Scene On TV

Bay Area hip-hop phenom Jonn Hart’s infectious track...

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:47:00 -0400

Bay Area hip-hop phenom Jonn Hart’s infectious track “Who Booty” was recently used in Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, in the 4th episode of the Season 2. The silky smooth jam plays while Joseline and Stevie decide to give their personal relationship another try. You can watch a 3-minute rundown of this episode above, while the full episode is currently playing on VH1.

Jonn Hart on Facebook | Last.fm

“Bad For Me” by twin sensations Megan & Liz is...

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:00:35 -0400

“Bad For Me” by twin sensations Megan & Liz is featured in the new Audi A4 commercial, one which traces the German manufacturer’s rally car roots to their current consumer level vehicles.

These talented twins from Michigan not only possess golden vocal chords, but songwriting chops on top of that, something that is becoming increasingly rare among mega-pop stars of today.

Megan & Liz on Facebook | Last.fm

In case you didn’t know, Andrew McMahon is uber-talented....

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:49:53 -0400

In case you didn’t know, Andrew McMahon is uber-talented. The man behind Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin has recently branched out to writing songs for the stage, and his collaboration with NBC’s Smash has yielded some amazing results. Last week’s episode featured another McMahon-penned tune called “I’m Not Sorry” that shows his growth and versatility as a songwriter - who could’ve predicted he could make such a fully-formed show-tune like this even a few years ago? You can watch a clip of the whole song above.

Andrew McMahon on Facebook | Last.fm

“Deam It Up” by Sydney Waysey may be the perfect...

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:31:00 -0400

“Deam It Up” by Sydney Waysey may be the perfect song to describe the feeling behind MTV’s World of Jenks, a documentary show in which wunderkind filmmaker Andrew Jenks showcases the lives of different young inspirational people across the country as they pursue their goals.

The show’s producers evidently agree with us, as they used the song in Episode 9 of this season, during a scene in which Kaylin is getting ready for a fashion show. While that episode won’t be up for streaming on MTV’s website until June 9 (you can check the link to that episode here), you can watch a quick preview of the episode above and possibly catch re-runs on TV until the episode is back online.

Sydney Wayser on Facebook | Last.fm

Smirnoff Ice’s new ‘Exit Strategy’ commercial...

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:44:00 -0400

Smirnoff Ice’s new ‘Exit Strategy’ commercial is a hilarious twist on many beer ads we’ve seen over the years that promote male bonding at the expense of a woman, because in this ad, the women are having all the fun while leaving a man hanging.

Perhaps as a tongue-in-cheek salute to these ‘every man’ buddies, Middle Distance Runner’s excellent track “Man of the People” plays in the bar the men are waiting at, while the women party hard to Icona Pop’s “I Love It (I Don’t Care).”

Middle Distance Runner on Facebook | Last.fm

Icona Pop on Facebook | Last.fm

Composer Ben Lovett has provided a fantastic soundtrack to the...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:58:00 -0400

Composer Ben Lovett has provided a fantastic soundtrack to the new film Black Rock, which is out in theaters and on-demand services today. This thriller/horror flick stars Katie Aselton, Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth as three childhood friends who set aside their personal issues and reunite for a girls’ weekend on a remote island off the coast of Maine. Watch the trailer above and see for yourself.

Ben Lovett on Last.fm

BMW has a new ad for their X5 SUV, and it features...

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:32:39 -0400

BMW has a new ad for their X5 SUV, and it features Wolfrider’s divine track “For You.” The song might be the best utilization of whistling since “Young Folks” by Peter, Bjorn, and John, but like that tune, it is a good enough song to stand on it’s own without the whistle refrain…but the whistles sure do make good icing on the top.

Wolfrider on Facebook | Last.fm

Verizon has a pretty amazing next-level interactive ad campaign...

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:46:26 -0400

Verizon has a pretty amazing next-level interactive ad campaign running on their website for their new Verizon Jetpack mobile hotspot. It’s a fully interactive commercial, where users can pan left and right and observe different people at a cafe and is a really great hint at the future (we imagine it won’t be long before this type of commercial is all over TVs, too as they gain interactive ability).

