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So, here’s the deal. I, by nature, am a lazy person. Given the choice between driving 50 miles for $200 and sitting in one place for $5, I will gladly chill with Mr. Lincoln.

Combine that with all of the changes and increased workload here at Burst, and you get an “I didn’t get around to this post last month” salad. So, in deference to you, dear readers, I will be making this post 2x better than the last Music Supervisor’s Cheat Sheet (which, I’ll be honest, I wrote on the crapper).

Onward and upward!

Welcome back, kiddies. Since the last Music Supervisor cheat sheet was such an unwieldy success (read: c’mon, someone read it… right? Is this thing on?), we here at Burst Labs decided to make it a regular feature.

I like to think of myself as the production music world’s Sally Struthers… if I help just one person, it will all have been worth it.

While perusing my voluminous RSS feed cache, I stumbled upon this article at Coolfer. The gist of it is that Phonopolis, an indie record store in Montreal, is calling for labels and record stores to partner in the sale of “download codes”.

According to Phonopolis:

Stores would stock a larger number of codes than they would CDs (they would of course still stock CDs). They would not immediately pay for these codes, however. The lack of immediate cost, and small amount of space that these codes would take would allow small record stores to carry a wider selection of stock and larger numbers of individual titles. The stores would validate the mp3 codes at the point of sale. During the validation process (which would be on a distributor or label website), the store would pay for the product.

Sure, it sounds all kumbaya and stuff, but it overlooks one very important distinction, in my opinion :

The Gravity Music Library is getting re-energized and we’re just putting the finishing touches on the next couple of releases in the catalog.

It’s been a crazy month here at Burst HQ as we’ve zipped back and forth between dramatic trip hop and energetic rock, from tracks that relax to music that kicks your ass. Diversity + Quality… just how we like it.

As a followup to our previous post on the new Gravity, here are some selected production music cues to give you an idea of what to expect with the next few volumes from The Burst Collective :

Way back in 1997 we had a simple idea. We wanted to offer commercial music users real music, filled with genuine musicians playing live tracks, dripping with energy and vibe.

Remember… this was back in the day when production music libraries were dominated by corporate, lukewarm, safe music beds (perfect for slideshows and film-strips), and when so-called ‘hip’ and ‘trendy’ libraries offered cheesy, rip-off, sound-alike tracks.

So we launched the Gravity Music Library and proceeded to whittle away on occasional updates in our recording studio, Burst HQ, deep behind the Cheddar Curtain (tip of the ol’ hat to Greg Koch for that one).

Well, we’ve been left with a teeny bit of surplus creativity bouncing around our skulls since stopping production on the Velocity Music Library, so we’re ramping up Gravity again while we’ve got some free time in between our custom commercial music projects at The Burst Collective and our Burst Labs production music library updates.

We’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on six brand new Gravity library volumes. Here’s some selected highlights from the first 3 brand new releases :

Exotic Dancer - from GV1040 Lubricant [r&b]

Bushwhacker - from GV1041 Magnetic [rock]

Holdin’ Out - from GV1039 Bump [hip hop]

Fluffer - from GV1040 Lubricant [r&b]

Arcadian Interrupt - from GV1041 Magnetic [rock]

And we’ve also got GV1042 Spindown [chill], GV1043 Boing [quirky], and GV1044 Theory [trip hop drama] on the way this month. We’ll post some more previews as soon as we master ‘em up.

To be clear, we’re providing these here for demo purposes only (and for your listening pleasure)… if you like what you hear you can, of course, contact your worldwide Groove Addicts agent (distributor for the Gravity Music Library) for full licensing information.

More soon. If you have any requests, be sure to drop them in the comments below and we’ll see what we can do about getting you guys what you want more of. In the meantime, get ready for the next degree of Gravity. [dh]

The new Maritime CD is set to drop next month and we’ve got a sneak peek for music supervisors and producers who haven’t received a pre-release copy.

Dare we call them indie darlings, but hey - when you’ve had members of The Dismemberment Plan, Promise Ring, and The Arcade Fire grace your songs, you’re bound to attract some indie blog love.

from the Pitchfork review :

“… unrepentant and finely executed…”

“Davey von Bohlen’s melody bobs and weaves around the guitar-less verses, and I’ve never heard the lyric ‘freaks come out at night’ sound quite so innocuous. But this one’s all about the chorus, coming on so strong it takes a few listens to find out how sweet it is, with reaching, swooning vocals that cement von Bohlen as the star here.”

Here’s two songs recorded and mixed right here at Burst HQ by Stuart Sikes (Cat Power, Cerys Matthews, The White Stripes, Modest Mouse), who handled the music production duties on this new set of killer tracks :

Maritime - For Science Fiction


Maritime - Guns Of Navarone

When they were working in Studio A back in April, Davey confided to us that this felt more like a rock record, more like themselves than their previous effort, harder hitting, with more hooks… and they were ecstatic with the results at that point. I have to say, after hearing the completed disc, mission accomplished… can’t wait to see what’s in store for these very talented - and super kind - hometown heroes.

Thanks to Flameshovel Records, who brought you Maritime’s previous - and critically acclaimed - We, The Vehicles. Their latest release, Heresy and the Hotel Choir, is out Oct. 16. [dh]

In producing the Halloween-inspired tracks for our production music catalog at Burst Labs, we created a small library of original sound design and sonic effects.

