Carte Blanche Music

Sophie & The Giants – Waste My Air

november 6

Glad you guys like Sophie & The Giants as much as I do! Last week, I could reveal that my recommendation of their single Bulldog was the most read Carte Blanche Music blog in October. In the meantime, the band also managed to enter the European Border Breakers Chart with the song.

Last week, singer Sophie Scott, guitarist Toby Holmes, bass player Bailey Stapledon and drummer Chris Hill released their first EP Adolescence. In a week and a half, opening track Waste My Air has developed into the band’s most popular track on Spotify. Four tracks into their career, it is indeed their most accessible track so far. I wouldn’t be surprised if (radio) playlist curators would pick it up, enabling Sophie & The Giants’s well-deserved definitive break-through.

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

single track

Ruby Bones – Not Enough

november 5

Ruby Bones are an indie rock band from New Jersey, consisting of singer-songwriter Chris Fox, drummer James Janocha, and bassist FC Spies, who managed to achieve Billboard chart success with their self-released eponymous debut album, last year. Since then, they’ve been picked up by an indie label, that contracted them to release a trio of EPs.

The first of those, Laser, has just come out. It features three high energy rock songs, all of them graced with great hooks and melodies, culminating in huge shout along choruses. First single Not Enough is a fine example!

The band comments on the song: “Not Enough is about one side of a couple never being able to meet the needs of the other, no matter how hard they might try. The song is musically more light-hearted than the last record, while still keeping the wordplay and big hooks intact.”

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

indie | pop | rock

werner's weekly

Werner’s Weekly (week 45)

november 5

Before the digital revolution, release strategies in the music business were clearly structured; the big-shot artists all came up with new material in October and November, well-placed to fully benefit from the tradition of exchanging presents at Christmas. The start of each new year was the best moment for emerging artists to drop new music, as the established ones had already shot their bolt in the months before.

However, things have changed since the arrival of – especially – the streaming platforms. They lowered the bar to put out music to a potentially worldwide audience, causing a diarrhoea of releases throughout the year, particularly on New Music Fridays. Personally, I love it, but the downside is, that we’re now in a situation of quantity over quality…

This is where Carte Blanche Music comes in! Each week, I listen to as many new songs as I can, but I only add the best tracks to my Carte Blanche Music Spotify playlist. Those additions are then narrowed down into my alphabetically ordered ‘best of the best’ list Werner’s Weekly, which is your compass to the music that matters.

This week’s edition is below, with links to my original recommendations. You can listen to the songs via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar.

The Proclaimers – Then It Comes To Me (Wildcard this week)
Isaac Gracie – Show Me Love (Wildcard last week)
Arthur Adam – O
Clean Cut Kid – Emily
Club Drive – Satisfied
Reel Big Fish – You Can’t Have All Of Me
Roads To Roam – Believe

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

chart, ebbchart

European Border Breakers Chart 2 November 2018

november 2

The fun part of the European Border Breakers Chart is that it is totally unlike any other chart around. Not only because it only features emerging European artists who are successful outside their home country, but also because that starting point gives visibility to a whole new generation of pop stars, before their break-through. In other words: the EBBChart is all about discovery, and if you follow it, you’ll be the first to know!

Personally, I’m thrilled to see the marvellous Uh Huh by Jade Bird (pictured) being picked up in Scandinavia, Iceland and Estonia, causing it to jump straight into the Top 3 of this week’s Top 100. Although Silk City feat. Dua Lipa still reign supreme, Jade Bird could cause a stir at the top of the EBBChart, if only she’d get some more support from radio stations and streamers in the rest of Europe.

Elsewhere, the Top 100 counts 23 (re)entries, 10 of which are completely new to the list. Two artists even have two debuting tracks each: Dutch rapper Willem (formerly half of hip hop duo The Opposites) and British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason (who already scored three EBBChart hits before these two). All ten newcomers are below:
#43: B.E.D. – Walk Away
#48: Willem – Man In Nood
#54: Eut – Look (Who Has Decided After All)
#69: Loski – Cool Kid
#84: Au/Ra – Ultraviolet
#86: L Devine – Nervous
#92: Sheku Kanneh-Mason – Evening Of Roses
#94: J. Bernardt – The Other Man
#95: Sheku Kanneh-Mason – Hallelujah
#98: Willem – Houten Pak

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

Roads To Roam – Believe

november 2

After their 2015 debut EP A Guide To Your Mind and 2017 follow-up EP The Shadow Of Myself, Dutch five-piece Roads To Roam started working on new material with renowned producer Martijn Groeneveld, who worked with successful Lowlands acts like Bertolf, Blaudzun, Dotan, Klangstof and Rondé before.

Believe is the first fruit of their collaboration. This new single is a pop rock song about lies. In three minutes’ time, Roads To Roam tackle the topical issue of who to believe in this world where the one who makes the most noise gets all the attention.

