Browsing Tag electronic
Wildcard (week 5):
Dua Lipa – Swan Song
I’ve got a weak spot for Dua Lipa. In my then radio show, I pronounced her ‘princess of pop’, the first time I played her first official single Be The One in 2015. For me, it’s still one of the best pop singles of this decennium.
In the years that followed, she released a self-titled debut album that spawned 8 commercial singles and a further 3 promotional singles. Also, she was the featured singer on hits by Sean Paul, Martin Garrix, Calvin Harris and Silk City. All of those tracks are present on the Complete Edition of her long-player, effectively making it her first Greatest Hits album. In the meantime, her live shows grew bigger, bolder and better. Dua Lipa is the full package.
Moving on to the next stage of her career, the singer just released a brand-new track. Swan Song is the title song of the forthcoming movie ‘Alita: Battle Angel’. Just like the movie, the video for the song takes place in a futuristic dystopia.
There is a Dutch touch to Swan Song: musician, composer and producer Tom Holkenborg (a.k.a. Junkie XL) wrote the full soundtrack to the movie. By consequence, he is also involved in this great single, which is 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.
Model Depose – Bombs Are Falling
It looks like Model Depose enjoy the silence. After their EP’s Untitled (2011) and Nightwatch (2013) they spent another three years to finish their debut album Splitting Light. Since then, another three years have passed. But… a new album is expected ‘in 2019’ (which potentially means ‘at the end of the year’). Luckily, the Dutch electronic pop band just put forward the album’s first single.
Bombs Are Falling is further proof of their profound love of Depeche Mode. It was the first song the band ever wrote, but they re-wrote it to suit their contemporary style. The song is inspired by a personal experience with the stress that might remain after having been in a war zone.
Bombs Are Falling is the first in a string of singles. The next one can be expected in March, after which Model Depose will release a new track every month. You do the maths… fat chance we’ll have to wait for that new album until next Autumn.
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.
Werner’s Weekly (week 4)
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:
- Jon Tessier – For A Little Eye Candy (Wildcard this week)
- Lizzo – Juice (Wildcard last week)
- American Authors – Stay Around
- Jesse Hite – When It All Comes Down
- Stats – Lose It
- Videoclub – Roi
- whenyoung – Never Let Go
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 Cranberries, The Dandy Warhols, Hozier, Jade Bird, Joe Jackson, Sigrid, Yungblud and many more.
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.
Stats – Lose It
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.
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.
Videoclub – Roi
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.
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.
Werner’s Weekly (week 2)
After last week’s Carte Blanche Music Top 2018, which was Werner’s Yearly, basically, here is a brand-new edition of Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters. As always, it contains the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best new releases in alphabetical order:
- The Lottery Winners – That’s Not Entertainment (Wildcard this week)
- Mokono – Signs (Wildcard last week)
- Cat Pierce – Human Experience
- Christon – Closer To A New Day
- Emmy Wildwood – Everything Hurts
- 900 Miles feat. The Kooks – Hold Tight
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 Gift, Sofi Tukker, Sting, Reel Big Fish, and many more.
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.
Cat Pierce – Human Experience
Since Catherine Pierce – half of the duo The Pierces, which is currently on hiatus – started creating her first solo album without the backing of a record label, she released six singles.
The latest, Human Experience, came out on Boxing Day. It’s a beautiful, mystic song about birth and death, with a rather creepy intro and a chorus that Lana Del Rey would kill for.
Pierce’s album is slated for a 2019 release and will, according to the singer, be more personal than the music she released with her sister. “Although”, she says, “Allison and I are talking about doing more music together because we miss it.”
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.
Sabrina Carpenter – Paris
Sabrina Carpenter is an actress and singer from Pennsylvania in the United States. She landed her first acting role at the age of 12.
Sign of the times: her albums get shorter and shorter. Her 2015 debut Eyes Wide Open contained 12 tracks, follow-up EVOLution (2016) had ten, while this autumn’s Singular Act I only features eight songs. However, the latter’s companion album – Singular Act II – is due ‘very soon’.
Paris is the first promotional single off Singular Act I. A smart and sensual pop song that talks about Carpenter being in Paris, the city of love, and being reminded of a Los Angeles lover while there.
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.
Werner’s Weekly (week 52)
Exactly one week from now, on the last day of the year, I publish the Carte Blanche Music Top 2018, my 100 personal favourites of the past 52 weeks. And the first day of 2019, I’ll announce your favourites of 2018. In other words, below you’ll find this year’s last edition of Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters:
- Babyteeth – Cocoon (Wildcard this week)
- I Wear* Experiment – Almere (Wildcard last week)
- Giant Rooks – Wild Stare
- Locks – The Hangover Song
- Lou Doillon – Burn
- Tessa Violet – Bad Ideas
You can listen to each of the tracks via the Werner’s Weekly player below and click the links for more info.
Meanwhile, I’ve also added great new music by Indian Askin, Indochine, Paul McCartney and more to my constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Follow if you like, I like it when you follow 😉.
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.
House Of Spirituals – Too Many Days [Ninja Mix]
House Of Spirituals are a rather mysterious London-based project, apparently featuring a British and a Spanish member. When they released their debut single Too Many Days at the end of 2015, it was immediately clear they’re inspired by Alan Lomax’s field recordings and have an obsession with ‘electronic soul meets swap stomp’.
At the time, they explained in an interview the song was written by the band as a message of hope to themselves, having been in a desolate place. “We had just been talking about the dark times we were going through. The room felt really heavy as it was one of those times when you don’t have an answer to the situation you’re going through. Straight away I went over to the piano and the words ‘too many days, I’ve been down’ came straight out. Then the rest of the song carried on writing itself and got more positive. It became almost a ‘call of arms’ for us to get up and fight our way out of the darkness.”
Three years later, the world has gotten to know artists like Hozier and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, who operate in the same musical field as House Of Spirituals. A great moment to try and launch their career on a broader scale with this beefed-up version of the song that started it all…
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.
