Browsing Tag pop
Ruby Bones – Not Enough
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.
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 Charts.
Werner’s Weekly (week 45)
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.
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 Charts.
Roads To Roam – Believe
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.
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 Charts.
Creeping Jean – Bandit
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.
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 Charts.
Clean Cut Kid – Emily
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.
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 Charts.
Wildcard (week 44):
The Proclaimers – Then It Comes To Me
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.
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 Charts.
Club Drive – Satisfied
After coming to the scene with their debut EP Dangerous, in 2016, and subsequent singles Spare Time, Voyager, International (all 2017) and WDYD (earlier this year), Club Drive’s new single Satisfied is only their sixth release.
Club Drive are a Hertfordshire synth-infused guitar pop trio, consisting of Aaron Trowbridge, Tommy O’ Malley and Christian Murphy, and Satisfied is easily their most satisfying (did I say that?) single, so far. Its pulsating rhythms are built around funky guitars, tantalising drums and luscious vocals. Cleverly crafted and nicely produced, it sounds like the Justin Timberlake song that JT himself forgot to deliver, recently. If you’re looking for a catchy, rocky synthpop banger, look no further!
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 Charts.
Arthur Adam – O
Arthur Adam is a talented and respected Dutch singer-songwriter with a great, instantly recognizable voice. He is part of a multitude of bands and projects, where he follows his own inclination, playing music from the heart and never avoiding an experiment or two. Often, his music isn’t easy listening, but it isn’t meant to be. One of his bio’s started with the line: ‘Arthur Adam makes music because he has to’. His current bio states: ‘Arthur Adam makes music out of deep personal need/urge’. What’s not to praise about that?
Still, the music he puts out under his own name often does come very close to pop music. Pretty random examples are Happy Hangover, Dividing A Spider, Older and She’s A Mystery.
As one of his first supporters, I was happy to learn Arthur recorded a new EP, entitled Dances. It was a spontaneous affair. This is what he wrote me about it: “Last summer, I suddenly felt like recording a few songs, and that’s what I did: made the plan in July, rehearsed and recorded in August, mixed and mastered in September. What came out was a guitar pop EP with up-tempo pop/rock songs, influenced by Weezer, early Joe Jackson, Ben Folds, Joni Mitchell, Darryl-Ann and the rest of my record collection.”
That’s some bunch of references!
All six of the tracks on Dances were recorded on 21 en 22 August by long-time musical partner Tim van Doorn, who also played the bass and mixed and mastered the songs. Arthur Adam sung, played guitars, drums and keys. The EP is out now on Van Doorn’s and Adam’s own label BandBus Records.
My favourite EP track is simply titled O. A rock song full of energy and drive, a bit like Voicst’s Whatever You Want From Life. But the other five tracks are very much worth checking out as well. Pop music for grown-ups.
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 Charts.
Werner’s Weekly (week 44)
Who said rock is dead? Last week, Buffalo Tom, Johnny Marr, Nothing But Thieves, Sam Fender, The Struts and White Lies all came up with great tracks, that I gladly added to the Carte Blanche Music playlist. As you may know, it only contains the best new songs for you to discover (not only rock, by the way, but music, great music). Just follow that playlist and let me do the ‘dirty’ work. I love it!
As an example of what you’ll find there, below is my ‘best of the best’ selection: Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters. If you can spare 26 minutes, you can hear them all in full via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar. Otherwise, just click the links of the tracks of your liking to find out more (including the song itself, of course).
- Isaac Gracie – Show Me Love (Wildcard this week)
- Harts – Shake Ya Pants (Wildcard last week)
- FIDLAR – Can’t You See
- Jealous Of The Birds – Marrow
- Leoniden – People
- Noémie Wolfs – Let Me Down
- Only Yours – Everlasting
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 Charts.
Cesare Cremonini – Possibili Scenari
Around the turn of the century, Italy was under the spell of a hugely successful band: Lùnapop released only one album, …Squérez?, but sold one and a half million copies of it. In Italy alone! I still adore their debut single 50 Special. Alas, in 2002, frontman Cesare Cremonini officially announced the dissolution of the group. He has since pursued a successful solo career.
In 2017, Cremonini released his 6th solo album Possibili Scenari, which proves his songs are still as catchy as ever. Italy never stopped loving him, rewarding his latest long player with the platinum status. Ahead of the singer’s ‘Cremonini Live 2018’ tour, he releases the title track off Possibili Scenari as his new single. A song that will grow on you!
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 Charts.
