Archive for August 23, 2011

Foster the People

Posted by Jasmine McGee ⋅ August 23, 2011 ⋅ 2 Comments

My Day Thus Far:Today has been quite a ~~normal~~ not so normal day. Since classes I’m diving into a world of grammar, rhetoric, creative writing, and the overall art of language. This is of course the first week of the semester and I’m taking online classes with University of Colorado Denver. I love my school! I enjoyed being on campus everyday when I was living in Denver and I enjoy interacting with some of the same students from my English classes last semester. But, I’m still anxious for the year to go by and graduation to come in Spring 2012.

While attempting to work on some school work, my blog, my book (almost 100 pages written so far,) and searching for new music, I was interrupted by an earthquake. I’ve never felt an earthquake before and throughout all my nomadic travels I’ve only experienced tornadoes and flooding. It wasn’t a huge earthquake, but it was so random. I was walking up the steps with a bowl of left over lasagna from last night and when I got to the top of the steps, I felt this slow rumbling and then noticed my television in the doorway of my room shaking. It was so random! I ran down the steps while the rumbling was still carrying on and saw my mom, I told her it was an earthquake. Then the shaking stopped.

She thought I was upstairs dancing and dropping boxes (we move this week) but we then turned to the news and saw an earthquake had hit D.C. It wasn’t too big of a deal, not like it was as bad as the ones in other places. But, it was still quite random for a 5.9 to be felt on D.C. and up and down the East Coast, so I tweeted about it, Facebook’d for a second, and then went back to listening to this new band I fell in love with.

Now, Foster the People: In the midst of working on my school work and other musings, I was going through my awesome YouTube playlists and began listening to Foster the People. I ran across this group a few weeks ago and have finally gotten around to blogging about them. They are this awesome Los Angeles based electro-indie-pop-rock band and there album Torches is a must-have.

If you haven’t heard of Foster the People, then you really ought to check out their songs “Houdini,” “I Would Do Anything For You” and “Helena Beat.” They have this really cool electro sound, but then they tie it all together with this nice pop-rock flair. It’s the type of music I’ve been listening to a lot. Snow Patrol, Friendly Fires, Little Red, Noah & The Whale, and now Foster the People, are some of the groups I’m really into these days.

I can’t explain what happened, I just got tired of listening to a lot of hip-hop and sick of writing about it. I just got over it. I still listen to hip-hop now and then, but my love for house music is still at the forefront and now I’m really getting off into more electronica/dance and these indie groups. Guess all my nomadic travels and cool people I have encountered are finally showing up even more in my musical tastes. What can I say, I’m an urban nomad and a junkie for good music.

I Would Do Anything For You

Yet another song, except this one is about falling in love and doing anything for that person. Nice track!

Helena Beat

Houdini (Live in Solana Beach)

I love this song! I could listen to it all day and the message is powerful.

©Jasmine McGee

ThinkSoul25

http://thinksoul25.com

Torches – Foster The People (Album Review) (eclecticallychallenged.com)

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Feelgood Grooves: Ben Westbeech “Something for the Weekend”

Posted by Jasmine McGee ⋅ August 23, 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

There’s nothing better, in my opinion, than sipping a latte, reading a good book, and grooving to the sounds of a feelgood grove in the background. That is probably my favorite thing about Autumn. I love to just curl up in a comfy chair and have my Ipod dock on full volume, serenading me with the euphoric rhythms of soulful house.

A soulful song isn’t quite complete without the addition of a soulful voice and that is where UK singer Ben Westbeech fills the void. His soulful voice has made him an exceptional singer that can be somewhat compared to Jamiroquai. Yet he isn’t trying to be like Jamiroquai (another favorite singer of mine.)

Ben Westbeech has this captivating soulful voice that is perfect for those feelgood moments. Not only does he have a great voice, but get this, he is also a trained cellist. I first ran across him a few years ago when I was listening to the Yoruba Soul remix of “So Good Today.” The mix is one of those songs I often find myself jamming to early in the morning and walking around the house dancing. You ever have those days when you just wake up and feel amazing? There is no explanation for it, you’re just overpowered with joy.

Those feelgood days are pretty regular for me, probably because I wake up and the first thing I do is turn on some soulful house music. The sounds of music resonating throughout the room always take me to a place of serenity and if there happens to be some delightful soul vocals, then I’m even more content.

Ben Westbeech has mastered the art of producing and gracing us with feelgood vibes for those moments in life when we need a pick me up or just want to smile for miles. His forthcoming album There’s More to Life Than This will be released on Strictly Rhythm Records in September and it promises to be a soulful house and disco infused delight. There is a great collection of songs on his second album, including “Falling,” a song with Rasmus Faber, and a great disco-house feelgood track called “Something For the Weekend.”

“Something For the Weekend” is one of those tracks that you can’t help but to love. It can sort of peace you out and get you in a playful mood, especially if you watch the video. There’s nothing like having a fun and flirty pillow fight, except I’d probably only pillow fight with one guy and not two. But, eh, it’s Ben Westbeech. With such a powerful soul voice, I’m sure this British hottie can attract quite a few women. But in any case, the video is still a fun and flirty delight and his voice will ring in your head even once the video ends. I’ve already listened to the song a few times and I still can’t get enough, I love Ben Westbeech!