Browsing Category single track
Nona – Last To Know
Talented young Dutch singer Nona (born Nona van der Wansem) made quite an impression with her first single It’s Alright. My blog about it was the second-most read in the month of release (July), while it was my most-read recommendation in the months of August and September. In October, it was still in the Top 10.
On her soulful debut, Nona’s powerful voice made her sound like a re-born Amy Winehouse, who’s certainly one of her musical heroines (excusez le mot). However, she also loves hip hop and pop, citing DJ Premier as an influence. Her new, more poppy single Last To Know, shows she likes Fleetwood Mac as well. It looks like Nona is an all-round artist to reckon with.
Can’t wait to hear her debut album, that she recorded in the United States. When it comes out, I’ll make sure you’re the first to know!
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 Charts.
Eckhardt & The House – Funeral
For those who grew up in the 1980s (like me), the current eighties revival must be music to their ears. Thanks to the use of vintage instruments and sounds, many contemporary songs have something instantly recognizable.
Take Eckhardt & The House, for instance, who’s If She Cannot Talk and Put Me In A Cape I recommended here before. They just released their twelfth single Funeral and I can’t help but hearing a mash-up of Falco’s Der Kommissar and Tom Tom Club’s Wordy Rappinghood in it. Which were brilliant and revolutionary songs, by the way.
Funeral is another slickly produced funk pop tune. At the same time however, lyrics like “Let’s have a funeral for all the sad news, let’s bury it all” and “We read the papers, read the facts, they bomb the desert, we pay tax” show social engagement (and even cynicism) as well.
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 Charts.
Wildcard (week 45):
Jade Bird – Love Has All Been Done Before
Ever since her debut single Cathedral, I’ve been a Jade Bird fan. She started her career singing covers of songs by the likes of Pixies, Beyoncé and Drake, but switched to originals upon the release of her debut EP Something American, in the summer of 2017.
Last August, her single Uh Huh was a Carte Blanche Music Wildcard and later that month, I witnessed her live with only her guitar and great voice at the Lowlands festival. She came, saw and conquered. Alas, Dutch radio was probably looking the other way at the moment, but thanks to support from radio stations in northern Europe, Uh Huh is currently a well-deserved Top 3 hit in the European Border Breakers Charts.
Without further ado, Jade Bird just released her new single Love Has All Been Done Before, a tune that goes down well at her concerts as well. The song starts off sweet enough, but already after a few lines, there’s no more holding back and the track builds up to an explosive chorus. Sounding like she ate a handful of gravel, Love Has All Been Done Before is easily her most energetic and rocky single to date.
While we’re eagerly awaiting Bird’s debut album to land early in 2019, we give her new single wings by making it her second Carte Blanche Music Wildcard in a row.
In the Wildcards 2018 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 Charts.
Aviator Stash – Shot Song
Music is a medicine. Heartache? Loss? Bad mood? Music makes it more bearable and helps to heal the wounds. How appropriate then, that San Diego based indie band Aviator Stash named their upcoming second album Prescribed (out on 16 November).
Singer/guitarist Greg Kellogg explains: “It has a strong theme about loved ones and friends losing themselves to mental health problems. The tone of most of the album is very bright and happy which is the metaphor of so many people trying to hide behind what’s really happening in their heads and portrays everything is fun and one big party!”
Shot Song is the album’s new single. The recipe: a feel good funky guitar riff, catchy lyrics and a little sarcasm. Kellogg: “Shot song is the ultimate bar/party anthem that highlights a time when a friend conducts a party foul and takes her shot before you take yours.”
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 Charts.
Ruby Bones – Not Enough
Ruby Bones are an indie rock band from New Jersey, consisting of singer-songwriter Chris Fox, drummer James Janocha, and bassist FC Spies, who managed to achieve Billboard chart success with their self-released eponymous debut album, last year. Since then, they’ve been picked up by an indie label, that contracted them to release a trio of EPs.
The first of those, Laser, has just come out. It features three high energy rock songs, all of them graced with great hooks and melodies, culminating in huge shout along choruses. First single Not Enough is a fine example!
