Browsing Category wildcard
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.
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.
Wildcard (week 19):
Aldo Vanucci feat. Kylie Auldist – Get A Hold On This
Since his first album Straight Lift in 2007, Aldo Vanucci (‘Plymouths 14th best DJ’) hasn’t sat still. He released stand-alone singles, as well as EP’s such as Walk Like A Man (2008), Love Is Loops (2012) and Love Is Loops, Volume 2 (2013). The latter already included a bona fide classic track: Get A Hold On This, featuring the instantly recognisable voice of Australian soul singer Kylie Auldist. She is best-known for being the featured vocalist on Kungs vs. Cookin’ On 3 Burners’ smash hit This Girl, but she’s also the regular frontwoman for Australian giants of funk, The Bamboos.
Now, six years later, Get A Hold On This is included on Vanucci’s second full-length album Digging For A Living, and once again, the track is pushed forward to perform its promotional duties. This time, The funky original is accompanied by a pair of soulful remixes, courtesy of The Allergies and Dr. Rubberfunk.
Get A Hold On This by Aldo Vanucci feat. Kylie Auldist 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.
Wildcard (week 18):
The Cheap Thrills – Smile When You Sleep
The Cheap Thrills are a garage rock band who very proudly come from Liverpool (England). The group consists of primary school friends Lewis Pike, Terry Eaves, Callum Fitzpatrick and Anton Eager, who specialize in songs with catchy hooks and melodies, resulting in jumpy bass lines, spacey guitars, and synths.
About their new single, lead singer Lewis says: ”Smile When You Sleep lists our problems with sleep in various different ways but I think it highlights the beauty of sleep too. It also questions how you feel sleeping with someone else as opposed to sleeping alone. It’s always about progression with songs for us. We want people to connect to these tunes and sing them back to us.”
This week, Smile When You Sleep by The Cheap Thrills features prominently on the Carte Blanche Music blog as the new 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.
Wildcard (week 17):
Jain – Gloria
Surprise! Eight months after her second album Souldier, Jain serves up a completely new song. Gloria is such a strong track, it’s likely to be included on a re-issue of the album soon. The French artist followed the same procedure with her debut album Zanaka, which, upon re-release, contained six additional tracks, one of them being the majestic Dynabeat.
Gloria is a personification of glory, all about staying faithful to what we are. With its Africa-influenced rhythms, it’s a festive song that already sounds like a future live staple. Until then, it’s a personal favourite of yours truly. That’s why Gloria by Jain 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.
Wildcard (week 16):
Hey Violet – Better By Myself
Throughout the spring and summer, Hey Violet are set to release four new tracks. Better By Myself is the first, and also their first release since the Los Angeles based pop-rock band’s 2017 debut album From The Outside.
Better By Myself is a good old break-up song, but while other tracks in that category are often melancholic, full of heartache and pain, Hey Violet deliver an upbeat tune of relief and self-love. Front woman Rena Lovelis reveals: “It’s about being in an unhealthy relationship and having the courage to leave, but realizing maybe you’re isolating a little much. I think we need to fall in love with ourselves before we fall in love with anybody else and that’s why the song sounds so celebratory. It’s about finding that happy medium between ‘I don’t need anyone,’ which tends to be a defense mechanism, and being truly okay with yourself.”
Hey Violet’s Better By Myself 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.
Wildcard (week 15):
Suns Up – Just Because
Sussex four-piece Suns Up have chosen the perfect name for their band. There’s nothing wrong with their indie-pop tunes in the autumn and winter, but they appear to be made for the spring and summer. Like their first two singles Stay and Love You Back, Just Because is a sun-kissed song, combining infectious guitar hooks, feel-good vibes and sparkling vocal harmonies. It is, as the band characterise it beautifully: ‘music made with guitars to sing and dance to’.
When talking about how the song came to life, front man Dave explains: “We had an idea which we kept coming back to at rehearsals. I had an opening line and a melody that I really liked, but the rest took time to get right. I’m not a very open person, but I find in my music that I am. This song turned out to be quite personal to me about someone close and I wanted the music to do justice to that.”
Just Because by Suns Up 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.
Wildcard (week 14):
Georgia – About Work The Dancefloor
If you follow Carte Blanche Music since it started, back in January 2017, you may remember me recommending Georgia’s singles Feel It and Started Out. If you don’t, no offence 😉
Georgia, the 27-year-old daughter of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes, started her career as a session drummer, before releasing her self-titled debut album in 2015. The singles I mentioned came out later, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
While these two songs set the stage for Georgia, her new single might just be the track to properly launch her career. About Work The Dancefloor is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard! It sounds like the best song Robyn never wrote, and incorporates a great Kraftwerk-like synth line. Lyrically (“I was just thinking ‘bout work the dancefloor”) it has a grammatical construction that’s so awkward, it can’t help but get stuck in your head.
“About Work The Dancefloor is a song written in response to the clubbing culture I experienced in cities whilst touring,” Georgia said in a statement. “Going out and getting that emotion or sensation from a collective energy in various spaces. It’s that stuff of old school disco, the thrill of the dance floor.”
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.
Wildcard (week 13):
Maggie Lindemann – Friends Go
When Los Angeles singer-songwriter Maggie Lindemann released her debut single Pretty Girl in 2016, she immediately hit the bull’s eye. It was a Top 10 hit all over Europe, clocking 550 million Spotify streams to date. That’s such a huge number, that some of her other tracks, with 20 to 50 million streams, almost seem like flops (which they aren’t, obviously).
On her funky new single, Lindemann tries a new sound, incorporating ska elements. In an interview with Billboard, she says that her love of pop-punk and ska hasn’t been represented in her music before, so she wanted to create a track that offered something new to her fans. “I love No Doubt, Panic! At The Disco, but I also love my pop music. So I wanted to give all of that kinda in one, my own take on it.”
Also looking forward to a remix Blink-182’s Travis Barker made of this track. But for now, the single version of Maggie Lindemann’s Friends Go is the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, giving it the most prominent position on this blog for a whole week.
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.
Wildcard (week 11):
Sam Fender – Hypersonic Missiles
Ever since his early single Greasy Spoon, I’ve been a fan of Sam Fender. I’m sure you will be soon as well (if you’re not already), for his singles keep getting better and better. And that’s not all, he is also embrace by ever larger live audience all over Europe. Last summer, I witnessed his show at the Lowlands festival, which was overwhelming, both for the crowd and Sam and his band. This show got his single Dead Boys some well-deserved extra media attention.
Step by step, Fender’s star is rising, so Hypersonic Missiles is a very appropriate title for his new single. The track is as catchy as can be, and even features a Clarence Clemons-like sax. There’s absolutely nothing not to like in this song. Likely to become an interstellar success, Carte Blanche Music launches Hypersonic Missiles as the new Wildcard!
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.
