait for the B-side! Two of these tracks, Come Over and Somebody, have previously been released as singles. But the best track in my opinion is Coulda Woulda Shoulda. They don’t come any catchier than this. Wait for this girl to become one of the future global pop stars.
Recommended as well:
Come Over
Love You Like That
Backbeat
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.
Kailee Morgue – This Is Why I’m Hot
Kailee Morgue just released her second EP Here In Your Bedroom. She says about it: “In female pop, there’s more anger than ever. There are more women screaming and being very forward about how they feel. I love that energy, so I tried to translate the power of older hardcore music into modern production. I realized you can make pop music with a punk spirit and I allowed myself to embrace the attitude.”
This Is Why I’m Hot is my favourite track on the EP. A contagious, rocking, self-confident song that was inspired by Goldfinger. She even named the EP after a favourite Goldfinger song from their self-titled 1996 album. Meanwhile, she also cites Taylor Swift and Halsey as current influences. This results in a bundle of strong pop songs full of attitude and drenched in guitars.
Recommended as well:
Kailee Morgue – Discovery
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.
Halsey – 3AM
Ashley Nicolette Frangipane chose an anagram of her first name as her stage name. Since then, we know her as Halsey. She started her career like so many others, by uploading covers on YouTube. But unlike so many others, she succeeded in becoming massively popular with her own songs as well. New Americana, off her debut album Badlands, was her first worldwide hit, in 2015.
Less than five years later, she released her third long-player Manic. 3AM is my favourite track on it. A tune full of ’90s rock nostalgia and killer drums, played by by Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith.
The song, which details Halsey’s insecurities after a night of drinking, ends with a voicemail message. It says: “Your best song is the song that’s currently on the radio. How many people can say that? That their best song was the one that’s currently about to be a massive hit. It’s already a hit. It’s just gonna get more massive. How many people can say it? Not very many. Congratulations!” On twitter, the singer revealed this was a real voicemail, left by… John Mayer. In his message, he predicted the success of her single Without Me, before it was a hit. It went on to become her biggest single yet.
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.
Hayley Mary – Brat
With The Jezabels on hiatus since 2017, it was only a matter of time before frontwoman Hayley Mary went solo. Since her debut single The Piss, The Perfume – last October – the released two other tracks. These songs combined, with two additional tunes, now form her first EP.
The unreleased tracks on this an all-killer, no-filler collection are named Holly and Brat. The first was inspired by Concrete Blonde’s Joey, but the latter, the EP’s closer, is my favourite. Brat is another driving rock song, that suits Hayley’s smooth vocals very well.
Recommended as well:
Hayley Mary – The Piss, The Perfume
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.
Wildcard (week 1):
Harry Styles – Treat People With Kindness
No better way to start a new year than with best wishes and good intentions. How about this one, then? Treat people with kindness. It’s simple, it doesn’t cost you any money, and it doesn’t hurt… On the contrary. Treat people with kindness, and it’ll come back to you. You get what you give. I’m convinced about that.
When Harry Styles released his second solo album Fine Line, midway December, the track Treat People With Kindness stuck out immediately as my favourite. Although it hasn’t been released as a single (yet), I think it would be a great choice. With a great, universal message, which the world needs now more than ever.
Treat People With Kindness by Harry Styles is the first Carte Blanche Music Wildcard of 2020!
In the Wildcards 2020 playlist you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far (but this only being week #1, it’s still a bit empty 😉 ).
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.
Nasty Cherry – Brain Soup
How many bands with their own Netflix documentary, less than a year after they came together, do you know? Meet Nasty Cherry, a four-women band handpicked by Charli XCX at the start of 2019. ‘I’m With The Band’ is a six-episode series that follows her protégés.
Nasty Cherry’s first EP Season 1 collects three out of the four singles the band put out so far. The 6-track set is completed by two new songs and an interlude. I like EP opener Brain Soup the best. A track that sounds like it was produced by Prince – which is technically impossible, obviously. Also check Fuck Modern Love!
Recommended as well:
Nasty Cherry – Live Forever
Nasty Cherry – Win
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.
