Thursday, December 30, 2010: Broken Bells - The High Road

It's been a good year for the Bells. First, a break out for one of my new favourite bands, the Sleigh Bells, who's sounds I just can't get enough of.

Then, this year saw the introduction of the Broken Bells, an American duo composed of artist-producer Brian Burton (better known as Danger Mouse) and James Mercer, the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Oregonian indie rock band The Shins.

I'm such a sucker for weird noises and electronic bleeps and burps.  Yes, the beginning of this song is what R2D2 on Jägermeister would sound like. And that's a good thing.

But, even if that's not your scene, just kick up your heals as this song runs though fields of musical soundscapes that pack more artistry and vision in 3:53 seconds than most bands put into an entire album. Trust me, there is something somewhere on this track that you will like.

And if not, if you somehow don't find this track cool, maybe CSOTD isn't a blog for you.

May I suggest a blog about crocheting.

The Crochet Dude.

He's a dude. And he crochets.

You two should get along swimmingly.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010: TWOfer Tuesday - The "Sleigh Bells Will Make You Buy A Honda" Edition

So frustrated.

A couple of months into this Cool Song Of The Day blog and things are really rolling. I'm showing commitment, drive and ambition. I haven't flaked a day yet, and my song choices are going from strength to strength, if I do say so myself.

California week was especially tasty.

It's been great for me, too. I'm 42 years old this year, and most people my age couldn't name a contemporary recording artist to save their life. However, in doing the necessary research for this blog, I'm constantly being introduced to new bands. Which is wonderful, because there is some amazing new music coming out these days.

So, I've got this one song lined up in the rotation, from a great band, brand new out of Brooklyn, NY, real scene stealers. I like blogging new bands, and I'm especially excited about this one that was coming up. I thought I would get a jump on people, be the first to introduce this music to my friends and followers. Re-enforce my street cred.

Then I heard it. The song, on the television. In a commercial. For a Honda. A Honda, for God's sake. A Honda CR-Z Sport Hybrid, to be exact, a frickin' hybrid.

The Sleigh Bells "Riot Rhythm" being used to sell Hondas.

Which makes sense. Only....................it doesn't.

Ever since Dinah Shore suggested you could See The USA In Your Chevrolet, popular music has been a common feature in commercials.   However, I wonder if commercial music has ever been as hip and trendy as it is these days.   Which is the part that does make sense.

It makes sense to use cutting edge bands to sell hybrid cars, because old people don't buy hybrids. In general. In general (remember, this is a generalization now) old people are more than happy to drive around in their Cadillac El Dorado's or Mercury Marquis' drinking up as much of the planets resources as they can for their brief time left on this mortal coil. It's the young'ins what buy up all them new-fangled HIGH-brids.

Hence the necessary hipster soundtrack. But, that's also the part that doesn't make sense.

I mean, the Sleigh Bells have hardly been around more than a week. So for a multi-billion dollar multi-national conglomerate like Honda to carve out some some quality commercial real estate for a couple of newbie hipsters like the Sleigh Bells, they are taking a large risk on an unproven commodity. Or, maybe they got them for pennies precisely because they are week-old newbie hipsters, and the minuscule licensing costs aren't much of a gamble for a company as big as Honda.

Either way, it's a drag that Honda got to them first. Before I did. Jerks.

But, then again, even if you have seen the commercial, you've only got a small taste of the glorious noise that is the Sleigh Bells so, gentle readers, here they are in full force, full length and sans the sales pitch.

Completing the line up for our commercial themed TWOfer Tuesday is a song featured in a recent advert for Alberto Vo5 hair products in the UK and also in a Bud Light Lime commercial.

It's a truly unique track and coming close to becoming a personal anthem for me. Because me I'm a creator, thrill is to make it up, the rules I break got me a place up on the radar.


Enjoy.