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

pop | rock

single track

Creeping Jean – Bandit

november 1

Life-long friends Oliver Tooze and Joe Haberfield, from Brighton, run a successful vintage clothes shop. Meanwhile, they form the band Creeping Jean, whose debut EP will be out early next year. The single Bandit has just been released.

If you ever wondered what it would have sounded like if The Doors had met Jack White along the way, Bandit may give you the answer. Do you like Kasabian or The Black Keys? Then you should definitely give this one a spin as well!

Bandit is a cool, foot stomping single, brimming with attitude, whose driving fuzzy bass line instantly makes you want to dance.

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

indie | pop | rock

chart

Your favourites (October 2018)

november 1

Great to see the width of your musical tastes, based on the Carte Blanche Music posts you viewed most in October. Virtually every genre pops up in your Top 10. This blog doesn’t discriminate by genre, so I’m happy to see we’re on the same page.

Looking more closely to your favourites, a few things are striking: a song that I recommended in July already (La Vague by DRMS & L’Isle), suddenly appeared among the most-read blogs last month, and continued the shine at #2 in October. It’s Alright by Nona, from that same month, was a fixture among your favourites in the last months, and still stands proudly at #8. On the other hand, two songs I only published this week (O by Arthur Adam and this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, Then It Comes To Me by The Proclaimers) amassed enough eyeballs in this short time frame to appear at #3 and #7 respectively.

All of your ten favourites, which you can also find in my constantly updated 2018 container playlist Carte Blanche Music, are below:

single track

Clean Cut Kid – Emily

oktober 31

Fleetwood Mac may have been formed 51(!) years ago, they’re still going strong and continue to influence other artists. Contemporary acts such as Haim, Little Green Cars, Lissie, Liv, Band Of Gold and Ardyn for instance, sound like a tribute to the British-American originators. And as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Liverpool’s Clean Cut Kid (Saul Godman, Ross Higginson and husband and wife Mike and Evelyn Halls) belong in that league as well. Especially this new single, Emily, has ‘Fleetwood Mac’ written all over it. Not only the melody and the drum-driven instrumentation, but also the pairing of the female and male vocal throughout the song make it sound like a timeless song, if not an instant classic. It even has an old-fashioned fade-out. When was the last time you heard that? 😉

Brilliant stuff. Check their new EP Painkiller in full!

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

pop | rock

single track, wildcard

Wildcard (week 44):
The Proclaimers – Then It Comes To Me

oktober 31

Who cares about the music everybody likes? Just listen to the music you like! That’s why playlists are so much more fun than charts these days: you hit play, and all you get are killers, no fillers. My mission with Carte Blanche Music is to provide you with great new music (both by emerging and known bands), and hopefully inspire you to add it to your (radio or Spotify) playlist.

Recently, I recommended album track You Make Me Happy by The Proclaimers. This week, Charlie and Craig Reid make me happy with the official new single off their latest album Angry Cyclist. Then It Comes To Me opens as a ballad, but the lads up the tempo 40 seconds into the song, only to burst into a folk rock tune pur sang another 40 seconds later. It’s one of the best four to the floor tracks of the year so far, and 31 years into their career, the Scottish twins are still in excellent voice.

Although they managed to become successful, The Proclaimers have never really been fashionable. This new single probably won’t become a hit, but as said: who cares about the music everybody likes? Me, for one, I adore the duo, as well a Then It Comes To Me. Therefore, I made it this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard.

In the Wildcards 2018 playlist you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.

folk | pop | rock

single track

Reel Big Fish – You Can’t Have All Of Me

oktober 30

At the end of the 80’s, Fishbone were one of the earliest ska punk bands. They were a real treat live. The 90’s gave us acts like No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, Smash Mouth and Rancid, but the last two centuries, hardly any ska punk band achieved mainstream success anymore. Wouldn’t it be great to have a ska punk revival?

Maybe Reel Big Fish can lead the way again. Probably best-known for their early singles Sell Out, She Has A Girlfriend Now and a-ha cover Take On Me, the band have never really been away. But their new single You Can’t Have All Of Me is their best in recent memory. Back to the old days, in a good way. Even better: a new album, Life Sucks… Let’s Dance, is announced for December. Party on, dudes!

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

indie | punk | rock | ska

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Sophie & The Giants – Waste My Air

Ruby Bones – Not Enough

Werner’s Weekly (week 45)

European Border Breakers Chart 2 November 2018

Roads To Roam – Believe

Creeping Jean – Bandit

Your favourites (October 2018)

Clean Cut Kid – Emily

Wildcard (week 44):
The Proclaimers – Then It Comes To Me

Reel Big Fish – You Can’t Have All Of Me

Wildcard (week 46)

Werner’s Weekly (week 47)

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Wildcard (week 46)

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