MOG

Out of all the music to hear on a show on ABC Family, I never expected to hear something by Boards Of Canada. But that's exactly what I heard on yesterday's episode of Kyle XY.

A scene in Monday's episode featured the track “Dayvan Cowboy” from BOC's recent album, The Campfire Headphase (and the more recent Trans-Canada Highway EP). The very brief use of the track was entirely appropriate (Kyle was trying to explore his mind) and I couldn't help but smile when I recognized the track.

This got me to thinking about other times where I was kind of surprised to hear the music I was hearing.

I work in a store, so we listen to Muzak stations all day. We have multiple stations to choose from, but the managers usually pick this one station that mixes (mostly) older pop-rock and some contemporary stuff. The variety of artists we usually hear include Phil Collins, Sting/The Police, John Mayer, Maroon 5, No Doubt, and Jason Mraz, just to name a few.

Every so often, I'm surprised at the tracks I hear on that station. I knew Gnarls Barkley had really made it when I heard “Crazy” on that station. I had never heard anything remotely hip-hop on that station before, so when I heard “Crazy,” I was pretty happy.

Another thing that's interesting is the smattering of lesser-known contemporary artists. The very first time I heard Peter Bjorn & John's “Young Folks” in full was at work. Also, there's this track I sometimes hear by a female artist that is driving me crazy because I don't know who it is. I remember seeing the video for it a while back, but I have never seen it since.

One of the managers at my job is pretty young (he's younger than me) and he always puts on the dance music station that's available. Ninety percent of the stuff that's played on there is generic, borderline annoying dance stuff. However, I was really surprised when I heard Basement Jaxx's “Hey U” on there one day. I never thought I'd actually hear a Balkan folk music breakdown play in a large store.

I guess it's pretty cool to hear such a wide variety of music in various places. Lord knows that radio is quite homogenized and since file sharing is “bad,” many of us music fans have to use places like MOG and a host of nontraditional means to find out about new, interesting music.

In the end, how nice would that be if Kyle XY helped someone become a BOC fan?

Enjoy the kickass video to "Dayvan Cowboy"