Browsing Tag disco
single track
Anish Kumar & Barry Can’t Swim – Blackpool Boulevard
This one’s for the dance floor. Last summer, Anish Kumar and Barry Can’t Swim were sending ideas, early demos and voice notes back and forth, which resulted in this banger. Blackpool Boulevard is a sample-heavy, funky disco tune with a great piano part and a Communards-like beat.
Kumar is not only a veterinary medicine student, but also a promising producer, fond of samples, Motown and Northern Soul. Meanwhile, Barry Can’t Swim is a rising artist with a knack for putting a summertime spin on jazz-inflected house. When you listen to their great collab, you can hear both their influences in it.
Blackpool Boulevard is an instrumental for now, but I can imagine someone putting vocals to it. That would be interesting, but not strictly necessary. It’s great in its current form as well.
Follow Anish Kumar on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
Follow Barry Can’t Swim on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
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.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 46)
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:
- Foals – Wake Me Up (Wildcard this week)
- Smith & Thell – Pixie’s Parasol (Wildcard last week)
- Dual – Wipe Your Tears Away
- Teenage Dads – Piano Girl
- The Ramona Flowers feat. Nile Rodgers – Up All Night
- Thunder Fox – Head In The Clouds
- Who Parked The Car – Candle Dance
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: Johnny Marr, Stereophonics, The War On Drugs, and more.
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.
single track
Blu DeTiger – Blondes
23-year-old New York-native Blu DeTiger first started playing bass guitar at the age of 7. In recent years, she toured as a bassist with Caroline Polachek, Fletcher and alternative rock band Kitten. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, she went viral on TikTok, amassing over 1 million followers with her covers of songs by artists like Prince, Janet Jackson and Megan Thee Stallion. In other words: she’s heating up her audience for her solo career.
Following debut EP How Did We Get Here?, she may just have released the track to really start the fire. Blondes is a funky, disco-tinged pop bop. DeTiger says about it: “The song is about wanting to get away from monotony – to be real – to feel something – to have passion – to feel ALIVE. It’s about wanting to spice up your life and do something exciting.”
Blondes definitely have more fun…
Follow Blu DeTiger on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
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.
single track
The Ramona Flowers feat. Nile Rodgers – Up All Night
Since the last time I suggested there’s something in the water in Bristol, the number of great artists from the city had only grown. The Ramona Flowers aren’t a new band though. They released their debut EP Dismantle in 2012. But I believe their finest moment has yet to come, and they just released the track that might accomplish that.
Up All Night is the band’s first release in three years’ time. It’s an anthemic, up-tempo song with stadium-size horn elements, beautiful strings and of course Nile Rodgers‘ signature funky guitar licks.
“Essentially, it’s a song about my love of a good party and the fact I seem to somehow always be the last one to want to leave. Have there been occasions where I should have gone home for an early night? Absolutely! But that’s just not in my make up and life’s too short to worry about tomorrow too much…”, comments the band’s front man Steve Bird.
Nile Rodgers says about the collaboration: “It’s possible that I’ve made more music during the pandemic than at any other time in my life and almost all of it remotely. In the early dark days of this crisis this song made me feel good and put a smile on my face so when the band asked me to play and produce on it, it was a delight to say yes.”
Follow The Ramona Flowers on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
Follow Nile Rodgers on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
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.
album track
Kacey Musgraves – There Is A Light
Is the flute making a comeback in pop music? And wouldn’t that be lovely? To give two examples: Lizzo is an accomplished flautist and you can clearly hear a flute in Dua Lipa’s Physical. And now, another female powerhouse artist features the instrument prominently. What’s more, it’s used in a genre where you wouldn’t expect it. I may be mistaken, but how many country-pop songs do you know with a flute in it?
Let’s start at the beginning… The artist I’m talking about, Kacey Musgraves, just made a break-up album: Star-Crossed. Based on a true story (her divorce from her now ex-husband Ruston Kelly), it deals with a rollercoaster of emotions. It chronicles the peaks of new love to marriage to divorce to solo acceptance. Be prepared for an emotional ride!
But once you get to the 14th song on this 15-track album, you reach the stage of hope. The title There Is A Light says it all. It’s a disco-influenced pop song with phased drum fills, lush acoustic guitars, bells and all. But still it manages to incorporate a certain country twang. Then, after the 1’30 mark, out of the blue, there is a flute. An uplifting flute. A flute that sounds like the musical equivalent of a middle finger. A flute that says: blow me!
The song brings together so many ingredients, that it stands out in the current musical climate. To me, that would be enough reason to put it out as a single, but in the United States, especially, radio stations might struggle to decide upon the right format for the song. Well, let me help you, dear programmers: this is as pop as pop gets, and it deserves to be all over your radio stations. After all, this is Kacey Musgraves you know? What could possibly go wrong?
Recommended as well:
High Horse
Follow Kacey Musgraves on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
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.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 38)
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:
- Fickle Friends – Love You To Death (Wildcard this week)
- Clara Luciani – Respire Encore (Wildcard last week)
- Alice Merton – Island
- Annie – April
- Liberty – Troye Sivan
- MeLLLo – Crown
- Thunder Fox – Not For Sale
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: Chvrches, Jonas Brothers, Manic Street Preachers, The War On Drugs (feat. Lucius), and more.
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.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 37)
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:
- Clara Luciani – Respire Encore (Wildcard this week)
- Self Esteem – How Can I Help You (Wildcard last week)
- Breakaway – I’m Feeling Dead
- Certain Animals – Younger Than Now
- Halsey – Honey
- King Stingray – Milkumana
- Louis Berry – Are You Alone?
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: Andy Grammer, Royal Blood, The Vaccines, and more.
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.
single track, wildcardWildcard (week 36):
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.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 31)
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:
- Torres – Thirstier (Wildcard this week)
- Baby Queen – You Shaped Hole (Wildcard last week)
- Bloom de Wilde – Garden Of The Sun
- Connie Constance – Prim And Propa
- Lime Garden – Pulp
- Troi Irons – She Loves Me Notl
- Varley – One Two Three
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: The Allergies, Jungle, L Devine, Royal Republic, and more.
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.
single track
Lime Garden – Pulp
Lime Garden (formerly known as Lime) are four childhood friends. Jumping over genre boundaries, they create a sound that is uplifting yet laid-back. The Brighton-based girls already impressed me with their early releases, but new single Pulp is easily their catchiest so far.
I’d call it ‘creepy disco’, but vocalist Chloe Howard describes the track in more detail for Fader magazine… “The inspiration for Pulp came from a slightly unnerving dream of a spooky man cloaked in orange pulp, tip-toeing and dancing through the streets at night”, she said. “We built the track around this absurd idea, with our efforts based on trying to mix the sweet adrenaline of a dance-filled club night, with feelings of unease and danger. It’s dark, yet upbeat and wonky, with wobbling bass and drums designed to capture the undulating streets he walks on.”
Recommended as well:
Lime – Fever
Lime – Surf N Turf
Follow Lime Garden on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
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.
