Browsing Tag pop
The Twang – Everytime
The Twang – vocalist Phil Etheridge, bassist Jon Watkin, guitarist Stu Hartland and drummer Ash Sheehan – have been making music for over a decade. Early in their career they were even dubbed the potential successors of Oasis, not in the least because of Etheridge’s bravado.
Having released four studio albums since 2007, The Twang are currently in the studio putting the finishing touches to their fifth record; their first in five years’ time. Everytime is the first single off the new record. It comes with a music video about escapism and nostalgia, escaping the rules and regulations of life, your parents, job, school and exploring the unknown.
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.
Beachheads – Death Of A Nation
Norwegian pop-rock band Beachheads are a side project of Kvelertak members Vidar Landa and Marvin Nygaard. As you might have guessed from its title, their new single Death Of A Nation is pretty political, with lyrics taking on the rise of fascism worldwide. Musically, it reminds me of the Buzzcocks (which is never a bad thing).
The band explain: “Death Of A Nation pursues the more punk side of Beachheads and was originally hammered out on an acoustic guitar – all the parts coming together first go. Later it became the first song that producer Frode Strømstad picked out to record for the new album. We wanted to keep the rawness of our rehearsal room demo, so throughout the recording process we focused on enjoying ourselves, rather than overthinking it.”
Following their self-titled debut album (2017), Beachheads will release their second long-player later this year. Landa and Nygaard’s main band Kvelertak will do the same, introducing Ivar Nikolaisen (The Good The Bad & The Zugly) as their new singer.
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.
Phil Collins – The Man With The Horn
No need to introduce this man, I presume…
Let me take you back to 1982. During the recording sessions for Hello, I Must Be Going, Phil Collins put the song The Man With The Horn to tape. A track featuring horns, obviously, alongside Collins’ trademark drumming and an overall sound in the line of Genesis’ 1982 hit Paperlate. Eventually, it didn’t make the cut, but it was released in 1985 as the B-side to the first single from his next album No Jacket Required, which was One More Night in the United States and Sussudio in the rest of the world.
Although Collins has said he has ‘no emotional attachment’ to the song, it has now been as re-released as a single, as part of the upcoming Other Sides album. Only released digitally on 31 May, the collection consists of demos and B-sides. A further compilation, Remixed Sides, will come out on the same date, and includes remixes of some of his hits.
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.
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.
Olympia – Hounds
Olympia is the musical project of Australian singer-songwriter Olivia Jayne Bartley. She makes light-hearted, catchy guitar pop with a rocky edge. Her first album Self Talk landed her nominations for the Australian Music Prize and ARIA Music Awards.
5 July, Olympia’s second long-player Flamingo will see the light. After Star City and Shoot To Forget, Hounds is the third single to be released ahead of it. A song with a driving four to the floor beat and thumping bassline.
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.
Some Sprouts – Someone You Love
German five-piece Some Sprouts, who steer a middle course between melancholy slacker rock and catchy indie pop, are on a roll. After releasing their second EP Immt last October, they just put out their brand-new single Someone You Love.
However melancholic the themes in many of the band’s songs, singer Joshua sounds so charming, that one can’t help but feeling good. Someone You Love is another example of Some Sprouts‘ nimble, summery tunes.
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.
Lauran Hibberd – Hoochie
Lauran Hibberd, from Isle of Wight, has a way of mixing humorous, tongue-in-cheek, self-assured lyrics with accessible guitar riffs. Her new single Hoochie sounds like a throwback to the 90s, when acts like Catherine Wheel and Juliana Hatfield delivered the same kind of melodious rock songs.
It’s an energetic, carefree guitar track that focuses on a toxic relationship and how important it is to get rid of that negativity in her life. She explains: “Hoochie is a 90s slang term for a bit of a ‘loose’ woman. It’s also the name of my new hamster. For me, this track is kind of that three-month period, after you’ve stopped hanging out with someone and you realise that actually they were kind of a tool, and that maybe you are alright.”
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 21)
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:
- The Heavy – Fighting For The Same Thing (Wildcard this week)
- Aldo Vanucci feat. Kylie Auldist – Get A Hold On This (Wildcard last week)
- Go Go Berlin – Love Me
- Juan Luis Guerra 4.40 – I Love You More
- Narda – Love Me Long
- Phantom Isle – Four Walls
- Zuzu – How It Feels
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 Black Keys, Halsey, The Hives, Lana del Rey, The Raconteurs, Royal Republic, Yeasayer, 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.
The Howl & The Hum – Hall Of Fame
Sam Griffiths, Bradley Blackwell, Conor Hirons and Jack Williams are a York (UK)-based 4-piece who go by the name The Howl & The Hum. They combine their rumbling, melodic dark pop with post-punk influences, haunting, evocative lyrics, and a hypnotic yet energetic live show. They’ve just finished piecing together their debut album with producer Jolyon Thomas (Slaves, Kendrick Lamar, Royal Blood).
Ahead of it, the band return with their first track of 2019: Hall Of Fame. A song with a soaring chorus, and a sound that lies between The Killers and Keane. Frontman Griffiths calls it “more furious than anything the band have done before.”
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.
Juan Luis Guerra 4.40 – I Love You More
In his native Dominican Republic and the rest of the Latino world, Juan Luis Guerra and his band 4.40 are real superstars with the Midas touch. In other territories not everything they touch turns into gold, but they did score some hits along the way. Burbujas De Amor, for instance, is known to us all, I hope? Believe it or not, that was in 1991…
Fast forward to the spring of 2019. Wouldn’t it be great if the king of bachata-merengue had another worldwide hit? Perhaps I Love You More could do the trick. Its lyrics are not only in Spanish (which is considered difficult to sing-along to by most Europeans), but the chorus is in English. Musically, it sounds fully authentic, but also familiar to anyone who ever visited the Caribbean. All in all, it brings out the sun for three minutes.
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.
