Tag: Foster The People

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Music Remixes

Foster The People – Houdini (RAC Remix)

What makes Foster The People such a solid band is their unabashed approach to pop-rock. If they want to use a piano, they use a damn piano and slam out the chords. If they want to bring in a horn section and have them blare out notes over synths and their infectious falsettos, they do and it works. In everything you do, confidence is key (so cliche, but ride it out with me). Foster The People’s confidence in their sound is what makes their sound believable. They make it #werk. On top of that, they’re brilliant lyricists spinning youthful tales that aren’t contrived and far from being preachy. I guess it’s all in the name.

“Houdini” dropped early summer 2012. If anyone wants to know what this band is all about, all they have to do is listen to the original track. This track is like the bands resume and cover letter all packaged into a neat contagious three and a half minutes. RAC, however, tones down the poppy elements and chills the sound out over atmospheric chimes, a deep disco bass line, and chopped vocals. The elusive quality of the magician himself is captured in RAC’s remix. “Sometimes I wanna disappear” drops into a soundscape that’s both light and completely grounded. It’s a track that embodies the whole “have your cake and eat it, too” mentality. RAC’s serving us the best of both sounds. It’s ear candy at it’s finest.

Focus on your ability
Gain again what they want to steal.”

I’ve found that the more you begin to feel something good, the more the world tries to bring you down. I don’t think it’s a negative thing; rather, it’s a test to see how invested you are in the feeling — how willing are you to fight for it? The easy thing to do is throw your hands up and let the world win. It’s settling and I don’t believe in that…not anymore that is. Good things are worth the ugly, slightly torturous battles with your own ego. Focus on your ability.

Cheers to Sunday. Cheers to getting what you want.

Foster The People – Houdini (RAC Remix)

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Music Remixes

A-Trak, Kimbra, Mark Foster – Warrior (What So Not Remix)

Now this is a trio I was not expecting. New Zealand darling, Kimbra with Canadian wunderkind, A-Trak, and Foster The People’s Mike Foster on one track? Add a whole other level of hype with the duo behind What So Not and we have on our hands a solid track to turn the lights off, turn up the volume, and get down. Trust me here, this track deserves your speaker’s full attention.

Kimbra has never sounded sexier than she does here on this track. Her vocals in the chorus, deep in her register, exude a certain kind of lust that’s animalistic and utterly human. She effortlessly swings between her charming self and hidden sex-kitten ego within seconds of each other. What So Not takes the original track’s heavy A-Trak production and spins it into a dark basement dance hall banger. A deep drum bumps under a heavy synth wobble. The tension in the build is released in one of the most unexpected drops I’ve heard. When I first heard it I may or may not have screamed a little. It’s a drop made for dark corner dancing and sending lust-filled looks over a drink (y’all know what I’m talking about).

What So Not’s goal with their music is to create music like this “because the world needs more bangers.” They’ve given us a one helluvah banger here and I’m not complaining. I guess a little shout-out to Converse is necessary here because the brand brought these three artists together in the first place for their annual “3 Artists, 1 Song” series. Thanks to them, What So Not heard it and saw a bit of themselves in the song and here we are, on a Friday night that’s just beginning with a track worthy of night-time debauchery.

A-Trak, Kimbra, Mark Foster – Warrior (What So Not Remix)

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Music Remixes

Kendrick Lamar – Swimming Pools (Drank) (At Dawn We Rage Fest Edit)

kendrick-lamar-swimming-pools-drank-video-600x450

The first time I heard Kendrick Lamar was in that flurry of remixes of Foster the People’s Pumped Up Kicks. Yeah, remember that song? Yeah, if you can stretch your mind all the way back to 2011, you’ll remember that familiar indie pop excitement of that song about a modern-day shootout. DJ Reflex remixed the famously fun track and featured a budding young Lamar. I fell in love with his curious intonations and nearly tongue-tying lyrical waves.

In October 2012, Lamar released his second studio album good kid, m.A.A.d city, featuring the incredibly heavy track Swimming Pools (Drank). The track easily hung in the Top 100 and was even named by Rolling Stone as the 34th best song of 2012. Lamar’s rhymes are painfully honest and undeniably relatable. The repetitive narration falls right in line with the bass. Lamar’s music easily reflects the influences of 2Pac, B.I.G. and Eminem, but what makes him unique, specifically on Swimming Pools, is how accessible the theme of the song is. His lyrics speak to the spiraling turns of alcoholism, inner conflict and the monotony of indulgence.

