Recently in Passions Category

LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities

I was such a Lego freak when I was a kid. They were my first nerd love before computers and code and a real blast looking at the packaging of the space sets here. My brother and I didn’t just build the sets and play around with them. Oh no — we used to “hack” the pieces make much larger and meaner creations with a totally different scale. The names of the ships and weaponry where named after ships in an early Japanese anime cartoon called Star Blazers that was in syndication after school. Star Blazers was originally called Space Battleship Yamato before it was dubbed and watered down for the states. Our ship was The Andromeda and at one point was over three feet long and 18 inches wide and high. I had a picture of it that I wish I could still find.

Those were the days — and look where it’s brought me. I’m certain that a big large part of my ability to work with abstract concepts, develop mental models of logic and break a larger complex system into small parts as I do when coding goes back to what I started to develop as a boy then. It’s amazing what some plastics blocks and molded pieces along with the motivation to have the biggest and baddest Lego space battleship on the block can be turned in to.

I’ve written about commercial music every so often on this blog over the past 5 years. I’ve got a small list of recent sightings I thought I’d publish in addition to a commercial music mystery solved.

Herbie Hancock - Rockit

Talk about blast from the past. This track was a hit when I was in grade school. The commercial that is currently using it for Visa and features all these old school breakdancers locking and popping all over some stylized shop that fits the music theme.

Microsoft is using a pair of tracks I’ve been listening to in their Zune commercials.

The Shins - Sleeping Lessons

This Zune commercial features a hipster male who is “tripping” through some psychedelic dream.

Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan

This Zune commercial begin with a female at a a rather French looking covered sidewalk cafe where its pouring rain just beyond her table. A similar trippy dream sequence ensues to this track.

Postal Service - Such Great Heights

UPS is running a series of “whiteboard” commercial that features a male actor explain some innovative service the company offers while illustrating his point on — whiteboard! The airy synth droplets and mechanized drum you hear in the background are from the open of this track.

The New Pornographers - The Bleeding Hearts Show

This track is being used for some time in commercials for the University of Phoenix that shows flashes of people in different walks of life working towards a better life. At least that is the impression I get. The clip used from this track supports that notion well. I can’t help to raise an eyebrow to a virtual university though. This is a great track though an interest thing to be associated with. The blogs have spoken.

In other commercial music news, I solved the mystery of a track I heard in a commercial years ago. I can’t recall the car other then it was a luxury sedan in black where the camera pans over slowly from different angle. It was a jazzy rhythmic piece with a bit of sax and a female voice saying “how do I look?” sampled in. Some time after I saw that commercial, I was sitting in Bard’o in Manhattan’s West Village when I heard what sounded like that track. I asked the DJ and she told me it was the theme from The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. Thing was that album that. What I found out recently was that Dmitri from Paris featured it on SacreBleu in a track called “Une Very Stylish Fille.” (It was this track that I had heard in the commercial which explains why what I heard in the cocktail bar didn’t quite seem the same.) Further, the actual The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. theme was featured on a few somewhat obscure compilations that have been released including one called Expresso Expresso by a favorite of mine — The Karminsky Experience. (That disc is also out of print and a bit hard to find. I’m still trying to find a reasonably priced one or a sugar daddy to buy it for me.)

Oh and that female voice Dimitri from Paris used? That would be Audrey Hepburn from a movie called Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (argh!) I should have picked up on that sooner.

[This post goes out to Danny Gumport.]

My blog feels so lonely. As it should. It's been a long story to how I let things fall off here. I really miss blogging and resolve to get back to it. So here something that has me so excited I could burst.

The Police, a band I had loved since I was in 6th grade, is getting back together to tour. The inner child in me is screaming with delight and playing air guitar. I never got to see them live because the band had stopped touring by the time I was old enough to attempt to sneak out to a concert.

