UK Band Partners With Mobile Stargazing App to Debut New Single

Metronomy debuts new song in Night Sky app

To get a first listen to UK electronic band Metronomy’s new song, fans will have to search the heavens to find it.

In an inspired promotion, the group has partnered with stargazing app Night Sky to debut their new track titled “I’m Aquarius”.

On Monday, November 11 Night Sky users will receive a notification to update the app. Once updated, users scan the sky looking for the constellation of Aquarius to unlock the song.

The Night Sky app is available for the both Android and iOS platforms.

[via Prote.in]

UK

City of Boston Crowdsources Homegrown Talent for City Hall Hold Music

Boston #BOStunesA long list of legendary musicians and groups have come out of Boston area, including Aerosmith, The Pixies, James Taylor, The Cars and of course the group actually called Boston. Chair moshing to the Dropkick Murphys while waiting to find out why your garbage hasn’t been picked may sound like fun, but enduring even a minute of any New Kids on the Block would be enough to make me hang up.

This week The City of Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology announced that it’s crowdsourcing original music from the local music community to create a new “Transfer Music Playlist” to take the place of the “same old boring tunes” that callers hear while they are on-hold to City Hall.

Musicians can submit their tracks by tweeting their Bandcamp, Soundcloud or other streaming links with the hashtag #BOStunes to @DoITBoston or posting a link to the City of Boston Facebook page.

A comment noted that Edmonton has created EdmonTunes, a similar program developed in partnership with CKUA Radio Network and the Edmonton Arts Council.

Here are a few examples of submissions so far.

[via The Atlantic]

USA

Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ Featured in Playstation 4 Ad

Playstation 4 - Perfect Day

I have a love/hate thing with classic songs being used in commercials, but the use of Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ in a new ad for Playstation falls onto the ‘love’ side. Perfect Day was first recorded for Reed’s classic 1972 David Bowie-produced album Transformer and as the B-side to ‘Walk on the Wild Side’.

As part of their Greatest Awaits campaign, “Perfect Day” is sung by a character appearing in scenes from Playstation games The Elder Scrolls Online, Driveclub and Killzone Shadow Fall. The tender lyrics juxtaposed against the violence and mayhem works… well, perfectly.

The ad was created by BBH, New York, and directed by Matthijs Van Heijningen for MJZ.

[via AdWeek]

USA

How Well Do You Know Your Swedish Furniture and Death Metal Bands?

Gatesman + Dave - Ikea product name or Death Metal band name

A quick trip to get new meeting room furniture at a local Ikea store has turned into worldwide exposure for Pittsburgh ad agency Gatesman+Dave. Sam Panico, Senior Copywriter at the agency (and a big metal fan) joked with Associate Creative Director Jeff Barton, how Ikea’s product names resembled the name of death metal bands.

The joke developed into an online game they dubbed “Ikea or Death“, in which visitors must guess whether a word is an Ikea product name or a death metal band. Panico leaked the game to a few friends on social media sites and posted it to Reddit, where it attracted thousands of users in the first few hours.

The game released on Wednesday, October 9 has attracted more than 428,000 Likes in just 3 days. I sadly scored only 11/20, which according to the developers is average.

[read more at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

USA

Fred Armisen Pitches Queens of the Stone Age Album on Flash Drive

Queens of the Stone Age - USB Flash Drive

Queens of the Stone Age may have already hit #1 on the Billboard album charts with their new album ‘Like Clockwork‘, but now a new tongue-in-cheek infomercial looks to expand the availability to include USB Flash Drives. Comedian Fred Armisen, star of SNL and Portlandia, portrays Rick Chism, spokesman for the groups’s Do Stuff Corporation.

But it’s no joke, the album is available on a limited edition 8 GB USB flash drive, complete with photos, videos and extra storage for whatever you want. Fans can order the drive (which doubles as a bottle opener) for $29.99, and receive a second drive for free while supplies last.

[via Consequence of Sound]

USA

Brilliant 3D Billboard Ad Promotes New Black Sabbath Album

Black Sabbath 13 Street Ad

The success of the new Black Sabbath album “13” is nothing less of spectacular, the album debuted on top of both the UK and US album charts. It’s the first full-length album Black Sabbath to feature original members Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler since 1978’s Never Say Die. Unfortunately, drummer Bill Ward parted ways with the band before the recording of the album, spoiling what would have been a full reunion.

