Posted by: Cor

A recent Blackberry ad gives me the opportunity to revisit one of my favorite trip-hop tracks of all time. The song Ghostwriter by RJD2 is so hip, so bouncy, so sonically eclectic that it appeals to just about everyone. If you don’t like this song, you probably don’t like music. And as we know, whenever an instrumental track rates this highly on the ULS (universal likability scale) you can bet it won’t be long before it’s being used to shill products of all kinds. Considering the track is nine years old, Blackberry is a bit late to the game here, but Ghostwriter has been used in NBA spots, painkiller ads, skateboard videos, and (checks Wikipedia again) eh, looks like some Washington State Lottery commercials as well.

RJD2 - Ghostwriter

If this is the first time you’re getting acquainted with RJD2, it might also interest you to know his track A Beautiful Mine is used as the opening theme song to AMC’s Mad Men. I know you know what that one sounds like, but I’ll post it anyway…

RJD2 - A Beautiful Mine

If these two tracks appeal to you, as I’ve already insisted they should, you’ve got enough reason to go back and check out RDJ2’s impressive debut album Dead Ringer. The mp3 album is available on Amazon, and well worth the meager six bucks it’s going for.

And in case you’re just dying to see some advertising, the Blackberry commercial can be viewed after the break.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Jay

Three words: Justice. Is. Back!

A full four years after dropping their landmark debut album “†” the french house duo is back with “Civilization”, their first single off new album “Nebulae” that’s set to be released later this year. And I do have to say, it’s a beast. From those first four stabs you know it’s on. “Civilization” is one of those rare “next level” tracks where an artist takes their already successful formula and pushes it to even greater heights. Think Fincher with “The Social Network”, or the exact opposite of whatever the hell it is that M. Night Shyamalan has been doing since “The Sixth Sense”.

As could be expected Adidas snapped it up and got David Beckham to run around cones and up and down some stairs to Civilization’s chugging, deliciously grungy beat. If the rest of the songs off Nebulae are this good could we be looking at the best house album ever? Hummm…

Justice - “Civilization”

Posted by: Cor

Wouldn’t you know it. As soon as I kick off our As Heard on TV feature several months ago, like clockwork, I stop hearing decent electronic tracks on TV. Maybe it’s because I skip 90% of the commercials. Maybe I haven’t been watching enough TV recently. What I have been doing, what I’m always doing, is playing video games (yes, I’m man-child, leave me alone.) So, for the sake of continuing our little feature here, I’m going to cheat a little bit and post this track from the latest BioWare space opera masterpiece, Mass Effect 2. After all, I still heard it on my TV, right?

If you’ve been playing the game, you’ll recognize this track from the nightclub Afterlife on Omega. The song is called Callista, by Canadian producer Saki Kaskas, and has a bit of that early “electronica” sound … like mid-90s Orbital. In the game it’s used to great effect, filtering out everything but the bass when you are outside the club, then cranking up the volume when you step inside. It lacks the same punch on it’s own, so just image you’re making your way through a moody, neon-pulsing alien nightclub. Or if you’re a hopeless lifelong gamer like myself, just do yourself a favor and play Mass Effect 2. It’s fantastic.

Saki Kaskas - Callista

Posted by: Cor

Every once in a blue moon my ears perk up when I’m watching TV (and I’m being too absent-minded to Tivo past the commercials.) Amongst the onslaught of repetitive jingles and obnoxiously loud voice-overs, the rare ad will grab my attention with a refreshingly unique track I’ve never heard before. Since I’m a DJ at heart and it hurts my soul to know there’s good music out there I don’t own, it’s usually not long before I’m cruising internet forums in an attempt to track down the artist and song name. And since I’m already doing that much, I figure I might as well make a feature out of it by taking the extra step to post these tracks here. Who knows, maybe the same commercial caught your ear as well. Maybe I’ll even end up paying it forward to the next person scouring the interwebs for the same track.

And how else could we begin than with an iPod commercial? Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there’s no denying that Apple sure does know how to pick the catchy up-and-comers in their ads. Their recent iPod Touch ad is no exception. Here’s the featured track, “She’s Got Me Dancing” by Tommy Sparks…

Tommy Sparks - She’s Got Me Dancing