Today's Pick

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.

Owl City on how being bullied as a teen informed his new music video for the latest song, "Metropolis," the third single from Owl City's latest mega hit fourth studio album, "The Midsummer Station," which has released last August, shows a shift towards a darker yet more Dance-oriented direction. The musical project – made up of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young, who explained: "I grew up listening to Dance music and I've always wanted to make a Dance record, European dance music has so much influence over pop right now, so it made sense to me."
Young may not feel an explicit mission to make the '80s safe for the 21st century, but that's certainly what he achieves on Owl City's "The Midsummer Station." The set is bathed in sunshine melodies, uptempo hooks and buoyant choruses that recall MTV's early days. "Like a hijacked plane, or a runaway train, or a speeding bullet / there's no stopping this, I left my heart in Metropolis," the 26-year-old sings on the string-laden "Metropolis," which is a soaring number brimming with warm synths and a stomping beat that Young produced himself and co-wrote with his friend Matthew Thiessen of Relient K.
Young oozes frothy positivity through the effervescent sweep on the slightly more sophisticated "Metropolis." It's easy to see why Owl City exist. A sneering, compulsory hedonism pervades mass culture and high-school hallways. It warps more shy, creative kids into defensive partisans of lower-key whimsy. It gives us underdeveloped pop heroes like Young, who reduce their fans' fears and desires to the handiest cliché while desperately reassuring them they're all fuckin' perfect fireworks. But they deserve better. We deserve better. "I was bullied a lot in high school and didn't have a whole list of friends," the hit-making singer tells us of his superhero-themed clip. "So I wanted to make a video that paid heed to that." If you don't, the bad guys win.
Combining a mixture of live action and comic book drawings, the Daniel Cummings-directed video, has a great message about stopping bullying and becoming a hero, is cute and tells of a boy in high school who thwarts a bully to win the girl of his dreams. The comic-inspired music video begins with kids inside a classroom, and one school boy is reading a comic book. After class, the boy witnesses another kid being bullied in the hallway. The rest of the video switches among comic book scenes of the boy becoming a super hero and defeating evil, and of the boy in real life. Put on your cape and check out the video below!

If making a song that sounds like it's perfectly crafted for summer wasn't enough, Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City just released a video for their collaboration, "Good Time" that looks tailor-made for the season. The summer pop jam serves as the lead single to Owl City's new LP, "The Midsummer Station," due out Aug. 21, and will also appear on Jepsen's much-anticipated sophomore album, out some time in September.
It only makes sense that Owl City's Adam Young is joined by Jepsen on a track that could become a radio staple for the rest of the summer. Sonically and thematically, "Good Time" goes down easier than a frozen margarita at a beachfront tiki bar. The summer anthem is a synthy and uplifting, out and out pop duet which will most definitely ensure that neither artist has to settle for a 'one hit wonder' tag. It would sound equally right blaring from a sandy iPod radio or out of monster speakers in a thumping dance club.
The video was shot in upstate New York earlier this month, and the shoot actually marked the first time Jepsen and Young had met in person. The "Call Me Maybe" songstress and "Fireflies" star recorded the track separately before it hit digital retailers on June 26, and netted each artist their second Top 20 hit on the Hot 100. The clip isn't exactly high concept, but for a tune as mindless and fun as "Good Time," it works. The 26-year-olds split slurpees and prove they can have a good time anywhere in this laid-back clip.
Taking place over the course of a sunny day and bonfire-lit night, the clip follows the twenty-somethings gather their good friends leave the haze of the city, and head out on the road for a camping adventure, hike through the forest with ambiance and smoke, replete with tents, and dance fireside. Night soon falls, but the fun doesn't stop when the sun goes down, as the song plays out in all its sing-along glory. The clip is as predictably squeaky clean as fans have come to expect.

