Browsing Category wildcard
Wildcard (week 37):
Fickle Friends – Love You To Death
After first establishing their reputation entirely independently, Fickle Friends signed to a major label. In 2018, Polydor released their debut album You Are Someone Else, which hit the Top 10. Soon after however, the Brighton band decided to resume the indie route. Over the course of the last 18 months, they’ve released two seasons of the Weird Years EP series.
Fickle Friends are currently recording their sophomore album Are We Gonna Be Alright? It’s scheduled to come out on 14 January 2022. The first track to be released ahead of it is their exciting new single Love You To Death. A tight, funk-fuelled pop-rock song with a Prince/Nile Rodgers energy, filled with killer hooks.
Singer Natti Shiner says about it: “It’s a song about loving someone so much you might actually kill them. I’m pretty amazed by just how much I can feel sometimes, like it’s quite overwhelming a lot of the time. That’s where this song comes from.”
This week, Love You To Death by Fickle Friends is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard!
Recommended as well:
Fickle Friends – Pretty Great
Follow Fickle Friends on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 36):
Clara Luciani – Respire Encore
When I first wrote about Clara Luciani, over three years ago, she was an upcoming French singer. By now, we may conclude she delivered on the promise. For those in doubt: just listen to her new album Coeur (‘heart’). It’s a record that was born out of a profound love for 1960s and ‘70s music, but in the meantime firmly planted in the 2020s. That’s French DJ Breakbot’s contribution to the project. He adds a modern touch to Luciani’s retro influences.
When the album came out mid-June, I already recommended album cut Respire Encore (‘breathe again’). A great example of this nu-disco sound. It features a prominent bass and funky guitar riffs, as well as a beautiful string arrangement, played by no less than 18 violinists. Backing vocals are provided by Clara’s older sister Lea Luciani, who was the subject of earlier single Ma Soeur.
Lyrically, Respire Encore is an ode to post-lockdown life. “I wrote this song to convince myself that happier days were coming“, the artist explains. At Carte Blanche Music, we’d like to bring those happier days a little bit closer.
Now the triumphant track has been released as Luciani’s official new single, we’ve chosen Respire Encore as our new Wildcard. This means it’ll feature here prominently for a whole week! Even better: it’s the 1.900th Wildcard since I started choosing one on a weekly basis. Easy Lover by Philip Bailey & Phil Collins was the first one, back in 1985!
Recommended as well:
Clara Luciani – Ma Soeur
Clara Luciani – La Grenade
Follow Clara Luciani on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 35):
Self Esteem – How Can I Help You
Are you ready for ‘something completely different’ (as Monty Python would have it)? I can help you! How? By introducing you to Self Esteem’s new single. Built around only drums, vocals and voice effects, it doesn’t sound like anything else out there. And If you think this minimal set-up sounds dull, you couldn’t be more wrong. Maybe this is the right time to hit the play button below, while you read on…
I don’t know shit, but How Can I Help You is a ferocious beast of a song. A track born of frustration (to quote James). Rebecca Lucy Taylor (her real name) describes it in a press release as ‘a biting response to the misogynistic standards and objectification that women are subjected to’. And yes, that’s Self Esteem herself playing the drums.
Be sure to check the video as well. It captures a live solo performance of the song that’s sticky in more ways than one. The artist explains: “I wanted to play the drums in the video to reclaim how often I used to feel self conscious playing them. The physical act of a woman playing a drum means your tits move – all I ever wanted to do was play but it always came with this fear of being looked at in that way. Now my tits move for me, my song, my video. I’m also aware it’s probs a nice watch if you’re that way inclined, but I’m afraid if you wanna watch it you have to hear what I’ve got to say. Click for the tits, stay for the feminism!”
This powerhouse of a track is taken from Self Esteem’s upcoming second album Prioritise Pleasure, set for release on 22 October.
How Can I Help You is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It’ll feature here prominently for seven full days. At your service!
Recommended as well:
Self Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure
Self Esteem – Girl Crush
Follow Self Esteem on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 34):
Caroline & Claude – Stir The Pot
Sydney-born and Adelaide-bred duo Caroline & Claude have known each other all of their lives. That’s logical, for the two (real names Hannah and Dylan Ringrow) are siblings. They pursued music from an early age, whether in the form of jam sessions with their family, or putting on shows for their parents. “We came to realize that music felt like therapy”, it says on their website.
Yet, it took them until mid-2020 to start and make music on a more professional level. Now 21 and 17 years old respectively, Caroline & Claude release their sparkling debut single Stir The Pot. It’s a punchy and catchy affair, that somehow manages to have a vintage pop vibe. However, they wrote and co-produced the song themselves, creating a unique sound of their own. The track deals with spreading rumors, and being knowingly vindictive to others. It comes with a music video that they shot, directed and edited themselves as well.
Caroline & Claude’s promising first tune Stir The Pot is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. This means it’ll feature here prominently for a whole week.
Follow Caroline & Claude on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 33):
Saint Djuni – All Of My Friends
Saint Djuni are a Netherlands-based, genre-bending duo, consisting of Clifford Goilo (originally from Curaçao) and Sweden-born Rasmus Viberg. They started this project when the pandemic started and just couldn’t stop making music after.