Pour up, drank, head shot, drank
Sit down, drank, stand up, drank
Pass out, drank, wake up, drank
Faded, drank, faded, drank

Okay, now open your mind up and listen to me, Kendrick
I’m your conscience, if you do not hear me
Then you will be history, Kendrick
I know that you’re nauseous right now
And I’m hopin’ to lead you to victory, Kendrick
If I take another one down
I’ma drown in some poison abusin’ my limit
I think that I’m feelin’ the vibe
I see the love in her eyes, I see the feelin’
The freedom is granted as soon as the damage of vodka arrive
This how you capitalize
This is parental advice.”

At Dawn We Rage, a duo of producer and drummer, adds a sprinkle of trance onto Lamar’s Swimming Pools. The duo delicately morphs the track into a quiet trap edit, accessible to a far broader audience. The message of struggle and pain still pours through the speakers and finds its power in Lamar‘s lyricism.

Kendrick Lamar – Swimming Pools (Drank) (At Dawn We Rage Fest Edit)

Also, in honor of having just seen Django Unchained, here’s the DJ Reflex remix of Pumped Up Kicks.

Foster the People feat. Kendrick Lamar – Pumped Up Kicks (DJ Reflex Remix)

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Music

EMPT Presents – S U M M E R : a n t i – w i n t e r 3B by Ryan Radler

I think releasing Ryans mixtapes on Monday’s has completely altered my perception of this previously dreaded day. I don’t know about you guys but everything in my life revolves around music, it’s my bread & butter, my hobby,  basically all of the above. I love it so there are no complaints, however I’m a fan of music before anything but since I’m always behind the scenes I rarely get to play that role. That’s why these mixtapes are such a treat for me. Once a week, I get to totally kick back and just enjoy someone else’s work on and vision and that’s mastercard priceless to me. By now you all know these tapes are predictably amazing so I don’t have to sell it to you, just Ryan Radler mixing up styles and genres like clockwork. That said, I’m gonna order some grub and chill out for the entirety of this tape before getting back to work, a much needed break. Enjoy.

SUMMER: a n t i – w i n t e r 3b

Everything Good – JENSON SPORTAG (TEEEL REMIX)
Pumpked up Kicks – FOSTER THE PEOPLE (THE KNOCKS SPEEDING BULLET REMIX)
Kilometer – SéBASTIAN TELLER (A-TRAK REMIX)
Drinking in L.A. – BRAN VAN 3000
Kiwi Maddog 20/20 – ELLIOT SMITH
And So I Know – STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
Ghost In My Head – NIVA
Bicycle – MEMORY TAPES
Another Time – BRAHMS
Social Studies – BODY LANGUAGE (PLASTIC PLATES REMIX)
Nova – THE SOUND OF ARROWS
Sleepwalk (Extended Version) – SANTO & JOHNNY
Somebody to Love Me – MARK RONSON AND THE BUSINESS INTL. (FT. BOY GEORGE & MIIKE SNOW)
Fail Forever – WHEN SAINTS GO MACHINE
Salty Air – J. VIEWZ
So Long – RILO KILEY

EMPT Presents – S U M M E R : a n t i – w i n t e r 3 B by Ryan Radler by Et Musique Pour Tous

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Music

Foster the People – Warrant

Quick post here for your Tuesday. The highly antcipated debut album, Torches, from Foster the People finally released yesterday and happened to exceed my high expectations. Warrant is the last track on the album and grabbed my attention the most especially when I heard it live for the first time at Coachella last month. Their songs have an infectious buoyant energy that can’t be denied while listening. I caught these guys again last night in Hollywood at Jimmy Kimmel Live for a mini concert which wasn’t a true concert experience but sufficed nonetheless. Been listening to this album religiously and got to say it’s been nothing short of amazing, for a stellar freshman album release.

Got to get away
Everyone inside my head
Got to get away
They want me alive or dead”

Go out and support the Los Angeles natives when they tour in your city, you won’t be disapointed.

Foster the People – Warrant

– Joel

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Music Soundtracks

Coachella 2011 Recap – Mixtape

Earlier this week I returned from my mecca in the desert, Coachella. This was my 2nd year attending as the people were beautiful, the weather was blazin, and the music was blissful. With such a loaded lineup, it’s impossible to see every artist you want to catch, as I missed plenty of good acts due to time conflicts or the stage I was at, but here are the sets I was able to catch a good portion of:

Fri – Warpaint, Cee-Lo Green, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, A-Trak, Afrojack, Cold War Kids, Brandon Flowers, Interpol, The Black Keys, Sasha, & The Chemical Brothers

Sat – Freelance Whales, Foals, Joachim Garraud, Chuckie, Cage the Elephant, Yelle, Bright Eyes, The Swell Season, Mumford & Sons, Fedde le Grand, Steve Angello, Empire of the Sun, Arcade Fire

Sun – Jack’s Mannequin, City & Colour, Angus & Julia Stone, Jimmy Eat World, Nas & Damian Marley, Foster the People, Ratatat, The Strokes, Leftfield & Kanye West

If you have the funds or the time to make it next year, I can’t recommend it enough. I set high expectations for the festival each year and the festival  has surpassed them every time. Here is a bunch of video highlights put together by JamBase – Coachella Highlights

Below is a mixtape of songs I enjoyed the most at the festival. Hopefully these tracks can already generate a flashback to those who were there. I’m assuming you’ve heard most of these tracks by now but just in case you haven’t. . .

