Leslie Feist, the Canadian singer sometimes associated with Broken Social Scene as well as her own solo albums, was lucky enough to have her song and video for “1234″ featured on the new iPod Nano commercial. The commercial shows iPod Nanos in multiple colors playing her video as she sings “1 2 3 4 tell me that you love me more.”

LA pop-punk band The Dollyrots supplied the soundtrack for Kohl’s new commercial with their song “Because I’m Awesome.”

In the commercial Kelly Ogden, lead singer of The Dollyrots, is featured prominently.

Here are the lyrics for the entire song:

I’ve got the new style, uh oh
And I’m walking right down your street
I’m on your speed dial, you know
The one everyone wants to meet

I always tell you how cool you dress
It’s cause I’m fashionably socialized
You’re smarter, better, no, the best
Just look at me

I’m a leader, I’m a winner, And I’m cleaner
Cause I’m awesome
I don’t need you cause I’m neato and I beat you
Cause I’m awesome
That’s right

They say I’m gifted, uh huh
Well I’m a certified prodigy
I’m gonna own you, uh huh
I’m gonna bring you to your knees

I always tell you how smart you are
It’s cause my brain is really supersized
You’re an academic superstar
Just look at me

I’m a leader, I’m a winner, And I’m cleaner
Cause I’m awesome
I don’t need you cause I’m neato and I beat you
Cause I’m awesome
That’s right

Got a career plan, uh huh
Gonna make lots of money
And bought a self tan, uh huh
Don’t I look healthy?

I always tell you how great you smell
It’s cause I’m naturally deodorized
You’re stronger, faster and can spell
Just look at me

I’m a leader, I’m a winner, And I’m cleaner
Cause I’m awesome
I don’t need you cause I’m neato and I beat you
Cause I’m awesome
That’s right

Rah rah rah rah rah rah rah!
Rah rah rah rah rah rah rah!
Rah rah rah rah rah rah rah!
I don’t need you
Cause I’m Awesome
Uh huh

The Dollyrots are great fun to watch live. I wrote a review a few weeks back about a live show they did in Denver.

You can watch the commercial here:

I’ve been working hard on a local calendar of all the music shows in Denver. I don’t have all the venues listed just yet, but I’m getting there!We have lots of plans for making MusicRex/Denver the best place to find live music. If you have any of your own ideas let me know! 

Since I saw the “Way to Your Heart” JC Penney commercial during the recent Lost episode I have been searching all over for a video of it so I could track down the song. This is the commercial with a guy walking in a town and cupid’s arrows are striking people all around him. The catchy song on it is “Way to Your Heart” by Persephone’s Bees. The lyrics to this song are:

In the morning when I wake up
I think about how I can get you
tonight, tonight

in the morning when I wake up
I think about how I can get to your heart
into your heart

I am starving, I feel empty
my life’s a boredom
without you for me my knight
stay here tonight

hey
show me the way to your heart
way to your heart
way to your heart

I will love you
I’ll adore you
so show me how I can find
the way to your heart
tonight

hey, show me the way to your heart
way to your heart
way to your heart
way to your heart

Persephone’s Bees are a band from San Francisco fronted by a russian immigrant, Angelina Moysov. They have a unique style and sound for a rock band. You can listen to some of their songs on their myspace site and buy their music on iTunes and Amazon.

Here is the commercial with all the arrows flying.

Here is a video of Persephone’s Bees playing “Way to Your Heart” live on KCRW.

Looking for that perfect song for Valentine’s Day? Maybe you need a soundtrack to your homemade Valentine’s dinner. Or love songs for the car ride from the restaurant or another Valentine’s destination. Perhaps you need music to accompany your Valentine’s kisses. There are all kinds of possibilities when looking for a love song. Apple iTunes has a list of classic love songs that are sorted by convenient themes. I always have trouble finding a good themed song and these lists make it easy. I have listed all of their recommended love songs here so you can reference them even if you don’t use Apple iTunes.