He Is We brought us some intimate moments last time we caught up with their acoustic set of "And Run." The duo has recently teamed up with electro-pop artist adored by all "youngins," Owl City on guest vocals for a re-imagining of their song, "All About Us," and now the musicians have released a super romantic video on their Facebook to go along with it.
He Is We is an indie pop band from Tacoma, Washington. The band is made up of Rachel Taylor and Trevor Kelly. They each realized that the other had talent and began to play small gigs as He Is We was getting their roots out to the world in 2008. This led to their signing with Universal Motown Records. Compared to the likes Eisley and She & Him, He Is We were the No.1 unsigned artist on Purevolume.com last year.
"All About Us" originally appears on the duo's debut album, "My Forever," which hit No.6 on Billboard's Heatseekers Album Charts. But Adam Young has helped bring out the magical qualities of the tune. Talking about what inspired "All About Us," Taylor explained: "I had a boyfriend that hid me from his family because they all liked his ex more. I was ok with it for a whole, then one day woke up, realized how awful it was and wrote this song. Love is something to be celebrated, not hidden."
In true form, the band created a music video in which love always prevails. The beautiful clip for "All About Us" focuses on a couple whose love is so strong that it can withstand anything. "Josh (the director) is a friend of a friend and very talented dude. We wanted to work on some kind of project together. We sent some ideas and he came back to us with this video and We were totally floored. It's so touching and special. Completely embodies the song." The duo is now set out to hit the road with All Time Low for a U.S. tour beginning October 25th at The Paramount Theater in Huntington, NY.

Owl City goes back to the future for his trippy video for "Deer in the Headlights," the third single from the synthpop act's third studio album "All Things Bright and Beautiful." The man behind Owl City, Adam Young describes the sound of his new album in an interview with AOL Music, saying "it was fun to surround myself with all kinds of instruments and just experiment that way even though, at the heart of this record, it's still an electronic vibe."
Dealing with the opposite sex can make you feel like a "Deer in the Headlights," according to Young, the flashy song is about "being in love for the sake of it" and is about a "guy who constantly faces rejection when asking out girls." Young explains the concept behind the video and song, "It's a quirky video for a cheeky song that quips, 'Why are we in love if it's for all the wrong reasons?' The song is about fending off the blinding light of superficial fluff relationships and saying, 'Thanks, but I'd rather be alone and thus avoid a million shallow heartbreaks until I meet the girl of my dreams'."
Young ditches his usual dreamy, ethereal style for layered, whirring synths that add a touch of dance music to the song, and we're loving the new direction. Complementing the music are lyrics dripping with dry humor about Young's failures on the dating front. The cute and quirky video takes Young on a journey day dreaming about a beautiful girl as he gets to ride around town and traveling through time in a sick DeLorean, famously featured in the "Back to the Future" film series, and Canadian musician Lights appears as a special guest.
As Young travels down the highway of life, singing about how damn confusing he finds the female of the species in that sweet, twee voice of his, UFO-like jellyfish soar overhead in a benign fashion. Even though Lights is not vocally featured in the song, she does make an appearance in the music video as a gas station attendant. Well, the fantasy girl Young thinks he is seeing, but in reality it is an older gentleman that is behind the counter. Young is seen at the end, in the space suit that he wore in the Alligator Sky film. This is after he dives the DeLorean to 2015.

Owl City is releasing the new galactic mission themed music video for the synth-pop artist Adam Young's hit "Alligator Sky," the official lead-off single taken from Owl City's upcoming album "All Things Bright and Beautiful" to be released on June 14th. The uplifting-feeling tune features Californian rapper Shawn Chrystopher.
"'Alligator' and 'sky' are two words that don't really go together, but conjure up an image, which fits the idea of the song," and as Young explains, is not your everyday song title. "It's about how there are so many weird things coming at you every day. Why not just meet them head on and take charge even though you have no say over what's going to happen? You and those around you are what matter most." Talking about his move in injecting hip-hop vibes in it, Young once said, "I'm a big fan of the way hip-hop music is put together and everything that goes into it - being so beat-heavy and just focusing on the rhythm side of it, sometimes more than melody."
A diverse and impressive list of influences, no doubt—but with its daydreaming vocals, occasionally corny lyrics and ever-present synth squelches, "Alligator Sky" ends up still sounds a whole lot like the Postal Service, a comparison that has dogged OC since their single "Fireflies" became a surprise chart-topper back in 2009. The tune is an escape for the listener, as the music takes you on a journey of its own while Young sings.
Earth as we know it has perished, but in the new sci-fi video for "Alligator Sky," the "Fireflies" crooner and his quick-mouthed buddy dressed in a retro spacesuit exploring a deserted empty streets of what looks like an abandoned town, taking copious notes about Earth while collecting various samples and trying to capture memory of the earth before coming abroad their spacecraft. Finally, the boys make it back to their rocket ship, and blast off into space. "So the concept is basically about these two guys who are leaving Earth," Young dishes in a making-of video. "Rather than it being this very dark post-apocalyptic vibe, it's very optimistic, and so it's like people are excited to leave earth."