In less than a years’ time they released seven singles. That includes new single All Of My Friends, a track that’ll go down well with fans of Dutch DJ/producer Bakermat’s dance-pop. That’s not odd, for Goilo co-wrote Teach Me and Living, two of Bakermat’s biggest hits. All Of My Friends is an over the top, happy-go-lucky tune. This funky dance track might be just the song to turn this year’s moderate summer into a hot one!
All Of My Friends by Saint Djuni is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, so it’ll feature here prominently for a whole week.
Follow Saint Djuni on Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 32):
May-a – Central Station
Maya Cumming is a self-made artist who started her career as an extremely successful YouTuber. Her videos often reached over a million views. Nevertheless, she deleted them following her decision to fully focus on her musical career. Attracting an impressive fanbase (once again) with her first, self-released songs, she recently signed to major label Atlantic.
May-a already worked with Baby Queen and Powfu, and just released her debut EP Don’t Kiss Ur Friends. “It follows the course of a relationship, a journey of queer discovery, and the growth from an adolescent to a young adult”, she explains. “Each song is a piece of the last four or five years of my life, the most recent track having been written last year and the earliest at 16. As the music developed, so did I. You can listen to me grow up, gain confidence and understand myself through the way I approach my relationships.”
Central Station is the 19-year-old Sydney-based singer-songwriter’s new single. She wrote is near the end of her relationship with the girl half the EP is about. The track starts off with Cumming sitting on a train talking to her girlfriend, while looking at this other person in the train. Bursting with self-awareness with a dash of cynicism, it outlines just how fast we can lose our feelings for those who were once the centre of our world.
As our new Wildcard, Central Station by May-a is the centre-piece of the Carte Blanche Music blog. It’ll feature here prominently for a whole week, before leaving from platform one.
Recommended as well:
May-a – Apricots
May-a – Green
Follow May-a on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 31):
Parcels – Comingback
The summer here in Western Europe may be somewhat underwhelming, but luckily Parcels are here to create a sunny atmosphere. Comingback is their second track of the year, following June’s single Free. Both songs will appear on the band’s next album, which they finished recording recently.
In a statement, the band said Comingback was one of the band’s earliest ideas after the release of their last album. However, it ended up one of the last songs to be completed after being rewritten a number of times.
The track is built around an infectious piano part and a lively rhythm section with breakbeat-like drum patterns. Throughout a beautiful string arrangement gives the song extra class. The bridge has a great build-up with vivid percussion and orchestral elements, culminating in a musical climax of sorts.
Comingback by Parcels is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, so it’ll feature here prominently for a whole week.
Recommended as well:
Parcels – Tieduprightnow
Follow Parcels on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 30):
Torres – Thirstier
This week, Brooklyn-based indie-rock singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott (a.k.a. Torres) will release her fifth album Thirstier. Ahead of it, she serves the dynamic title song as its third single. It combines twinkling, delicate verses with explosions of guitars and drums in a thunderous chorus. Near the end, she even throws in some blazing trumpets.
Thirstier is Torres’ second long-player in two years’ time. It follows 2020’s self-produced and critically acclaimed record Silver Tongue. She recorded the new album in the UK, co-producing it with Rob Ellis and Peter Miles.
Torres’ single Thirstier is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. This means it’ll feature here prominently for a whole week!
Follow Torres on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 29):
Baby Queen – You Shaped Hole
Following her debut EP Medicine, which Baby Queen only put out in November 2020, she has a new collection of songs lined up. This time it’ll be a mixtape, named The Yearbook, that will be unleashed on 3 September. With the release of her new single You Shaped Hole, exactly half of the ten tracks to appear on it are out in the open already.
If these tracks have one thing in common, it’s their consistently high quality. Bella Latham (the singer-songwriter’s real name) has the talent to pack her misery in ultra catchy and accessible pop tunes. The anti-hero the world needs right now.
Baby Queen says about You Shaped Hole: “I was super heartbroken when I wrote this song, and my ex was dating this beautiful supermodel after dumping me in Clissold Park in North East London. I went through a bit of a wild phase, as one does, and was doing everything I could possibly do to feel better. At the time I had this image in my mind of a hole inside my body that was shaped exactly like my ex, and it was as if I was trying to fill that hole in any way I could. But the things I was filling it with never reached the corners or made me feel any better, they just cluttered my life.”
You Shaped Hole by Baby Queen is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, so it’ll feature here prominently for a whole week!
Recommended as well:
These Drugs
Raw Thoughts
Follow Baby Queen on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 27):
beabadoobee – He Gets Me So High
Indie-pop darling beabadoobee is currently recording her sophomore album. Bridging the gap between her debut album and the upcoming release, she put out the EP Our Extended Play. The ‘our’ in its title refers to the fact the EP is a collaborative effort between Beatrice Laus herself and her label mates Matt Healy and George Daniel of The 1975. They co-wrote and produced the songs.
The 4-track-collection already produced two singles: Last Day On Earth and her current single Cologne. However, I’d like to introduce you to closing tune He Gets Me So High, which is a real gem. Light and summer-y, it brings the jangle pop of bands such as The Byrds and R.E.M. to mind. Meanwhile, it may also have been inspired by The Cure’s more poppy output.
He Gets Me So High was originally written by Healy and called She Gets Me So High. You can also hear him sing in the call-and-response bridge. This would make a great summer single if you’d ask me!
Ahead of that, He Gets Me So High by beabadoobee will feature here prominently for a whole week as the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard.
Recommended as well:
beabadoobee – Charlie Brown
beabadoobee – She Plays Bass
Follow beabadoobee on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
