Video/MP3: Chappo "Come Home" in iTouch ad

Apple just got done announcing the new iPod Nanos, Shuffles, and Touches, iTunes 10 (with last.fm, uhh, i mean, Ping) and Apple TV(with Netflix streaming!). We also got a couple new iPod ads which are usually pretty good sources for new music (hey there Feist, Submarines, Chairlift ). You can watch the new iPod Touch ad above and download the accompanying song by Brooklyn garage-psych-pop band Chappo below. Also spotted at the Keynote: Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs a few times in the product demos and Chris Martin wearing a rad Flaming Lips shirt.

MP3 Chappo – Come Home

Watch the new iPod Nano ad featuring the song “Short Skirt / Long Jacket” by Cake.

iPad commercial / The Blue Van's "There Goes My Love"

The first TV spot for Apple’s iPad premiered last night at the Oscars. I know a lot of people have already written this device off mainly due to it’s similarities to the iPhone / iPod Touch, but I’m still in the “interested” camp. I won’t be lining up for this device, but I’d certainly love to get my hands on one. The iPad ad is a fairly simple but well-executed spot that shows off many of the capabilities with some fast-paced editing and angular guitar music (Side note: If you freeze the ad you can see the albums loaded up on iTunes include Laura Veirs – July Flame, Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and Band of Horses – Cease To Begin).

The song soundtracking the commercial is called “There Goes My Love” by Danish indie rock band The Blue Van. The track bears a striking resemblance to Franz Ferdinand and The Fratellis, also guitar rockers from over-the-pond that have both been used in Apple’s iPod commercials. Stick with what works, I guess, right? Anyway, forgiving the lack of originality, it’s a catchy track and it works well with the ad. Watch above, grab the MP3 below.

MP3 The Blue Van – There Goes My Love

“There Goes My Love” is found on the 2008 album, Man Up. Buy it here.

iPad has unfortunate name, good music taste

Perhaps one of the most anticipated devices of all time (rumors of an Apple tablet device first started circulating around 2003), the newly announced Apple iPad is certainly a game-changing, revolutionary device albeit one with an unfortunate name (iTampon jokes abound on twitter). Will it be the same magnitude of a cultural phenomenon that the iPhone or iPod were is yet to be seen, but what’s certain now is that this thing looks pretty frickin’ sweet and the price is right.

One of the things I’m most interested in during Apple product releases is the music they use in their marketing content. I spotted Bon Iver and Arcade Fire among the classic rock / oldies selections on Steve Job’s iPad that was used during the Keynote, and in Apple’s promotional galleries / videos you’ll notice the iPad is playing a wealth of great music (including my #1 and #2 albums of 2009). Here’s some of the albums filling up Apple’s iPad:

Spoon – Transference
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Grizzly Bear – Vecktimest
Rogue Wave – Permalight (not released till 03/02)
The Decemberists – Hazards of Love
Alicia Keys – The Element of Freedom
Ben Kweller – Changing Horses
La Roux – La Roux
Howling Bells – Radio Wars
Muse – The Resistance
Noisettes – Wild Young Hearts
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
Wilco – Wilco (The Album)

We will have to wait who they choose to soundtrack the inevitable iPad commercials (if I had a guess it would be La Roux, since all the screenshots show her album “now playing”), but it’s obvious those folks at Apple haven’t lost their touch for picking out great tunes till fill their products. Here’s some MP3 samples from a few of the above albums.

MP3 Phoenix – Lisztomania
MP3 Spoon – Written In Reverse
MP3 La Roux – Bulletproof
MP3 Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
MP3 Rogue Wave – Good Morning
MP3 Wilco – Wilco (The Song)
MP3 Howling Bells – Into The Chaos

If you’re looking for hands-on pictures / video of the Apple iPad, check Gizmodo / Engadget.

musicforants.com has been twitter-fied!

I’ve finally given in to the pressure and created a musicforants.com twitter account.  Social media is now dominating every part of my life.  Not like I was ever against twittering, but since I discovered that I can both feed my blog to my twitter and update it from my iPhone with picture-taking + GPS location tracking (I’m using this app), it’s made it much more appealing. Plus it’s 2009, people, anything can happen.

I’ll probably be making some more song recommendations on here, quoting 30 rock, and taking pictures of random stuff and posting it.  So those of you twitter folk out there, make sure to follow me.

MP3 The Light Footwork  – The Art of Everyday Communication

Blog's Got A New Face

You might notice things look different here today. The old orange/blue layout has disappeared (or perhaps it’s just moved to a different time/dimension like the island on Lost) and now we have something a bit cleaner, more readable, easier on the eyes, etc. In addition to the aesthetic ch-ch-changes, both sidebars have shifted to the right and there’s a shiny new navigation bar. The design is a variation of the awesome Cleaker 2.1 Theme created by Adam Walker Cleaveland. Tell me in the comments what you think!

MP3 Vampire Weekend – Blake’s Got A New Face
MP3 David Bowie – Changes

Why all the "new facebook" hate?

