Browsing Category wildcard
Wildcard (week 4):
Tom Jones – Talking Reality Television Blues
Tom Jones may be 80 years of age, after 58 years in the business he is still as relevant as ever. From It’s Not Unusual to Kiss to Sex Bomb, he always had a good nose for the musical trends. In that respect, it might seem odd that he’s chosen to record a covers album as his next project. The long-player, Surrounded By Time, will be out on 23 April. It features songs by Cat Stevens, Michael Kiwanuka, Tony Joe White and Bob Dylan.
Jones’ new single however, is a remake of Todd Snider’s Talking Reality Television Blues. But it’s unrecognizable. Snider’s version, only from 2019, was a two and a half minutes short country song. Jones stretches it out over six and a half minutes. His version has almost a Stone Roses drum shuffle, a Beck-like blues guitar and a Bob Dylan-style vocal. Other influences appear to come from acts like Baz Luhrmann, Radiohead and Public Service Broadcasting. Brilliant lyrics as well, by the way.
This week, Talking Reality Television Blues by Tom Jones is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, so you’ll find it at the top of the blog for a whole week!
Follow Tom Jones on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 3):
San Mei – In The Machine
San Mei is almost a Carte Blanche Music veteran. I guess I‘m a fan 😉. Maybe that’s because none of her tracks sound the same, ranging from dream pop to indie-rock. Her new single In The Machine however, has a decidedly electronic touch, with fuzzy guitars and big drum beats. To me, it sounds a bit like an updated version of Gary Numan’s Cars.
On Facebook, she adds: “Sometimes in life, we find ourselves just going through the motions and operating on auto-pilot. Especially when life gets hard and wears us down. But don’t get lost in the process. Get moving, shake it up, fight for what you want, who you want to be.”
This week, In The Machine by San Mei is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
Recommended as well:
Dakota
Midnight
Hard To Face
Follow San Mei on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 2):
Black Honey – Believer
Brighton 4-piece Black Honey go from strength to strength. I described their recent single Beaches as ‘their finest moment’, but this new one is even better. It’s the kind of track words like ‘stomper’ and ‘belter’ were invented for. Will it be a hit? Probably not, but who cares?
Yet, Believer is an earwormy, foot-stomping track, with echoes of Primal Scream in it. Not in the least because of the trumpets and bar piano that spice it up. Lyrically, it’s a rather spicey cut as well. Talking about the track, singer Izzy B. Phillips explains: “Believer is a song to accompany your existential crisis. I wanted a religious satire that was eye rolling at all the patriarchal nonsense of spiritual sense of self. I wanna believe in me, the outsider and the underdog. It’s like coming of age, coming out and coming up.”
The single is the fourth taste off Black Honey’s sophomore album Written And Directed, set for release on 19 March. The record, which follows their self-titled debut album, was written in 2019 and recorded in between the band’s tour commitments.
Black Honey’s Believer is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, which means it’ll feature here prominently for a whole week.
Recommended as well:
Black Honey – Beaches
Follow Black Honey on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 1): Philippine – Bah Non.
In 2019, Gavin James recorded a version of his hit Always with Philippine. For most people it was their first acquaintance with the now 22-year-old French singer. Two years later, she hopes to reach an even larger audience. To accomplish that goal, she will battle with 11 other candidates to represent France at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.
Philippine Zadéo will take part in the competition with her self-penned song Bah Non. She wrote it last summer after her relationship of several years ended badly. With this track, she wants to empower and encourage other people (no matter their gender) to say ‘no’ in situations where they feel vulnerable. An important message that deserves a large international audience.
For starters, Bah Non. by Philippine is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
Follow Philippine on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 52):
Glades – Get In The Way
Glades are vocalist Karina Savage and multi-instrumentalists/producers Joey Wenceslao and Cam Robertson. They met at high school in Sydney and officially formed the band in 2015. After collecting their early singles on the 2016 mini-album This Is What It’s Like, they released their first full-length To Love You in 2018.
The trio are currently preparing the release of their sophomore album Planetarium. It was originally slated to be put out last summer, but has been postponed with no release date set as of yet. In the meantime, the band keep giving us tracks ahead of it. Following Vertigo, Blonde and Crush, Get In The Way is the fourth single off the long-player.
Get In The Way is a driving, four-to-the-floor pop-rock song, destined to dust off the airwaves. If only radio stations had the guts to play it… Well, I’m not going to wait for that. Get In The Way by Glades is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It’ll feature here prominently for a whole week!
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 51):
Grand Corps Malade – Pas Essentiel
Grand Corps Malade’s lyrics aren’t socially critical per se, but Fabien Marsaud (his real name) wears his heart on his sleeve. His April single Effets Secondaires (‘side effects’) for instance, was a COVID charity track. Applauding the real heroes of the Corona crisis, the healthcare workers, all proceeds were donated to two French hospitals.
The same crisis was the inspiration for GCM’s new single, but this time, he points the camera at the cultural sector. In his home country France, like in most of the rest of the world, theatres and venues are closed. Not only out of fear of being potential virus ‘super spreaders’, but also because the governments label them ‘not essential’. GCM opposes that view. In a French newspaper, he calls it cruel and unfair. “It made me want to speak up about all of those things that may seem non essential, but in the end make life worth living.” Elsewhere, he calls the song ‘an ode to freedom’.
GCM wrote the track only at the end of November, with Swiss DJ/producer Quentin Mosimann. It contains a repetitive chorus that sticks in your brain. But even more clever is the incorporation of the whistle from Break Machine’s 1984 hit Street Dance.