Beyond the innovative and interesting new way to use technology, this ad also gets major props from us for their great use of music with Adam Green and Binki Shapiro’s infectious “Here I Am.” You may know Adam Green from The Moldy Peaches, while Shapiro also plays in one of our favorite bands, Little Joy. Just as this new ad challenges the notion of what a commercial can be, so too does the music of Adam Green & Binki Shapiro, only this time with their own twisted take on traditional folk and rock music.

Adam Green & Binki Shapiro on Facebook | Last.fm

Summer is just around the corner, and that is putting us in the...

Thu, 09 May 2013 02:13:00 -0400

Summer is just around the corner, and that is putting us in the mood for good surfy tunes, like “Miracle” by the deftly-named Ghost Beach. Express Clothing is also clearly on the same page with us when it comes to this jam, as they have chosen to feature it in a video on their website promoting their summer line. You can click on the image above to watch the video on the Express website.

Ghost Beach on Facebook | Last.fm

HBO shows have always stood out as the cream of the crop when it...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:37:46 -0400

HBO shows have always stood out as the cream of the crop when it comes to premiere network shows. The new series VICE is helping HBO push the envelope even further with it’s hard-hitting investigative news/documentary format. Last week’s episode featured a look into China’s problems now that men outnumber women so greatly, and also takes a look at how youth in Greece and Spain are responding to the financial crisis in the reason.

While that’s all fine and dandy, we of course wouldn’t be mentioning this if the show didn’t feature some great music, and last week’s episode made sure of that by starting the episode off with “Unconsolable” by Ambassadors. The song’s mix of blues, soul, electro and modern indie pop is the perfect starting point if you’ve never heard of these up-and-comers from Brooklyn.

Ambassadors on Facebook | Last.fm

This week’s episode of Army Wives, “Jackpot,”...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:24:56 -0400

This week’s episode of Army Wives, “Jackpot,” features one of our favorite new songs of the year - “I Don’t Care” by Peter Black. Black’s cinematic approach to songwriting gives all of his tunes the perfect dramatic pulse to use in movies or TV shows, and “I Don’t Care” can be heard during a scene at The Hump Bar.

You can stream the whole episode on Lifetime’s website for a limited time.

Peter Black on Facebook | Last.fm

Andrew McMahon + Smash looks to be a match made in heaven. We...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:05:26 -0400

Andrew McMahon + Smash looks to be a match made in heaven. We recently shared with McMahon’s song “I Heard Your Voice in a Dream” which was on Smash, and now he’s back with another standout track called “Reach For Me.” Watch a video above of the song, which plays a theater fundraiser where Ana as ”The Diva” mesmerizes the audience with a performance of the song.

Andrew McMahon on Facebook | Last.fm

Remember “Smile” by Uncle Kracker? That was one of...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:21:01 -0400

Remember “Smile” by Uncle Kracker? That was one of the best country crossover hits of 2009, one of those songs that can make you happy in an instant.

The folks at Cold Stone Creamery certainly remember this song, as they have built a whole new branding campaign called “Smile” based around the song. You can watch a commercial above, which features a new recording of “Smile” and, of course, plenty of smiling faces.

Uncle Kracker on Facebook | Last.fm

Great Northern songs unfold with a cinematic flair that makes...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:07:23 -0400

Great Northern songs unfold with a cinematic flair that makes each tune seem like a mini-movie. Take for example, “New Tricks” which plays in its entirety in the most recent episode of Beauty and The Beast, “Partners In Crime.”

The song provides the mood for a scene where Cat & Vincent talk in the tunnel just before their encounter with the bad cops - and we definitely have to give props to the producers for letting the whole song play (they must’ve realized how well it supplemented the scene, too). You can click on the image above to stream the entire episode on The CW’s website.

Great Northern on Facebook | Last.fm

When Jack’s Mannequin decided to call it quits last year,...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:50:00 -0400

When Jack’s Mannequin decided to call it quits last year, we felt some strong mixed emotions. Sad to see it end of course, but also excited because Andrew McMahon announced he was starting a new project in which he would drop the Jack’s Mannequin moniker and just use his own name. His track record speaks for itself, so we were confident his new solo venture would explore new territory, but still please fans of Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin.

What we didn’t know at the time was that McMahon was going to expand even beyond the normal realm of just writing (great) pop songs. One of these new ventures has been writing musical theatre, and in a recent episode of NBC’s Smash, a McMahon-penned song called ”I Heard Your Voice in a Dream” is featured, which you can watch above. In short, the song lives up to our expectations and perhaps even exceeds them - but don’t take that from us, check out the video for yourself above.