Those of you who use Facebook have undoubtedly noticed some changes in the site layout lately.  It seems like quite a few people have gotten together to voice their hatred of the new layout.  A couple of groups have over a million members, and some people are threatening to migrate to Myspace if they don’t change it back.  The only problem with their argument is that they don’t have one.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say, the new Facebook is considerably better and the changes make a whole lot of sense.  Some reasons why:

Unlike when Mini-Feed first appeared, the changes aren’t in any way harmful to user’s privacy or usability. Some items are placed in slightly different areas and you might have to make one extra click to see what your friend’s favorite TV show is.  Merging the mini-feed and the wall together is a fantastic idea, especially since you can now view both separate. The customization potentials are huge now with the tabs.  The design is altogether cleaner, better organized, and much more user-friendly.  They’ve even added Applications to the chat bar at the bottom of the page to make it even more accessible, which was the only legitimate complaint against the new that I heard.  In addition, the changes solve all the complaints people had that the Applications cluttering up the screen and having to scroll down forever.  This is solid site design.   See you guys, it’s not that bad! (Follow the jump for further explanation on why new facebook is better.)

So why are people coming out in droves to complain.  Well, I guess tradition for one.  Everytime there’s been a significant Facebook change, people have protested and eventually they accepted it and learned to like it.  Also a lot of Facebook users are just whiny and/or lazy and don’t want to learn new things, even if it’s better (that’s why they’ve kept “old facebook” as an option, for the gradual switch).  And you got the whole Diffusion of Innovations thing that says that about 16% of people will be early adopters of technology, and about half will only adopt a new technology when it’s already accepted by a majority.  In that latter half are people called “laggards” who are obssessed with tradition and are extremely resistant to any change. Unfortunately for Facebook, it’s the laggards that are speaking the loudest (the 1 million users in anti-new groups make up about 1% of Facebook’s population) while the silent majority have already accepted the new, better Facebook and have gone on with their lives.  Anyone else with me?

MP3 Interpol – The New
MP3 Elbow – Some Riot
MP3 Postal Service – Suddenly Everything Has Changed

I have listed below one of the groups “top twenty reasons to hate new facebook” and why they are completely wrong with their arguments. Follow the jump to see it.

Nano-approved Party Mix / Chairlift's "Bruises"

The new rainbow-themed iPod Nano advertisements on Apples website and the new commercial feature the next generation of Nano’s hot new color scheme and show off the bigger screen’s album art-displaying-skills.  I think beyond the cool visual of the whole thing the music choices that appear on these Nanos is very interesting.  In fact, if you put these songs (minus a couple) into a playlist they could very easily pass as a mix for any pitchfork-reading hipster’s dance party.

You’ve got a some Justice, some Interpol, you throw in a big mainstream hit like “Stronger”, add a couple of relative unknown electro blog-buzzed acts like Calvin Harris and Datarock, and provide a sappy ironic sing-a-long song like “You’re Beautiful” to top it off. You could even use some mellow, folky stuff like Matt Costa for a cool-down song in between all the dancing. Don’t know if this is what the Apple folks were planning, but I got to hand it to them for again delivering with some good tunes in their ads.

MP3 Calvin Harris – The Girls
MP3 Interpol – C’mere
MP3 Justice – D.A.N.C.E
MP3 Matt Costa – Sunshine
MP3 Datarock – Fa Fa Fa
MP3 James Blunt – You’re Beautiful
MP3 Kanye West – Stronger

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Commercial Watch:

On a related note, I found that song on the new Nano commercial because it’s a nice song with a cool Casio synth beat and I’m sure some of you will also be looking for it.  It’s called “Bruises” by a Brooklyn band named Chairlift who is actually going to be on tour with Yeasayer pretty soon.  I’m definitely getting a Feist/Cat Power vibe from the vocalist here. I try to do handstands for you…

MP3 Chairlift – Bruises

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Albums spotted in the iPod Touch guided tour:

Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
Datarock – Datarock
Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Digitalism – Idealism
Duffy – Rockberry
The Go! Team – Proof of Youth
Goldfrapp – Seventh Tree
Hot Chip – Made In The Dark
Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords
Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
Jimmy Eat World – Jimmy Eat World
Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future
The Kooks – Konk
Ladytron – Velocifero
LCD Sounsystem – Sound of Silver
M.I.A. – Kala
M83 – Saturdays = Youth
Matt Costa – Unfamiliar Faces
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
MSTRKRFT – The Looks
New Young Pony Club – Fantastic Playroom
The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
Ray LaMontagne – Til The Sun Turns Black
Rogue Wave – Eyes (Single)

Any iPod that’s playing M83, The Go! Team, and Cut Copy is fine by me.

Newsflashes: Sigur Ros, Rogue Wave, iPhones

This is the part where I talk about things that I’m finding awesome this week.

I got a hold of a leaked copy of the new Sigur Ros album, Með suð i eyrum við spilum endalaust this weekend which according to my calculations is the last big album from the first half of this year to have been out there for the masses (you could say the year is half over in leak years).

Anyways, I’m still letting the album sink in but I’m loving it so far. Unlike the Animal Collective-ish first single, these songs sound like classic Sigur Ros which is definitely a good thing. “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” and “Við spilum endalaust” are stand-outs for me so far, which are both shorter, poppier songs but I’m sure once the longer, more epic tracks sink in I’m sure they’ll be just as amazing.