Freelance Whales – Generator First Floor

Empire of the Sun – Standing on the Shore

Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

Ratatat – Mirando

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong

Yelle – Comme Un Enfant

Foster the People – Houdini

Cage the Elephant – Shake Me Down

Kanye West – Can’t Tell Me Nothing

The Chemical Brothers – Swoon

Mumford & Sons – White Blank Page

Angus & Julia Stone – Yellow Brick Road

– Joel

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Le Miel du Mois by Steph Lund: Mars 2011

There’s never been a ni$%@ this good for this long
This hood, or this pop, this  hot or this strong
With so many different flows, this ones for this song
The next one I’ll switch up – This one will get bit up
These fucks to lazy to make up shit
They crazy, they don’t paint pictures
They just trace me.” – Jay-Z

That verse is exactly how I would describe Steph’s LMDM series, especially after the bomb she delivers this month. March crept up on us thanks to the February’s short month trickery and on the 28th I got an email from Steph reading exactly as follows –

its march tomorrow…..!!!!?!??!?!

LMDM is usually a month long project and I have to admit I was a little worried when I heard it this time around it was going to happen in about 24 hours but like a true champ Steph stepped up and absolutely crushed it. By now you’ve probably figured out that you can’t figure this girl out, I mean Skeeter Davis into Star Slinger?! How does it work, how is each tape so different month after month and I tip my hat to yet another fantastic installment of LMDM…

What more can i say?
What more can i do?
I give this all to you…” – Hovito (What More Can I Say)

A 1964 song opens this one. Another track I wanted to single out is Star Slinger’s remix of The Go! Team’s Apollo Throwdown and also the Diamond Messages track, which I fell in love with on the spot when EMPT posted it a few weeks ago. I found 3D Friends when we interviewed the SKINS 19 year old music supervisor from London, you can check out that interview here, and the closer to the mix, White Wishes is another one to check out (all of their material is available to download for free on their bandcamp page)- everything I listen to by them I love. Have fun in the March moments.

Le Miel du Mois at work? That’s much better than work at work! Download

Tracklisting:

  1. Skeeter Davis – Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Theresa Brewer Cover)
  2. The Go! Team – Apollo Throwdown (Star Slinger Remix)
  3. Diamond Messages – Liquid Summer
  4. 3D Friends – Lina Magic
  5. The Drums – Me and The Moon (Clock Opera Remix)
  6. Smith Westerns – All Die Young
  7. Foster The People – Houdini
  8. Pretty Lights – Forever Lost
  9. Yelle – Que Veux-Tu (Madeon remix)
  10. Phantogram – Let Me Go
  11. Royksopp- Keyboard Milk
  12. Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers (The Magician Remix)
  13. Ravens & Chimes – Division Street
  14. White Wishes – Happy and Afraid

 

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Music

Foster the People – Helena Beat

If you haven’t heard “Pumped Up Kicks” yet by LA based band, Foster the People, then um . .. do your ears a favor and listen to it now. Foster the People is mesmerizing the music scene in LA with one track at a time as “Helena Beat” is the next track off their EP which has everyone groovin’ to their synth heavy jam.  I find it extremely difficult to stand still while this track is bumping on my speakers as the energy from their vocals and beats is infectious as their talent  transcends to another level. Personally, the song escapes me to an 80’s like era where I’m pacing on a beach boardwalk with nothing but smiles encompassing all around me.

Sometimes life it takes you by the hand.
It puts you down before you know it
It’s gone and you’re dead again.
I’ve been in places and I won’t pretend
That I make it I just follow my head.

With comparisons to the elder version of MGMT and Passion Pit, Foster the People has only been together for going on 2 years and only have released 3 tracks off their EP. The music blog community will be drooling over their tracks once the album drops later in 2011. I’m still kickin’ myself after missing their free residency shows they played every week in the month of January, given it will probably be the last opportunity to catch these guys in an intimate venue. They will be touring stateside this spring with Grouplove for selected shows.

If you’re lucky enough to be going to Coachella, I will catch you front and center for Foster the People.

