Carte Blanche Music

Stats – Lose It

January 15th, 2019

You might not know Ed Seed by name, but he was part of La Roux (remember the great single Bulletproof?) and played guitar and keys in Dua Lipa’s band. He quit that day job to take care of his new-born son and started working on his own band Stats’s debut album Other People’s Lives, to be released on 15 February.

Stats are a London sextet that plays full-band dance music, inspired by the likes of Roxy Music and LCD Soundsystem. The group got a boost last year, when their single Rhythm Of The Heart (created around a recording of Seed’s son’s heat beat) got airplay on Elton John’s Beats1 radio show. Their funky latest single Lose It however, sounds like it could be playlisted by radio stations and streaming services all around.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

cover, single track

Mercury Rev feat. Norah Jones – Okolona River Bottom Band

January 15th, 2019

Mercury Rev’s new album, out on 8 February, will be a reconstruction of Bobbie Gentry’s underappreciated 1968 cult classic The Delta Sweete. A star studded rendition, featuring contributions from Norah Jones, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, Lucinda Williams, Margo Price, Beth Orton, Susanne Sundfør from Norway, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab fame, Dutch actress Carice van Houten, Rachel Goswell, Vashti Bunyan, Kaela Sinclair, Marissa Nadler and Phoebe Bridgers.

Louisiana Man, off the original album, is missing from the project. It will be replaced by a new version of probably Bobbie Gentry’s best-known song Ode To Billie Joe (a Billboard number 1, which was in fact from her same-titled debut album). Mercury Rev’s version features Lucinda Williams’s vocals. Tip: also check the version Sinéad O’Connor recorded in 1995 for the infamous Help! album.

The Delta Sweete’s opening track, a beautifully orchestrated version of Okolona River Bottom Band (feat. Norah Jones) is the set’s intriguing new single. Looking forward to the rest!

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

orchestral | pop

single track

Videoclub – Roi

January 14th, 2019

At the tender age of 17, Adèle Castillon has quite a career already. After quickly rising to fame as a YouTube personality, she was asked to play roles in several French movies. And now, she added singing to her CV. Together with fellow teen, singer-songwriter Matthieu Reynaud (son of French jazz guitarist Régis Reynaud), she forms Videoclub.

After releasing their debut single Amour Plastique in September 2018, Roi (‘king’) is only their second outing. A lovely electronic pop song with classic chanson melodies, coupled with eighties-influenced raps. This song couldn’t have come from any other country than France…

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

chanson | electronic | hip hop | pop

werner's weekly

Werner’s Weekly (week 3)

January 14th, 2019

This is Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:

Lizzo – Juice (Wildcard this week)
The Lottery Winners – That’s Not Entertainment (Wildcard last week)
As December Falls – On The Edge
Chateau Chateau – Evidence
Evil Edna – Isle Of Dogs
Mamas Gun – Golden Days
Uncle Frank – Lay It All At His Feet

Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Werner’s Weekly player below.

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: Blood Red Shoes, The Chemical Brothers, Janelle Monáe, Joe Jackson, Radiohead, White Lies and many more.

chart, ebbchart

European Border Breakers Chart 11 January 2019

January 11th, 2019

Making the last refinements before the Music Moves Europe Talent Chart is finally launched, next week, we needed to recalculate last week’s European Border Breakers Chart. Just so you know. Upon launch, all of the chart rules will be explained here very clearly, showing what a powerful tool we are developing for emerging European artists, bookers, managers, journalists, and consumers alike. Yes, I am proud! 😉

Now, one week before the rebranding officially takes place, let’s look at what’s happening in the European Border Breakers Chart one last time. You might say it goes out with a bang, opening its gate to 29 (re)entries, 13 of which are complete newcomers:
#23: Jugo Ürdens – Yugo
#34: Sea Girls – All I Want To Hear You Say
#42: Spielbergs – Five On It
#48: Kokoroko – Uman
#62: Rosalía (pictured) – Dí Mi Nombre
#63: Jada – Lonely
#65: Sophie Lloyd feat. Dames Brown – Calling Out
#66: jens – Any Other Way
#74: Aya Nakamura – La Dot
#82: You Tell Me – Clarion Call
#85: Karel – Out
#86: Amilli – Maybe
#94: Hugo Helmig – Young Like This