Like Sippey I was a bit worried that Sting's tendency for pretenious sophistication (he just released an album of middle-age lute music afterall) would mess with the Police legacy. When the band performed at the Grammy's Sunday I was ellated to see just Sting, Andy and Stewart on stage -- no back-up singers, string sections, multimedia explosions. Not even a lute! It was just The Police as I remembered them and loved them. OK they are older looking, but quite frankly have aged quite well. I can only hope to look half as good when I reach their age. Check it out in case you missed it:

As if seeing them together wasn't enough the band held a press conference where they told reporters of their long rumored world tour. The quote that made me happiest was Sting confirming that the tour would be more of what we saw at the Grammys. From the AP article:

"It's going to be three guys on stage, that's all," Sting said. "The show is going to look simple but spectacular."

I have to admit to I feeling like a school kid again when I met Stewart Copeland and he told me how he was considering a documentary made out of Super8 film he shot years ago during the band's rise to fame. (And he did. See Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out. It is marvelous.) I think I might start squealing like a little girl if I see them live. Despite that prospect, I'm already "in line" for tickets.

UPDATE: I GOT TICKETS!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! (faints)

This is priceless. I have a big soft spot for Charlie Brown's Christmas. The pathetic little christmas tree that "needs him" embodies the whole tale and its moral. I'm tempted to make this our tree this year.

You've heard it a million times. Hip-hop, techno, and drum 'n' bass were practically built around it. Nate Harrison's story behind theThe Amen Break.

A fascinating listen woth your 18 minutes. I never realized some much music riffed on the same one sample. I had always assumed it was just a very popular sound from a piece of gear. How extraordinary.

Engadget notes that Lego has launched a service for designing your own custom brick designs.

File this under “wish we had this when we were kids”: LEGO is starting a new program called LEGO Factory where you can download a desktop application that allows you to create a custom brick design. You can take the designs you create using the LEGO Digital Designer software, upload them to the LEGO website, and actually order a kit of LEGO bricks that will make the design you spec’d out.

I used to be a Lego junky. My brother and I would built a 3 foot+ long space battleships by hacking pieces together. We'd do things like erase the faces off of heads and turn them into turrets and things like that. It was Lego Hacks just back in the 80's when the pieces were more generic. The scale of our creations was total different then the happy little sets of today -- these things were flying fortress.

A bunch of kids in the neighbor hood used to built ships and have pretend battles (hey, we were 8 years old.) The ship names and weaponry was adapted from a early japanese animation series that was in syndication then called Star Blazers. Ours was named the Andromeda (here is a picture of the cartoon ship) and like the cartoon it had two wave motion guns (two non-Lego plastic tubes that was salvaged off of something from a grocery store), detachable battle satellites, fighter planes and dual missile launching turrets in the back.

Most of the fun was figuring out what set gave you the most bang for your buck and how you could use every piece on your ship. I can remember shopping in the toy section of stores for what $5 mini sets we could buy to upgrade our ship. A mobile lunar rover gave us radar dishes and antenna to upgrade our communications stack. A space scooter gave us an exhaust piece to boost our array and wing pieces we could mount more weapons on. Every so often you'd get bored with your or needed to "refactor" to better use the pieces you've collected since the last design.

It taught me a lot about design and engineering. I credit a lot of professional skills to my hours of time I spent building and creating my own science fiction.

If only this service was available back then. What damage could we have done if Lego sets could have been built to our exact specifications!

I'm going to have to dig out my old Legos stashed away somewhere at my parents house.

There is a commercial running for Pepsi One where the cans spin and morph like a kaleidoscope. For all you wondering about the music behind it, the track is called Exploration by Karminsky Experience. Incidentially this is yet another track from the Thievery Corporation's DJ Kicks album which I cited as the source of numerous other commercial music gems.

I finally got to see George Lucas's final Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith last night. I may be the last person in the blogosphere to finally see it, but I did and I can now comment.

After seeing it and reading a few posts by others I must agreed that it was much better then the previous two. That isn't saying much though because I thought they were rather poor. I wasn't as enthralled as others though. It was fine, but I don't need to ever see it again.

The action made it more interesting to watch and made up for the poor script we've all come to expect. It was just so anti-climatic knowing how everything should end. I was just there for the details and a sense of completion. Well – I had hoped to be pleasantly surprised, but I wasn't.

Driving home from the theatre I commented to my wife that if George wanted to tell the fall of Anakin Skywalker so much he should have taken a cue from his friend Francis Ford Coppola and created movies with the characters we all know and love while flashing back to the past like in Godfather 2. That would have been tremendous.

