Essay About Foster the People Torches Album Review
So to my excitement Monday night, I was able to purchase the long awaited (for me) debut album from the band Foster The People whom I had written a “What You Aren’t Listening To but Should Be” article about. I knew that I would not be able to listen to it in it’s entirety that night because of the lack of musical diversity allowed on my speakers at home, so I waited until the next morning.
I was able to “Complete My Album” through iTunes because I had bought their EP, which had a different title and everything (hopefully I wasn’t agreeing to the Human-Centipad or any of Steve Jobs’ other schemes). Only $4.00, you say? Great by me.
I popped it in and listened to it two times through. I usually listen to any album as a whole one time, and then after that, I listen to the album, minus any singles that I had already heard. I figured out that this is a good way to see the album as a whole, and then decipher whether it is the singles alone that you like, or if the entire LP is worthy of affection. The problem with singles that are released from smaller bands is that more often than not, they released those few singles because they were the best and most musically viable songs that the band had come up with in their repertoire. The other tracks aside from the singles in these circumstances are just album “filler.”
I had trouble deciding what I thought of the album the first two times I listened to it. But then probably on the third time through I started to realized that this was an “ok” album. The singles “Houdini,” “Pumped Up Kicks,” and “Helena Beat,” are the shining stars of the album as far as songs that you will want to listen to over and over again. They are unique in their own way, and yet something you’ve heard before, and like. The track “Call It What You Want” starts out with a kind of house-like electronic beat, and then goes into a choral medley, which actually is pretty catchy, and I would say makes my number 4 track on this album. The song “Waste” is interesting musically as well.
I like this album, but my honest impression of it is that the songs sound like a lot of songs where rappers will take the background track from another track and then simply dump lyrics over. Sometimes these guys sound like the Shins, sometimes they sound like Guster on a synthesizer, and sometimes they sound like Benny Benassi. I am more confused than anything. I would recommend just buying the EP with the singles on it, and then going to the band’s website and downloading the really badass DJ remixes of the EP songs.
Foster The People are a young band, and are certainly unique. And as I said, I like them, but I am not sure that they are or will be everyone’s cup of tea. Let us keep in mind that this is ok, and if you actually went out and listened to the EP when I recommended it, and liked it, you will be very happy with the whole album. I look forward to seeing how these guys do in the future. If you want to check them out live, you can go to the WFNX Clambake on Thursday, June 16th at the House of Blues in Boston. There will be an outside stage and an inside stage going at the same time. There are several different acts, including Foster the People, and of course, clams. Rock On!