As if a movie entirely about owls wasn't awesome enough - for the record, the only thing that could make this film any better would be UNICORNS - "Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'hoole" just upgraded itself to even more a million times awesome with Owl City's theme-song for the film, "To The Sky." It perfectly describes the bird tale with its lyrics such as "So touch your feathers to the breeze, and leave the ground."
Directed by Zack Snyder, the upcoming Australian/American computer-animated film based on the book series "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" by Kathryn Lasky. The film follows Soren, a young owl enthralled by his father's epic stories, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. The movie is also fits the bands name, and will hits U.S. theaters this Friday. "To the Sky" is the only song featured in the Original Soundtrack compilation. The rest of the music uses David Hirschfelder's scores which are available as downloads.
"It is such an incredible honor to be part of this film," says the electronic brainchild of Adam Young. "As a fan of both the children's book series growing up, and Zack Snyder's work as a director, having my music included is pretty surreal. I've been waiting for someone to make a movie like this for some time now. I'm endlessly grateful to be involved." Naturally, then, with the name of the artist and the film, the accompanying video is filled with owls. The overall sound of "To the Sky" is less intricately fussy then the fanciful breakthrough hit "Fireflies." Here the sound is looser and more relaxed but just as catchy.
Owl City is an American Second Wave synthpop musical project by Young, who certainly knows how to make creation of a winning pop melody sound effortless. The video focused largely on the movie's scenes of animated owl warriors. It also captures frontman Young in the screening room, writing the song and recording it. At the end of the video, Young turns to an owl. With a new album "Sky Sailing" scheduled for a fall release, Young's future is as exciting, expansive and as mellifluous as his music. "I've loved every minute of it so far, and I'm looking forward to what's going to happen next." So are we.

The 23-year-old Owatonna wunderkind Adam Young or more commonly known as the one-man synthpop act 'Owl City' has been all over the world these past few months. After gaining worldwide recognition status for "Fireflies" and "Vanilla Twilight," the Owannota bred synth star is gearing up for his second release in the UK. It might be known to all that "Fireflies" had a warm welcome to the British fans earlier this year as it went No.1 for three straight weeks. The new single is titled "Umbrella Beach" and is taken from his sophomore full-length album "Ocean Eyes" and will be released as the album's second UK single on May 17, and it will possibly be released as the third US single following "Vanilla Twilight."
"Umbrella Beach" was originally released promotionally on November 19, 2009, preceding the release of the official first single "Fireflies." An exclusive remix created by Kenny Hayes is included on the single release. The single is the uptempo with it comes a very British video, shot at Hope Cove on the Devon coast, directed by Alexander Brown who has created an evocative narrative about a boy and his very special boxcar. The track is a mere collection of slick synth dance beats making the track a potential club hitter. You can hear positivity from the track which makes it absolutely radio friendly as a summer anthem.
Owl City is the electronic brainchild of Adam Young, who launched the project in 2007 while living at his parents' home in Owatonna, Minnesota. Troubled by insomnia, Young began spending his evenings in the household basement, where a computer and several instruments provided a welcome diversion from his sleeping patterns. He eventually combined those diversions into a blend of electronica and emo-pop, using little more than his computer and various keyboards to record the material. Songs were uploaded to MySpace upon completion, and Young began attracting a surprising amount of attention on the networking site. Owl City has reached the "Top Unsigned Artist" position on Myspace, having over 10 million total plays. Young maintains two side projects, Swimming With Dolphins, and Port Blue: "If your household appliances wrote love songs while you were away on vacation, their cheerful blips and bleeps would pour out the windows, sweep through the neighborhood like candy-coated tidal waves, and you would return home to find crowds of people standing on your lawn, clapping and singing along to the happiest pop melodies imaginable. Welcome to Owl City."

