Entertainment – Belafonte Code

Indie Music on Television Shows and Commercials

.abelafonte — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:33:10 +0000

I have only recently started watching TV again, and I’ve noticed more and more that advertisers are using Indie, Trip Hop and other non-mainstream music to sell their products.

It’s no surprise that music is a major component in the television experience. Since the days of the WB and Dawson’s creek, producers have been using popular music and visual media to fuel the experience as a whole. This was also an excellent form of encouraging music sales in the wake of Napstergate in 2000.

The part that is surprising to me is that what I’m seeing and hearing now is usually an Indie or Trip Hop track that hasn’t been heard in a while. This is my list of several instances that I’ve seen over the last month or so. I feel that some of this trend has to do with the “coolness” associated with the iPod advertising. I could be completely wrong, but it seems that after they started using Indie music to send the message of “young”, “hip”, “cool” and “non-mainstream-ness”, other advertisers began using this tactic as well.

Another reason why there’s a sudden influx of “cool” music being used to accompany other media could be that the kids who listened to it, and still do, are all grown up now and getting jobs. A lot of the people behind the scenes of these agencies are probably in board meetings pulling their music suggestions right out of their iPods or CDs they listened to in High School.

In another area not directly related to advertising, the 2004 independent film Garden State and it’s soundtrack made excellent use of Indie music as a major component. Nearly every person I know has that soundtrack in rotation… even 3 years after the fact (Guilty)!

I know there are tons of examples of this phenomenon. But here are a few instances that I’ve noticed over the last month or so.

Johnny Walker Black commercial featuring Supreme Beings of Leisure’s Never the Same (Released Feb. 2000).

Microsoft Zune television ad featuring The Shins’ Sleeping Lessons (Released Jan. 2007).

Here also is the one that everyone is talking about: Assassin’s Creed

Assassin’s Creed video game commercial featuring Massive Attack’s Teardrop (Released Apr. 1998).

Others examples include:

Sears Back To School 2007 – Junior Senior, “Hip Hop A Lula”
Samantha Who Pilot Commercial – Bittersweet, “Dirty Laundry”
Victoria’s Secret Commercial Fall 2007 – Bittersweet, “Dirty Laundry”
Victoria’s Secret Commercial Fall 2007 – Dinah Washington, Verve Remixed Vol. 1, “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby”
Apple iPhone Commerical – Orba Squara, “Perfect Timing”
Apple iPod Touch Commercial – Cansei de ser Sexy (CSS), “Music is My Hot Hot Sex”
XM Radio Commercial – DJ Mehdi feat. Chromeo, “I Am Somebody”
Apple, Welcome to Macintosh Theme Song (2006/7) – Sofa Surfers, “Sofa Rockers”
AT&T, ‘More Bars’ Commercial – Amos Lee, “Sweet Pea”
Rush Hour 3 DVD Commercial – Junior Senior, “Hip Hop A Lula”
Gerber Baby Commercial – Devotchka, “How It Ends”

I could go on, but you get the point. It’s a pretty cool tactic, though. It’s funny how now, tons of forums and Yahoo Answers pages start with the question: “What was that song playing on the _________ commercial?”

Movement & Type: Ya No Sé Que Hacer Conmigo

.abelafonte — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 04:35:57 +0000

I came across this video by Cuarteto de Nos on Digital Latina‘s blog and it’s fantastic. The type treatment, transitions and timing are all on point. Plus, the song is pretty cool too!

I Believe in Santogold

.abelafonte — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 19:29:02 +0000

With running buddies like pop-dub artist M.I.A., landing an opening gig for Bjork and working with the likes of Diplo and Spank Rock, Santogold can’t go wrong.

I first heard Santogold (Santi White) on Mark Ronson’s July 2007 album ‘Version’, on the track called ‘Pretty Green’. I must admit, though, it didn’t stand out too much to me at the time. After a little while, that song grew on me, and now I have it in iTunes rotation.

A few months later, though, when I heard ‘Creator’ from Santogold’s upcoming album, I was like “Maaan!”

I’m not going to regurgitate her career bio here, as you can easily find it in a Google search. I will say, though, if you like M.I.A. (I only dug her first album) and Bjork, then Santogold is a definite must-have in your playlist.

Trasn Menagerie has an in-depth write up on Santogold along with the script from an interview with Santi.

Music Samples

Santogold – Creator

[audio:santogold-creator.mp3]

Santogold – You Will Find A Way (Remix)

[audio:santogold-find_a_way_rmx.mp3]

View Blogs as Cat Macros: LOL Feeds

.abelafonte — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:11:57 +0000

If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite blog or twitter timeline would look like as cat macros, then this is the tool for you.

Ian McKellar, of the Songbird project, has released a witty little app that will take the RSS feed of any blog, merge it with cat images from Flickr and display feed titles in the standard Cat Macro style.

As of this writing, Ian has LOL converters for WordPress.com, Live Journal, Twitter & Jaiku. I created a few LOL feeds, and here are a couple of images that I got:

A tweet from Kelsey on my Twitter timeline.

A headline from ‘The Onion’ daily feeds.

To use these tools, visit http://lol.ianloic.com and enter the appropriate link for whichever type of feed you want to view. The tool for blog feeds is currently at the bottom. Just enter a blog’s feed URL, and in moments, see what it would look like in LOL Feeds style.

Here’s The Onion as an LOL Feed
And, of course, Belafonte Code as an LOL Feed

So, there you go! I do my best to give you guys excuses to slack off.

New Apple Commercial – Don’t Give Up On Vista

.abelafonte — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:25:17 +0000

Having toyed around with Windows Vista right when it came out, I have to say, it hasn’t been the most pleasant experience. I agree with the message here whole-heartedly!

From incompatible drivers to features that just didn’t work, the Vista experience, for me, was nothing I would want to do again. Now, that’s not because I’m a Mac user, because I have some of the same issues with Leopard right now. But, with Vista, there were functions that you’ve grown accustomed to in a previous version of the same operating system that have been altered to the point that you literally have to start over and re-learn the OS.

I say, if you’re learning a news OS, you might as well get a new OS. So, I’ve been able to successfully convert a lot of people over to Mac. And, at this point, I’m telling them all to wait on the whole Leopard upgrade. More of my thoughts on that issue later…