Traditional Love Songs for Her:
Unforgettable – Nat King Cole
The Best is Yet to Come – Tony Bennett
I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra
Chances Are – Johnny Mathis
A Kiss to Build a Dream On – Louis Armstrong
Memories ar Made of This – Dean Martin
L-O-V-E – Wayne Newton
Beyond the Sea – Bobby Darin
It Had to Be You – Harry Connick Jr
Unchained Melody – Il Divo
The Way You Look Tonight – Rod Stewart
Home – Michael Buble

Traditional Love Songs for Her on iTunes

Traditional Love Songs for Him
At Last – Etta James
What a Difference a Day Made – Dinah Washington
Tenderly – Rosemary Clooney
Someone to Watch Over Me – Sarah Vaughan
Come Rain or Come Shine – Judy Garland
The Very Thought of You – Billie Holiday
Fever – Peggy Lee
The Nearness of You – Nancy Wilson
Makin’ Whoopee – Julie London
What Ar You doing the Rest of Your Life? – Barbra Streisand
The Look of Love – Diana Love
Do You Want to Dance – Bette Midler

Traditional Love Songs for Him on iTunes

Traditional Love Songs for Us
My Romance – Dinah Shore & Friends
They Can’t Take That Away from Me – Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off – Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers
Because of You – Tony Bennett & KD Lang
Something Good – Bill Lee, Jukie Andrews, Maria and The Captain
Baby It’s Cold Outside – Jane Monheit & Stever Tyrell
All I Know of Love – Barbra Streisand w/ Josh Groban
Sincerely / Teach Me Tonight – Barry Manilow feat. Phyllis McGuire
I’ve got a Crush on You – Rod Stewart w/ Diana Ross
The Best is Yet to Come – Tony Bennet & Diana Krall
The Prayer – Charlotte Church & Josh Groban
Time to Say Goodbye – Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman

Traditional Love Songs for Us on iTunes

R&B / Hip-Hop Love Songs for Her
Adore - Prince
I Can’t Stop Loving You - Kem
Dontchange - Musiq
She Needs Me - Marvin Gaye
Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up – Barry White
I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know - Donny Hathaway
For the Love of You – The Isley Brothers
This Woman’s Work - Maxwell
Incomplete - Sisqó
Lady - D’Angelo
Always and Forever - HEAT WAVE
One Wish - Ray J
Happily Ever After - Case
You’re My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration - Teddy Pendergrass
Three Times a Lady - The Commodores
I’m Still In Love With You - The Reverend Al Green
Forever My – Lady Jodeci
You Remind Me of Something – R. Kelly
Let’s Chill - Guy
I Wanna Get Next To You - Rose Royce
Here and Now - Luther Vandross
I Wanna Know - Joe
Sexy Love - Ne-Yo
Lost Without U - Robin Thicke

R&B Love songs for Her on iTunes

R&B / Hip-Hop Love Songs for Him
Be Without You (Kendu Mix) - Mary J. Blige
He Is - Heather Headley
Lovin’ You - Minnie Riperton
Sweet Thing – Rufus & Chaka Khan
Promise – Ciara
He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat) – Jill Scott
Baby – Ashanti
For Real – Amel Larrieux
Cater 2 U - Destiny’s Child
Say Yes – Floetry
Something He Can Feel - Aretha Franklin
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
If I Ain’t Got You – Alicia Keys
Soon As I Get Home - Faith Evans
Angel of Mine - Monica
We Belong Together - Mariah Carey
Have You Ever - Brandy
At Your Best (You Are Love) - Aaliyah
At Last (Single) - Etta James
Jet Lag - Joss Stone
I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
Can’t Get Enough - Tamia
Sending My Love - Zhané
It’s You - Deyampert & Jane Hamilton

