Foster The People (SUPERGOODMUSIC Exclusive Remix) & Other Summer Gems (Kosha Dillz & Tic Tic Boom!)

It seems like light years ago that I predicted Foster The People’s smile music was the sound of the future. Having premiered “Pumped Up Kicks” in SUPERGOODMUSIC’s Concert Blast in early 2010 and claimed it would be the next big thing – its been validating seeing it rise up the charts.

The bands two consecutive sold out shows tonight and tomorrow at El Rey Theatre shouldn’t come as a surprise given their album Torches blazed to number 8 on the Billboard charts, the album moved over 50,000 units and “Pumped Up Kicks” climbed to #1 on the alternative charts. That said, the sell out happened long before those sales figures were in – perhaps a testament to the band's vast array of festival performances on the calendar (Coachella, Sasquatch, Glastonbury, Outside Lands, etc.) or their home grown hype fueled by not only our blog’s love, but support from influential stations like KROQ. BTW, if you dont have tickets to their show - they are doing an after party with the Dance Right crew at La Cita. RSVP if you want to get in.

If you were part of the clan that got tickets to the shows – then you’re in for a glance at one of today’s emerging electro indie rock dance-pop acts. Foster The People’s electro rock-pop (indie doesn’t befit a band signed to a subdivision of Columbia) performances bear clear influence from electronic bands like Miike Snow, Cut Copy and others, as do the directions of some of their remixes – including this exclusive SUPERGOODMUSIC hosted gem “Pumped Up Kicks (Polaris At Noon Remix).”

The intro keys portend the dreamy danceathon that explodes at forty-six seconds into the song and from there, the anti-hero jam takes flight. If PUK was the Song of Summer 2010 as we, BlackBookMag and countless other bloggers had suggested, this remix might just be the right rework of that hipster anthem – ready to bear the title of Song of Summer 2011.

For another local LA band that is pumping out music worthy of consideration (and are friends of Foster The People’s drummer Mark Pontius) check out Tic Tic Boom! Their latest release “Bees” is a cute little indie offering that is ripe for summer. Their recent acoustic performance on Hunnypot Radio turned a lot of ears and brought questions on when their acoustic EP will be recorded (soon) and when their next performances are (The Central SAPC on July 27^th with Kissing Cousins and Correatown). If you have not checked this band out yet – visit their website at www.ticticboommusic.com and get "Bees" for free from their bandcamp page.

Also worthy of summer rotation, but of a totally different music vein, are Weapons of Audio's "If You Want Me" off of their Bipolar record and the just released RZA track that features new LA resident and rising hip-hop MC, Kosha Dillz as well as the legendary Kool G Rap. RZA dropped “Operator” on his facebook and soundcloud page for #WuWednesdays yesterday – giving crowds of heads a hot potato to marinate over after July 4^th BBQs were officially over. The unexpected release of "Operator" came on the same day as Kosha's teaser for his documentary dropped that follows him through some of his trials and tribulations as one of the hardest working MCS in hip-hop.

Read more about Kosha Dillz on his website Kosha Dillz World.

Mashers of The Year - The Hood Internet

The Hood Internet is taking the remix and mash-up world by storm - and this is nothing new if you're from Chicago or have been up on your blogroll. After impressing the industry at SXSW just a few weeks ago - they've embarked on a brief tour alongside Black Moth Super Rainbow's Tobacco that recently took them through Los Angeles, to both Echo and Detroit Bar.

The rest of their tour takes them to the following cities before ending in at Empty Bottle their hometown of Chicago:

Saturday 3/27 - Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco CA
Sunday 3/28 - WOW Hall, Eugene OR
Monday 3/29 - Holocene, Portland OR #
Tuesday 3/30 - Chop Suey, Seattle WA
Friday 4/2 - Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis MN ^
Saturday 4/3 - Empty Bottle, Chicago IL

My new favorite mash-up heroes just seem to get it right every time. From mixing Drake with Miike Snow to Dr. Dre with Class Actress, this duo knows how to take the good things from popular music and the good things from indie culture and bring it together to make something infectiously danceable, repeatable and awesome. I wish these guys would DJ every party I ever had.

You can check out a lot more about the group on their own site -http://www.thehoodinternet.com/ - as well as get free downloads to their zipped mixtapes and other songs.

Twenty-Foster Hours To Go

(Photo by Ashley Sears)

That's right, a little more than 24 hours to go until Foster The People take stage, please brains and make fans at The Viper Room on Wednesday February 24, 2010. It's never too early to start getting hyped, especially when so many other people are doing the same and buzzing about the band as evidenced by their popularity on hypem.com.

Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks" is currently sitting in the Top 10 most popular on hypem.com, propelled by its recent appearance in NYLON TV's coverage of Anna Sui during fashion week. All Mark Foster and his people needed was a vehicle for their music to be absorbed, and like lightning the 20 something artist from the suburbs of Cleveland and his band of People are making a serious buzz. You can check out the cool video from Nylon TV here or see it on YouTube here.

Not only are they turning eyes on NYLON TV and ears on hypem.com, but they expect to turn some heads at their show at The Viper Room. It just so happens to be Mark Foster's birthday celebration (the guy was actually born on leap year day) so you can only imagine what might transpire. If it is anything like their performance at the Stand Up benefit, you can expect some impressive vocals from Mark and some inspiring and creative improvisation from the entire band.

To top that off - the band just announced that they will be performing 2 shows in Austin, TX during SXSW - once on March 17th at a Music & Tech Mashup Event at Rusty Spurs along with other rising acts from Los Angeles like Saint Motel and Odd Modern, and on March 19th at the Rooftop Riot! at The Blind Pig on 6th Street where they will be sharing the stage with Andrew W.K. himself as well as other buzz bands including Glint and Little Girls.

Help the band continue building their buzz by giving them a heart on hypem here.

Breaking News - Foster The People Stand Up For The Kids In Venice

While we're working late at night on the Concert Blast, I just needed to share with the supergood community how exciting it was to see Foster The People this weekend at the Stand Up Charity Benefit.

Mark and the band were on fire. Mark kicked it off with some solo piano and guitar playing, where he charmed the crowd as he always does.

After several songs, Mark was joined by the rest of the band, including Reazon on his MPC 2000 XL.

As the band opened into a fuller sound, the room quickly became much more full. The bartenders were dancing, the temperature was rising., famous people were in the house (Desperate Housewives cast members as seen below, William H. Macy) and children were even gathering around for the performance.



In addition to covering material from Mark's previous work with the Rondo Brothers, the band also did the debut performance of "Pumped Up Kicks" which is available for download at the bands site - http://www.fosterthepeople.com/




The band treated the crowd to an impromptu version of "Get Up, Stand Up" that featured some improvised vocals by Mark (singing) and freestyles (Reason) that drew tremendous applause.

At the end of the night, you could feel a buzz in the crowd as if something special had happened. This band is poised to do big things in 2010. "Pumped Up Kicks" will be featured in NYLON's online coverage of Fashion Week and the band is currently working on confirming a date or two at SXSW - so interested parties should definitely holler at them! Don't miss out on the next special performance from Foster The People (and the second chance to hear the sure-fire hit "Pumped Up Kicks" live) at The Viper Room on February 24th. It will also be Mark's birthday celebration - so I might expect something wild :)