Browsing Tag soul
Plan B – Heartbeat
Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew is better known as Plan B, originally a hip hop artist, who likes to incorporate elements of genres like soul and drum & bass into his music. The first time he did so, on his second album The Defamation of Strickland Banks (his alter ego), he shot straight to number one.
After the follow-up Ill Manors though, he went through – in his own words – a ‘complete identity crisis’, including drinking too much Jack Daniels and Coke. He announced a hip hop concept album of which he predicted “I know radio ain’t gonna play it”, but that didn’t see the light.
What did see the light though, was a baby girl. That may be one of the reasons his next album will be more personal than before. The record isn’t finished yet, but it does already have a title (Heaven Before All Hell Breaks Loose) and a release date: 13 April 2018.
Already available now is the single Heartbeat. A welcome return to soul and drum & bass, giving the track a sound akin to Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy.
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.
US Girls – Mad As Hell
US Girls is the stage name of Meghan Remy. She definitely was a US girl when she started the project in 2007, but she has since moved to Canada. In her early career, when she performed with a tape machine as her backing band, she released numerous vinyl singles, cassettes and CD-R’s on small labels.
The noise-pop she produced at the time has in recent years been exchanged for a more sophisticated sound. Her latest single even embraces a 60’s girl group sound, comparable to the Shangri-La’s, for instance. You may think that’s Mad As Hell, but I like it!
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.
Eli Cripps – Poison Arrow
It’s Autumn in Europe and that’s reflected in the music that comes out. The sounds gradually get moodier, darker and the tempo slows down compared to the past halfyear or so. For more uptempo, sunny tunes, we’ll have to keep our eye on Australia, for instance, where it’s Spring right now.
Let me introduce you to Eli Cripps. She’s born in Bath (the city, I mean), but had a somewhat nomadic upbringing. She lived in Tanzania, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Kenya, before moving to Manchester via Wales. Appearing on the 2016 edition of singing contest The Voice UK strengthened her determination to always be herself. That’s why she’ll release her upcoming debut album Mars independently, early next year.
The album was produced by Frederik Kindt, who is Belgian by origin, but moved to Manchester years ago. Kindt also plays keyboards in The Slow Show. It may be because of this link that Belgian radio has been the first to pick up on the single Poison Arrow, but it deserves wider attention.
Poison Arrow has nothing to do with the classic ABC song, by the way, although it features the same kind of beautiful string arrangement that graced many of their songs. This makes Eli Cripps’s single a perfect Autumn song.
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 43)
So here it is, with no further ado (listen via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar):
- Childcare – Getting Over You (By Dressing Up Like You) (Wildcard this week)
- Les Gordons – Let The Music Speak (Wildcard last week)
- Band Of Gold – I Wanna Dance With You Again
- Bokito – Aloof
- Columbia Mills – This City Doesn’t Feel Like Home To Me
- The Go! Team – Semicircle Song
- Kara Marni – Golden
- Sol Heilo – Killing Karma
For more background information about each track, click the respective links.
Werner’s Weekly is my ‘best of the best’ playlist; an alphabetically orderded summary of my container playlist Carte Blanche Music, which provides you with a lot of ‘further listening’. So, if you’d rather make your own selection, please check and follow the mother ship 😉 . There I added, besides the tracks above, great new music from the likes of Joss Stone, Mika, Rita Ora, Mikky Ekko and Saint Raymond in the last week.
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.
Joseph J. Jones – Crawl
The impact of artists like Hozier and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man is incredible. Both of them being only at the beginning of their (commercial) careers, they already amassed a huge following. Of fans, but also of other artists who fish in the same musical pond.
Joseph J. Jones, whose grandfather was a jazz guitarist with the BBC, brings a fine mix of folk, blues and soul to the table, with intimate lyrics, sung with an incredible voice. Last year, he collaborated with co-writer/producer Richard Frenneaux, who worked with artists like Ella Eyre and Parson James before.
Jones’s promising new single is entitled Crawl.
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.
Kara Marni – Golden
Just 19 years old, London native singer-songwriter Kara Marni was discovered after posting covers of her favourite artists – like Minnie Riperton, Roberta Flack, Anita Baker, Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill and Angie Stone – online. Her choices already reflect her musical tastes. Marni describes her music, which has a modern R&B sound, as a fusion of soul music and current music.
After the covers that got her noticed, it’s this debut single that will really spark the flame. Think Alicia Keys singing to a Kraftwerk kissed R&B backdrop. The video, completely filmed on Super 8 camera, adds even more vintage feel to the song.
Kara Marni is certainly one to watch for 2018 (and beyond).
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.
Moncrieff – Symptoms
For a debut release, Symptoms is one hell of an introduction. London-based singer-songwriter Moncrieff – one of Adele’s former backing vocalists – describes his music as ‘neo-noir’. But that’s just a word, isn’t it? To make it a little more concrete, I’d like to throw in terms like soulful and bluesy. And to make sure you know what I mean by that, think equal parts Hozier and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man.
The accompanying music video takes inspiration from Quentin Tarantino and neo-noir films, both of which have influenced Moncrieff’s song-writing as well.
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 41)
Only once a week, this forward-looking music blog looks back: every Monday morning I present you with the best new music of the past week. This shortlist, called Werner’s Weekly, is a compilation of all of the tracks I added to my longlist Carte Blanche Music in the last seven days. These include new songs by artists as diverse as Dua Lipa, Liam Gallagher, Lukas Graham, The 1975, Tiggs Da Author and Tricky.
However, only six of them have made this summary. You can hear them all via the Werner’s Weekly player in the sidebar. For more info: click the links below…
- Isaac Gracie – Silhouettes Of You (Wildcard this week)
- The Hunna – Summer (Wildcard last week)
- Delv!s – Home Again
- Mullally – She Don’t Know Me
- Philip Selway feat. Lou Rhodes – Walk
- Témé Tan – Coups De Griffe
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.
Delv!s – Home Again
Belgian singer Niels Delvaux uses Delv!s as his stage name. I already wrote about his single Come My Way, and the follow-up Sunday Interlude spent one week in the European Border Breakers Chart. Not bad, but he is destined for more.
Hopefully, now is the time for Delv!s to score big, as he releases the best song off his EP No Ending (which also includes the afore-mentioned tracks) as his new single.
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.
Dermot Kennedy – Moments Passed
Could Dermot Kennedy be ‘the next Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’? Listening to his raw vocals, poetic lyrics, hip hop-inspired beats and urban-leaning production, I think so! (although Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’s career has only just begun, of course.) Good news for the latter: Kennedy himself describes his music as ‘50/50 of Bon Iver and Drake’.
Dermot Kennedy is a young singer-songwriter from Dublin, who released three stand-alone singles in the past two years. This spring he came up with the EP Doves And Ravens, featuring a further four singles.
Now, he is back with an all-new track, that sounds like his potential break-through. Check Moments Passed here:
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.
