Album Review: The Midsummer Station by Owl City

Adam Young, better known as electronic pop superstar Owl City, first became famous when Fireflies was released as his first single in early 2009. After that single debuted at number one on Billboard, you could see that Young was already started on what is now the biggest Electronic Pop artist in music. If you listen to the new album The Midsummer Station. You hear more than just the electronic he is known for. There are hints of rock (Dementia and Embers), Dubstep (Bombshell Blonde), and even soft rock (Silhouette). Young has always been a musical inspiration to me, and makes no excuses or exceptions on the new record.

Young begins the album with Dreams and Disasters, a track that, in my opinion, sounds a little bit like David Guetta/Usher's hit song Without You. It's a song that's basically saying, if you have a dream, don't quit and make it a disaster. The second track, Shooting Star, was the albums lead single. What the song is suggesting is that even though the world will try to bring you down, don't let them, it's your life!

If you've listened to any of the album, you will realize that the theme is basically dreams. Almost every song has something to do with dreams. Gold falls nothing short of that. It is saying that even though you don't believe in your dreams, everyone else does. The 4th track on the cd is Dementia and features guest vocal's from blink-182's Mark Hoppus. This happens to be my favorite song on the album. It's a nice electronic rock tune that suggest, once again, that even though you feel like giving up, "keep the pace just in case all the magic dies."

I'm Coming After You is a sweet love song that has the singer telling his love to stay cause he misses her. Speed of Love is a song that portrays everyone trying to find love. Even though love is a very hard race to win, keep it going, cause in the end, you will win.

One of the best songs on the album and probably my favorite, Good Time is a Summer anthem that will remain on your playlist well into winter. It features guest vocals from Call Me Maybe artist Carly Rae Jepsen. It's basically a fun song that says you can have fun and a good time no matter what. Embers is another one of my favorite songs on the album. It's another song about chasing your dreams, so there is not much more to say about it.

That one soft rock sounding song is Silhouette. It's probably, in my opinion, the most beautifully written song on the album. Young says in the song that he wants to put his fears and failures to bed and that's pretty much the theme throughout the whole song. Track 10 on the album, Metropolis, was written by Young's very good friend, Matt Theissen of Relient K. He says in the song that he left his heart in Metropolis, basically saying he found love there. The final track on the physical and Amazon MP3 version of the album is Take it All Away. It's a sad breakup song where the singer, although doesn't relationship to end, it's for the best.

As I mentioned before, the theme throughout The Midsummer Station is dreams. This is also the first album Young collaborated with others for writing the tracks for the album. Even though it was released at the end of Summer, this is a very Summery album, but will remain on your playlist well into December. Great job once again Adam!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Purchase Links: iTunes, Amazon MP3

Top 3 Songs: Embers, Good Time, and, Dementia

For Fans of: David Guetta, Carly Rae Jepsen, blink-182

Until Next Time, Alex

Album Review - Eye On It by tobyMac

Kevin Michael McKeehan, better known by his stage name, tobyMac, has been on the Christian Hip-Hop/R&B ever since 1987 with dc Talk. When they broke up 14 years later, Toby decided to release his first solo project Momentum. Three years later comes the very successful Welcome to Diverse City. A few of the songs were featured in Movie/TV ads, SprortsCenter, and The Dr. Phil Show. Let's fast forward another three years and Toby releases Portable Sounds, his first album with collaborations. Those include American Idol contestant Mandisa, Shonlock, and Kirk Franklin. That was yet another very successful album for Toby. If you go ahead about 2 1/2 years, City on Our Knees, the lead single from Tonight is released, this song becomes number one on billboard and win him yet another Dove award. This album has another bunch of huge collaborations including his nephew, lead singer of Relient K, Matt Theissen, John Cooper, lead singer of Skillet, and Israel Houghton. You think that's successful? Let's forward to this week and he releases Eye On It. As I'm writing this review, it is still number 1 AND 2 overall on iTunes. You can tell already this is going to be a successful album! Mr. tobyMac, I would love to thank you for releasing another album to make my iPod and me smile! All the great things I'm about to say in this review are well deserved!

