Aided by the unstoppable force of the hit single Pumped Up Kicks, Foster The People have become one of the biggest new bands in the world, following that song with a fantastic record, Torches, full of great grooves and incredible hooklines.
They return with the single Coming Of Age - previously featured on The ShortListen in January, ahead of their second album Supermodel - also tipped by us as one of the records of 2014.
We spoke to frontman Mark Foster to discover his Ultimate Playlist. Unsurprisingly, it's an impeccable selection, so read on and enjoy.
Supermodel is released March 24th on Columbia Records
Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify
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Favourite Movie soundtrack song
"This is so hard. Highway to the Danger Zone, Kenny Loggins, Top Gun. That was my power song when I used to play soccer when I was a kid. For a quarter in a soccer match, or second half - when we were younger we had quarters. If we were down, that song would come on and I would run, I felt like I would run ten times faster, kick the ball ten times harder, and felt like I’d be an unstoppable machine when that song came on in my head. I just watched Top Gun recently, it’s pretty crazy, man, it’s not what I remember from when I was younger, and times have changed. It’s still awesome though, man."
Favourite sad song
"I don’t know why this happened to me...Eleanor Rigby would get stuck in my head for days at a time, over the last ten years. Sometimes it will be in my head for months, it’s always when something really depressing is happening in my life. I’ll just get "all the lonely people" [in my head]. Oh my god I’m so lonely."
Favourite song from my childhood
"I Get Around from the Beach Boys. That was the first song I heard as a kid and immediately I asked my mum who it was, because I’d never heard anything like it. Later on that week my dad bought me the cassette tape of I Get Around and on the other side it was Fun, Fun, Fun. I remember just putting it on repeat and doing somersaults around my living room because I just loved it so much."
Favourite club anthem
"I’m a sucker for Calvin Harris & Rihanna – We Found Love. I love that song because those soul-chords and that lead melody, you just can’t help but feel happy when that comes on. If you’re human you’re going to want to dance."
Favourite song that no-one else has heard of
"Sorry, I just got my phone out because I can’t remember the name of the song. It’s so secret I can’t even remember the name of the song. It’s by Unknown Mortal Orchestra, it’s off their latest record II and it was one of my favourite records from last year. The track’s called From the Sun, it’s the first track, the whole record is called II. That song, it’s the guitar progression in that song just makes it beautiful, it’s a really interesting guitar progression, the production is minimal and dry, there’s this melancholy where he’s talking about loneliness...you know certain records just have an essence where there’s a flavour you can taste, a really strong essence."
Favourite wedding song
"I love hearing 80's power ballads at weddings. There's something about the cheesy sound of a wedding DJ's voice and the intro to Phil Collins In The Air Tonight that makes me really happy."
Favourite lyric from a song
"Grace Jeff Buckley. "My fading voice sings of love / but she cries to the clicking of time, oh, time." There’s something prophetic about that song, I feel like he’s predicting his own death, it just sounds deep."
Favourite current song
"I really dug Tom Ford by Jay Z 'cos of the minimal beat. It's got swagger. I don’t know if it’s in the top 40. I kind of hate everything that’s out there at the moment, there’s nothing that moves me or I can think of."
Favourite one-hit wonder
"Closing Time by Semisonic, I heard a an interesting story about that song, that it was written from the perspective of a baby being inside a mother’s womb – “closing time / You don’t have to go home / But you can’t stay here / I know who I’ll want to take me home.” That is how it started and obviously, then the metaphor from being at the bar and one last call for alcohol came into the song, but that was the premise of the song. I thought that was pretty clever."
Favourite song from your own music
"Right now my favorite Foster The People song is Pseudologia Fantastica off our new record. It feels more like a house than a song. It's three dimensional."