Yes people are going in droves to see the movies and yes George is making a ton on promotional marketing of nearly everything you can. However I have to wonder what the these movies would have been like had Lucas not be been such a megalomaniac and instead acknowledged the fans as having made him what he is and made the films for them.

Looking forward to the summer movie I really wanted to see – Batman Begins.

PVRBlog notes the rumor on the street is that Apple is looking at acquiring Tivo. What a wonderful reality that would be if true!

As weblogs such as PVRBlog have shown, a Tivo can be rather easily converted into a home media entertainment system encompassing digital music, photos and more – not just TV. Buying into Tivo would give Apple million of potential fans… er, customers, to buy the next generation of products and add a certain sense of geek chic to those who have not. Given that Tivo's problems have been the management of their company and not the brand, in this light I think it make total sense. Apple seems to have a very good handle on its business matters and when it comes to innovation, a place where Tivo has stagnated, Apple has a never monoply on the market. Consider Apple's more recent moves such as the iPod Photo and Mac Mini and successful ventures like the iTunes store (movies via the iTunes anybody?) and having a Tivo-like device fits like a glove and the miind runs wild with the possibilities.

What what such a union produce in the area of PVR? I would think an iPod click wheel on the console and/or remote control in addition to AirPort Extreme (Wifi) capabilities and perhaps Bluetooth (for the remote) built-in right in. I think higher-end versions could feature a SuperDrive. Probably that would mean some type of digital rights management being built-in – sigh, oh well. A Firewire port so a external hard drive could be plugged in for aditional storage would rule.

Oh and in other news, Apple lowered the price of the iPod Mini 4GB model to $199 and introduced a 6GB model at the old $249 price. They also dropped the iPod Photo down $150 to $450 and introduced a model with only 30GB of storage for $349. Soon the whole world will own an iPod, oh yes.

Friends of the Birth Center, the not-for-profit organization I sit on the board member of, is hosting a screening of a documentary Madame Tizo this Thursday (2/24/05) at Tribeca Cinemas.

MADAME TIZO
a film by David Belle

The inspiring story of a 100 year old Haitian midwife/leaf doctor known as Ms. Little Bones in the town of Jacmel.  The portrait of Madame Tizo is one of rare matriarch who embraces tradition and whose great influence resonates throughout her community.

Please join us:
Thursday, February 24th, 7pm
at Tribeca Cinemas
54 Varick Street (off Canal)

Q&A with the director following the screening $15 contribution/proceeds benefit Friends of the Birth Center and Ms. Tizo. 

Please show you support for our organization and what I'm sure will be a fascinating and inspiring film. Tickets can be purchased in advanced using PayPal here.

Mike Doughty has a weblog.

I'm pretty enthused by this since Mike was the lead singer to one of my absolute all-time favorite rock[1] bands Soul Coughing. His solo work is quite good also. I was fortunate enough to meet him on several occasions when I ran my indie music 'zine Oculus. Even took him to dinner with Cibo Matto so he could interview them. (I should post that interview one day.) He's an interesting character to say the least and an overall nice guy. If his musical career were to flounder (it won't) he'd make an excellent stand-up comic.

Bonus – it's even running on (an outdated version of) MT.

Now if only David Gedge (The Wedding Present), Frank Black or Kim Deal (Pixies) or Morrissey (The Smiths) also started weblogs my life would be complete. I'm not holding my breath though. I may drop dead if Morrissey got one. I'd suppose he'd think they are boring and tired or make him miserable because of the loss of human contact. He wouldn't be Morrissey if he didn't would he? I suppose there is an outside chance of all of them happening one day. If I had to pick one though I'd go for Gedge. (Just a gut feeling.)

Rounding out my all-time five, Lizard McGee of Earwig does kind of keep a weblog of sorts, Mostly band and show news. Got to speak to Lizard about that. Having gotten to know Lizard, I'm certain he'd be an excellent blogger.

[1] Rock hardly seems the right term for Soul Coughing, but that is the closest broad category in my head. Trying to explain them would take to long and I wouldn't do them enough justice.

