Nic Harcourt's Top Ten Albums of 2008

1. Adele - 19 (XL Recordings/Colombia)
2. Mates Of State - Re-Arrange Us (Barsuk)
3. Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (Capitol)
4. Ting Tings - We Started Nothing (Columbia)
5. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely (Warner Bros)
6. The Broken West - Now or Heaven (Merge)
7.Dandy Warhols - Earth to the Dandy Warhols (World's Fair)
8. Duffy - Rockferry (Mercury)
9. Tilly and The Wall - o (Team Love Records)
10.Emiliana Torrini - Me and Armini (Rough Trade)

That kind of scary list is via KCRW WHERE NIC (mostly) NO LONGER WORKS...

Los Angeles, Calif., (December 10, 2008) - LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine today announced the selection of Nic Harcourt as Editor at Large, Music & Culture. Beginning February 8, 2009, in LA's January/February double Oscar issue, Harcourt will contribute a monthly column inspired by his love of music and the culture of Southern California.

Harcourt has been hailed as the most influential DJ in America and ultimate music tastemaker because of his uncanny ability to forecast trends and identify emerging talent. His innovative approach will now provide LA readers with unparalleled insight into the always evolving music and culture hemisphere through his monthly "Listen Up" columns, which will feature a hand-selected playlist, his picks for upcoming local concerts, shows and/or events and Q&As with emerging artists...

It was announced only a day or two earlier that the LA Times' parent company, Tribune Co, went bankrupt.

Adele was on Jimmy Kimmel (in LA) last night. Video below...

Continue reading "Adele lover Nic Harcourt, leaves KCRW, gets job @ bankrupt Tribune's LA Times ++ Kimmel video"

by Ryan Barkan

When it comes to licensing, Tom Waits has a strong reputation..

Waits has steadfastly refused to allow the use of his songs in commercials and has joked about other artists who do. ("If Michael Jackson wants to work for Pepsi, why doesn't he just get himself a suit and an office in their headquarters and be done with it?") He has filed several lawsuits against advertisers who used his material without permission. He has been quoted as saying, "Apparently, the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad -- ideally, naked and purring on the hood of a new car," he said in a statement, referring to the Mercury Cougar. "I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor....

...In 2005, Waits sued Adam Opel AG, claiming that, after having failed to sign him to sing in their Scandinavian commercials, they had hired a soundalike singer. In 2007, the suit was settled, and Waits gave the sum to charity." [Wikipedia]

Speaking in an interview in 2005 to NPR's All Things Considered, Waits bluntly says "I'd rather have a hot lead enema" than have a song in a commercial. At the time he was referring to products like Doritos, cars and diapers. His stance isn't as strong when it comes to a good cause. His song "Never Let Go" is the soundtrack to a new PSA by the Ad Council for Feeding America.

The campaign, shot by American History X director Tony Kaye, launched November 25th and is intended to raise awareness and drive action to fight hunger in America.

Created pro bono by Ogilvy NY, the new TV, radio, print, and web advertising aims to change the way Americans look at this critical issue affecting our country and to understand the fact that many people they interact with on a daily basis may not know where their next meal will come from...

"We are thrilled to partner with Feeding America to educate Americans about just how close hunger is to each one of us," according to Peggy Conlon, President & CEO of The Advertising Council. "I believe that the 1 in 8 campaign will inspire Americans to become involved in this critical issue."

"This work uses simple visual imagery to demonstrate the reality of the fact that everyone today knows someone who is hungry," said Antonio Navas and Chris Bradley, creative directors at Ogilvy who developed the campaign. "We were very fortunate to get musician Tom Waits to contribute a beautiful piece of music - "Never Let Go" off of 2006's Orphans -- that helps bring the work to life and connect with the public in a tangible way. We believe it will have great impact on this important cause."

Per the Ad Council model, the PSAs will be distributed to media outlets nationwide this week and will run and air in advertising time and space that is donated by the media.

Waits says of the project: "We all need to be reminded that the folks who need help getting back on their feet are all members of our family." Watch the two different PSAs below.

Other Notable Licensing News:

Another band that usually passes on licensing requests for its music is Arcade Fire. The Canadian band decided to let its song "My Body Is A Cage" be used in the trailer for the new Brad Pitt movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

According to the Arcade Fire's management, "This is the first time the band have used their music in this way. David Fincher asked them to look at the trailer. They all thought it was a good use of the music. They have no issue with licensing music when it's used in a creative way. It rarely happens." [Pitchfork]

Watch the trailer below.

The soundtrack to Juno continues to inspire advertising creatives. One of Barry Louis Polisar's songs from that soundtrack, "All I Want Is You", gives it a go in a spot for the National Lottery in the UK. The commercial can be seen below.

I've seen the commercial for Ubisoft's new Prince Of Persia game on air this past week. Just like the trailer (watch it below), the spot features the song "Saeglopur" by Sigur Ros. This is the second video game featuring Sigur Ros music - EA's trailer for Dead Space (released in October 2008) uses "Track 7" as the soundtrack.

The Shins' "Sleeping Lessons" provides a cool soundtrack to Statkraft Energy's new European commercial. Watch it at Boards Mag.

Sony has released quite a few new commercials recently for both the PS3 and PSP that have good musical soundtracks. The "Mural" spot features "Everybody Ona Move" by Michael Franti & Spearhead, "LA Plays PSP" has The Grouch featuring MURS' "The Bay To LA", and "NYC Plays PSP" uses Chromeo's "Fancy Footwork". Watch the last one below.

continued below...

Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing"

the Ting Tings @ SXSW 2008 (CRED)

Yes, the flyer you saw on this site, on MySpace, in emails and elsewhere said that the Ting Tings were playing the free BrooklynVegan party this past Thursday morning at 11:30 am (early, I know). Yes, the mass "Free Yr Radio" text message I sent out that morning said to get there on time to see the Ting Tings. Yes, the Ting Tings even showed up.....that WAS them (and their many handlers) you saw standing in and around Emo's Annex with their gear and on stage somewhat ready to go. And YES, that's correct - they didn't end up playing, and yes that was their van you saw driving off into the distance at around 11:20. Why? According to them, "there was a time issue". According to me....well, it doesn't really matter what I think, so I'll just say I'm sorry on behalf of everyone involved. Tour dates below....

Continue reading "the Ting Tings - didn't play my party, are in NYC, touring"

DOWNLOAD: Fader issue 51 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fader Issue 51 (PDF)

That's No Surrender and Santogold up there on the cover of the new FADER. The BBC also put Santogold on a list of "some of the hottest new music talent" for 2008. You can read the whole list, and more, below...

Continue reading "Santogold, FADER & the BBC's 10 to watch in 2008"