We Love This: St. Lucia

St Lucia - All Eyes on You from HeavyRoc Music on Vimeo.

Grobler's stellar vocals and excellent production deliver on this track.  APB to all music supervisors.  It's going to be a race to see who syncs this first.  Love it.

20 Questions With Mike Thompson, Music Supervisor

Name:  Mike Thompson
Title:   Senior Music Supervisor 
Libraries:  The Diner

1. Song I Wish I Synch: D-PE0065 Light Up The Stars (Vocal) is such an emotional and beautiful track with a killer chorus... it's one of those final-triumphant-scene-in-a-movie home runs.

2. Favorite Music Placement: It's got to be the Kia Optima "Blake Griffin Dunk"... we took an existing Diner track, totally customized it, and now it's the soundtrack for Blake Griffin dunking a ball while jumping over a

Kia!

3. Most Requested Creative Direction: It is (and will probably always be) upbeat, uplifting, optimistic acoustic pop.

4. New/Emerging Artist/Bands I Am Listening To: Mitten, Talk Normal, Tame Impala, and Dirty Beaches, to name a few...

5. Last Concert I Attended: Michael Daves & Chris Thile at the Bell House in Brooklyn. They tore it up!

6. My Favorite Online Music Web Site: You mean, besides thedinermusic.com?... I've got to say, Spotify is winning me over.

7. My Favorite Mobile Music App: At the end of the day, it's still iTunes.

8. Number of Music Tracks I List To Everyday: I probably listen to at least a hundred or so Diner tracks every day, and maybe 3 or 4 albums.

9. My Favorite Music Synch Curveballs: I generally don't believe in just throwing curveballs... instead I focus on giving the client what they ask for.  But if I'm feeling audacious, I'll throw in D-PE0062 Red Rollerskates which is one of my favorite tracks in the Diner--so quirky and catchy!

10. Favorite Cliche Movie Trailer Music Track: D-SC0186 Gothic Wonder--full orchestra, total drama and dark, brooding mystery.

11. Favorite Cliche Action Sports Music Track: D-SN0007 Prime Time Sports

12. Music Track Least Likely To Be Used Mom/Daughter Movie of The Week: D-RC0070 You Don't Know

13. Music Track Most Likely To Be Used in a Pharma Commercial: A tossup between D-TE0020 Feeling So Much Better and D-TE0085 Brand Strategy. Honestly, it could go either way...

14. Instruments I Play: Guitar, mandolin, banjolin, ukulele, and various other stringed instruments.

15. Radio Station I Listen To Most: On the airwaves: WFMU! Online, it's probably Jolio's Party, a French station that plays mostly rockabilly and R&B from the '50s.

16. Favorite 80's Song: Give it up for "Spirits in the Material World" by the Police. 

17.  Most Un-Licensable Track Ever:  I'm not gonna call out any Diner tracks by name on this (there might be one or two!), so I'll just say "I Don't Like Your Face" by Furious Pig.  Which I'd LOVE to hear on a commercial, by the way.  

18.  Biggest Licensing WTF Ever By A Major Artist:  "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" by the Pogues... to sell SUVs? Does... not... compute.

19. Desert Island iPod Mix: Any 5 albums on Yazoo Records, any 5 albums on Ocora Records, any 5 albums on Harmonia Mundi, and any 5 albums on Numero Group records.  Seriously, any 5.  

20. Desert Island Film Soundtrack:  "La Planete Sauvage" (Alain Goraguer), "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" (Ennio Morricone), "Arthur, Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire" (The Kinks--does it count if the film never got made?), "Repo Man" (Various Artists), "Clockwork Orange," and so many others...

Pick of Day: Music Playground's Eric Hillebrecht Picks

This is sick!

A Beautiful Juxtaposition

Musical contrast can help make the moment, tell a second story, and often times, provide moving, human emotion in places where the eye sees one thing and the ear hears another.  

As a music supervisor, I love these moments and creative direction.   It's often times easy to pick the expected - Football = action music.  However, sometimes, its more about the story of the people and not the game.    

This is a great example above.  Across the entire campaign, Toyota licenses music that highlights the emotion of the stories behind the players over the game itself.  Simply beautiful. 

Rollo & Grady Interview Music Supervisor Liza Richardson

Good interview.  Check it below:

http://www.rollogrady.com/music-supervisor-profile-liza-richardson/

Willie Nelson, Coldplay and . . . Chipotle

Sometimes you swing for the fences on a music license and the results are unexpected and great.  It's what every music supervisor and creative director loves - throwing the curveball.  It's easy to pitch music that is a natural fit or safe, it's easy to find music that is expected . . . but it takes a lot of nerve to walk into a room and say "I think Willie Nelson singing a down tempo version of a classic Coldplay song is what this brand video really needs."  The gamble pays off here and the result is terrific.  Way to take a creative risk and deliver for Chipotle.