Well, wasn’t it quiet here the last two weeks? I was on holiday with limited access to internet. I did manage to keep the Carte Blanche Music playlist updated, however. So, for a quick overview of the best new tracks that were released during my vacation, please follow that link. And to make sure you never miss out on any great new music in the future, feel free to subscribe to it.

As you can see in the playlist, well-known and lesser-known artists just keep on dropping fine fresh tracks. And holiday or not, the very best of them continue to be chosen as Carte Blanche Music Wildcards each week. The past two weeks as well, although I had no chance to inform you about them. Let me set that straight. For the record, here they are:

Week 21: Welshly Arms – Down To The River

Cleveland, Ohio four-piece Welshly Arms, named after a sketch in Saturday Night Live, follow past singles like Legendary and Sanctuary with Down To The River. Delivered in their characteristic style, combining genres like blues, gospel, rhythm & blues and rock, this is a new banger, that sits somewhere halfway Imagine Dragons and Hozier. If you like what you hear, Welshly Arms’s second album No Place Is Home is highly recommended.

Week 20: Christine & The Queens feat. Dâm-Funk – Damn, Dis-Moi

Christine & The Queens’s break-through in Great-Britain and North America caused a little delay in recording their second album, but the first single off it was worth waiting for. Damn, Dis-Moi sounds like a Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis production from the late 1980s. Think Janet Jackson, for example. Janet’s dance moves also seem to have inspired the choreography in the clip for Christine’s damn fine new single. A welcome return!

As always, you can find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music power plays in the Wildcards 2018 playlist.

For more great new music follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

Werner Schlosser

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.