For the full Top 100, click the ‘EBBChart’ tab in the top menu of this blog (loading of the PDF may take a little while). More charts, like the Tips (ranking the tracks that are on their way to the Top 100), the Airplay Chart and the Streaming Chart, are available at www.europeanborderbreakerschart.eu, where you can also listen to all of the tracks and watch their videos, as well as share them via social media.

single track

Mamas Gun – Golden Days

January 11th, 2019

Exactly one year after its first single, Mamas Gun’s album Golden Days yields a fifth single. A good old case of saving the best for last, the album’s title track has been chosen to follow in the footsteps of I Need A Win, London Girls, You Make My Life A Better Place, and On The Wire. Golden Days is another one of the band’s trademark modern soul tracks, co-written by Christopher Braide (Sia, Lana Del Rey, Paloma Faith).

If you’re a fan of singer-songwriter Andy Platts’s other project Young Gun Silver Fox, but didn’t know Mamas Gun yet, this is a great introduction. Satisfaction guaranteed!

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

pop | soul

single track

Garbage (feat. John Doe & Exene Cervenka) – Destroying Angels

January 10th, 2019

While on tour with Blondie and LA punk band X, Garbage worked with John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X to write and produce Destroying Angels. The track, which Garbage describe as a murder ballad, was released as a 7” single on 23 November 2018 for Record Store Day: Black Friday. The initial physical release was limited to only 3.000 copies, but now, the song is available digitally for everyone interested.

The B-side is the band’s take on David Bowie’s 1972 classic Starman, originally recorded for American DJ Howard Stern’s all-star Bowie tribute, which aired in February 2018.

Beyond Destroying Angels, Garbage is also working on their 7th studio album. Last summer, No Horses was our first taste of where this new record is going…

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

melancholic | pop | rock

single track

Uncle Frank – Lay It All At His Feet

January 10th, 2019

Even though Fun Lovin’ Criminals released a new single as recent as last November, spin-off project Uncle Frank – based around FLC drummer Frank Benbini and his mate Naim Cortazzi – just came up with a new song as well. It’s part of a project where the duo release a new track on the first Friday of every month, until they drop their brand-new, third album Soul On The Battleground, in March.

Benbini has his own radio show ‘Uncle Frank – Funk and Rare Grooves’, airing every Sunday 7-10PM on BBC Radio Leicester, but with his band, he practices what he preaches. Lay It All At His Feet is a groovy affair, which brings back memories of The Isley Brothers classics like Summer Breeze or That Lady (partly triggered by the sound of Cortazzi’s guitar solo). Wonderful stuff!

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

funk | indie | pop

single track

Chateau Chateau – Evidence

January 9th, 2019

Only a year ago, in the beginning of 2018, Chateau Chateau was formed in Tucson, Arizona. It took the 7-piece band exactly one single, Crisis Party (released in early summer), to get the attention of Amsterdam-based music label TCBYML (This Could Be Your Music Label).

The parties signed an agreement to release Chateau Chateau’s first 5-track EP, Evidence, in early 2019. It will be preceded by three singles, the first being the EP’s title track. A wonderful up-tempo indie pop song that sounds like a love child of Satellite Stories and Vampire Weekend.

What more do you need to know to hit the play button?

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

indie | pop | rock

single track, wildcard

Wildcard (week 2):
Lizzo – Juice

January 9th, 2019

Lizzo’s most recent single Boys ended in the Carte Blanche Music Top 2018. Now, the Minneapolis singer/rapper is back with an equally infectious single.

Juice is a self-confident, funky, danceable jam, with eighties-flavoured synths, a bass line and percussion from the same era, and horns that provide the finishing touch.

Also, be sure to check the song’s video, where Lizzo stars in an ’80s-style workout program, goes on a late-night talk show, sells products on an infomercial, and more.

Juice 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.

funk | hip hop | pop

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Stats – Lose It

Mercury Rev feat. Norah Jones – Okolona River Bottom Band

Videoclub – Roi

Werner’s Weekly (week 3)

European Border Breakers Chart 11 January 2019

Mamas Gun – Golden Days

Garbage (feat. John Doe & Exene Cervenka) – Destroying Angels

Uncle Frank – Lay It All At His Feet

Chateau Chateau – Evidence

Wildcard (week 2):
Lizzo – Juice

Wildcard (week 4)

Werner’s Weekly (week 4)

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