Tag Archives: Foster the People

Introducing Enfant…

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If you’ve ever frequented the dingy indie clubs of London town in recent years, I have no doubt that you will have seen these boys grace the stage in one of their previous guises. Their energy and sound has always been exciting. Their unique ability to get a new crowd singing along to their intelligently crafted and catchy hooks has never ceased to amaze me. They have an enviable knack of producing music that you love enough to believe, right there and then, that you’ve heard it a hundred times before. There is always an overwhelming sense of intrigue in the room and it is always complimented by a feeling that there are bigger things to come.

Now embracing all things electronic, I am excited to introduce you to their new project Enfant. They’re already creating a buzz on the scene, so we wanted to hear what’s what from them. They kindly offered us an exclusive interview and here’s what they had to say…

Introduce yourselves in your own words

We are an electronic music trio made up of twin brothers Robin and Ali Owen and Ed Ellis. Enfant only started this summer – but we all know each other from playing in previous bands together.  We can’t really tell you who does what as we’re not really sure anymore; everyone writes and everyone plays.  It’s a great way to work because you take the egos out and you come up with something that’s unique between the three of you.

What’s your sound and what’s coming up?

We’re definitely electronic and love combining pumped up bass lines with interesting melodies and big choruses. We’ve got several tracks in the pipeline that cover a few different musical bases; some are a bit darker, some more dance focussed and then some you can sing along to. We’re also into our electro, house and techno and will be exploring these sides of us.  There are a lot of tracks that we know we want to make which will be different but shouldn’t alienate people who were into these first few tracks; we think that’s a really exciting place to be. We’re also working on a couple of remixes that will be available soon.

Can you tell us a little bit about your first single Waking Up the Sun? What’s the story behind it?

Waking Up The Sun is pure hedonism. It’s about letting go of the rigmarole of life and just saying f**k it, life’s not about work, money or responsibilities. We want the song to bring out the memories of those nights/weekends/weeks we’ve all had (or we hope you’ve had) where nothing else mattered apart from the here and now.  For us it’s London, Glastonbury, Ibiza and many more. We’re just in the process of shooting the video for this track, so stay tuned for that too.

Waking Up The Sun by EnFANT

Can you each name a couple of people who’ve inspired you from the past and any who you admire now?

We have such a wide variety of influences between us it’s hard to pinpoint specifics, but if we had to then LCD Soundsystem would definitely be in there, as would the Chemical Brothers. Groove Armada’s Black Light album was a defining album for us. Then you’ve got the likes of Filthy Dukes and pretty much any French electro. We’re also really into Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Alex Metric at the moment.

When can we catch you in action?

We’re DJing around London at the moment and our live show is coming very soon. We all come from backgrounds of playing in bands so we’re taking our music to the stage in a way electronic music often isn’t. We grew up playing live and it’s where we feel most comfortable.

If we see you at the bar, what will yours be?

We’ll be having a lager, a Guinness and a Bourbon. Robin has a bizarre allergy to lager and Ed can’t go a day without whiskey!

Download: Foster the People – Helena Beat (Enfant Remix)

To follow what these boys are up to go to: Enfant on Twitter // Enfant on Facebook

Woody’s Roundup: Great Escape Special

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Last weekend eased us gently into a marathon summer of music and drinking in the sun. In the way that Field Day successfully curates a summer’s day, Great Escape manages to sustain the pace for three. It is one of those festivals that appears to effortlessly cherry pick the crème de la crème of future big players in the game and scatter them smoothly across a plethora of spaces.

Twin Shadow

This year was no exception, and our favourites from the hundreds of bands, DJs and artists you could have seen will form the theme of this week’s Woody’s Roundup. First up for us was Twin Shadow. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Florida, George Lewis Jnr relocated to New York and worked at his take on 80s new-wave. This year has already seen him take the stage at Coachella festival in the States, as well as a stretch of European tour dates. If you catch him soon, keep a keen eye on the drummer; he makes the live show.

On a sunny Friday afternoon, we reluctantly squeezed into a pitch black sweaty studio to assess the live credentials of a band who have been subtlety bubbling away in blog world since last summer. Young Empires are threesome Robert Aaron Ellingson, Jake Palahnuk and Matthew Vlahovich from Toronto. They put on a lively, upbeat performance that really gets you moving; great fun and very Kitsuné. My other key observation was that their cheeky frontman doesn’t wear shoes, which in a way sums up their charisma as a band perfectly. You’ll probably have to go and see them to understand what I mean.

Ghostpoet

Now, how to describe Ghostpoet… hypnotic? Melodic? Going places? All of the above? I’ve heard the name ‘Ghostpoet’ dropped into conversation everywhere lately and he recently got a coveted Maida Vale slot on Rob Da Bank’s show – so he must be good. By far and away my favourite performance of the festival, Ghostpoet’s tone and rhythm gives a nod to the distinctive style of Maxi Jazz. In short, perhaps somewhat controversially, my feeling is that he could be this decade’s updated, grimier and dubbier answer to Faithless.

Saturday came around all too quickly and led us down the path to the depressingly named Irish alternative rock band, Funeral Suits. Now, don’t be put off by the idea of music to play in a mortuary – it’s not. Great Escape described their music as ‘a shared love of epic, distorted guitars, blistering harmonious pop, art and electronica’. As a guide, I would probably say take out the math rock rhythmic oddities of the Foals, add some more drums and turn up the bass, but keep the melodies that soar over the top of Cassius and you’re probably about there; really enjoyable and a much happier find than the rest of your “funeral suit” Google searches.

In the basement of Audio, whilst the sun was still shining, Becoming Real (a boy who has clearly grown up in a world that welcomed the beginning of dubstep) put on a best practice performance in the art of sculpting off-beat electro tracks on the spot with just a Mac, mini keyboard and a nano pad or two. He’s probably more of an acquired taste, but certainly one for fans of weird dubstep-driven electronica.

Last but by no means least, Foster the People closed the festival for us. ‘Catchy melodies and hammering basslines’ we were promised, an even bigger performance by the boys from LA we got. With enough instruments to serve an orchestra, these boys are coming to get you. I’m expecting to see them on stage at every festival this summer. It’s happy, it’s sunny and it’s got mass-appeal, but it’s not the same old story… Watch out for the lead singer’s dancing feet, they’re captivating. They do a pretty cool t-shirt too.

It was an impossibility to see everyone, but since I got back I’ve been scouring the programme for any gaps in my repertoire. I’ve got a habit of believing the hype, because more often than not it’s founded. In order to avoid short-changing you here, I’ve also made sure the likes of Little Dragon, Florrie, Black Devil Disco Club, Lone, Beat Connection, Gang Gang Dance, Polarsets, Charli XCX, The Holidays and Suuns are all represented in a ZIP too.

The Great Escape 2011 - part 1 [GE2011.zip1]
Twin Shadow – I Can’t Wait // Young Empires – Rain of Gold // Ghostpoet – Cash & Carry Me Home ft. Kano (if you don’t like Kano, I’d buy the original…) // Funeral Suits – Colour Fade // Becoming Real – Get Hype // Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks (MNDR 4 – Track Remix)

The Great Escape 2011 - part 2 [GE2011.zip2]
Beat Connection – Silver Screen (Young Montana Remix) // Black Devil Disco Club – To Ardent ft. Nancy Sinatra (Grovesnor Remix) // Charli XCX – Stay Away (T.Williams Dub) // Gang Gang Dance – House Jam // Little Dragon – Feather (Fromwood Remix) // Lone – Once in a While // Polarsets – Morning // Suuns – Optimist // The Holidays – Moonlight Hours (Jonathan Boulet Remix)