Browsing Category single track
Elsa Birgitta Bekman – Desire Lines
Elsa Birgitta Bekman is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music video director/producer with French and Swedish roots. She fronted Dutch soul band The Tibbs, whose great single Lies featured here two years ago. Currently, she’s pursuing a solo project based on the music that’s closest to her heart. Key words are nostalgic, melancholic and romantic.
Her debut album Once In My Life will be out in May 2020. Following its title track, Desire Lines is the long-player’s second single. It comes with a magical video, that took Bekman (and her frequent collaborator and videographer Harmen Commandeur) two years to make. The clip is recorded in Sweden and shows her parental home both as it is and in the form of a doll house. The characters in the video switch between real humans and dolls as well. Very much worth 5 minutes of your time!
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.
Rex Orange County – 10/10
Rex Orange County is the stage name of British musician Alex O’Connor. The ‘O.C.’ is derived from his last name.
Following his biggest (streaming) hit, 2017’s Loving Is Easy, he did release some tunes. A 2018 rework of Randy Newman’s You’ve Got A Friend In Me, featuring Ran the Man himself, for instance. And last Valentine’s Day’s surprise song New House. Yet, his new single 10/10 is billed as his ‘first formal single’ since Loving Is Easy.
Listening to 10/10’s lyrics, 2018 must have been a hard year for Rex Orange County. ‘I had a year that nearly sent me off the edge / I feel like a five, I can’t pretend / But if I get my shit together this year / Maybe I’ll be a ten’. Musically though, it’s as sunny an affair as ever.
No news about a next studio album yet, but this will get us through the autumn.
Recommended as well:
Rex Orange County – Sunflower
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 38):
Mélodie Lauret – 23h28
19. This girl is only 19 years old. And what a talent! To me, 23h28 by Mélodie Lauret may be one of the debuts of the year.
Her very first single is a musical coming out in more ways than one, and it’s utterly beautiful. If you speak French, the powerful lyrics will move you, whether you listen to them deliberately or not. Lauret doesn’t really sing the song, she speaks the words. A bit like Grand Corps Malade, whom I’m fond of as well. If you don’t speak French, there is enough to like in the overall melody. Or Mélodie, if you like. Slow beats, a sparse but effective bassline, eerie backing vocals… this is a real treat.
23h28 is a song in the best French ‘chanson’ tradition. Already picked up by a major record label, Mélodie Lauret is certainly one to watch. Her debut single is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
In the Wildcards 2019 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.
The Lost Hours – Lonely Love
The Lost Hours is 20-year-old singer-songwriter Callum James Hamilton from Leeds, UK. At a young age, he was drawn to the likes of Joni Mitchell, John Martyn and Nick Drake, who featured in his dad’s vinyl collection.
After moving to London in 2017, he challenged himself to play seven straight nights a week for a whole year. He ended up being discovered by former Infadels frontman Bnann, who is now his manager.
Lonely Love is a new track off The Lost Hours’ upcoming debut EP. A bittersweet cocktail of emotions, it moves from the introverted intro and verses into a bubblegum call and response chorus.
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.
Ali Barter – January
Four months early, Ali Barter releases her new single January. A song that builds up tension throughout, only to explode right at the end, when she hits all the high notes. Somehow, the track reminds me of Tracy Bonham.
January is the latest single to precede Barter’s second album Hello, I’m Doing My Best (due out on 18 October). It’s a rant against New Year’s resolutions. Barter explains: “It seems like every year, January rolls around and I’m still trying to fix the same things as the year before. The older I get the more I realize that I don’t change, this is all I got. So fuck it.”
Once again, the Australian singer-songwriter combines a killer song with a killer (one-shot) video. You can watch it below (or listen through your platform of choice).
Recommended as well:
Ali Barter – Backseat
Ali Barter – Girlie Bits
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.
Sitting On Stacy – Chest Hair
Hoyt Yeatman (lead vocals/guitar) and Kyle Hart (bass/vocals) met when they were in elementary school. In 2013, they formed a band named Paper. However, searching the internet for “Paper” gave people a great deal at Office Depot, but made it hard to find the band. Hence they renamed it to Sitting On Stacy, a name that occurred in a dream of Hoyts. Leland Schenck (drums) joined the duo soon afterwards.
Sitting On Stacy is a San Diego, California based rock/alternative band with a ska/surf vibe. Their new single Chest Hair could be a last salute to the summer of 2019.
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.
Jay Som – If You Want It
Last summer, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Jay Som drove onto my radar on her Superbike. A few weeks ago, she released her third album Anak Ko (which means ‘my child’ in the Filipino language). A completely self-produced and -engineered affair.
Now, the 25-year-old (real name: Melina Dutertre) serves the next single off it: If You Want It. Equal parts pop and folk, this is a very accessible song, with a fun, psychedelic twist half a minute before the end.
Music directors and playlist curators who are up for something original should listen. If you’re the Top 40/dime a dozen type, don’t even bother and spin another boring hit…
Recommended as well:
Jay Som – Superbike
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.
Emma – Io Sono Bella
As a singer, Emma Marrone only uses her first name. Since 2010, she’s one of Italy’s biggest female artists, and rightfully so. Next year, it’s exactly 10 years since she rose to prominence by winning TV talent show ‘Amici di Maria De Filippi’. Coinciding with this jubilee, she’ll put out her sixth album, the follow-up to last year’s Essere Qui.
The album is preceded by her new single Io Sono Bella (‘I am beautiful’). It was written by Italian household names Vasco Rossi and Gaetano Curreri with young composers Gerardo Pulli and Piero Romitelli. A pop-rock stomper that deserves to break out of Emma’s home country.
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.
Hecht – Besch Ready Für Die Liebi Vo Mer?
Swiss band Hecht appear to release an album every three years. Their first long-player Wer Zerscht s’Meer Gsehd came out in 2012, follow-up Adam And Eva in 2015 en their latest, Oh Boy, in 2018. But I don’t think we’ll have to wait another two years for album #4. They just released a brand-new song.
Besch Ready Für Die Liebi Vo Mer? translates as ‘are you ready for my love?’. It starts with an intro that resembles Aïcha by Khaled, before exploding into a true power pop anthem. Surely, this will do well when the band play a sold-out gig (13.000 people) at the Hallenstadion in Zürich, 26 October.
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.
She Drew The Gun – Trouble Every Day
Louisa Roach’s musical outfit She Drew The Gun have a new single out. It’s a cover of The Mothers Of Invention’s classic 1966 protest song Trouble Every Day, written a year earlier by Frank Zappa. For this new version, Roach reworked some of the lyrics to reflect the current state of the world. Her revisions received the blessing of Zappa’s estate, who were keen to hear the song adapted to suit contemporary times.
Roach says about the song: “I heard Trouble Every Day and thought it would make a great cover. Frank Zappa wrote it based on the TV coverage of the Watts riots in LA back in the 60’s. So I rewrote some of the lyrics to reflect what I’ve seen reported on the TV in more recent times. From English riots to the Extinction Rebellion protests. It takes a look at the issues that are facing us at the moment. From the rise of the far right to the threat of climate change and the role the global media corporations play in supporting neoliberal ideology.”
Trouble Every Day is the title track of She Drew The Gun’s upcoming EP, expected to be released on 22 November.
Recommended as well:
She Drew The Gun – Paradise
She Drew The Gun – Sweet Harmony
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.