Just when you were finally getting the inescapable hit "Fireflies" out of your head, Owl City, also known as the synth pop project by musical genius, Adam Young is back to claim your soul, in proud to announce the exclusive video premiere on his MySpace blog: "Oh hey! Guess what!? The brand-spankin' new "Vanilla Twilight" music video is now up for your optical enjoyment at OwlCityMusic.com! There are some seriously sneaky Shaq'in surprises, so keep your eyes peeled like an orange waiting to be eaten. Oh, and I'm considering moving into a lighthouse."

The longing pop ballad new single "Vanilla Twilight" is the second single off Owl City's second album, and Universal Republic's debut "Ocean Eyes." It's about Young's high school girlfriend, who moved away. He sings of lost love, the happy and painful memories that come with it, and moving on. The song features both piano and synthesizer instrumentation.

The awe inspiring video for "Vanilla Twilight" was shot in the snow-covered Historic North Side district of Pittsburgh, PA and re-teaming with the help of Steve Hoover (Director) and Danny Yourd (Producer) of Endeavor Media. Both made huge success of the chart-topper "Fireflies," went to No.1 in 22 countries around the world and has gone triple platinum since release.

"Vanilla Twilight" is a great example of a video taking a straight-ahead song about missing someone you love and turning it into something much bigger. Depending upon how you want to interpret it, via the video the song becomes a much bigger meditation on death and the signs that loved ones can send us after they shuffle off this mortal coil. In this case, the loved one is sending a big old hug via a gorgeous sunset that looks like of like the Northern Lights. What Young continues to do in his music is make it have a soul. He is a very inspirational person in the art and music field. It seems the new single, "Vanilla Twilight," is on the same trajectory, being certified gold and steadily climbing the charts around the globe.

Well, honestly I just found out this great CD and found myself entertained throughout whole CD and its fantastic and I love all of 12 tracks by heart, have to say this is one of the best ever! Believe it or not, Owl City is a state of mind, not a place, like a bird-lover's destination, nor is even a band. It's only one man, Adam Young, a 23-year-old from Minnesota who is influences are disco and European electronic music and started making music on PC in his parents' basement from early 2007. 1980s synthpop and New Wave music is also heard in Owl City's sound. I've quickly become a fan of Owl City now. So you'll just have to believe me when I say that this is the band you have been waiting for.
What started out as a project in the basement with a mike and synthesizer turned into a self-recorded and released EP and eventually a deal with the Universal label, which issued his major label debut (his sophomore album), "Ocean Eyes" in July 14(digital), and September 1(physical). Owl City's dreamy synth-pop soon became an online phenomenon. The synthpop artist Young's songs have been played almost 48 million times on the Owl City MySpace page. Now MySpace users apparently love his music, which has millions of listens. As of yesterday, the up-and-coming artist Young's Owl City album ranked No. 14 on iTunes, sandwiched between Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Black Eyed Peas. The lead song "Fireflies" was an instant success and chosen as the Single of the Week by iTunes. This led to a huge success as the song was downloaded over 650,000 times and helped the album peak at #2 on the store. The building on the cover is the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
The album "Ocean Eyes" features guest vocals by Relient K vocalist Matt Thiessen, and is a collection of every thing he can do well, and synth pop gems that will delight the most hardened and discerning of musical fanatics. Like new urban contemporaries lights, Young's music is primarily synth based, dreamy and atmospheric, and MySpace into the most breathtaking aural waterfall. There’s no doubt that the album is all very cutesy and sugary in it’s lyrically content. All in all, the album is a success with catchy hooks, great loops and some serious harmonizing. It is the perfect summer album, but it’s doubtful the songs will remain on playlists for longer than that because this album only finds the happy in life. The video for "Fireflies" directed by Steve Hoover, features Young playing the song on his synthesizer in a toy-filled bedroom, where most of the toys come to life.