Chris DeLine

Over the past decade there’s been a remarkable shift from using jingles to pop music when tracking the music for national commercials. Bob Dylan has crooned for Apple, Parliament has funked for Mastercard, the Go! Team got down with Honda, the Flaming Lips waved a wand for Dell and Daft Punk got their denims on for the Gap. All, I’m sure, had some direct effect on sales, yada yada yada. The shift is an especially bizarre one because now you (I) can hear a song and think “that would make for a great commercial.”

Well, Shugo Tokumaru’s “Rum Hee” would make for a great commercial. The Japanese multi-instrumentalist (which is a relative term as Tokumaru plays over 100 instruments) has created an inspiring track that combines the sounds of an earthy instrumental nature with the depth of an indie-rock orchestra. While my first reaction to the song was more along the lines of “my god that’s a beautiful piece of music,” it probably tells you something about me that I eventually began to think “I would probably buy whatever that song is selling.” Be it a movie, a commercial, or something in between, mark my words: someone will likely have the same thought I did and deliver Shugo Tokumaru to the American masses via advertising.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]