The band comments on the song: “Not Enough is about one side of a couple never being able to meet the needs of the other, no matter how hard they might try. The song is musically more light-hearted than the last record, while still keeping the wordplay and big hooks intact.”
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 Charts.
Roads To Roam – Believe
After their 2015 debut EP A Guide To Your Mind and 2017 follow-up EP The Shadow Of Myself, Dutch five-piece Roads To Roam started working on new material with renowned producer Martijn Groeneveld, who worked with successful Lowlands acts like Bertolf, Blaudzun, Dotan, Klangstof and Rondé before.
Believe is the first fruit of their collaboration. This new single is a pop rock song about lies. In three minutes’ time, Roads To Roam tackle the topical issue of who to believe in this world where the one who makes the most noise gets all the attention.
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 Charts.
Creeping Jean – Bandit
Life-long friends Oliver Tooze and Joe Haberfield, from Brighton, run a successful vintage clothes shop. Meanwhile, they form the band Creeping Jean, whose debut EP will be out early next year. The single Bandit has just been released.
If you ever wondered what it would have sounded like if The Doors had met Jack White along the way, Bandit may give you the answer. Do you like Kasabian or The Black Keys? Then you should definitely give this one a spin as well!
Bandit is a cool, foot stomping single, brimming with attitude, whose driving fuzzy bass line instantly makes you want to dance.
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 Charts.
Clean Cut Kid – Emily
Fleetwood Mac may have been formed 51(!) years ago, they’re still going strong and continue to influence other artists. Contemporary acts such as Haim, Little Green Cars, Lissie, Liv, Band Of Gold and Ardyn for instance, sound like a tribute to the British-American originators. And as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Liverpool’s Clean Cut Kid (Saul Godman, Ross Higginson and husband and wife Mike and Evelyn Halls) belong in that league as well. Especially this new single, Emily, has ‘Fleetwood Mac’ written all over it. Not only the melody and the drum-driven instrumentation, but also the pairing of the female and male vocal throughout the song make it sound like a timeless song, if not an instant classic. It even has an old-fashioned fade-out. When was the last time you heard that? 😉
Brilliant stuff. Check their new EP Painkiller in full!
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 Charts.
Wildcard (week 44):
The Proclaimers – Then It Comes To Me
Who cares about the music everybody likes? Just listen to the music you like! That’s why playlists are so much more fun than charts these days: you hit play, and all you get are killers, no fillers. My mission with Carte Blanche Music is to provide you with great new music (both by emerging and known bands), and hopefully inspire you to add it to your (radio or Spotify) playlist.
Recently, I recommended album track You Make Me Happy by The Proclaimers. This week, Charlie and Craig Reid make me happy with the official new single off their latest album Angry Cyclist. Then It Comes To Me opens as a ballad, but the lads up the tempo 40 seconds into the song, only to burst into a folk rock tune pur sang another 40 seconds later. It’s one of the best four to the floor tracks of the year so far, and 31 years into their career, the Scottish twins are still in excellent voice.
Although they managed to become successful, The Proclaimers have never really been fashionable. This new single probably won’t become a hit, but as said: who cares about the music everybody likes? Me, for one, I adore the duo, as well a Then It Comes To Me. Therefore, I made it this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard.
In the Wildcards 2018 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 Charts.
Reel Big Fish – You Can’t Have All Of Me
At the end of the 80’s, Fishbone were one of the earliest ska punk bands. They were a real treat live. The 90’s gave us acts like No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, Smash Mouth and Rancid, but the last two centuries, hardly any ska punk band achieved mainstream success anymore. Wouldn’t it be great to have a ska punk revival?
Maybe Reel Big Fish can lead the way again. Probably best-known for their early singles Sell Out, She Has A Girlfriend Now and a-ha cover Take On Me, the band have never really been away. But their new single You Can’t Have All Of Me is their best in recent memory. Back to the old days, in a good way. Even better: a new album, Life Sucks… Let’s Dance, is announced for December. Party on, dudes!
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 Charts.
