Foster the People's EP: Fresh Fun for the Ears

Recipe for a fresh semester...Ingredients: fresh attitude, fresh look and fresh tunes. Instructions: The attitude is yours to improve and create, as well as the look. For the tunes,  listen no further than Foster the People, an LA-based indie pop trio with the abilities to get your head bobbing on your way to class.

Foster the People

 On their three-song EP, members Mark Foster, Mark Pontius, and Cubbie Fink collaborate superbly, creating psychedelic jams as if The Beach Boys and MGMT produced a lovechild. Each member multitasks with precision and obvious skill. Foster covers vocals, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitar, programming and percussion. Pontius provides the rhythm with drums and other percussive instruments, while Cubbie plays bass and does backing vocals. Holding so many musical roles could make for a sloppy result but not with these guys. They execute every sound to near perfection.

"Houdini" consists of a beat that tattoos itself on the listener's mind and a sweet chorus. The synthesizer and keys are the shining stars in this tune, creating an exciting pulse on top of the percussion. This track is delightfully catchy and begs for someone, anyone to dance to it. Check out their performance of it in this video.



"Helena Beat" has a mysterious feel to it in the beginning with its crescendos and decrescendos, but eventually speeds up and transforms into a guitar-driven power-pop jam. Foster's upper range is very well showcased throughout the song, with the back-up vocals just adding another layer of fun during the choruses.

"Pumped Up Kicks" plays like a Beach Boys-esque summer anthem. Foster the People's knack for creating catchy rhythms is extremely apparent in this song. The rhyming in the lyrics makes it very easy to catch on and sing along after a few plays. This track is lively and epitomizes Foster the People's greatest talent: making fun, fresh music.

Pick up Foster the People's EP or album, "Torches," if you are ready to vamp up your indie pop playlist.

Photo credit: http://cdn.idolator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/foster-the-people.jpg