Andrew McMahon on Facebook | Last.fm

Shameless has so much good music that if we had more free time...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:51:14 -0400

Shameless has so much good music that if we had more free time on our hands, we could run an entire site just dedicated to the music in this show alone. Since we don’t, we just like to bring you our favorite highlights each week, and this week’s episode “Civil Wrongs” features three songs that stand out in particular.

First is a song by 1985, a band we were introduced to by a recent Pizza Hut ad. Their song “A Beautiful Life” which features beautiful layered harmonies and rollicking rhythms, plays when Veronica announces that she and Kev are having a baby.

Long-time indie stalwarts Middle Distance Runner have their track “Firehouse” play when Fiona’s new friend at work invites her to lunch.

Last, Fellow Bohemian, an upcoming artist we were introduced to by Shameless last season, have another song in the show. The LA-based indie popsters’ new track “It Takes So Little” plays when Ian tells Lip about Mickie’s girlfriend.

All three bands feature a common sonic thread of great vocal harmonies, jangly guitars, and rolling drums, and it’s nice to see how bands like Middle Distance Runner have paved the way for new artists in the same vein like 1985 and Fellow Bohemian. There’s only two more episodes of Shameless left this season after this, and we can’t wait to hear what other great tunes will show up.

1985 on Facebook | Last.fm

Middle Distance Runner on Facebook | Last.fm

Fellow Bohemian on Facebook | Last.fm

A new trailer for the upcoming animated film Epic has just been...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:38:34 -0400

A new trailer for the upcoming animated film Epic has just been released, and much to our delight, it features “Shooting Star” by Owl City, a song which was just featured in another animated film, Escape From Planet Earth.

Epic has a (excuse the pun) epic cast of voice actor stars, including Colin Farrell, Christopher Waltz, Beyonce, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Aziz Ansari, and Amanda Seyfried - just to name a few. We hope that it can live up to it’s all-star cast, and hopefully the movie finds a way to feature “Shooting Star” as well.

Owl City on Facebook | Last.fm

There’s a really funny new Doritos ad about valets, that...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:42:31 -0400

There’s a really funny new Doritos ad about valets, that was clearly inspired by The Hangover and other films like that. You can watch it above, and while you’re doing so, we’d also like to point out that this hilarious ad has a great song - “Express Yourself” by our favorite current DJ, Diplo.

Diplo on Facebook | Last.fm

You can always count on Shameless to come through with a good...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:34:30 -0400

You can always count on Shameless to come through with a good episode full of great tunes, and last week’s episode “Frank the Plumber” was no exception. The episode features three songs we thought were particularly noteworthy, with slick uses of tunes from Murder By Death, The Left Hands, and The Acorn.

Murder By Death’s “Brother,” a Johnny Cash-like piece of americana, plays when Sheila goes to Karen’s room to apologize for being a crazy mother. The slick indie pop jam “Run With A Knife” by The Left Hands plays when Jimmy finally receives his paycheck and he gets freaked out after seeing how little is left after the deductions. Last, but not least, The Acorn’s “Bobcat Goldwraith” plays when Fiona is asked to stay on at World Wide Cup because she has been doing so well.

Murder By Death on Facebook | Last.fm

The Left Hands on Bandcamp

The Acorn on Facebook | Last.fm

Season 3 of Shameless has had the tough task of living up to the...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:44:05 -0400

Season 3 of Shameless has had the tough task of living up to the first two nearly-flawless seasons, and somehow it has managed to possibly even exceed our expectations. Last week’s episode, “Where There’s a Will” shows the Gallagher clan in a seemingly impossible fight to keep their house, and of course, results in some creative, shady tactics that left us wondering whether to laugh or cry.

We have long lauded this show for it’s ability to consistently pick the perfect music for different scenes, and of course this episode was no different. Of particular note was the song “Keep It Coming” by indie popsters Letters, which plays when Frank looks around Christopher’s apartment after moving in. At first he is freaked out by all the stuffed animals, until he gets distracted by a meatball sub, and the song’s playfulness fits right in to this light moment.

Letters on MySpace | Last.fm