August 14, 2007

Back To School With Malajube

Radio Shack hasn't pleased many with its past TV campaigns (e.g. TV Snob has been so sick of them for years now), but our ears perked during last night's repeat of Kimmel (the Brian Williams loves Interpol/Cat Power/Feist one), when the tube let out the unmistakable, distant jangle of "Montréal -40ºC." Much as we love 'em, didn't expect to see much ad placement for the Trompe-L'oeil tunes (mainly 'cause they rhapsodize exclusively in French, and most Americans definitely do not). Couldn't find video, but here's the story:

A bed-headed college kid slowly came to grips with another day in his Radio Shack'd dorm room, alarm set to five-past-Malajube -- and when the sunny tune of "Montréal -40º" kicks in, he brightens up, fondling his laptop, printer, flat screen, cell phone. He stops for a sec, saying something into a little voice recorder (smilingly smugly -- 'cause he knows he got a great deal on that thing!) -- and just when Julien starts kicking into his francophone vox, the Radio Shack announcer reminds us all that school is starting soon, and the Shack is the place, not just to "buy stuff," but to "do stuff." But yeah, it's mostly a place to buy stuff. Just goes to show, you don't need English lyrics to hawk consumer electronics in the US of A. There's hope for múm yet.

[Pic from Malajube's set at the Stereogum party during CMJ '06]

And speaking of Brian Williams's lady love ... Feist is OFFLINE. Mostly 'cause she has an "analogue mind," but also 'cause she doesn't know how to turn off the autoplay on her site. (Tech guys, this is your in!) In the meantime, you can keep up with Feist over at MySpace -- just don't tell "My Moon My Man" is on autoplay over there, too.

Posted at 5:12 PM in Commercial Appeal
Tags: Feist | Malajube