Two weeks ago, An Open Letter To Creatives by The Lottery Winners was the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. Grand Corps Malade’s new single is an equally heart-felt track, but about the cultural sector. I couldn’t agree more with the message of this song. That’s why Pas Essentiel is this week’s Wildcard!
Recommended as well:
Grand Corps Malade – Effets Secondaires
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 50):
Holy Holy (feat. Queen P) – Port Rd
If you like high-energy tracks, you can’t miss this one. Port Rd is Aussie duo Holy Holy’s first new music since their 2019 album My Own Pool of Light. This new single is a collaboration with South Sudan-born Melbourne-based rapper Queen P (real name: Piath Mathiang). It combines woozy, smouldering verses and big anthemic choruses.
On top of that, the track features a choir of sorts, made up of vocals submitted by fans. And it doesn’t stop there, for the accompanying video contains over 300 snippets sent in by devotees, responding to the track’s themes of collective shift.
Inspired by a quote from author Arundhati Roy about the coronavirus pandemic, Port Rd focuses on the terrifying-yet-exciting nature of change and what awaits on the other side.
This week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard is for Holy Holy (feat. Queen P)!
Recommended as well:
Holy Holy – Faces
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 49):
The Lottery Winners – An Open Letter To Creatives
Now this is a lovely gesture! And a necessary one, for creatives are among the people who are hit hardest by the global COVID-19 measurements. Not only are they prevented from performing and exploiting their arts, but the public is prevented from enjoying those arts as well. Nobody wins…
That’s why The Lottery Winners wrote an open letter. Initially, it was meant to be a ‘note to self’, but eventually they decided to put it out as a motivational message to all musicians, artists, writers and creatives. Main statement: remain, don’t retrain.
Just like Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann, it contains some wonderful, powerful and encouraging thoughts. For instance: ‘Get enough sleep. Sometimes you need a nap. Don’t feel guilty if you’re feeling exhausted. Some of the best ideas in the world happened in dreams. So dream’. Or: ‘You don’t have to work for free. Your time is valuable. You are valuable. You can’t pay your bills with exposure. Don’t undervalue your art’.
In all the supportive lyrics, there’s room for some British humour too: ‘Stop comparing yourself to your heroes. There will only ever be one Bowie, one Tarantino, one Hirst, one Hendrix, one Hitchcock, one Mercury, one Wilde, one Winehouse, one Wonder, two Gallaghers, one Joplin, one Simone, and there will only ever be one you’.
But all in all, it’s a serious note, calling for creatives to be good to themselves, put value in their art, set realistic expectations, use their precious time and, above all, don’t give up when the going gets tough. And these are tough times, as we all know, with loss of income due to the pandemic, and lacking government support for skilled creatives.
On the other hand, The Lottery Winners notice: ‘Imagine a world without songs, without films, without books, without ever feeling the hairs on your neck stand up, without ever seeing goosebumps on your arm. That’s a world without people, like you. So no matter what you do: remain, don’t retrain’.
This week, An Open Letter To Creatives is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. I hope this wonderful and heart-felt song will inspire and motivate creatives to continue their great, fulfilling, healing and even life-saving art. Without you, there would be no Carte Blanche Music. Thank you!
Recommended as well:
The Lottery Winners – Little Things
The Lottery Winners – That’s Not Entertainment
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 48):
Monowhales – BL/FF (Fake Friends)
Canadian indie-rock band Monowhales recorded their debut album with JUNO Award nominated producer Ryan Worsley. So far, only two tracks have been released ahead of it: RWLYD (Really Wanna Let You Down) and All Or Nothing. Or, to be precise, they just added a third one to the list: BL/FF (Fake Friends) is the Toronto trio’s new single. An ode to online dating, this is another great, bold and bouncing pop-rock track that begs to be played live.
About the song, vocalist Sally Shaar says: “BL/FF (Fake Friends)” gases you up for a hook-up. Memories flood into your head about that damn person that’s hard to get over because the tension is just too fun to avoid. Imagine a late night, your phone dings and you get that far too familiar message. So, you jump in your car at 3am and turn this song up surrounded by streetlights and heavy feelings of lust on your way to some spicy sleepover.”
No word yet about the release of their album, alas. Judging by the sound of the singles, it will be epic. For now, all we can do is wait for another of their colourful video’s. While you’re at it, listen to BL/FF (Fake Friends) on repeat. It’s the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard and will feature here prominently for a week!
Recommended as well:
Monowhales – All Or Nothing
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 47):
Joel Culpepper – WAR
Now this is a sound we haven’t heard in the charts for way too long: funky soul. Hopefully, Joel Culpepper can undo that injustice. The south-east London native just announced his debut album, with the rather brilliant title Sgt. Culpepper, for next year.
The long-player is preceded by a double A-sided single: Return/WAR. As is so often the case, the AA-side is my favourite. WAR is an upbeat track in the best James Brown tradition. For the youngsters among you, who may think: James who? Think Learnalilgivinandlovin by Gotye.
Addressing social and political undertones, WAR details Culpepper’s frustration with the hostile environment towards marginalised groups, expressing that ‘enough is enough’. WAR is an acronym for Without Any Restraint. The track was co-written by two musical heavy-weights. Jimmy Hogarth (who worked with Amy Winehouse, Sia, Tom Grennan, Paolo Nutini, Duffy, and many more) and Shawn Lee (a very prolific artist who worked with the likes of Lana Del Rey, Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys, and is half of Young Gun Silver Fox).
Joel Culpepper. What is it good for? WAR! It’s the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard.
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. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
