Music Blogs

One of the greatest TV series of the recent past is returning for a third season. Showtime's Emmy-nominated series Dexter will return September 28 at 9 pm. Last week, Showtime aired a two-minute long trailer for the upcoming show.

As the story line delves deeper into the complex and duplicitous emotions of "America's favorite serial killer," a song plays in the background. And quite apropos, a male vocalist sings, "Strange times are here." It's a fairly new track off the Black Keys' LP Attack & Release. Dan Auerbach fronts the blues-rock music duo.

Interestingly, the band's name was inspired by an artist friend of the band with schizophrenia. He used the term "black keys" to describe people who weren't quite sane. There's another entendre here. The black keys on a piano contain a pentonic minor scale when starting on E flat, which is often linked with blues and rock music.

Recently the band scored some commercial success. Another one of their songs off Rubber Factory called "Girl is on My Mind" was used in a 2006 Sony Ericsson ad, starring tennis players Ana Ivanović and Daniela Hantuchova. It was also used in a 2006 Victoria's Secret commercial featuring Heidi Klum and could be heard in the movies Rest Stop and Cashback.

"Strange Times" was also used in Grand Theft Auto 4 on the in-game radio station, Radio Broker. "Strange Times" also appeared in a preview for ABC's The Mole.

None of those spots seem to compliment and highlight the track as well as the "Dexter" teaser.

As for the show's plot clues, it's semi-clear that Dexter kills someone who, for the first time, he wasn't completely sure about. Did his victim "deserve" to die? As Dexter says, with a slightly bombastic tone, "I did something spontaneous."

Then a new character is introduced, and Jimmy Smits pops on the screen as attorney Miguel Prado, who becomes a friend of Dexter's. Their friendship seems central to the plot of season three.

Smits asks Dexter to help investigate a murder--the same one Dexter committed. At the same time, Dexter ponders his foster father's code, saying, "If I still cared about what Harry thought, I'd feel bad." On-screen text reads, "This fall, the student becomes the master."

Check out the juicy trailer and tune for yourself.