R&B Love Songs for Him on iTunes

R&B / Hip-Hop Love Songs for Us
If This World Were Mine - Luther Vandross & Cheryl Lynn
I Don’t Want to Do Anything - Mary J. Blige
The Closer I Get to You - Roberta Flack
You’re All I Need to Get By - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
My Boo (Bonus Track) - Usher & Alicia Keys
Where Would I Be (The Question) - Kindred the Family Soul
The Nearness of You – Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
More Than a Woman – Angie Stone & Calvin Richardson
Fire and Desire - Teena Marie & Rick James
Unforgettable - Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole
My First Love - Avant & KeKe Wyatt
Feel the Fire – Teddy Pendergrass & Stephanie Mills
Best Friend - Tweet/Bilal
One Time - Jill Scott & Eric Roberson
Tonight, I Celebrate My Love - Peabo Bryson with Roberta Flack
Count on Me – Babyface & Whitney Houston
Make It Last Forever – Keith Sweat
It Seems to Hang On - Ashford & Simpson
With You I’m Born Again - Billy Preston & Syreeta
(They Long to Be) Close to You - Tamia & Gerald Levert
Never Knew Love Like This - Alexander O’Neal
Endless Love (Soundtrack Version) - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
Always - Atlantic Starr
Spend My Life With You - Eric Benet

R&B Love songs for Us on iTunes

Pop Love Songs
Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright) - Rod Stewart
Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye
One On One - Daryl Hall & John Oates
Handy Man - James Taylor
I’ll Make Love to You – Boyz II Men
Make It With You - Bread
Your Body Is a Wonderland - John Mayer
Play Me - Neil Diamond
Come Undone - Duran Duran
Colour My World – Chicago
We’re All Alone - Boz Scaggs
Father Figure - George Michael
Three Times a Lady - The Commodores
Your Song - Elton John
You’re Beautiful - James Blunt
Head Over Heels - Tears for Fears
My Cherie Amour - Stevie Wonder
She’s Got a Way (Live) - Billy Joel
I Just Can’t Stop Loving You - Michael Jackson
A Groovy Kind of Love - Phil Collins
Danny’s Song - Loggins & Messina
Right Here Waiting - Richard Marx
Truly - Lionel Richie
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You - Bryan Adams
Crazy for You - Madonna
Underneath It All - No Doubt & Lady Saw
Love to Love You Baby - Donna Summer
Ice Cream - Sarah McLachlan
Eternal Flame - The Bangles
Smooth Operator - Sade
Ooh Baby Baby - Linda Ronstadt
That’s the Way Love Goes - Janet Jackson
Underneath Your Clothes – Shakira
Saving All My Love for You - Whitney Houston
Mad About You - Belinda Carlisle
Time After Time (Una y Otra Vez) - Cyndi Lauper
Feel Like Makin’ Love - Roberta Flack
These Words (I Love You, I Love You) - Natasha Bedingfield
Everytime - Britney Spears
We Belong Together - Mariah Carey
Love Hangover - Diana Ross
Songbird - Fleetwood Mac
Leave the Lights On - Jewel
These Dreams - Heart
Save the Best for Last - Vanessa Williams
Slow Hand - The Pointer Sisters
Do That to Me One More Time - Captain & Tennille
Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me - Gladys Knight & The Pips
Endless Love (Soundtrack Version) - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
My Boo (Bonus Track) - Usher & Alicia Keys
I Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher
Baby Boy - Beyoncé & Sean Paul
Up Where We Belong - Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes
I’ll Be There – Mariah Carey & Trey Lorenz
Always - Atlantic Starr
Almost Paradise (Love Theme “Footloose”) – Ann Wilson & Mike Reno
Reunited - Peaches & Herb
With You I’m Born Again - Billy Preston & Syreeta
We’ve Got Tonight - Kenny Rogers & Sheena Easton
Call On Me (Album Mix) - Janet Jackson & Nelly
Tilt Ya Head Back - Nelly & Christina Aguilera
I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) - George Michael
Diamonds and Pearls - Prince
Don’t Know Much - Linda Ronstadt featuring Aaron Neville
Hold Me - Teddy Pendergrass & Whitney Houston
Your Precious Love (Stereo) - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
Tonight, I Celebrate My Love - Roberta Flack
Somewhere Out There - James Ingram
I’m Your Angel - Celine Dion & R. Kelly
A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme) - Regina Belle
All My Life - Linda Ronstadt featuring Aaron Neville
Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Pop Love Songs on iTunes

Once again many Super Bowl commercials featured good music that you might be trying to find. Here is a rundown of all the Super Bowl commercials that used recorded music:

Chevrolet – Ain’t We Got Love
Chevrolet is one of the few brands that are such a part of American culture that they can pull lyrics mentioning them from all kinds of songs recorded over the last 50 years. It features various celebrities singing along with famous songs with “Chevrolet” in the lyrics. I don’t know who all the singers are in the commercial, but I was able to track down the lyrics and the songs they were singing.

