RFD: Light-hearted, whimsical indie hipster music that seemed specifically manufactured for Apple commercials

Mobile phone network ads in the UK have been the worst offenders for this some years ago, not sure if it's quite the same as this but more strummy, twee, 'I'm having a lovely day' type rainbows-and-ribbons bullshit. I think that progressed into the more handclappy DIY instruments from there.

I seem to recall that Motown had the same advert omnipresence in the early to mid nineties?

Australia has been big on this before the rest of the world I think, though maybe in tandem with the UK.

Well, Sally Seltmann wrote "1 2 3 4," so there's that.

Yes, and it's a very oz-feeling tune even leaving aside that it's actually written by an Australian.

I also felt like, when Mumford & Sons break through, "wait, this has been what is played at pubs and bars all around my local area for the past five years at least". But maybe that's true in lots of other places as well? At any rate entire swathes of Melbourne could be characterised by vintage children's clothing stores, single speed bikes, kale smoothies and the sound of twee indie.

It's not all bad: the hot guys at the local pool have large biceps and read Murakami.

Tell you what though, actual small children find this stuff really boring IME.

I liked "My Moon, My Man" but it was kind of slinky and sexy and didn't seem like it was aimed at kindergarteners.

I understand that Cat Power is untouchable around here, but voice wise she is the godmother of twee....how different is Feist's voice from Cat Power anyway?

I was thinking the other week that it's pretty remarkable that the peak moments of Cat Power's Covers Record still really hit me even after the ten million inferior imitations of the last ten years.

I don't think of Chan Marshall's distressed and distracted tones as anything remotely to do with "twee". I saw her on a bill with proper actual solid gold tweeists Girlfrendo 15 years ago and she was Diamanda Galas in comparison.

Yeah to me this descends from more of a The Sundays --> Frente --> "Don't Falter" lineage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRdyDSbWg7w

so sad that this quintessentially ~blue state~ panglossian idiot child music derives from the work of mo tucker, when mo herself has quite correctly realized that milquetoast liberalism is destroying america

^ sage

mo does seem a precedent, "after hours", "i'm sticking with you". also cutie pie 80s indie stuff like camper van beethoven, beat happening and they might be giants.

honestly the mo songs have a much darker core. tmbg def are a precedent, but not so sure of the rest. its not like you need to draw a direct musical lineage through actual bands. they're all really drawing from the same wellspring of children's songs, raffi, etc, and just going different places with it.

the part that baffles me is why anyone would choose to buy an album full of this stuff. otoh i could see casual listeners picking up a catchy 'viral' single, so this is perhaps a v. digital itunes-era phenom to begin with?

its not like you need to draw a direct musical lineage through actual bands. they're all really drawing from the same wellspring of children's songs, raffi, etc, and just going different places with it.

yeah, that's probably true. still fun to connect the imaginary dots.

"1, 2, 3, 4" is a bit of an aberration even for Feist, she's not generally so relentlessly twee

Seriously though dudes Mint Royale's "Don't Falter" is like a paean to iPods that didn't yet exist.

admittedly I agree use of 1234 in the apple commercial was the turning point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G0sOA6hTg0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_music_used_by_Apple_Inc.

so it basically started around 2007 w/ Feist/Imogen Heap/The Bird and the Bee/Yael Naïm? it seems like earlier Apple ads were heavier on classic rock/pop and obvious Top 40 picks (also more black people!)

the ipod campaign's message was once something like, move your body around to this (which will be so individual and distinctive of your personal exuberant body because it's an ipod). so maybe the question is, what about apple's market share changed to make the other thing (1 2 3 4 etc.) worth putting front and center?

Simon Reynolds' "Against Health and Efficiency" is probably relevant?

iphone came out around then, so maybe they pivoted to less "edgy" music as they targeted older potential customers

turned out more people were into cute & comfy than hot & sweaty

more potential pod people, i suppose

for me this is the definitive example of this stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwtmfeyTNV4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFaee49YjMw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1G7O0wVhls

FORD FEIST-A

Ford Fiesta song also features prominent use of an under-discussed twindie signifier: woozy but uplifting Elephant Six horn section. Would be interesting to figure out by what channels that went mainstream, seems like for ages it really signified bedroom recording, four-track, living-room-party type bands directly getting it from E6 records and then suddenly it was kind of everywhere.

About four years ago I realised that everyone was vaguely fond of Beirut in an "I like that advert" kind of way...

I feel this website is relevant:

http://approachableindie.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOW9fLT9eY

beirut are complete shit

Number one indie dinner soundtrack after The XX ime.

Belated OTM to Tim's Frente point. Their New Order cover is virtually year zero for this aesthetic.

weirdly that approachableindie site seems totally sincere

Number one indie dinner soundtrack after The XX ime.

never hear beirut in this role, weirdly. the xx were ruined for me by being indie dinner default choice.

No Surprises also seems to me to be a big song in the development of this genre. Replace Thom's weltschmerz with someone cooing along in a baby voice and there you go.

i tried to find that coke ad from a few years back with some sickening cover of the beatles "all together now" but i couldn't.

was it the Beatles?

It's this ad for MS with Lenka that urges me to smash things up..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ2cftjyHys

urges me to smash something

I don't think "Don't Falter" belongs here. It apes Saint Etienne with it's 90's pop charm.

For some reason the worst of these songs for me are the ones with confessional, "dysfunctional" lyrics, like they're just angling to be in this movie - http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1174730/ - or this one - http://www.imdb.co.uk/title/tt0449059/ - or basically anything with Alan Arkin and a brooding teenager

like omigod, what an unexpected pairing! Whimsy and darkness! It's almost as crazy as a bloody battleground scene filmed in slo-mo with tender orchestral music over the top!

Surely the Jose Gonzales Knife cover with the bouncing balls is the point at which this all went supernova?

key text:

http://www.kicktickets.com/img/original/Event/1933.62b83113548dacf31843b6540f2c0e8d.jpg

oops that's huge.

The other turning point (following on from Feist 1234) was that "I'm not invisible" song, which didn't exist before the advert, and everyone wanted it.

Did it chart?

that bloke covering tears for fears in donnie darko.

as far as "meaningful cover of meaningless dross" crosses over with "xylophone folk tells lovely story about sharing data with your pals"