In the current musical landscape, it’s no secret that commercial appeal sells. What’s equally undeniable is that commercial placement sells music (see: Starbucks, Gossip Girl and Apple). And while certain artists may once have flinched at the notion of anything more than a title being attached to their tune, the success of the aforementioned entities in planting songs in the public consciousness seems to have diminished any sellout stigma. On the heels of a year in which Feist and the iPod Nano may have been the music industry’s hottest couple, the Gap is looking, this spring, to take a few relationships of its own to the next level—by skipping the licensing route entirely. Enter the Sound of Color campaign: a collection of five original sonic interpretations of color—from Swizz Beats, Dntel, Marié Digby, the Raveonettes and the Blakes—commissioned by the clothing titan and made available to the public for free download through March 15.
The idea is the brainchild of SF production company and creative agency Rehab, which took the liberty of assigning a color to each artist. “We wanted to avoid the Reservoir Dogs thing, where everyone wanted to be Mr. Black and no one wanted to be Mr. Pink,” jokes Rehab founder and executive producer Nathan Brown. Apparently, Rehab’s instincts were right: “When we gave [hip-hop artist] Swizz Beats his color, he was like, ‘How did you know? I’m sitting here looking at a picture of myself in an entirely green suit.’” Given the Raveonettes’ stripped-down, post-punk sound, their black-and-white assignment seems equally bespoke. The pair’s original track harnesses the same fuzzed-out rock ’n’ roll sex appeal present on their new album, Lust Lust Lust. Marié Digby, who rose to fame viaa myspacecover of Rihanna’s song “Umbrella,” offers a lilting and thoroughly sun-drenched interpretation of yellow. But the inspiration for each track isn’t uniformly intuitive: Seattle indie-rock outfit the Blakes put an unexpectedly upbeat, ’60s Brit-rock spin on the color blue (citing the fact that the appearance of blue skies in their hometown is cause for rejoicing), while Dntel (the nom de performance of Postal Service member Jimmy Tamborello) eschews red’s obvious love/violence connotations for a thoughtful, electro-heartbeat meditation on embarrassment. “Red is one of the colors I identify with the least,” Tamborello says. “The connection I could find was in the idea of turning red, since I’m a pretty shy person. I wanted the song to feel timid. I recorded myself shuffling nervously and used that as part of the rhythm.”
Accompanying each track will be original music videos directed by some of the industry’s favorite innovators—including Chris Do (of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” vid fame). “Gap is crossing the line between being an advertiser and a patron of the arts,” Brown says. “There’s no gratuitous khakis flying around the videos.” Even so, one can’t help but wonder whether critics suspicious of the brand’s sponsorship will pan the tracks regardless of their caliber. The artists aren’t sweating. “From our perspective, we just want as many people as possible to hear and feel our music,” says the Raveonettes’ Sune RoseWagner. “And since most radio/TV stations are too lame to play it, we need alternative outlets."
In the current musical landscape, it’s no secret that commercial appeal sells. What’s equally undeniable is that commercial placement sells music (see: Starbucks, Gossip Girl and Apple). And while certain artists may once have flinched at the notion of anything more than a title being attached to their tune, the success of the aforementioned entities in planting songs in the public consciousness seems to have diminished any sellout stigma. On the heels of a year in which Feist and the iPod Nano may have been the music industry’s hottest couple, the Gap is looking, this spring, to take a few relationships of its own to the next level—by skipping the licensing route entirely. Enter the Sound of Color campaign: a collection of five original sonic interpretations of color—from Swizz Beats, Dntel, Marié Digby, the Raveonettes and the Blakes—commissioned by the clothing titan and made available to the public for free download through March 15.
The idea is the brainchild of SF production company and creative agency Rehab, which took the liberty of assigning a color to each artist. “We wanted to avoid the Reservoir Dogs thing, where everyone wanted to be Mr. Black and no one wanted to be Mr. Pink,” jokes Rehab founder and executive producer Nathan Brown. Apparently, Rehab’s instincts were right: “When we gave [hip-hop artist] Swizz Beats his color, he was like, ‘How did you know? I’m sitting here looking at a picture of myself in an entirely green suit.’” Given the Raveonettes’ stripped-down, post-punk sound, their black-and-white assignment seems equally bespoke. The pair’s original track harnesses the same fuzzed-out rock ’n’ roll sex appeal present on their new album, Lust Lust Lust. Marié Digby, who rose to fame viaa myspacecover of Rihanna’s song “Umbrella,” offers a lilting and thoroughly sun-drenched interpretation of yellow. But the inspiration for each track isn’t uniformly intuitive: Seattle indie-rock outfit the Blakes put an unexpectedly upbeat, ’60s Brit-rock spin on the color blue (citing the fact that the appearance of blue skies in their hometown is cause for rejoicing), while Dntel (the nom de performance of Postal Service member Jimmy Tamborello) eschews red’s obvious love/violence connotations for a thoughtful, electro-heartbeat meditation on embarrassment. “Red is one of the colors I identify with the least,” Tamborello says. “The connection I could find was in the idea of turning red, since I’m a pretty shy person. I wanted the song to feel timid. I recorded myself shuffling nervously and used that as part of the rhythm.”
Accompanying each track will be original music videos directed by some of the industry’s favorite innovators—including Chris Do (of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” vid fame). “Gap is crossing the line between being an advertiser and a patron of the arts,” Brown says. “There’s no gratuitous khakis flying around the videos.” Even so, one can’t help but wonder whether critics suspicious of the brand’s sponsorship will pan the tracks regardless of their caliber. The artists aren’t sweating. “From our perspective, we just want as many people as possible to hear and feel our music,” says the Raveonettes’ Sune RoseWagner. “And since most radio/TV stations are too lame to play it, we need alternative outlets."
email page
|
print page 