The first song snippet, from the folk song “Chevrolet” by Ed Young and Emma Ramsay, showed Mary J Blige coming out of a hotel and getting into her chevy and singing “Buy you a chevrolet, buy you a chevrolet. Go buy you a chevrolet.” You can hear a live version by Young and Ramsay on Friends of Old Time Music” which is a 3-disc box set (it is on disc 3).

In the second scene a guy sings “holding hands and skimming stones. Had an old gold chevy and a place of my own” from Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” as he caresses an old Camaro. Buy it on or amazon.

Race driver Johnny O’Connell sang “Top is down on the black Corvette and its fly cause it’s sittin on beams” as his yellow racing Corvette was unloaded from a truck. That song is “Going Back to Cali” by LL Cool J.

Next, Big and Rich get out of their black pickup singing “And I wouldn’t trade old Leroy for or my chevrolet for your freak parade” (they left out the phrase “for your Escalade” that is in the original song “Save A Horse, Ride a Cowboy” by Big and Rich.

A black guy sings “I like my beat down low and my top let back you see me ride 24’s in my Impala wit” which are lyrics from the song “Top Back” by T.I. I think this is T.I. performing.

A woman waxes her car singing “…saved my dimes giddyup giddyup 409″ from the Beach Boys song “409.”

A guy pulls into a beach parking lot in his Chevy singing “Nobody can shut that Chevy down cuz that brand new chevy is mine.” I have been unable to figure out what this song is so if you know please tell me.

A young woman struts through a car show singing “I drive fast, they call me Jeff Gordon. In a black SS with a navigation” which is from “E.I.” by Nelly.

Dale Earnhardt drives a convertible Corvette singing the Tammy Wynette and George Jones song “The Jet Set.” The lyrics he sings are “No we’re not the jet set, we’re the old Chevrolet set, but ain’t we got love.”

Here is the commercial on YouTube:

Coca-Cola – Video Game
This Coke commercial showed a video game character giving people a bottle of Coke instead of causing some video game mayhem. At one point about halfway through the commercial he gives some to a sidewalk singer who begins singing “You give a little back and it all comes back to you. You’re gonna be remembered for the things that you say and do.” from the song “You Give a Little Love” from the 1976 movie soundtrack “Bugsy Malone” by Paul Williams. Buy the CD on Amazon.

Budweiser – Spot Wink
This is the commercial about the hungry white dog that gets splattered by mud so it looks like a dalmation. The song at the end goes “How lucky can one guy be? Like the fella once said, ain’t that a kick in the head” and is from the song “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” by Dean Martin.

Chevrolet – Car Wash HHR
This commercial won the College Super Bowl ad contest. Several women are in a car at a stoplight and a man takes his coat and rubs a spot off the car. They give him a dollar and he rips off his coat and begins wiping down the rest of the car. Men of all shapes and sizes come into the street and begin washing their car to the song “Hot in Herre” by Nelly. The lyrics in the commercial are: “I said it’s getting hot in here so take off all your clothes.”

Revlon – Colorist
This features singer Sheryl Crow trying out a hair color and going on tour. The song she sings is “Not Fade Away” which was written by Buddy Holly and is probably best-known as a Rolling Stones song.

Nationwide Insurance – Kevin Federline – Life Comes At You Fast
Features Britney Spears ex-husband-to-be Kevin Federline singing to one of his videos while working in a burger joint. The song is “Rollin’ VIP” from Makin Bank. You can see all his Nationwide videos.

Izod – In the Snow
Features Amazing Race winner Tyler Denk doing all sorts of outdoors things with a girl in a mostly icy landscape as his clothes magically change. The song is “Fix” by Infidel Inc.

GM – Robot
A robot has a bad dream to the tune of “All by Myself” by Eric Carmen, a song that peaked at #2 on Billboard in 1975. Buy it on or amazon.

