Mayer Hawthorne x A Strange Arrangement

What "A Strange Arrangement," is the name of the album by Mayer Hawthorne - a fitting title to the type of music Mr. Hawthorne creates. The first time I heard it, I wasn't sure what I was listening to. The music had that classic motown sound but the video was too contemporary and a white dude was singing. My initial thought was it was a spoof video, some random guy singing along to an old classic Motown song I never heard before. Then I payed closer attention to the lyrics and they were too current. So I did some research and discovered Mayer Hawthorne was creating something new yet paying homage to an old classic sound - call it Vintage Music. His album is one of my favorites and is on repeat on my iPod. Take a listen and you'll soon be singing along to the catchy hooks and upbeat music.

Disney Samples...Disney!

We all know that Baloo from the Jungle book looks very similar to Little John from Robin Hood (well, they are both bears) but this little video delight shows just how similar certain animated sequences in some classic Disney films are...i.e. they just traced it! Love the video editing - really brings the point home!



Source: Cinematical

Levi's Powersliding Event @ The Santa Monica Pier Apr 15

Our friends over at Levi's (who to this day remain a go-to and creative Denim brand) and Cornerstone are putting together a wicked event at the Santa Monica Pier next Wed April 15th. For those of you who aren't aware of what "Powersliding" is, checkout this wacky video:



The event will feature top powersliders competing for powerslide top dogg glory, a performance by Matt & Kim, Screen printing by Hit + Run, a Polite in Public Karaoke Photobooth, AND best of all, complimentary food courtesy of everyone's favorite mouth watering goodness, the Kogi BBQ Truck.

Catchya there...

Bruce Lee vs Iron Man vs ??? Stop Motion Video

VS

This is a pretty amazing battle royale video and I THINK it was done w stop motion (some of the angles just look too good to be true). The piece was done by some mysterious entity known as Monsieur Monsieur Bolvin. Behold the Legend Bruce Lee vs the Invincible Iron Man:

Behind the Scenes Feature on the Radiohead x USC Marching Band Grammy Performance

By now pretty much every music head out there has seen the jammin' Radiohead x USC Trojan Marching Band Grammy performance from this year's show. Now, thanks to a little featurette created by the Marching Band you can get a little backstage glimpse at the making of this wild show:

Puma L.I.F.T. spot featuring The Magnetic Fields' "Underwear"

Our friends at Puma have sourced The Magnetic Fields' "Underwear" as the background music for this rad new spot for their "L.I.F.T." line (Light Infused Footwear). It's got some great graphics work and colorful tone... enjoy:



Source- Stereogum

"Detroit's Underground Resistance": Rad Feature on Detroit Techno by Current Media

FoundTrack's friends over at Current Media (specifically TK) just posted this banger of a video profiling Detroit's "Underground Resistance" music collective, who are some of the main pioneers of Techno Music. In TK's own words:

"Underground Resistance is Techno's original highly efficient, aggressive and very strategic minded unit with an extreme approach to image and marketing whose mobile and fiercely competitive company is not dependent on trends, gimmicks or fads as are other forms of music and their related industries are today."

For those of you who aren't familiar with Current, they're a web and DirecTV based channel that features both user generated AND internally produced material (checkout their recently launched collaboration with Rotten Tomatoes featuring FoundTrack friend and all around funnyman Brett Erlich). Kick back and checkout the rad video... we definitely learned a dope thing or two!:



Source- FoundTrack's good buddy Blake... hopefully soon to be a contributor here!

Little Superstar's back with a Dubstep remix

Our favorite little poplockin', martial arts fightin' little buddy (AND coverboy of our September 2007 music compilation) Little Superstar is back, this time with a fresh Dubstep remix. Props to DJ Skeet Skeet for all this random stuff he digs up. Kick back and enjoy... this dude NEVER gets old:



(by the way, checkout Little Supe's arch nemesis Weng Weng if you haven't already)

Source- EatSkeet

Adam Bobrow makes "Ping Pong" and "Fresh" fit in the same sentence...

I never thought ping pong could be dope until I met our good buddy Adam Bobrow back in my college radio days at USC's KSCR. Every once in a while this funny dude would stop by our underground hip hop show and start busting freestyle raps in Yiddish, thus earning the MC name "Yid-One." It wasn't until a few years later that I could actually remember that he had a real name and this name was Adam Bobrow.