For anyone who's interested, the April issue of GQ (yes, I read that) features interviews with Frank Black (Black Francis) of The Pixies fame and Morrissey formerly of The Smiths. I found them to be interesting reads since I'm getting old and haven't read much about these blokes lately.

The article on Frank Black, The Pixie Who Fell to Earth by Brian Raftery, covers the formation and break-up of The Pixies including their legacy today and the significance they had on many of the current day rock bands. The article goes on to discuss the inner demons Black has been battling in recent years and why they are getting back together. (I'm absolutely thrilled about that.) Recently divorced, Black has mellowed after getting therapy and is now living in Portland, OR in almost anonymity. I got a chuckle out of the part were Raftery briefly recounts Black buying music at a local record store and the youth behind the counter wearing a Pixies t-shirt doesn't apparently recognize him.

Jim Nelson interviews Smiths front man Morrissey living in LA and ready to release his newest solo album in 7 years. In the accompanying photo spread of Morrissey wearing some bespoken suits. He looks about the same though his hairline has dropped back a bit, his pronounced sideburns are greyed and his once taunt face beginning to sag and crease. Happier then he's been (but not too happy), comfortable getting old and privileged to be living alone, Morrissey is as pointed and highly critical as ever. Morrissey talks about his attraction to music as a youth being therapeutic, why The Smiths mattered so much to him and why he is still depressed about their breakup. Morrissey also offers his side of the band's breakup – commitment. He had completely invested and committed himself to The Smiths and Johnny Marr did not and just said enough. (He replaced it with what? he asks.) The crooner also provides his brutal honesty of the loss of glamour, how boring he finds youths and how interesting he finds the elderly, having tea regularly with Nancy Sinatra, and David Bowie. (Who is incidently featured in a large photo spread with his wife Iman for Hilfiger.)

Reading the interview, I'm not too optimistic that The Smiths will ever reunite. (sigh.) I suppose the one for two isn't bad, but its disappointing because I never got to hear in The Smiths in person.

The Pink Panther, one of my most favorite cartoons when I was a child (and an adult), is turning 40 next month. Those cartoons were my first exposure to the space-age bachelor pad and mod design stylings of the 50's and early 60's that I still love to this day. The music, my first exposure to lounge music which is still in my weekly rotation. (Henry Mancini was the man!)

MGM is celebrating in grand style. On April 6th, The Pink Panther Film Collection starring Peter Sellers are finally being released on DVD. the early ones were great, the later ones not so much so. (I wish they would do more with the actually cartoon of which only one collection exists of a handful of the ~175 that have been produced.) I have The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark already queued up in Netflix. They are also releasing a few recordings of related music including Ultimate Mancini and Ultimate Pink Panther discs. Most intruiging is The Pink Panther Penthouse Party of music inspired by or covering the characters music. Artists included include a lot of what I'm listening to today – Ursula 1000, Mocean Worker, St. Germain, and Nicola Conte to name a few. Looks good though I'm not sure about the inclusion of Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice. (Works for Christopher Walken, but the Pink Panther?)

As if that isn't sweet enough, MGM has asked Shag (aka Josh Agle) a cat whose illustrations I really dig, to give the character a fresh new look. Check out the site here. It's all Flash though. Given the subject it almost works.

BTW New Yorkers: Shag is opening a new exhibit, Before the Eviction, at Earl McGrath Gallery in Manhattan on May 13th. I'll be making the trip back down to see this one.

Last year I made a post about music used in TV commercials that I recognized and have been listening to. (For all the posts I made about technology and other bits of sagely wisdom the one on commercial music got the most traffic of any each month. sigh.) I noted that I find it fascinating how commercials in recent years are becoming the modern day radio hit or MTV video. Commercials are becoming a serious source of income and potential startum for previously obscure artists. The trend has continued. Here are some more that have appeared.

BMW X3 commercial. "Sordid by Amon Tobin. Footage of the X3 driving in different terrains that are being transitioned with sweeping radar lines. The video and the music complement each other well. Amon rules,

Miller Genuine Draft. Way Out by Lazy. (Unreleased) A shaved-head bloke is walking with his bottle of MGD at a party or bar and sees his reflection in the mirror, but his MDG is a glass. (It sounds like something that one of my current favorites Thievery Corporation would do – check out Mirror Conspiracy to see what I mean.)