Coke – Black History Timeline
Coke bottles and jazz music. The song is supposedly “Tiny” composed by Smokey Hormel featuring Lee Allen on an unreleased project called ‘Let ‘Em Blow’.”

Honda CR-V
This commercial has been out for awhile and shows the new CR-V on stage “dancing” to “Burning Love” by Elvis.

Do you listen to albums that you have to hide from your friends? When people are going through your CD collection do they laugh? Do you have no clue how to find good music?

What is good music anyway?

The obvious answer is “music you like to listen to.” But if that was true you wouldn’t care whether somebody thought your music was bad and you wouldn’t be reading this article.

We all have been guilty of liking music that other people think is bad. We all have different taste in music. However, we are desperate to have other people approve of the music we listen to. It must be some sort of caveman thing.

Be honest. You listen to certain music partly because you want to be considered cool. Most of us are just sheep following the cool music tastemakers. Even the tastemakers have their own gurus. So if a certain respected person in your life says a particular album or artist is good, you generally believe them, even if you have to listen to that album 20 times before you also like it.

Radio is partly to blame for us being music sheep. It used to be that everyone listened to the radio and there were relatively few songs played. DJs told us what to listen to and what to buy. MTV came along and took over the role of chief tastemaker. But now we are all adrift. There is so much music that is available and played on genre-specific radio, tv commercials, movie soundtracks and of course the internet, that we don’t know where to begin to narrow all those choices down to something we like. There is music for every taste. Who is to know what is really good?

I have come up with a few recommendations for making your music collection seem more acceptable to those that matter.

Follow These Steps to Better Music:

1. Listen to albums no more than twice unless somebody else who is cool says they like it first. This will help avoid falling in love with a sucky album just because you played it a bunch of times.

2. Pick a well-known music blog and worship everything they recommend. Use musicrex.com to find respected blogs, music critics and music podcasts.

3. Match your music collection to the friends you are hanging out with. So if your friends like country music, only bring country music with you when you see them. Hide those jazz CDs when they come over for a visit. Perception is everything.

4. Read Pitchfork to find what all the jaded music lovers think is cool. You can say you don’t like an album if you mention “pitchfork” in the same sentence and still be considered cool. For example: “I saw pitchfork gave that album an “8″ but I just can’t get into it.”

5. Make sure you have the top five albums on Metacritic in your collection. This will ensure that you have a wide variety of music and your friends will see how enlightened you are.

6. Go through your last.fm playlist and delete the artists your friends laugh at.

7. Go to live concerts. There is nothing like seeing someone play live to understand whether they are really good and truly appreciate their talent.

If you follow these steps soon your friends will begin to respect your taste in music. Then when you recommend that album they used to think was sucky, they will actually give it a listen. They might even like it!

January 25, 2007 – Surfside 7, Ft. Collins, CO
January 26, 2007 – Lion’s Lair, Denver CO
Laura, Sienna and Laurita of The Randies.

The Randies came to Colorado on their third nationwide tour of the past year and helped break a cold spell with two revealing performances.

The Randies aren’t shy and began their sets with three of their hardest-rocking songs: “Wrecking Ball,” which shows off lead singer Sienna DeGovia’s voice, “Freezerburn,” carried by Laurita Guaico’s guitar riffs, and “Thought I Could Change,” where Sienna confesses her punk-fueled aspirations to break the popular mold.

Many girl rock bands fall into the boy-toy category: either candy-coated sweetness or i’ve-got-balls-too rockers. The Randies are just a rock band who happen to be mostly female. They definitely are not to be toyed with, but they aren’t against using some of their feminine advantages to make a better rock song.

For example, one of their trademarks are intertwining harmonies which add depth and brightness to each song. Also, their lyrics are often about their feelings and desires – something that male rockers seem to have trouble exposing.

Lead singer and bass player Sienna DeGovia has a powerful voice and statuesque stage presence, but apparently doesn’t have the matching ego as she frequently gives way to her two bandmates, guitarists Laura Cataldo and Laurita Guaico, who also take turns as lead singers.

