Browsing Category single track
Wildcard (week 13):
The Spitfires – (Just Won’t) Keep Me Down
Nothing is as effective in beating negativity – even in these trying times – as a ska song. This great new single by The Spitfires, for instance. Even the title, (Just Won’t) Keep Me Down, sounds like a message of hope (and a middle finger to COVID-19). It’s a powerful, infectious, brass-infused stomper of a song.
Frontman Billy Sullivan, bassist Sam Long, and drummer Matt Johnson formed The Spitfires five years ago. When playing live, the three-piece is augmented by three more musicians. Listening to their music, it isn’t hard to imagine their concerts being one big party.
The band recently signed to the legendary Acid Jazz Records label and just announced their upcoming album. Life Worth Living is set to be released on 5 June. It was produced by Simon Dine, who was behind the desk for several Paul Weller albums.
(Just Won’t) Keep Me Down, The Spitfires’ new single, is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
In the Wildcards 2020 playlist you can 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.
Magnus Bechmann – What Do You Know
It’s been three years since Norwegian singer-songwriter Magnus Bechmann delivered the EP Loners Get Lonely Too and single Bruises. Thankfully, he’s back with another great song: What Do You Know. It’s the first single off his forthcoming debut album.
Refreshing and vibrant, What Do You Know is an indie-pop song with hints of Two Door Cinema Club, The Wombats and Phoenix. An uplifting and well-produced track with a driving rhythm and a thumping bass. Wouldn’t it be great if this kind of music was all over the radio, like it should?
Speaking about his latest offering, Bechmann said, “Situations in everyday life that are usually not a big deal, can grow totally out of proportion whilst laying awake in bed at night, unable to sleep. What Do You Know is about just one of these situations, where you find yourself in a relationship that is better to get out of than to stay in.”
Recommended as well:
Magnus Bechmann – Bruises
Magnus Bechmann – It Bothers Me
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.
Shingai – Coming Home
You may remember Shingai Shoniwa as the singer and bass player in the Noisettes. They released great singles like Don’t Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go) and That Girl. If not: do yourself a favour and click the links before reading on…
The EP Ancient Futures is Shingai’s first solo release, which draws on her Zimbabwean and Bantu heritage. Coming Home is the EP’s first single. I dare you not to move your hips to its dancefloor-ready beats. BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac called it ‘bonkers pop music’, and that’s just what it is.
The video for the single is the first western music video to be shot in Zimbabwe. Shingai hopes it will challenge narrow views of Africa. She wanted to celebrate the country’s beautiful landscape rather than the usual shock horror that you read about in the news. The title Coming Home, however, is more than just literal. “It’s coming home to yourself,” says Shingai, “to a realisation of sorts, that this is the person that I want to be.”
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.
Ball Park Music – Spark Up!
If you like the joyful melodies, anthemic choruses and quick-pacing rhythms of Ball Park Music, you’ll be glad to hear they’re back. Spark Up! is the band’s euphoric new single. Triumphant and impactful, it captures the building anxiousness of a changing world and the forces that are swirling underneath. According to frontman Sam Cromack, it’s ‘a song for those who are dreaming of some other place’.
Spark Up! was recorded on 18 October 2019. It was the first recording session for Ball Park Music’s new album Mostly Sunny, which will be out ‘sometime in 2020’.
Recommended as well:
Ball Park Music – The Perfect Life Does Not Exist
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.
Other Lives – Hey Hey I
American indie-pop outfit Other Lives formed in 2004 as an instrumental project, named Kunek. Their 2008 debut album under the current band name was produced and recorded by drummer/engineer Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.). Following their third album Rituals (2015), Other Lives took a lengthy break.
They just announced their long-awaited new long-player. Entitled For Their Love, it’s set to be released on 24 April. The recording process of the album is reflected in the monochrome video that comes with new single Hey Hey I. Frontman Jesse Tabish explains: “We wanted to portray this process in a natural, organic way. Without telling a story, but rather showing glimpses of us working together as well as coming together with friends.”
Hey Hey I is characterized by an honest, warm sound, based around a pounding piano melody. Meanwhile, the four-to-the-floor drum beat is enriched with chattering castanettes. A wonderful 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.
