Today's Pick

Bastille have premiered a very beautifully haunting music video via MSN.com for their latest track, "Oblivion," the eighth and final single from the British quartet band's debut album "Bad Blood." The indie-rock ballad "Oblivion," is endlessly mysterious and now we have a perfect visual companion, which stars 18-year-old actress Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark in the HBO TV series "Game of Thrones," adapted from George R.R. Martin's novels.
Smith is a storyteller and a magnificent musician, and his music is a thrilling example of what great pop music can achieve. The beautiful part about "Bad Blood" is that it is both entirely predictable yet completely disarming. The exploration of any and all sounds; the delicate use of strings to heighten emotion, the touching piano-based "Oblivion." There are moments, instruments, timings, buried within his experimentation that take you entirely by surprise.
This is never more evident than in "Oblivion," which features little more than a piano and Smith sounding for all the world like he's standing in a desert staring at the night sky as he mournfully proclaims, "When oblivion is calling out your name/ You always take it further than I ever can." Smith and Bastille really deliver, ranging earworm choruses across the album. There's something 80s about the heart-swelling melodies of "Oblivion," but only because they evoke a-ha and Tears for Fears in their determination to be both catchy and muscular.
Beginning with Turner sitting in a room alone listening to "Flaws," a previous "Bad Blood" single, the Austin Peters-direvted clip follows Turner as she enters the middle of an empty rodeo arena. Going up to the microphone in front of an audience, Turner opens her mouth miming the lyrics to "Oblivion" and Smith's voice comes out before getting into her car to race at a very strange competition. It's a very simple video but the simple-ness really makes a good match with the deep ballad. the clip is a very simple and diverts from traditional "storytelling" and focuses more on provoking an emotional reaction, whatever that may be.

Capital Cities are back and get philosophical with a sorrow and joy collided new music video for their track "One Minute More," the first taken from the American indie alt-dance group's recently re-released deluxe edition of debut LP "In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery." The new song features some classic Capital Cities vocals and a piano sample worthy of RAC, himself. "I can't wait one minute more, the sun does shine" is the chant that echoes over sunny synths and tinkling keys. "One Minute More," is another stellar dance-pop tune with an effervescent chorus that rivals breakthrough smash "Safe And Sound."
In an interview thr band said about song: "'One Minute More' is a song that we had written a while back, it was going to end up on the album as well, it was one of the contenders, but we hadn't really completed it exactly to our standards, I guess, so we put out the album. As time passed we kept revisiting the song and we felt like it was a strong song and this felt like a good opportunity to finish it up and include it on a deluxe version of the album alongside some other cool tracks and remixes as well."
The video begins with the quote from Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran, "Joy and Sorrow are inseparable... Together they come and when one sits alone with you... Remember that the other is asleep upon your bed." Don't worry the song is quite the opposite of the visual message. If you've been following the video follies of Capital Cities and director Brewer then you know their collaboration can't possible just be a floating dock performance for the hottest Lake Havasu Spring Breakers ever. And it's not.
The video is something much more figurative. And the imagined party ends as quickly as a crying jag. As our favorite electro-pop duo explaied: "The video is really interesting and juxtaposes this very sad woman who is basically going through the process of a divorce. That sadness is contrasted by this group of twenty-somethings having a party on a lake with a bunch of watercraft. It is kind of a typical Capital Cities video where we try to show the dichotomy of a human existence: the good, the bad and the contract what defines the good and the bad."

Owl City is finally back and is ready to bring back the electro-smooth in our lives. As far as inescapable hits go, Owl City has a knack for writing especially uplifting ones. His Carly Rae Jepsen collab "Good Time" helped The Midsummer Station go double platinum, reaching the Top 10 in a handful of countries around the globe. Now, he's returning with a whimsical music video through Rolling Stone for his new single "Beautiful Times," the lead single taken from his new four-track EP, "Ultraviolet," which was just released yesterday, June 27 via Universal Music.
Not long after Owl City, the one-man synth-pop act known offstage as Adam Young's "Fireflies" breakout, he broke down the origin of his music's dreamy edge: "About two years ago I was working at a Coca-Cola warehouse all day. It allowed me to sort of dream up these projects. One wound up being Owl City. I thought through how I wanted it to sound, how I wanted the records to look, everything. Sometimes working in a monotonous environment can really free up your imagination."
According to Young, "Beautiful Times," features American violinist and composer Lindsey Stirling, "is a slow-and-steady stream of music that deeply subjective and personal, it has a dark beauty I find compelling and the essence of the track offers the idea that life is wonderful despite the burdens and afflictions that seek us out. It is an anthem for those who search for strength to rise above hardship. I was honored to work with yet another of my favorite artists, Lindsey Stirling, who was kind enough to grant me the honor of featuring her. I hope you enjoy this song as much as I enjoyed creating it."
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Young says about the optimism in the upbeat song and the magical video was mirrored on the set, "It was a blast shooting 'Beautiful Times' because the film crew was such a fun bunch of people to be around. I've been on a few sets where everyone is on edge and it throws the whole thing off. A positive atmosphere really makes all the difference in the world." Directed by Everdream, its whimsical music video depicts a young boy sleeping in his bedroom when his toys and room suddenly comes to life, thanks to a magical little star that comes and turns his bedroom upside down.

Charli XCX, who recently scored her first U.S. No.1 thanks to Iggy Azalea's "Fancy," has premiered the Amsterdam-set music video via MTV.com for her solo new song "Boom Clap," which is the British pop singer's contribution to the soundtrack of "The Fault in Our Stars." It's an appropriate choice for the unorthodox love story between Hazel Grace (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort). The romantic comedy-drama film adaptation of John Green's best-selling novel follows the lives of two cancer patients as they fall in love, suffer, and celebrate together.

It's about time for Charli to have a huge hit under her own name. The mastermind behind Icona Pop's "I Love It" is currently atop the Billboard Hot 100 as the scene-stealer on Iggy Azalea's The New Classic single "Fancy," but this "SuperLove"-worthy electro-pop burst sees her back on her own. Instead of an emotional love song, this upbeat, '80s-sounding pop hit is more of a toe-tapping love anthem than a tear-filled ballad. "The scene that ['Boom Clap'] is in is an uplifting moment in the film, Charli explained to Billboard magazine. "And while the song itself is very euphoric and enthusiastic about romance… it's about wanting to fall in love, but there's this hint of sadness in that, which I like."

The 21-year-old singer-songwriter shot the video in Amsterdam, where "The Fault in Our Stars" was partially filmed in too. Interspersed with dramatic footage, cartoonish scenes and snippets from the movie, the "Boom Clap" clip goes between colorfully doodled-around shots and features Charli enjoying herself and traipsing around the city while wondrous graphics frame her face, as the Brit croons while riding on a boat, gets lost in a sea of bikes, walks the streets, and poses on various canal bridges. The ending of the video - the pop singer strolling off down the sidewalk - is presumably more upbeat than the ending of "The Fault In Our Stars."

The singer-producer's video is one of these soundtrack videos that haphazardly alternates movie footage with footage of its star. But the video still has a ton of Charli dancing around Amsterdam and looking mad charismatic. If "boom clap" is "the sound of my heart," as the True Romance-r belts out here, she shouldn't be alone in that particular cardiac condition. By the way, although "Boom Clap" hasn't been sent to radios, not it's charting high on iTunes presently, it will presumably appear on the U.K. singer-songwriter's sophomore LP, due out later this year.