MP3 Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook

Also, the album is streaming at the band’s website for all you non-pirating folks out there.

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I’ve been revisiting Rogue Wave‘s Asleep at Heaven’s Gate on occasion throughout the year and it’s been holding up very nicely (almost makes me wish I had included the album on my top 25 of ’07 list). “Chicago x 12” is a clear highlight on the album and the new video for the song features director/actor/comedian/dude from Mr. Show, Bob Odenkirk playing a hilarious version of himself as a demanding, c-list director. It also includes one of the best “misheard lyrics” jokes I’ve heard.

Also check out Odenkirk’s rant against Rogue Wave at his myspace (don’t worry, it’s all part of the joke).

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The Apple World Wide Developers Conference* is this week in San Francisco which means we should be expecting one of Steve Job’s legendary keynotes and a slew of new Apple Products. According to Wired News that includes “a second-generation iPhone, a panoply of new applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, a new MacBook Pro and the next upgrade to OS X, codenamed “Snow Leopard.” The rumor sites unanimously agree that the new iPhone will be using 3G and be at a significantly lower (perhaps even subsidized) price. Excited much?

MP3 Shearwater – The Snow Leopard (from their fantastic new record, Rook)
MP3 Page France – Here’s A Telephone

*update: read all about it here. $199 3G iPhones! Hurray!

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Just a couple words about the LOST finale: This was a phenomenal ending to one of the best TV seasons perhaps of all time. I, for one, was completely shocked at the last scene. I had no idea it would be Locke in the coffin, yet it all makes sense. As for the frozen donkey wheel scene = absolute genius. If you read my “The Constant” recap, you can probably guess how happy I was with the Desmond/Penny reunion.

I came up with a theory after watching the episode that Widmore was originally the leader of the Others and also had to move the island which explains why he said “the island was once mine, it will be mine again” and is the reason he’s trying to find the island. I’ve read this some other places too but I’m pretty sure I was the first to think of it.

MP3 Coldplay – Lost! (Acoustic Version)

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Manbabies. These pictures at this site are totally creepy and weird but for some reason and can’t help coming back. If you have a thing for photoshopped pictures of men and babies with their heads swapped (who doesn’t?) then click here.

Macbook Air / Yael Naim's "New Soul"

Photo by mac rumours

There’s been rumours that Apple was working on a super-thin laptop, but I don’t think anyone expected this. It’s saying something that the first words those I’ve observed looking at it for the first time have been something along the lines of “Holy freakin’ $&@#, that thing is thin!”. With all the necessary add-ons and dongles, the laptop is going to get very pricey, but I’m sure it’ll sell like hot cakes to those early-adopters-with-tons-of-money folks.

The marketing team at Apple, the geniuses that they are, created a commercial showing off how you easily can fit the 3 pound laptop into a manilla folder. The song accompanying the ad is a suitably light and airy jazz-pop tune called “New Soul” from Israeli artist Yael Naim. While you only hear the first 30 seconds in the Macbook Air commercial, the full song makes nice use of bouncy trumpets, harpsichord, handclaps, and even a heavenly-sounding choir for the ending. Good find, Apple! Download the tune below and purchase her album here:

MP3 New Soul

View the commercial
Friend Yael Naim at myspace

Love Like Fire / Facebook Music Blogs App

I was just recently introduced to San Fransico indie rock up-and-comers Love Like Fire through the song “From A Tower”, an endearing power-pop group that falls somewhere in between Rilo Kiley and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. After listening a number of times to “From A Tower” I found out that the band made more songs (whoa!) and they were also great (Yesss!). In fact, I think after listening to “S.O.S.” and “Unlighted Shadow” they’ve become my favorites from the band. For some reason the band is unsigned, but they seem to be doing well for themselves DIY-wise as I’ve seen the band featured on a few notable blogs.

Love Like Fire has a great dynamic going: guitar riffs with equal amounts of crunch and buzz, rolling drums, and strong, passionate vocals from Ann Yu. You can hear a strong influence from new wave bands like The Cure and Siouxe and the Banshees in their songs. From what I’ve heard, the band absoutely kills live so if you’re on the west coast check them out sometime and hopefully for the rest of us they’ll schedule some midwest/east coast dates very soon. Until then, You should definitely download all these tracks and listen to them.

MP3 Unlighted Shadow
MP3 S.O.S.
MP3 From A Tower

Myspace
Buy the E.P.

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Thanks to everyone who’s joined this blog’s offical Facebook group. It’s almost at 200 members which I think is pretty cool. Another way you can support this blog, or any music blog, or just help spread music that you like is by adding the new Music Blogs Facebook App created by the nice folks at Yahoo. Once you do you can stream music from any music blog of your choice on your Facebook Profile. I realize that no one likes it when you fill your Profile up with a bunch of crap, but I think you’ll find that this App is a keeper. Give it a try by clicking here.

Also, the Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good group wall has been a bit deserted lately, so why don’t you shake things up a little by posting your top 5 albums of the 2007 for everyone to see.