Me Without You, the first single off the album is one of Toby's most "poppy" songs ever. It talks about his faith and how he basically cannot be without God, or he would be lost. The second song on the album, Steal My Show, is a more mellow song off the album that is Toby saying, "God, whatever you want me to do, I'm in!" Probably my favorite song off the album is the title track. It is that one heavy rock song Toby always has to have on his albums, and also features Britt Nicole. Toby needed one more song for the album at the end of June and was currently on writer's block. He wanted to quit, but knew he couldn't, he had to keep his eyes on the prize and eventually wrote this anthem.

Forgiveness features one of Christian music's biggest rappers, LeCrae. It talks about, even though sometimes we feel like we don't deserve it, God is always there with forgiveness. Speak Life is another amazing anthem from the album. It's telling you to tell people great things, because you never know when those few words can be life-saving/-changing for someone. Unstoppable is a song that features Group 1 Crew's Blanca Reyes. It's saying that even though Christianity is a hard religion to be a part of, we are an unstoppable religion.

Does it ever seem like you act bigger than God? Toby can't explain it better than in Lose Myself. He feels like sometimes he is bigger than God and is telling God to take everything that he is and loves. Family, the 8th song on the album, is an anthem for couples who are on the edge of divorce. In the song, he is portraying a family struggling to stay together. In Thankful For You, McKeehan is working in a diner at the beginning of the song, as he is on the verge of his rapping career.

One thing Toby loves less than God, but more than anything else is his wife. He portrays that love perfectly in Made For Me. He's saying, that even though his wife and him have a lot of differences, that doesn't stop him. If you're a long-time tobyMac fan, you will know that every one of his solo albums has one song that his son, TruDog sings. He has matured so much with the new track Mac Daddy (Tru's Reality). He talks about saving up for a Mac laptop and looking for a job in the song. Favorite Song, the final track on the standard version of the album, features Jaime Grace. It compares God to his favorite song, because He sticks with him all the time.

Eye On It is going to be yet another hit album from Christian pop's biggest artist. There are slow ballads, such as Family all the way to going-to-be-dance-anthems like the title track. Even though the album has so many summery songs, it will be on your playlist even when it is snowing or freezing outside! This album is a must-buy for pop fans!

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Purchase Links: iTunes, Amazon MP3

Top 3 songs: Eye On It, Unstoppable, Mac Daddy (Tru's Reality)   

For Fans of: LeCrae, KJ-52, Group 1 Crew

Until Next Time, Alex

20 Most Anticipated Albums of 2012

Now for the most anticipated of 2012:
20.) Plans Within Plans - MxPx
19.) Lost In Transition - Sixpence None The Richer
18.) TBA - Project 86
17.) TBA - House of Heroes
16.) TBA - Showbread
15.) Scars & Stories - The Fray
14.) TBA - Paramore
13.) TBA - The Classic Crime
12.) TBA - Relient K
11.) Believer - Kutless
10.) Crave - For King And Country
9.)  TBA - Tenth Avenue North
8.) The Hurt and The Healer - MercyMe
7.) TBA - P.O.D.
6.) TBA - TobyMac
5.) TBA - Flyleaf
4.) NOW - Fireflight
3.) Paralyzed - Brian "Head" Welch
2.) The End Is Where We Begin - Thousand Foot Krutch
1.) TBA - Skillet

Top 20 Albums of 2011

I was going to do this in two separate posts, but I am a tree hugger, so yeah! But this is honoring the best albums of 2011 and the new faves of 2012! Get ready, cause this is going to be awsome!