Over the past year The Randies have become more confident on stage and more synced when playing together. They played two new songs, “Luxury” and “Lone Star,” which promise more great songs in the future. According to Sienna and Laurita, they spend much of their travel time singing and writing new songs.

Their latest album, Saw the Light, is full of guitar rock but is not easily compared to any other band’s catalog. You can buy it on iTunes or at Amazon. The Randies are creating their own version of rock from their personal talents and desires, not a pre-written script based on Idol-esque ratings.

One of the pleasures of seeing a band perform live several times is watching them change and grow. The Randies are becoming an accomplished rock band with a catalog of great songs and are developing the confidence to match their talents. Hopefully you will be able to catch them on this tour and see for yourself. They will be spending February in the New York City area playing in several different clubs. Keep tabs on their myspace site for the latest concert info and for song samples.

Watch the video for “Thought I Could Change.”

Lately I have been discovering all kinds of great rock music from Sweden. Every day it seems I discover something new and different. Why is there so much great music being made in Sweden right now?

One of the qualities that I am attracted to is the simpleness of much of the music coming from Sweden. Perhaps it reminds me of my punk rock youth where knowing how to play three chords was enough and any more than that seemed pretentious.

In many ways it seems Swedish bands are in a musical time-warp, sounding like many of my favorite bands of the 70’s and 80’s. Or perhaps they are just leading us back to our rock ‘n roll roots as periodically happens. What ever it is, there is an unusual number of Swedish bands getting back to rock basics.

At the beginning of the decade several Swedish bands broke through with indie hits: The Hives, Sahara Hotnights, and Soundtrack of Our Lives.

Part of this first wave were garage bands The Caesars (who provided the soundtrack to the very first iTunes commercial), Division of Laura Lee, Mando Diao, Shout Out Louds, The Sounds, The Hellacopters, The Wannadies (one of my favorites) and Dungen. Of all of these, only Dungen sings in swedish. The others all sing in english. Of course I must mention Kent, which is one of the most popular bands in Sweden.

While many of these bands are working on their 3rd or 4th albums, the last couple of years has brought an even larger group of Swedish bands. They include José Gonzáles, who many ranked as one of their favorite artists of 2006. My list of favorites also include The Concretes, Jens Lekman, The Knife, Teddybears, The Mary Onettes and Loveninjas, but I am sure I have only begun to find all the good Swedish rock music that is being made today.

So how do you keep up with all this great music? Lots of it is hard to find here in the US, but if you are patient you can find lots of places online to listen and then buy. I start by following several music blogs dedicated to Swedish music. Perhaps my favorite is Absolut Noise, which is written by a French guy (mostly in english) who loves swedish rock music. There is also Swedesplease, It’s A Trap and Hellosurprise. Don’t forget to check out the swedish rock label labrador.se which has lots of free downloads available. There is also the Ultimate Swedish Band List.

I hope this gets you started! Let me know if you discover any new blogs or sites dedicated to Swedish rock music.

Today Apple unveiled their new iPhone (which is also the coolest iPod yet) but before Steve Jobs got to that announcement he showed the latest iPod commercials. They both feature the song “Flathead” by The Fratellis. The song is british garage rock at its best – fun and bounceable. The rest of the songs I have heard by the Fratellis are also non-stop.

The Fratellis are a three-man band from Scotland and released a full-length CD in England last month called “Costello Music.” In the US they have a 4-song EP (including the song “Flathead”) which is available on iTunes now and on CD on January 23. Here it is on Amazon. Their full album will be released in the US in March.

In case you are looking for the lyrics, here are the lyrics that are used in the commercial, which starts more than halfway into the song:

everybody knows you’re the one to call

when the girls get ugly at the back of the wall

josephine says you got a bleedin nose

so taking it with her wherever she goes

hey flathead don’t check me in

well hers is a tonic and mine is a gin

they dontm come much more slick

than you i’d drive your car if you ask me to

said the boy’s not right in the head

so he stood and got a kickin instead till she said

bara bap bara ra ra bara bap bara ra ra ra…

You can listen to 4 of their other songs on their myspace site.

You can see both versions of the commercial:

tv-commercials