HP Digital Photography. Picture of You by The Cure. Camera glides through a rainy street scene with parts being frame and frozen like snapshots.

Monster.com. Wasted by Pere Ubu. Different scenes of people getting ready for job interviews and talking about today is the day. Apparently a lessor shown commercial by Monster uses Judy is a Punk by the Ramones.

Nissan Altma. Last Good Day of the Year by Cousteau. Traffic camera keeps snapping photos of the care as it drives by. There is another Altima commercial with So Nice (Summer Samba) by Astrud Gilberto.

Office Max. Rubberband Man by the Spinners. Footage of a goofy dancing guy with a parted afro delivery office supplies.

Miller. Freedom of Choice by Devo. Human domino chain through out the city until one hipster with a Miller beer steps out of the way and breaks the chain.

Volvo has used the Chemical Brothers' Loops of Fury and Paul Oakenfold's Starry Eyed Surprise in commercials. Keeping with his king of commercial license mantle, Jaguar has been using a loop from Moby's Sings of Love. There is also is a commercial featuring surf guitar king Dick Dale playing guitar on the beach. He's playing Misirlou whose use in the title credits of Pulp Fiction made famous.

I'm stumped and curious about who does the track for Michelob where a couple race each other in the pool. My style of track. Kind of reminds me of Portishead – I don't think it is though.

I've found it fascinating that MCI seems to have combined their advertising with promotions of new music releases. they even have an MTV style artist/track id caption. Michael MacDonald and James Taylor have been featured so far. (I admit to liking James Taylor to a degree. Michael MacDonald ranks up there with Steve Winwood: which is legal grounds for shooting a TV in some states.) The MCI commercials seems to only re-enforce my point that commercials are becoming the modern day radio hit or MTV video.

via Anil. MTV is reporting that the Pixies have settled their differences and will reunite for a tour and perhaps a studio album.

Yipee! The only reunion could please me more would be The Smiths getting back together.

The Pixies put on a great shows so I'm really looking forward to coming out of my retirement as a concert goer. I have many fond memories involving the Pixies. Here are a few that come to mind:

• Their Surfer Rosa/Come on Pilgrim is one of my top 5 all-time greatest rock albums.

• Many moons ago, during their Bozzanova tour, I caught them in NYC where they opened playing their first song extremely slow. The next a bit faster then normal. They continued doing this until the fifth or sixth song was at their normal tempo. (Classic Pixies humor.) They continued for a couple hours more to play every song they've every recorded except for a few. I was terribly exhausted, but happy. But there is more…

• Incidentally I went with some chick I had recently met and found interesting. The night before we sat up all night talking about music after she had sprained her ankle at a frat party. After attending classes and not getting any sleep, she stuck with me at the front for most of the show nursing her sprained ankle before moving to the back. She fell asleep sitting in chair. She really got teased for that. I ended up marrying her. I still tease her about it.

• One day walking by the local awesome indie record store in town, Pier Platters (now sadly closed), I saw a sign Black Francis @ Maxwell's Solo Acoustic. The Pixies frontman was known to throw his guitar in his car and call up people to play in an impromptu tour. Maxwell's is an ultra small, but famous club in Hoboken. He put on a great show doing a lot of early Pixies tunes will lots of commentary. (Steve Albini said this verse totally sucked and took it out of the song.)

• A funny story about Frank Black (Black Francis' solo career psudeonym) and bassist Kim Deal who later fronted the Breeders. Their break-up on less then friendly terms was saddening because I never thought this would happen. A couple of years later I was walking to dinner with M. Doughty of Soul Coughing just after the release of their first LP (another top 5 of mine) Ruby Vroom. He was talking about how fun it was to get the SoundScan that reports the previous week's LP sales and in what parts of the country etc. Doughty said you want to hear something funny? A person at Warner told me Kim Deal has her weekly Breeders report faxed to Black Francis. Ouch. For those not in the know, a feud between Black Francis and Deal over her dwindling vocal parts and difficulty in getting any of her songs recorded as Pixie tunes was one of the major issues in their breakup. Frank Black's solo album had only sold a few thousand copies and was panned by critics while Deal's recording with the Breeders had sold a few hundred thousands and was at the top of the indie college music charts. Their live shows were drawing audiences as big as the Pixies also.

