Browsing Tag pop
Jesse Hite – When It All Comes Down
Never heard of Jesse Hite? You’re not to blame, When It All Comes Down is only his debut single. But what a way to start a career!
Jesse Hite is an American artist, who currently lives in France. This first release is equal parts funk and soul, in a way Jamie Lidell, Jamie Woon, or even Hall & Oates combined them. And the horn section at the end makes it even groovier. His debut EP, with even more of this, is something to look forward to. It comes out this Spring.
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.
American Authors – Stay Around
The members of American Authors met while attending Berklee College of Music in 2006. The quartet spent their first years in Boston, recording and performing music under the name the Blue Pages. In 2010, the band relocated to Brooklyn, where they changed their name to American Authors in 2012.
Now, five year since their break-through single Best Days Of My Life, the band are about to issue their third album Seasons. It contains the last year released singles Deep Water, Say Amen, Neighborhood and the brand-new track Stay Around. A beat-driven, up-tempo 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.
Wildcard (week 3):
Jon Tessier – For A Little Eye Candy
Jon Tessier is a Brazilian-French singer-songwriter and music producer, who spent childhood and most of his teenage years in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The last three years however, he’s been working on his music from Ibiza (Spain) and Paris (France).
He draws inspiration from a diverse range of musical heroes, including Mötley Crüe, Depeche Mode, The Doors, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers as well as the Brazilian bossa nova artist João Gilberto. None of them are overtly present in the music Tessier makes himself, which can be described as guitar-driven pop music with an alternative rock edge. A new artist with a fresh sound, that I like very much.
For A Little Eye Candy, Jon Tessier’s new single, is this week’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcard, which means it features prominently on this blog for seven full days.
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.
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.
Mercury Rev feat. Norah Jones – Okolona River Bottom Band
Mercury Rev’s new album, out on 8 February, will be a reconstruction of Bobbie Gentry’s underappreciated 1968 cult classic The Delta Sweete. A star studded rendition, featuring contributions from Norah Jones, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, Lucinda Williams, Margo Price, Beth Orton, Susanne Sundfør from Norway, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab fame, Dutch actress Carice van Houten, Rachel Goswell, Vashti Bunyan, Kaela Sinclair, Marissa Nadler and Phoebe Bridgers.
Louisiana Man, off the original album, is missing from the project. It will be replaced by a new version of probably Bobbie Gentry’s best-known song Ode To Billie Joe (a Billboard number 1, which was in fact from her same-titled debut album). Mercury Rev’s version features Lucinda Williams’s vocals. Tip: also check the version Sinéad O’Connor recorded in 1995 for the infamous Help! album.
The Delta Sweete’s opening track, a beautifully orchestrated version of Okolona River Bottom Band (feat. Norah Jones) is the set’s intriguing new single. Looking forward to the rest!
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 3)
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:
- Lizzo – Juice (Wildcard this week)
- The Lottery Winners – That’s Not Entertainment (Wildcard last week)
- As December Falls – On The Edge
- Chateau Chateau – Evidence
- Evil Edna – Isle Of Dogs
- Mamas Gun – Golden Days
- Uncle Frank – Lay It All At His Feet
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: Blood Red Shoes, The Chemical Brothers, Janelle Monáe, Joe Jackson, Radiohead, White Lies 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.
Mamas Gun – Golden Days
Exactly one year after its first single, Mamas Gun’s album Golden Days yields a fifth single. A good old case of saving the best for last, the album’s title track has been chosen to follow in the footsteps of I Need A Win, London Girls, You Make My Life A Better Place, and On The Wire. Golden Days is another one of the band’s trademark modern soul tracks, co-written by Christopher Braide (Sia, Lana Del Rey, Paloma Faith).
If you’re a fan of singer-songwriter Andy Platts’s other project Young Gun Silver Fox, but didn’t know Mamas Gun yet, this is a great introduction. Satisfaction guaranteed!
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.
Garbage (feat. John Doe & Exene Cervenka) – Destroying Angels
While on tour with Blondie and LA punk band X, Garbage worked with John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X to write and produce Destroying Angels. The track, which Garbage describe as a murder ballad, was released as a 7” single on 23 November 2018 for Record Store Day: Black Friday. The initial physical release was limited to only 3.000 copies, but now, the song is available digitally for everyone interested.
The B-side is the band’s take on David Bowie’s 1972 classic Starman, originally recorded for American DJ Howard Stern’s all-star Bowie tribute, which aired in February 2018.
Beyond Destroying Angels, Garbage is also working on their 7th studio album. Last summer, No Horses was our first taste of where this new record is going…
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.
Uncle Frank – Lay It All At His Feet
Even though Fun Lovin’ Criminals released a new single as recent as last November, spin-off project Uncle Frank – based around FLC drummer Frank Benbini and his mate Naim Cortazzi – just came up with a new song as well. It’s part of a project where the duo release a new track on the first Friday of every month, until they drop their brand-new, third album Soul On The Battleground, in March.
Benbini has his own radio show ‘Uncle Frank – Funk and Rare Grooves’, airing every Sunday 7-10PM on BBC Radio Leicester, but with his band, he practices what he preaches. Lay It All At His Feet is a groovy affair, which brings back memories of The Isley Brothers classics like Summer Breeze or That Lady (partly triggered by the sound of Cortazzi’s guitar solo). Wonderful stuff!
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.