(Getting down with his "Balls of Fury" costar Christopher Walken. Adam was humble and made sure Walken got some screentime as well)

Adam is one of those funny dudes that everyone on campus seemed to know... crazy Trojan Spirit and I imagine if we were in high school together he would have been the mascot or the class clown or maybe both. Anyway a few years after graduating we started hanging out again and it turns out the dude is a renaissance man of sorts. He plays competitive Table Tennis (he actually refereed the Puma PT3 Tournament we covered a few months ago), performs standup comedy, acts (alongside Christopher Walken in "Balls of Fury" at that), AND he can bust a mad dance move. Mister Bobrow's got a great YouTube channel you should all checkout- To get started checkout this wacky video where the dude combines several of his talents and gets at it with some crazy excessive celebration:

(I've never met another Ping Pong Pimp that looks quite like this, and I doubt you have either)

Interesting Video Interview with The Wrestler's Marisa Tomei

We recently posted a little feature and trailer for "The Wrestler," a film that has gotten much spotlight for the performance delivered by lead Mickey Rourke. While it's often easy to overlook the supporting performances in films like this, that just isn't the case with this film. Both Marisa Tomei AND Evan Rachel Wood deliver nomination worthy performances, under the direction of Darren Aronofsky. The always talented and gorgeous Tomei delivers a performance that is especially worthy of such a nomination.

In "The Wrestler," Tomei delivers a very fresh, heavy, and real take on the typical Hollywood "stripper with a heart of gold" cliche. Tomei has been a favorite of mine (and my older brother's) ever since her hilarious performance in "My Cousin Vinny." I came across this video while reading InContention.com (a really good film awards-race news site). Tom O'neil interviews Tomei and a lot of interesting topics are discussed, ranging from "The Wrestler" to that infamous (and ridiculous) urban legend that she won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar by accident:



Source- In Contention

Wacky Japanese Commercial directed by Wes Anderson starring Brad Pitt

Wes Anderson has joined the ranks of several other Hollywood types that have shot commercials for zany Japanese products. This ad for Japanese Cell company Softbank Mobile was directed by Anderson and is apparently inspired by the 1953 French Film "Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot." I not going to pretend to know anything about that film, but the spot definitely has that signature Wes Anderson/Hotel Chevalier feel to it. Oh yeah, and did I mention it stars a certain "Benjamin Button" star? (which was a rad film btw)- Yes, first name Brad, last name Pitt:



Source- slash/Film

"Prop 8 - The Musical"

I found this to be pretty amusing- AND it pretty much hits the nail on the head. Behold, "Prop 8, The Musical"- It features the comedy stylings of Jack Black, John C Reilly, Neil Patrick Harris (star of the best sitcom on TV right now, "How I Met Your Mother"), and many others:

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Source- Funny or Die

Sarah Palin vs The Turkey She Just Pardoned

Oh Sarah Palin, I'm not even going to try and preface this one. Actually I will. RIP "un-pardoned" Turkey:



Source- NBC

"Hot Girl Body Spray"- Axe Commercial parody by Sans Pants Productions

FoundTrack Friends Sans Pants Productions produce wacky, wild, and hilarious short form comedy videos and post them on the interwebs for the general public's viewing enjoyment. The mature (see group portrait below) gentlemen of this comedy troop are based out of NY and have created several non-controversial (right...) videos such as "The Maury Povich Home Paternity Test," "Hitler Campaign," and one of my personal favorites "Let Me Get That for Ya" (about bathroom attendants- a topic coincidently close to our hearts).

(Our Mature and Pantsless Captains on this Voyage of Comedy)

Their latest offering, entitled "Hot Girl Body Spray" is my favorite of their most recent releases... it's a brilliant parody of those oh-so-edgy Axe Body Spray commercials. Kick back, crack open a cold one, take off your pants if you feel like it, and enjoy:

Nevereverland UK Recap feat. The Presets, Ladyhawke and Shy Child

As I mentioned in my last Ladyhawke post, Pip was playing at The Coronet Theatre for Modular Records' Nevereverland gig...and she was awesome! I managed to get there just in time for her set, giving up the luxury of putting away my stuff because of the crazy long outdoor cloakroom line, and having my friend get my drink for me from the overly crowded bar.

Although her performance was pretty understated and she seemed completely overwhelmed by how much the crowd was loving her, she would let out a meek thank you now and again. The screens behind her were displaying the artwork that is associated with her album and videos, and it definitely helped set the mood. She played most of the tracks from her new album and here are a couple that I managed to capture on video:

Manipulating Woman



Paris is Burning



The New York natives Shy Child came on about an hour later, and I think the following anecdote represented the general attitude towards them. Aussie guy (not unusual because the crowd was 99% Australian) next to us asks my friend, "Are you from London?" "Yes" "Who the f*** are these guys?" To which we both shrug our shoulders. I didn't manage to take any footage of the two guys for fear of having a drink thrown over me, but just because the lead singer was grinning throughout his whole performance, here is a performance they did at the Fashion Rocks event in London this time last year...