I've been meaning to write about this about this sooner, but I've been so busy helping take action and dealing with the blackout that I haven't found the time till now.

I'm obviously not a woman, but hear me out on this one as it's a matter that has hit quite close to home.

My wife works at Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center in Manhattan as a Nurse Practitioner. It was started 30 years ago and was the first in the US and is the only out of hosiptal birthcenter of its kind in Manhattan. (It shouldn't be the only one, but it is.)

They are being forced to close September 1st. Their current malpractice insurer refused to renew their policy with weeks left on their policy and the best quote any other would give would be a substantial increase (like 250-300% plus as I understand it), into the millions annually, for 1/6th the coverage they used to have. They simply cannot operate under those terms – they are a small not-for-profit organization with 30% of patients on medicaid that delivers about 400 children annually.

My obvious bias aside, this is rather sad and a great loss to the NYC area community. Historically, ESCbC has provided not just prenatal care, but care to women throughout their life span. The birth center’s philosophy is based on the principle that women have the right to health care that is safe, fits their life-style, and recognizes and respects their individual, physical, social, spiritual, psychological and economic needs. In addition to childbearing the center offers other services that include childbirth education, prenatal support groups, prenatal yoga, massage, acupuncture, post partum support groups, mothers groups, post partum depression support group, baby and toddler play groups, and a Spanish language toddler play group. It is also the home for Childbirth Education Association of Metropolitan New York and Metropolitan Doula Group.

The loss of my wife's job is unfortunate, but a highly trivial matter in the grand scheme of things. We'll be fine. The loss of this resource to women's choice in healthcare is not – especially when it's at the hand of insurance companies and skyrocketing premiums. There are now dozens of women and their partners expecting to deliver children at the birthcenter scrambling. Less then 4 weeks is not enough time to find adequate alternative care for the women who have been counting on birthing at the center.

They aren't going out with a whimper and are organizing various forms of various forms of activism to bring this situation to light while trying to help patients make alternate arrangements. They want to keep these type of healthcare options available to women and their families.

I've helped them setup a weblog to communicate to their patients and the public. (BTW: Kristen Stehle is my wife.) Please link to it, pass the word along to anyone you know in the NYC area that may be interested and encourage them to sign the petition and get involved if they can.

My wife and I amongst many others would appreciate it.

What is it about Duran Duran that is so fun over 20 years later? Perhaps I'm being a bit sentimental about my youth. Not really sure, but I'm not going to think about it too hard and just enjoy it for now.

For my second post I'll break my first new year resolutions.

[UPDATE: I've added a few anwsers to blanks in my memory and a correction. Most are courtesy of Emma Hamilton and her database of 503+ commercial spots. Mike Castelletti also wrote in to correct me that its was Daft Punk and not Groove Armada that does One More Time. I knew that. I really did.]

[UPDATE 2: I've hyperlinked all cited recordings for your Amazon shopping pleasure. If this post answered a nagging commercial question it would be really cool of you to buy through my links.]

Until reading Mena Trott's post on "Press and Discovery" that linked to an entry on her personal weblog, I never realized that there was such interest in music used by commercials.

My family (and some friends) think I listen to odd, obscure and otherwise "weird" music. I don't really agree with that characterization at all. That's why I get a chuckle when I hear music by generally obscure artists that I've been listening to makes it into a commercial. They are listening to it in commercials and don't even know it!

Since it would seem by the long running comments thread on Mena's site that there isn't enough of this info out there. I thought I'd share some of my knowledge. These are some that come to mind in no particular order for those who may have been trying to figure out "that track" for themselves.

Dockers "Dinner Party" - Les Baxter "Tropicando"

Guy walks into a high society dinner party with a couple of women staring seductively at him. Once dinner starts we see them start brushing their stocking feet on his leg making him feel uncomfortable until much to his surprise he learns one of the gents at the table is doing it too.

Dockers "The Basketball Star's Pants" - Thievery Corporation "Coming From The Top"

A crowd going nuts welcomes a basketball star (presumably) getting out of a limo. He stops to sign a basketball for some kids and then stops at some screaming women. His coach sees it and points him to the locker room. As he walks away the coach notices the women are screaming about his pants. (Of course.) The action cuts to our star trotting out with his team in uniform before cutting back to the locker room where coach is sneaking back into the locker room and trys on the players pants.

Incidentally these two tracks used by Dockers appear on the same compilation album DJ Kicks a continuous mix by the Thievery Corporation -- its an excellent album I'm still listening to years later. Since the 2 commercials where released around the same time for the same product, I have to assume the producers of the commercials where listening to this same album when they selected that music.

Lexus "Intersection" - Dave Brubeck "Take 5"

4 Lexus cars come to an intersection with Jonathan Pryce walking city streets and providing the overdub. Shot in black and white. Someone on Mena's site was looking for a jazzy piano track to a car commercial -- this may be it. When I listen to "Take 5" I think of Paul Desmond's sax more then piano, but I believe they edited it for the commercial in such a way that the Brubeck's piano is more prominent.

Acura "Palm Springs vacation" - Nicola Conte "Bossa Per Due"

This commercial features a pair of 30 something hipster speeding through the California desert and frolicking around a Palm Springs spa hotel room.

Kmart/Joe Boxer "Happy guy dancing in his underwear" - Nicola Conte "Jet Sounds"

This commercial made me laugh when I first say it. Now this guy is everywhere and its getting a bit old. I saw him dancing on stage in his underwear during Fox's New Year's Eve show *outside* in Vegas. I hope they're paying him a lot.

Apple iPod - Propellerheads "Take California"

When the iPod came out Apple released a commercial with some dude loading up music from his Mac onto his iPod. The music is tinny and quite as the music builds. He unplugs it just as the music pauses, he freezes and then the music kicks in load and with plenty of bass as he does a I-also-play-Air-Guitar dance out the door.

Unknown Car CommercialNissan -- Ursula 1000 "Continental Break Fast"

I've actually heard it more on radio ads because I was driving so much with the holidays, but I know its being used on TV commercials. I'll have to pay attention to what company/car its for when I hear it again.

Unknown Car CommercialJaguar (S-Type) - Propellerheads "History Repeating"

Features vocals by Shirley Bassey of James Bond soundtrack (Goldfinger/Diamonds Are Forever/Moonraker) fame. I can't remember which car or company it was for. The car is just sitting there as the camera takes you on an up close tour alternating through fast and slow motion movements.

Victoria Secret - Groove ArmadaDaft Punk "One More Time"

All I remember is that is was in Black and White and featured the super models dancing around in, all of things, their underwear. Groove Armada's "I See You Baby" was also used in a commercial, but I can't remember who it was for. (Update: Emma says also check out Mirwais' "Disco Science" in the body by Vic spot.)

Mitsubishi Eclipse "Freaky Popping Raver Chick" - Dirty Vegas "Days Go By"

This commercial is just 3 people driving through tunnels and past oil refiners as the woman in the passenger seat goes nuts practicing some former of ancient breakdancing in her seat. She weirds me out.

Mitsubishi - Telepopmusik "Breathe"

This more recent commercial features a man driving his car down what looks like Fremont Street in Vegas as the passengers change from friends, girlfriend, girlfriend pregnant, kids costume party. The whispy female vocals are singing "touch me." I'm not sure where Breathe comes out of that.

K2 Movie Trailer - Front 242 "Tragedy For You"

Plenty of music gets used in movie trailer commercials, however this one is noteworthy because they used a track that did not appear in the movie's soundtrack. I have no interest in mountain climbing, but I was actually excited to go see this movie after watching the commercial with this track. That is, until my friend Jason discovered before I went to see it that Front 242's track is nowhere to be found in the movie and the commercial was 10 times better anyway.

