As I noted before, the summer holidays are hardly low on new music anymore, although it’s mostly the emerging bands that profit from lesser active big names.

Traditionally, September marks the start of the festive season, which is the most lucrative time of the year. At the end of the year, people like to give each other presents and music still is a nice gift. Music in physical form, especially. But releasing a CD is only reserved to artists that have proven their worth way back in the days when streaming wasn’t as big as it is in 2017. So, now is the time for the really big ones to release their album, or at least to tease a future release with one or more new tracks.

Does this mean Carte Blanche Music will be flooded by superstar acts in the coming weeks? No, it doesn’t. Emerging artists don’t exactly sit still either, and great new (truly new) music is being put out each day. September provided all the proof you could possibly need. A very good month, musically, where it wasn’t hard at all to find enough great new music to write about. Which I continued to do, every day.

And even better: you continued to read my recommendations. These are the ones you read the most throughout September:

1. Model Depose – Poison Heart
2. Pacific – Life In Short
3. Les Gordons – Let The Music Speak
4. AKA George – Stone Cold Classic ^(WC)
5. Sea Girls – Call Me Out
6. Frida Sundemo – Gold
7. Kingsbury – Alone Again
8. Cut/Copy – Black Rainbows
9. Audio Adam – Break Down
10. Sol Heilo – America ^(WC)

Being from the Netherlands myself, I’m proud my article about my fellow Dutchies Model Depose’s Depeche Mode cover Poison Heart was the most popular one in the last month. And I’m equally proud to see that my friends and compatriots of Audio Adam are in the Top 10. Also, two of the four Wildcards I chose in September made the list.

Not visible here is the fact that Bicycle by BC Unidos (feat. Shungudzo) received the same number of eyeballs as Sol Heilo’s America, meaning they are among your favourites for the fourth month in a row now. Looks like they will end up high in my year-end chart as well.

The Model Depose track is the only one of the above that isn’t available via Spotify (yet), but all of the others can be found in my 2017 container playlist Carte Blanche Music, which currently houses 728 tracks, good for over 43½ hours of great new music. If you like what you hear, please follow that playlist for continuous updates on the best new music to come out.

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.