First off, The top 20 of 2011:
20.) Soul Surfer Soundtrack
19.) Moutains Move - Kristian Stanfill
18.) Live At The Masqurade - Thousand Foot Krutch
17.) Get Closer - Keith Urban
16.) Unbroken - Demi Lovato
15.) Ceremonials - Florence + The Machine
14.) Anthem Song - Aaron Gillespie
13.) Neveroddoreven - Shonlock
12.) All Things Bright And Beautiful - Owl City
11.) Listen To The Sound - Building 429
10.) Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay
9.) Scripted - Icon For Hire
8.) Destiny - Beckah Shae
7.) I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home) - The City Harmonic
6.) Crazy Love - Hawk Nelson
5.) Until We Have Faces - R3D
4.) III - Family Force 5
3.) The Anthem of Angels - Seventh Day Slumber
2.) Break The Spell - Daughtry
1.) The Reckoning - NEEDTOBREATHE

Academy of Alex's Favorite Music 2012 Music Awards!

First, to start off, this is the first annual AAFM Music Awards and I am very excited to award these musicians these very deserving awards! Even though no trophy will be involved, they have Spiritual trophies waiting for them in heaven!

 First award of the night is single of the year. This artist, in my opinion, hit the top of my charts with this song and I can't stop listening to it! The winner is... "Renegade" by Daughtry.

Now it comes to the second award. This is Female vocalist of the year. She had a very successful year with a Disney Channel show and a number 1 pop song, "Watch Me." This award goes to Miss Bella Thorne!

Well, since we just had female vocalist of the year, now it is time for male vocalist. This person excelled both on and off stage. He had not one but two number 1 songs "Strong Enough" and "My Own Little World." The award goes to... Matthew West!

Album of the year was the hardest award to pick, cause there were so many good ones!! Album of the year goes to... NEEDTOBREATHE's "The Reckoning."

Wow! There are only a couple of awards left to "give out." This next award is entertainer(s) of the year. This is my favorite band, and there is no mistaken how good they are! They won this award because of amazing concerts, including pyro and shooting fireworks out of their bass. They are planning to realease a new album in August or September. They deserve this more than anyone else. The artist is Skillet!!!

The award eeryone has been waiting for! Artist of the year!!!! This artist proves every time they realease an album, they just keep getting better. Even though they have arena-filling Alt-Metal songs, these guys can sure write a good ballad, too. Their album "Until We Have Faces" released almost a year ago and is an amazing album. Give it up for R3D!!!!!!!!

I seemed to ski an award! Video series of the year These are the funniest five guys I have ever seen! The title of their series is the "Really Real Show!" Family Force 5!!!!!!!!

Well, that is it for the awards for this year! I hope everyone is satisfied with the winners and see you next year!!

Until Next Time, Alex

I Am Mad & Done With People Trying To Ruin My Life!

My amazing weekend was following into tomorrow until like 8:30ish. One of my so-called "friends" told me that this girl thinks I'm creepy. I always try to be nice to him, but he always blames me for being mean. I can't use any names cause it's basically against the law, but, you don't even know how much I want the whole world to know him and how much I could be mad at this person!!! He always fells like I'm in the wrong, but then cusses me out. I think he needs to just get his act straight! I have already apologized, but he still hasn't. If you read this, you know who you are, I want you to know that I will keep trying to be nice and be friends! Doesn't even matter if you don't wanna be! One last thing, even though this song talks about beauty, take it from a different perspective. Who says we can't be friends? Who says you can't be nice?

Until Next Time, Alex

Free Tyrone Wells Metal & Wood EP

I saw Tyrone in concert opening for Thousand Foot Krutch and Run Kid Run last year, and he was REALLY good, so I was thrilled when I saw that his Acoustic EP was available for free. If you have never heard of him, he sounds like Mat Kearney, Jason Mraz, and Jack Johnson. His songs have also been featured on some pretty big movies and T.V. shows. Some of them are Numb3rs, Ghost Whisperer, Vampire Diaries, and My Sister's Keeper, just to name a few. So, if you watch those shows, you have probably heard his music before, just you didn't even know it! Tyrone is definitely worth a try! When you get a chance to listen to it, could you please leave a comment on what you think? Thank you!! 

Tyrone Wells - Metal & Wood EP for free on Noisetrade