As a companion to our Ode To All Things Evil, The Boogeyman Cometh, we’ve recorded the requisite screams, thumps, chains, and a few dozen gross unmentionables, and have decided to offer them to you completely free as a Creative Commons Licensed download pak (one .zip file, approximately 5.3 MB).

We’ve all done jobs we haven’t enjoyed. There was a time in my career where I edited a lot of fart jokes and T&A one-liners for small market radio stations (I think I may have actually preferred losing the feeling in the tips of my fingers as I pulled frozen chicken wings out of a 50-gallon drum during my week-long stint at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor).

My former boss, a voice-over who thought he was the top of the heap when it came to being considered The Voice Of God, couldn’t even be the driver in this fantastic bit of video :

But, to his credit, it was at that gig that I first learned about music libraries and produced my first volume of production tracks.

Burst actually looked into hiring Don Lafontaine on a script for the demo of our very first production music library, Gravity, back in 1997. When we realized we’d have to sell a few vital organs to pay his fee, we went searching and found Vic Caroli… and ended up with something much more appropriate anyway.

Maybe I’ll go dig up that old demo this afternoon.

These guys intrigue me to no end. Anyone out here dig Ken Nordine? Man, what a legendary set of pipes.

Thanks to sync.sound.cinema for the flashback. [dh]

UPDATE : I found it… the original Gravity Music Library Demo with Vic Caroli’s voice-over. One caveat, however - this was produced in 1997, people.

Much has been made within the hipster blog set regarding the co-opting of the younger generation’s music to shill corporate products. From Jeff Tweedy’s decision to license 6 songs from Wilco’s new album “Sky Blue Sky” for Volkswagen advertisements to Outback Steakhouse’s retooling of the song “Wraith Pinned To The Mist (And Other Games)” by Of Montreal, agencies seem to have simultaneously grasped that 20-somethings listen to music AND buy stuff.

While the players are new, the game remains the same.

In the mid-60’s, Coca-Cola was having trouble reaching out to the kids. They had a brand-spanking new jingle, courtesy of McCann-Erickson and The Limeliters, and they had a new commercial featuring clean-cut youths eating sandwiches and hanging clocks while enjoying ice-cold Coca-Cola.

For some reason, however, the message just wasn’t sticking. Then, an epiphany. Enlist the hitmakers of the day to re-imagine their hit songs as Coca-Cola commercials and cash in on the result. Latter-day luminaries such as Tom Jones, Neil Diamond, and The Bee-Gees jumped at the chance to be united in song with the nation’s leading soft-drink manufacturer. And the rest is history.

The Bee-Gees Coca-Cola Jingle
The Box Tops Coca-Cola Jingle
Nancy Sinatra’s Coca-Cola Jingle
Neil Diamond’s Coca-Cola Jingle
Petula Clark’s Coca-Cola Jingle
Roy Orbison’s Coca-Cola Jingle
Tom Jones’ Coca-Cola Jingle

In retrospect, I think these jingles present a pretty accurate tableau of mid-60’s pop music. The remakes don’t really alter my opinion of the originals. I don’t love The Box Tops’ “The Letter” any less, and frankly, Tom Jones’ jingle kinda makes me love “It’s Not Unusual” even more.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game. [ms]

UPDATE : nice ‘documentary’ on a current Coke advertising approach at Leo Burnett Toronto’s blog. [dh]

Northern Room played Summerfest and Bastille Days in the past week, and the response has been fun to see in person. Their fans singing along with songs, the guys moving a lot of merch - all in all the circle is growing and the buzz is palpable. Listen for their songs in upcoming episodes of Lonelygirl15 and Facebook Diaries. You can stay up to date with the band through their myspace page, or grab some free music - an mp3 of their single, We’re On Fire - at their new promotional site : wereonfire.com.

A Farewell Rescue is an editor’s pick at Pure Volume, and their CD is ready to be released next Tuesday July 24 on Snapdragon Records. You can pick it up everywhere from iTunes to Best Buy (of course, you’ve been able to hear it here at Burst Labs for the past month).

Codebreaker are headed to California for a quick west coast jaunt, including a stop at Spaceland in LA. You can check their myspace for more info, or buy their songs at iTunes or through CDBaby, and all of the songs from Exiled! are available at Burst Labs for licensing.

The Farewell Circuit are out on tour this summer. They’ve launched a new blogspot to let everyone in on their day-to-day, and they’re supposedly writing their asses off so we can finish a full-length together at Burst HQ when they get off the road (hint, hint, boys). For now, you can listen and license all 5 songs from their debut right here, or buy the whole EP at iTunes or Third Shift Recording Co.

Fever Marlene are playing two shows in New York City this week (Thur and Sat), and they’re definitely a band worth checking out live. You and also tune into New York’s Break Thru Radio on Friday, July 20th, for a live set and interview. We’re working hard at getting these guys up at the Lab for previews and licensing… and if you can’t get to one of their showcases (at Pianos or Arlene’s Grocery), you should definitely head over to their site and grab a copy of their full-length debut, Civil War.

Which brings us to… The Real Efforts Of Real People. There’s lots of cool music (may we humbly suggest!) at Burst Labs, but none has been as universally appealing as The Real Efforts. For now, would-be fans are going to have to be satiated with what they can hear at our site or the TREORP myspace page, as the boys are quite busy with recording sessions and international tours for other artists. Know that the very millisecond we have knowledge of where you can buy their incredible collection of songs and help support their ‘efforts’ (uh, sorry), we will share this knowledge with you. Promise! [dh]