Browsing Tag pop
Cassia – Small Spaces
Cassia are Rob Ellis (lead vocals, guitar), Lou Cotterill (bass, vocals), and Jacob Leff (drums, vocals). A British trio that combine indie-pop with elements of tropical and world music in their songs, not unlike Vampire Weekend, for instance.
In less than three years, they released ten singles and an EP. Quite some output, that brought them sold-out shows and rave reviews. But the best has yet to come. Or rather: their best yet has just come out. Small Spaces could bring them big things…
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.
Nadia Sheikh – Toxic
Nadia Sheikh is a half British, half Spanish artist with an impressive cultural background. Currently London-based, she’s a genre chameleon, combining elements of indie, rock and pop, with the addition of folky and jazzy vocals, that shift from airy to powerful in the split of a second.
Since releasing her debut EP 50 Feet in 2013, she put out a new track almost every year. Toxic (not a cover) is her new single. A great song, that shows Sheikh’s rockier side. It’s once again produced by Nigel Walker, whose credits range from Shakatak to Dire Straits, Aerosmith and Kate Bush. This century so far, he is very popular amongst Spanish artists, producing best-selling albums by the likes of La Oreja De Van Gogh, El Canto Del Loco and Pereza.
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.
-M- – Grand Petit Con
French singer-songwriter and guitarist Matthieu Chedid uses -M- as his stage name. In January 2017, he scored a Carte Blanche Music Wildcard with Bal De Bamako, a great song that could have been a huge hit when released a few months later.
22 years after his debut album, -M- just put out his seventh studio album Lettre Infinie. The title track is his new single, but I’d like to introduce you to the album track Grand Petit Con. Not a song that will likely yield him many new friends, as the title means ‘big little asshole’. But never mind, if you don’t speak French 😉.
Grand Petit Con is another funk-infused pop stomper that would sound great on the radio. Non-French radio, that is…
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.
morgxn & Nicholas Petricca – Blue
As a companion to his 2018 album vital, American singer-songwriter morgxn (pronounced as ‘morgan’) just put out the EP vital : blue. It contains five tracks, four of which are ‘stripped’ versions of tracks from vital, including home. The latter was a single at the end of 2016, and re-released last year as a collaboration with Walk The Moon. More precise: as a duet with WTM singer Nicholas Petricca. This version was a Wildcard here at Carte Blanche Music.
Apparently, the collaboration gave every satisfaction, for the opening track on the new EP, a brand-new song, is another duet between morgxn and Nicholas Petricca (this time under his own name). Blue is a beautifully arranged winter song.
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.
Tessa Dixson – Beautiful Pain
Like Machines by Billie Louise is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. As I explained, they made the pre-selection of radio station Studio Brussel’s ‘De Nieuwe Lichting 2019’ (‘the new class 2019’). They didn’t win, however. On the other hand, Tessa Dixson was one of the winners of this year’s competition, earning her airplay, studio time and a cheque.
The Belgian singer went to a French-speaking school, speaks English at home and has family in Los Angeles. In 2014, Dixson participated in the Walloon version of The Voice. Since then, she performed live with fellow-Belgian acts Roméo Elvis and Warhola and played numerous festivals.
Beautiful Pain was the song that won her ‘De Nieuwe Lichting’. A wonderfully arranged, dramatic song, combining strings and beats just like Billie Louise’s song (which perhaps explains why the latter didn’t win the competition). Beautiful Pain was released late in 2018 already, but has only now been picked up by Studio Brussel, as part of the prize. A well-deserved second chance!
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 6):
Billie Louise – Like Machines
Belgian radio station Studio Brussel has its own talent contest. Each year, a jury and the broadcaster’s listeners choose ‘De Nieuwe Lichting’ (‘the new class’).
This year, one of the nine contestants (selected out of a thousand artists that sent in their music) was Billie Louise, an ultra-young band, consisting of Billie Louise (16, vocals), Dejan (17, drums), and Jérôme (22, keys). They have been together for such a short time, they only played their first ever gig last week.
Billie Louise is the daughter of Reinhard Vanbergen, who played in Belgian bands like Das Pop, The Happy, and Rheinzand. Growing up with pop music, but mainly listening to hip hop herself, she started writing her own songs at the age of 13. Like Machines, a song about a world where people are becoming more and more alike, is the band’s first single. Musically, acoustic instruments like violins and piano are in perfect harmony with synths and beats. A very promising debut.
Billie Louise didn’t win the StuBru competition, but they did win my heart. Like Machines 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.
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.
Eckhardt & The House – Humans
The Voyager Golden Records are two gramophone records that are on board of both Voyager spacecraft that were launched by NASA in 1977. The records contain sounds and images that have been selected to reflect the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are meant for any intelligent alien life form or for future people who may find them. Apparently, NASA thinks these aliens will have record players…
Anyway, one of the songs on The Voyager Golden Records is a Peruvian folk song, which has now been sampled by Eckhardt & The House on their new single Humans. A hypnotising song that sounds like Timmy Thomas’ Why Can’t We Live Together with a Madchester feel, akin of The Stone Roses’ Fools Gold. Soulful, funky and cool.
“We are humans, living creatures on the planet earth. We are children of the sun, waiting for you to come.”
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.
dodie – Monster
Dodie (full name: Dorothy Clark) is a popular British YouTuber with over 1,7 million subscribers. But the 23-year-old is also a gifted singer-songwriter. Working on an almost entirely DIY basis she’s beginning to gain a global audience.
After two EP’s and a few singles she just released… a third EP. Title track Human, a duet with man of the moment Tom Walker, preceded it as a single, just like If I’m Being Honest. Third time lucky, Monster is single number 3. A delicately bouncing song with an utterly British vocal melody, but a production level that meets global standards.
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.
Kakkmaddafakka – Runaway Girl
Norwegian sextet Kakkmaddafakka (Axel Vindenes, Pål Vindenes, Stian Sævig, Kristoffer Wie van der Pas, Lars Helmik Raaheim-Olsen, and Sebastian Kittelsen) are on a roll. Releasing back-to-back albums in 2016 and 2017, the band have their fifth – as yet untitled – long-player set for release on 22 March.
Runaway Girl, with its striking resemblance to The War On Drugs, is the energetic second single to be released ahead of the album. Frontman Axel Vindenes says about it: “Runaway Girl is the story of forbidden love, how some people feed off playing with others’ emotions.”
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 6)
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. A great collection of female-fronted tracks this week!
- Dua Lipa – Swan Song (Wildcard this week)
- Sigrid – Don’t Feel Like Crying (Wildcard last week)
- Band Of Skulls – Cool Your Battles
- Girli – Deal With It
- Nilüfer Yanya – In Your Head
- Piroshka – What’s Next?
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: Cage The Elephant, The Chemical Brothers, Circa Waves, 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.