A brilliantly produced billboard ad in Denmark promotes the new album by revealing one of the band’s logos from the early 70s through a large hole ripped through dozens of other large posters. It seems to suggest travelling back through time, uncovering layers of forgotten acts to re-discover the band.

The ads were created by McCann, Copenhagen.

[via Planet 1051]

Denmark

Doritos UK Ad Features Mariachi Version of “I Love Rock & Roll”

Mariachi Doritos - I Love Rock 'n' Roll

Last summer Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and Doritos hired a Mariachi band for an ad campaign and brought them to parties all around the UK to perform mariachi band versions of 80s classics like Rio, Need You Tonight and Don’t You Want Me.

This summer Doritos have brought the band back with a new edgier image and a mariachi version of the “I Love Rock & Roll”, originally a hit in 1975 by The Arrows and further popularized by Joan Jett & the Black Hearts in 1981.

The London-based group, which is actually named Mariachi Mexteca, performs a wide repertoire of Traditional Mariachi music to English pop songs.

[via The Drum]

UK

South Australia Tourism Uses Nick Cave Song to Lure Tourists to The Barossa Valley

South Australia Tourism - Barossa: Be Consumed

Not “every” song by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds is super-creepy. There’s the one about the wild roses down by the river, it only had one murder mentioned in the lyrics.

While the majority of his lyrics do indeed explore the dark side of the dark side of life (so dark I had to say it twice), the last place you might expect to hear lyrics like, “On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man. In a dusty black coat with a red right hand” would be in ad promoting tourism.

In a clip promoting the Barossa Valley, a major wine-producing region and tourist destination in South Australia, the dark moody lyrics and sounds of Cave’s “Red Right Hand”, first released on his 1994 album “Let Love In” are featured. The song adds an ominous tone to slow-motion scenes of a man carrying dead rabbits, a woman plucking a pheasant, plus bread being baked, sides of beef swaying and milk being “swished” in the dark shadows. All of these scenes lead up to an outdoor feast, that while a bit creepy, still has my mouth watering.

The spot titled “Barossa: Be Consumed” was created by Adelaide agency kwp! and directed by Australian filmmaker Jeffrey Darling. The ad will begin appearing on television networks starting June 2, followed by a digital and print campaign.

[via mUmBRELLA]

Australia

Maserati Quattroporte Powers New Collection of Tracks from Producer Howie B

Maserati Seven Notes World Tour with Howie B

Luxury Italian car-maker Maserati has partnered up with British loudspeaker company Bowers & Wilkins to promote the new Quattroporte. The Quattroporte, which starts at USD $125,000, is the first to feature an integrated Bowers & Wilkins audio system.

Producer Howie B recorded the sounds of the car’s engine at seven different RPM settings. He then went to work to at the legendary Abbey Road Studios to combine the engine sounds with more traditional instruments and the vocals of Liverpool-based All We Are to create ‘Seven Notes’, a collection of audio tracks available to download at SevenNotes.com.

Maserati is bringing the car and a ‘Seven Notes’ interactive music installation along for a tour around the world starting in Dubai on May 24, before heading on to Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, before wrapping up in London on July 17. Each stop on the tour will feature a live performance of the Seven Notes tracks by Howie B with the support of a local DJ.

Seven Notes World Tour

Seven Notes: Perfection of design

[via The Drum]

UK

German Composer’s ‘Pocket Symphonies’ Promoted With Dramatic Short-Film ‘Rebirth’

Pocket Symphonies - Rebirth

Dresden-based composer and producer Sven Helbig is not your typical classical composer, having collaborated with such contemporary artists as Pet Shop Boys, Snoop Dogg and Rammstein.

In February, Helbig released a new collection of compositions. Entitled “Pocket Symphonies“, the collection features twelve short pieces for orchestra and piano quartet inspired by the melodies found in film music.

To promote the album Hamburg-based agency Kolle Rebbe created ‘Rebirth, a dramatic one minute long short firm directed by Kai Schonrath for CZAR Berlin.

Four of the tracks from ‘Pocket Symphonies’ can be found on Helbig’s Soundcloud channel.

Germany