Owl City – All Things Bright and Beautiful

July 1, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

Adam Young of Owl City isn’t so much someone who writes songs as someone who paints glorious pictures with his music.

Today I had the honour of talking to Adam on the phone as part of my radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM.

You can listen to our conversation by clicking the play button of the audio player at the bottom of this post.

Adam started out by creating music in his parents’ basement but these days he’s one of the biggest music acts on the planet. Adam is responsible for lead vocals, programming, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitars, bass guitar, drums, percussion, vibraphone and accordion on Owl City’s recordings.

A few years ago when he released the single Fireflies, it became a number one smash hit in 24 countries.

Owl City is an American electronic/synthpop musical project by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young formed in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. Young created the project while experimenting with music in his parents’ basement. Like many musicians that achieved success in the era between 2005 and 2009, Owl City developed a following on the music and social networking site Myspace in the late 2000s before signing with Universal Republic in 2008.

After two independent albums, Owl City gained mainstream popularity with the 2009 major label debut album Ocean Eyes, which spawned the quadruple-platinum hit single “Fireflies” and lesser hit “Vanilla Twilight”. The album was certified Platinum in the United States in April 2010. – Wiki

His new album, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and the single, Alligator Sky, are delighting music lovers all over again. Enjoy listening to Adam talking about his musical journey.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR070111_1055.mp3]

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Wes Carr – Been a Long Time

May 19, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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This is the great new song for Wes Carr.

Born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia, Wes first began to teach himself guitar and piano at the age of twelve. He’s been performing ever since but he finally gained national recognition by becoming the winner of the 2008 series of Australian Idol.

Wes has just released his new single and he joined me on the 98.5 Sonshine FM to talk about his music this morning.

You can hear our chat by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR190511_1032.mp3]

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Research Discovers the Power of Music

January 10, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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It seems that you can’t go anywhere these days without seeing people tuning out the world by being plugged into their portable music devices. If new research by McGill University in Montreal, Canada is right, there’s a very good reason that more of us are choosing to listen to more and more music.

The researchers have found that the chemical, dopamine, is released into our bodies in response to music that we enjoy.

Dopamine increases in response to other stimuli such as food and money.

It is known to produce a feel-good state in response to certain tangible stimulants – from eating sweets to taking cocaine.

Dopamine is also associated with less tangible stimuli – such as being in love.

In this study, levels of dopamine were found to be up to 9% higher when volunteers were listening to music they enjoyed.

The report authors say it’s significant in proving that humans obtain pleasure from music – an abstract reward – that is comparable with the pleasure obtained from more basic biological stimuli. – BBC News

It’s no real surprise to me that music can have such a powerful effect. The surprise to me is that there are some people who have little interest in music. They’re in the minority but I can’t imagine life without music.

There are some pieces of music that can leave me absolutely breathless with others that can instantly transform my mood. Some music can give me an instant energy boost when I’m exercising or help me mellow out when I’m stressed.

Music isn’t the answer to all life’s problems, and it was never intended to be, but there is something quite wonderful about hearing a melody or lyric that touches something deep inside us.

How about you? What kind of music touches you? Is there a special song that can lift you when you’re feeling low? Please leave a comment or two about your experience with music.



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Paul Daniel Previews WASO 2011

November 29, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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Paul Daniel is Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO).

He was Music Director of English National Opera from 1997 until 2005. He has worked with London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and far too many others to mention around the world. He’s conducted the internationally televised Last Night of the Proms in London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1998 he received a Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera and was awarded the CBE in the 2000 Honours List.

He’s now preparing for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s 2011 season and he joined me in the studio this morning during my radio program on 98.5 Sonshine FM. We talked about the very wide range of performances planned for the new year. Audiences are set to be taken on an incredible musical voyage.

Some people may think of classical music as pieces that were written hundreds of years ago, but WASO continues to premiere new works and be extremely innovative in taking their extraordinary talents to a wider audience.

WASO’s vision is to touch souls and enrich lives through music. Throughout 2011 we’ll be turning that aspiration into reality, reaching out into the community and touching the lives of people across Western Australia.

Our 2011 season builds on the great successes of previous seasons, and also introduces some new ideas.

You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player below.
[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR291110_1101.mp3]



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Soundtrack of My Life – You Are in My System

November 1, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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SoundtrackofMyLife.jpgYouTube is full of memories. The video below of Robert Palmer takes me back over 25 years to the days when I’d walk into Happy Granny’s at Scarborough Beach sometime after midnight with a couple of good friends. It was a hamburger place and even before I got to the counter Ursula would be calling my order into the microphone. “One Tri-Burger, no salad, large chips, and a caramel thick shake.” Yes, I was really that predictable and I really did eat that badly.

Once I’d paid for my late night munchies I’d walk over to the video juke box and put in my money so that I could play Robert Palmer’s You Are in My System. I could watch it over and over again.

Back in those days we would sometimes be sitting around at home at 1:00 a.m. and decide to head off to Happy Granny’s for a burger. For the life of me I can not work out why any more. Back then 1 or 2 in the morning seemed like a perfectly reasonable time to grab something significant to eat. These days, the idea of being awake, let alone eating anything, at 11:00 p.m. seems completely unthinkable.

If I could swap one day from 2010 to revisit those times I’d probably do it, but I certainly wouldn’t want to go back there permanently. I’ve got great memories of those times but life is so much better here and now.

As for the song, I’ve never even owned a copy. I’ve got a couple of Robert Palmer CDs but neither contains You Are in My System. Maybe I should find a ‘best of’ that has it some day or maybe it’s just one of those songs that will remain a memory that I can find online every now and then when I want to wander down memory lane.

What songs make up the soundtrack of your life? What memories come flooding back when you hear a particular song?

Robert Palmer died way too soon in 2003 at the age of just 54 from a massive heart attack. An enormous loss to the entertainment world.

Enjoy watching the video …. and make sure you turn it up really loud.



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