The main event was of course, The Presets who came on at about 2am and they did not disappoint. They were hands down the best act of the night in terms of getting the crowd excited and moshing like crazy. Two fights even broke out, with a Stephen Dorff lookalike having his t-shirt ripped and pulled over his head...not quite sure what that was about! Anyway, the dancing was manic with flashing lights all over the place...check out the footage below of This Boy's in Love (*note: it is quite difficult trying to hold up a camera when 100s of crazy Australians are jumping up and into you).



If you get a chance to catch these guys in concert, then I highly recommend it. You can find out more about Meijin's review of Cut Copy and The Presets here.

Also, don't forget Ladyhawke's album has finally been released in the US today, so if you have respect for good music (which you obviously do if you're on FoundTrack), I highly recommend it. And for those, who bought the album in the UK, you'll be excited to know there is a bonus track "Danny and Jenny" on the US version (as well as a French version of Paris is Burning on the EP).

Aston Martin's Project One-77 - Quantum of Hotness...

Those of you that saw the new Bond movie last weekend got to see the gorgeous Aston Martin DBS in action during the opening scene. If you thought that car was amazing, just wait until you feast your eyes on this new brand new beauty- the Aston Martin Project One-77. The One-77 is an extremely limited edition automobile that is designed and hand built to spec, in a run of only 77 vehicles. Lead designer Marek Reichmann was asked to design THE ultimate Aston without limits or restraint. While the final design ended up looking quite modern, it is without a doubt a classic Aston Martin... Take for instance, the classic Aston grille:


While the car has the specs to back it's good looks (700 horsepower anyone?), raw power and stats have never been the primary concern of the brand. Rather, the true purpose of an Aston is to find balance between performance, luxury and design. Driving and owning one of these cars should be similar to being measured and wearing a bespoke suit. While it may sound like I'm kissing this car's ass, I must say I'm still not completely blind to its faults- I'm definitely not that impressed by the vehicle's side profile (but that can always change when you see a car in person):


All in all I'm hard pressed to think of a more stylish car brand on the market right now, and with the One-77, Aston is really positioning themselves to play with the big dogs- watch out Bugatti Veyron...


If you want to learn more about this piece of design hotness and meet some of the people behind it checkout this video- Be prepared though, it's pretty damn long:

DON'T VOTE! viral vid

This concept video, produced by DiCaprio's Appian Way and featuring just about every celebrity in the world urges everyone to get out there and vote! Or as guest star Borat would say "NOT!":

David Fincher's Nike Football Commercial, "Fate"

I love seeing artists step out of their usual channels and produce work in other categories. In this case, Nike (and a lot of their cash) got director David Fincher (soon to be Oscar buzzin' with his upcoming "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") to direct an ad entitled "Fate" for their Football line. The piece is not only directed by Fincher, but shot by one of my favorite Cinematographers, Emmanuel Lubezki (of "Children of Men" fame). To add one last bit of cinema-world goodness to this commercial, the music is a remixed version of a track from famed Spaghetti Western composer Ennio Morricone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" score.

"Fate" follows the lives of two football players lives from the womb to the NFL- one of them being USC Trojan alumni Troy Polamalu, the other being LaDainian Tomlinson:

N1
by videos22

Source- The New York Observer

Obama and McCain roast each other @ Al Smith Charity Dinner

Everyone's favorite contenders in the electoral ring Barack Obama and John McCain had a rare lighthearted moment as they took turns roasting each other at the annual Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation dinner. Funny stuff in here and definitely more entertaining than their last debate (almost as funny as McCain's return to Letterman after bailing on him)- Definitely worth your time and some festive Friday afternoon laughs:

McCain Part 1:


McCain Part 2:


Obama Part 1:


Obama Part 2:


Source- Voice of America

A Preview of tonight's Presidential Debate (and, RIP Neal Hefti 1922-2008)

FoundTrack's favorite NY contributor Gill Bumby just sent us this little preview of tonight's Presidential Debate. Enjoy, and feel free to place Obama and McCain into either the Penguin or Batman roles as you see fit... though the real question is whether Biden or Palin is Robin?:



And in related Bat-news, we're sad to report that composer and jazz trumpeter Neal Hefti, the musician behind the "Nana na na na na na BATMAN!" AND "Odd Couple" theme songs has passed away. In remembrance of him, here's the classic tune: