Browsing Category single track
Wildcard (week 21):
Countless Numbers – Twice As Hard
Countless Numbers are a 4-piece rock band out of Toronto, Canada. Influenced by Spoon, The New Pornographers, Arcade Fire, and even Elvis Costello, they tell their story through honest song-writing, rolling basslines, hard truths, and soft angles. Countless Numbers harmonize heartbreak over crunchy guitars, melodic keys, pumping basslines and a driving kick drum.
The band followed their 2016 EP Won with the EP Seconds last March. Twice As Hard, sung by Cary Parker in a voice reminiscent of John Hiatt or Buffalo Tom’s Bill Janovitz, is its first single.
This week, Twice As Hard by Countless Numbers is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. Play it twice as loud!
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.
Olympia – Hounds
Olympia is the musical project of Australian singer-songwriter Olivia Jayne Bartley. She makes light-hearted, catchy guitar pop with a rocky edge. Her first album Self Talk landed her nominations for the Australian Music Prize and ARIA Music Awards.
5 July, Olympia’s second long-player Flamingo will see the light. After Star City and Shoot To Forget, Hounds is the third single to be released ahead of it. A song with a driving four to the floor beat and thumping bassline.
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.
Some Sprouts – Someone You Love
German five-piece Some Sprouts, who steer a middle course between melancholy slacker rock and catchy indie pop, are on a roll. After releasing their second EP Immt last October, they just put out their brand-new single Someone You Love.
However melancholic the themes in many of the band’s songs, singer Joshua sounds so charming, that one can’t help but feeling good. Someone You Love is another example of Some Sprouts‘ nimble, summery tunes.
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.
Lauran Hibberd – Hoochie
Lauran Hibberd, from Isle of Wight, has a way of mixing humorous, tongue-in-cheek, self-assured lyrics with accessible guitar riffs. Her new single Hoochie sounds like a throwback to the 90s, when acts like Catherine Wheel and Juliana Hatfield delivered the same kind of melodious rock songs.
It’s an energetic, carefree guitar track that focuses on a toxic relationship and how important it is to get rid of that negativity in her life. She explains: “Hoochie is a 90s slang term for a bit of a ‘loose’ woman. It’s also the name of my new hamster. For me, this track is kind of that three-month period, after you’ve stopped hanging out with someone and you realise that actually they were kind of a tool, and that maybe you are alright.”
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 Howl & The Hum – Hall Of Fame
Sam Griffiths, Bradley Blackwell, Conor Hirons and Jack Williams are a York (UK)-based 4-piece who go by the name The Howl & The Hum. They combine their rumbling, melodic dark pop with post-punk influences, haunting, evocative lyrics, and a hypnotic yet energetic live show. They’ve just finished piecing together their debut album with producer Jolyon Thomas (Slaves, Kendrick Lamar, Royal Blood).
Ahead of it, the band return with their first track of 2019: Hall Of Fame. A song with a soaring chorus, and a sound that lies between The Killers and Keane. Frontman Griffiths calls it “more furious than anything the band have done 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.
Juan Luis Guerra 4.40 – I Love You More
In his native Dominican Republic and the rest of the Latino world, Juan Luis Guerra and his band 4.40 are real superstars with the Midas touch. In other territories not everything they touch turns into gold, but they did score some hits along the way. Burbujas De Amor, for instance, is known to us all, I hope? Believe it or not, that was in 1991…
Fast forward to the spring of 2019. Wouldn’t it be great if the king of bachata-merengue had another worldwide hit? Perhaps I Love You More could do the trick. Its lyrics are not only in Spanish (which is considered difficult to sing-along to by most Europeans), but the chorus is in English. Musically, it sounds fully authentic, but also familiar to anyone who ever visited the Caribbean. All in all, it brings out the sun for three minutes.
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.
Zuzu – How It Feels
Talented Mersey singer-songwriter Zuzu Stranack has released her biting new single How It Feels. It was written with her guitarist Kurran Karbal, and recorded with producer Jim Abbiss. Mixing pop textures into her signature guitar tunes, it’s a real earworm.
“The song came together really quickly”, she says of the new tune. “We’d written and demoed it within two hours – and sometimes I find the ones I write the quickest turn out to be the ones that mean the most.” She describes the track as “about not giving up on relationships and aspirations, even when things seem to be falling apart. It’s about looking back at past mistakes, learning from them, and maybe even trying to set things right.”
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.
Francesco Gabanni – È Un’altra Cosa
Italian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Gabbani rose to fame after winning the newcomers’ section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2016. The next year, he went on to win the main section of the festival with the song Occidentali’s Karma. This was his ticket to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. He finished in a respectable 6th place.
Almost two years later, Gabbani is back with a perfect summer song. Its ‘sha-na-na’ chorus is simple and catchy enough to sing-along to, even if you don’t speak Italian. But for those who’d like to know: ‘È Un’altra Cosa’ means ‘It’s something different’.
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.
Ethel – Rubikscube
This year, it’s 45 years ago that Rubik’s Cube was invented. It came to the market a year later, producing a world-wide craze. Since then, it went on to become the world’s best-selling toy.
All that many years later, the puzzle continues to inspire people. Ethel Ghrenass for instance, a 19-year-old singer-songwriter from Paris, who is currently based in London, where she just released her first single. Its title? Rubikscube…
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 20):
The Heavy – Fighting For The Same Thing
On 17 May, British rock band The Heavy will release their fifth album Sons. Fighting For The Same Thing is the horn-tinged, electro soul-based, funk-infused new single off it. The song states that progress is only achievable when we all stand together as a unified force.
“Fighting For The Same Thing is a testament to the work that is needed to make the relationships that we consider important in our daily lives, healthier and more fulfilling, whether family, soulmates, partners, or council governments,” says lead singer Kelvin Swaby. “It’s the feeling of knowing the choices and events that affect our idea of a better day, and being part of those decisions, when we become complacent and comfortable, things fall apart and fighting for what’s right, made the future for generations ever brighter action is always required.”
This week, Fighting For The Same Thing by The Heavy features prominently on this blog as the new 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.