Unknown Car Commercial Volvo V70 Turbo Wagon - Mr. Scruff "Get A Move On"

Dad scrambling between daughters soccer match and son's swim meet. The commercial has started airing with another track now. Mr. Scruff's tune works much better though. This track was also used in another commercial recently, but its not coming to me what it was for. (Update: Emma says it was Lincoln Navigator. A Jazz band is (supposedly) practicing and the driver opens his sunroof to hear. Update2: Lincoln is using this track a lot more, but the latest commercials are re-recorded by band for the commercial. I like the original more.)

NFL 2001 Playoffs "Show Me Something" -- St. Germain "Rose Rogue"

These commercials features footage of NFL stars going through drills for the camera with a "BMF" Samuel L. Jackson exclaiming things like "Its playoff time! Time to show me something!" Filmed by Spike Lee.

Nike - Stooges "Search and Destroy"

A fast moving montage of dirty sweaty athletes "playing hard" across a whole range of sports. The track really worked nicely with visuals.

Gap "Rollerblading Khakis" - The Crystal Method "Busy Child"

This commercial features lots of Gap models doing lots of rollerblading tricks and synchronized formations.

Volkswagon has made a cottage industry out of the use of generally obscure hip music tracks in their commercials. So much so that they've releases a compilation CD of music used in their commercials. (For $10 I'm tempted to buy it.) Some of my personal favorites include:

VW Passat(?) "Springing Grandpa to go to Vegas" - Charles Mingus "II BS"

Old gents is seen sneaky around a nursing home in his Blue Brothers-esgue black suit and out the door. He hops into a car with his grandson and they are seen speeding off to Vegas with the sun roof open.

VW Cabrolet(?) "Milky Way" - Nick Drake, "Pink Moon"

4 friends driving to an evening party on the coast and changing their mind and starting driving somewhere else. I read an article where a bunch of Nick Drake elitist where annoyed that after years of obscurity people started getting into the singer/songwriter because of a commercial.

VW Jetta(?) "Burbon Street Synchronity" - Master Cylinder "Jung at Heart"

This commercial featured a couple driving down Burbon street where everything they look at (boy dribbling a basketball, men unloading boxes) is in time with their car's windshield wipers.

VW Beetle "UFO" - Fluke "Absurd"

Features a spinning beetle on a white screen that hovers and zips around like a UFO with the heavy-handed beat and sampled "ooohh" and "ahhhhs" of Fluke's track.

VW Beetle "Kaleidoscope" - Sterolab "Parsec"

The camera descends on a changing kaleidoscope pattern made up of brightly colored Beetles as Sterolab's music fades in. I rather disappointed VW doesn't include this on the above-mentioned disc. I own the Stereolab disc (Dots and Loops) its on though.

VW EuroVan "Road Trip" - Bent "Invisible Pedestrian"

Some middle-aged married couple (presumably) picking up slacker hitchhikers heading to points all over the states. This is another one I was disappointed was not on VW's disc.

Speaking of cottage industry, numerous tracks from Moby's Play was featured in commercials for American Express, Reebok, Motorola, Adidas and Audi 500. Its really hard to remember them all. If they weren't in a commercial they where in a movie soundtrack. The use of "Porcelain" for Nordstroms was my personal favorite where a mostly off camera woman opens the door for her boyfriend standing in the rain with umbrella filmed in black and white and shot in extreme slow motion. With the release of his new album 18 Moby said he was going to chill on the licensing, but I think I heard "We Are Made of Stars" used in an Gap ad straight away.

I know Fat Boy Slim's "Praise You" was used in a Nike Air Jordan commercial. I also know Oldsmobile used "Right Here, Right Now" in a commercial also.

I also recall Chemical Brothers, Superchunk and My Bloody Valentine having tracks featured in commercials but I can't remember which ones.

I know I'm leaving out dozens (perhaps hundreds) more. I find it fascinating how commercials in recent years are becoming the modern day radio hit or MTV video. Commercials are becoming a serious source of income and potential startum for previously obscure artists like Nick Drake in addition to upcoming and independent artists like Telepopmusik or Dirty Vegas. Even well established commercial artists are benefiting. It was reported that there was a spike in Sting's Brand New Day sales when "Desert Rose" was running in a Jaguar commercial.

With product placements in movies and commercials as short-film features, perhaps this could be the future.