Izo FitzRoy – Red Line
Following the release of her debut album Skyline, Izo FitzRoy was in demand. While writing new tunes, she lent her powerhouse vocals to the likes of Kraak & Smaak and Smoove & Turrell. But at the end of 2018, disaster struck; she lost the ability to sing. FitzRoy underwent surgery on her vocal chords, and came out with an even greater range, as her sophomore album How The Mighty Fall proves.
The record was produced by Colin Elliott, who worked with Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker and Paul Weller amongst others. Alongside her own band, FitzRoy is backed by The Haggis Horns and The Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir. Disco don Dimitri From Paris and groove wiz Shawn Lee (Young Gun Silver Fox) lend a hand as well.
Red Line is the London singer’s soulful new single. Already a great track on the long-player, the radio version is a beefed up affair. It’s got even more drive than the original and puts greater emphasis on the horns (which is never a bad idea). Great tune!
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.
Saint Motel – A Good Song Never Dies
Last year, L.A. band Saint Motel put out the EP The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Pt. 1. Predicting their next EP will be Pt. 2 in this series, seems like a safe bet. In fact, it’s been announced for release in the summer. Pt. 2 will be the middle instalment of what will eventually be a trilogy.
A Good Song Never Dies is a first glimpse of what to expect of the upcoming EP. As always, the single is catchy as hell, with a danceable rhythm and a prominent bassline. Party time! You can also hear it in the new PlayStation game MLB The Show 20.
Recommended as well:
Saint Motel – Destroyer
Saint Motel – Move
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.
Gotts Street Park feat. Flikka – Favourite Kind Of Girl
Leeds-based four-piece Gotts Street Park have been releasing music for just over 3 years. Also, they produced for the likes of Mabel, BBC Sound of 2020 winner Celeste, Kali Uchis, and Rejjie Snow.
Now, on their new single Favourite Kind Of Girl, they introduce another talent: Swedish singer Flikka. Her vocals, the beat and the whole atmosphere melt together in a soulful triphop kind of sound. As if it were a collaboration of Morcheeba and Portishead. Gotts Street Park performed and recorded the track live in their home-built studio.
Lyrically, Favourite Kind Of Girl tackles the theme of self-love and understanding your worth. Flikka explains: “I wrote this song when I was in a place of not feeling seen or listened to. I was continuing looking for it in an outside source without result and it made me feel lonely. Sometimes you need to be your own best friend/mother and by greatest support and I wrote this song as a mantra and reminder to myself to be the person I want and need to be.”
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.
Lime – Surf N Turf
Female-fronted and Brighton-based… please meet Lime! The band consists of singer Chloe Howard, guitarist Leila Deeley, bassist Tippi Morgan and drummer Annabel Whittle. They formed the band in the summer of 2018.
Not the ‘80s disco outfit, they do have a nostalgic sound, which appears to date back to the ‘80s as well. Surf N Turf, Lime’s official debut single, is a catchy and energetic track, that’s genre-defying. It’s equal parts surf-pop, post-punk, and psych-rock. All together, they sound as refreshing as the citrus fruit they’re named after.
An up and coming quartet with a bright future ahead of them!
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 12):
Hollie Col – She Knows
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Australia is a country with an incredible number of talented artists. That’s why I recommend as many of them as possible here at Carte Blanche Music. Here’s another one.
Have you heard of Hollie Col already? She’s a 24-year-old Australian singer-songwriter, who has been playing live a lot lately. Both in her home country, where she did two consecutive sold out headline tours, and in Europe. As a consequence, her devoted fanbase is steadily growing. If you weren’t familiar with her yet, allow me to introduce you…
She Knows is Hollie’s new single. Clearly, she’s heavily inspired by classic song-writing, but she gives it a modern spin. Produced by award-winning Steve Schram (San Cisco, The Cat Empire), it’s a joyous piece of summer pop. The track has an upbeat arrangement and an infectious vocal hook, which she sings with a youthful enthusiasm. Her lyrics are intelligent and insightful.
On the single, Hollie says: ”She Knows is a letter to the person who has the one you love. It’s bittersweet, bright and loud. It screams ‘you’ll never know her like I do, and she knows it‘.”
Well, I know one thing: this great song is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
In the Wildcards 2020 playlist you can 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.