– Joel

Foster the People – Helena Beat

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Le Miel du Mois by Steph Lund: Fevrier 2011

There’s a million Valentines day commercials on TV, red is everywhere and I still had no idea it was already February until Steph sent me the lastest installment of LMDM. Who can blame me though, the city’s been dark and cold for who knows how long so I’ve made it my duty to zone out on all things music.

This month Steph is a facilitator because all you want to do while listening is escape to the surreal dreamscape she creates with the song selection and sequencing. Just listening to See of Bees going to Jamie XX to Fleet Foxes will instantly change your environment and put you in an extremely relaxed, balanced and creative mindset. Don’t forget though, this is a Steph mixtape and what goes down must come up and you could start dancing at any time with little to no warning. Once again, Steph kicks it up a notch cooking up a mix fresher than the rest leading me to title Steph and LMDM as your favorite mixtape maker’s favorite mixtape, enjoy.

I discovered Sea of Bees in Rough Trade, London. The opening track on the album is Gnomes, and I thought it was perfect to open the tape with that as well. Her voice is strong and a little different and I think it sets a great tone for February’s mix. Agent A & Omae is another band I found last month that you should definitely check out more on their bandcamp and download their whole album, its amazing. I could say something about each track, but I’ll leave it at that and let you decide which are your new and maybe some old favorites..”

Le Miel du Mois at work? That’s much better than work at work! Download

Tracklisting:

  1. Sea of Bees – Gnomes
  2. Jamie XX – Far Nearer
  3. Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal
  4. Foster the People – Helena Beat
  5. Agent A & Omae – Breathing 2007
  6. Polarsets – Morning
  7. Aydio – Deltitnu
  8. Slowwave – Pour
  9. Wine & Cheese – Make It With You
  10. The Naked & Famous – Young Blood
  11. Starfucker – Born
  12. Vadoinmessico – In Spain
  13. Candy Claws – Catamaran
  14. Tame Impala – Lucidity (Pilooski Remix)
  15. Ratatat – Mi Viejo


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Le Miel du Mois by Steph Lund: Septembre

A lot of exciting things are happening this month, Hear No Evil continues to lock in clients, EMPT did over 2 Terabytes of traffic last month which is flat out ridiculous for this underground baby, and moves are being made on a daily to keep things in motion – We get’s busy ya’ll. On top of all that I woke up not too long ago to work on this mixtape and I was in pure delight when I finally got to listen to this months LMDM. Steph and I call ourselves twins when it comes to music and the song selection, vibe, energy and good times represented in this tape couldn’t make that little inside joke more true. To put it simply, she killed it. All the haters who showed up last month, this tape is going to be tough to deal with so…

Don’t hold on too long cause that’s how them stories start out, and all the girls that played me eat your mother fucking heart out…- Drake (Unforgettable)

All the other mixtape makers who’ve followed our blueprint, we’re flattered but remember…

I’m We the best at, you know I ain’t no apprentice to this
Me and my ni%&a# we invented the shit
I We came into the business with this, The Originator, none greater
Jaz Steph-O finish this shit…” – Jay-Z (Jigga What, Jigga Who)

“There are a ton of amazing new indie and electro acts out right now. Lefse Records and Arcade Sound are two labels I always watch closely because they just seem to know how to pick em.

This month’s LMDM highlights a lot of new breakouts including Brooklyn based Bronze (unsigned), San Francisco’sBlackbird Blackbird (Arcade Sound) and Dominant Legs (Lefse Records), Cleveland’s Cloud Nothings (Old Flame Records), 19 year old Brooklyn based Oberhofer (7″ out on InSound now), Hamburg’s Dirty Disco Youth (Dim Mak) and Chicago’s My Gold Mask (unsigned). And with summer (sigh) over, these artists give us a lot to look forward to with a breath of fresh air in their respective indie and electro genres. Go get your hands on as much of their stuff as you can, support them and buy their EP’s/albums.” -The O.RI.GI.NA.TOR

Le Miel du Mois at work? That’s much better than work at work! Download

Tracklisting:

1. The Meters – Hand Clapping Song
2. The Temper Trap –  Love Lost (Keljet Remix)
3. Cloud Nothings – Hey Cool Kid
4. Au Revoir Simone – Tell Me (Clock Opera Remix)
5. Oberhofer – I Could Go
6. Bronze – Deep Freeze
7. Dominant Legs – Clawing Out At the Walls
8. Blackbird Blackbird – Pure
9. Royksopp – This Space
10. Bill Withers – Who Is He (Henrik Schwarz Edit)
11. My Gold Mask – Bitches (The Hood Internet remix)
12. Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks
13. Summer Camp – Ghost Train
14. Dirty Disco Youth – Minds Off (Teen Symmetry Remix)