Track Listing

1. French Open
2. Cassius
3. Red Socks Pugie
4. Olympic Airways
5. Electric Bloom
6. Balloons
7. Heavy Water
8. Two Steps Twice
9. Big Big Love (Fig. 2)
10. Like Swimming
11. Tron
12. [Silence]
13. Hummer [*]
14. Mathletics [*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #487755 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Album Description
UK special two CD edition of their 2008 album including a bonus disc featuring nine tracks. What links the minimalism of American composer Steve Reich, guitars that sound like insects and tennis player Andy Roddick? The answer is one word: Foals. If the high-pressure atmosphere strained intra-band relations, they quickly identified a winning formula: driving percussion high in the mix, guitars played above the 12th fret, no chords and splashes of synth colour. The result was pristine, perfectly formed Dance Rock such as 'Balloons', 'Hummer' and 'Two Steps Twice'. Transgressive.

Amazon.co.uk
It's hardly the cure for anything but Antidotes, the debut album from Oxford's Foals, is a strong addition to the eternal tradition of dance-friendly art rock most recently exemplified by Franz Ferdinand and Klaxons. The five ex-public schoolboys that make up Oxford's Foals are hardly lacking self-confidence--comically cocky frontman Yannis Phillipakis could annoy for the nation and the band rejected producer David Sitek's original mix--but Antidotes is anything but pony. After spending their youth in rigorous "math rock" outfits, Foals started out in 2005 with the stated intention of having fun. Rather delightfully, this amounted to the discovery that audiences are well disposed to acts they can dance to. A clutch of well-received singles and a guest spot on popular sixth-form satire Skins sealed their popularity. Their origins in academic rock are sometimes obvious, but fine drummer Jack Bevan keeps things moving throughout. Opener "The French Open", with its gleeful chanted vocals (in French) and fashionable Afrobeat tinged guitar lines, evokes Talking Heads' dada nonsense classic "I Zimbra", itself older than any Foal. First top thirty hit "Cassius" saw jazz-punk back in the charts for the first time since that perennial football crowd favourite "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag". "Olympic Airways" is a charming if oblique tale of escape that couldn't be further from the bus stop/chip shop style while "Red Socks Pugie" already sounds like a single in waiting. The lyrics might charitably be described as impressionistic and Phillipakis's voice remains nondescript. But with better tunes than Bloc Party and a self-conscious precision that recalls Mogwai in their pomp, the effortlessly pretentious Foals are unmistakably the sound of 2008. --Steve Jelbert

Customer Reviews

The wind is in my heart
Here's a minor prediction for the musical year -- the Foals just might be the Next Really Big Thing in indie-rock.

Yeah, someone says that about a fledgling band every year, sometimes more than once. But this little Oxford band has what it takes, and "Antidotes" is a gloriously energetic debut album -- mellow, bright rock'n'roll that makes you dance and bounce, yet has some postrock spaciness, nimble electronics and clever funky twists to keep things interesting. And it actually gets better as it goes on.

It opens on a relatively simple note -- "The French Open," an jazzy-funky little pop intro that periodically erupts into solid dancy rock. "Un peu d'air sur la terre/D'air sur la/D'air sur la/D'air sur la terre!"

With that as the intro, they leap wholeheartedly into the cocky, rollicking "Cassius," with its muscular riffs and confusingly jabby lyrics ("Cassius, it's over! You're second best!"). And with "Red Sock Pugie," we get another catchy indie-rock melody -- but wrapped in a shimmering post-rock blanket, riddled with kettle drums.

And most of the songs that follow linger somewhere between those two styles -- ringing circling pop with convulsing violins, moody rock tunes, fast funky dance music, fast-moving spacey tunes with airy fantastical lyrics, and a shimmering pop anthem in "Big Big Love (Fig. 2)."

The Foals seem to wind down the album with the catchy "Like Swimming," a little instrumental that sounds like eavesdropping on a tropical pool party. Then they yank you back up for the final song "Tron," a dark little rocker with tight, muscular instrumentation and chirruping guitars.

The Foals don't seem satisfied just by making music that makes you dance -- they seem to be striving for something cool yet fun, clever yet not pretentious. And they apparently want a mishmash style -- if you listen carefully, the indie-rock sound is infused with elements of funk, dance, and shimmering hazy spaciness. All this, and it's fun too.

Part of what makes their music so appealing is the versatility -- we've got powerful bouncy riffs, undercurrents of grainy bass, and solid, hollow-sounding drums keeping the music energetic. But they can also make those instruments do some very odd things -- their guitars alone are a sonic circus, chirping or creaking or spiraling around in glittering loops.

And then you get the really out-there stuff -- blares of Afrobeat brass, the occasional kettle drums, shimmers of keyboard, and some pedal guita to, as it's been reported around the Web, "mimic the sound of the solar system." I don't really know what a solar system sounds like, but I presume that's the gloriously spacey, shimmery sound that wafts through most of these songs.

Yannis Philippakis always sounds like he's about to run out of breath, but his flexible voice has enough energy to keep up with the music. And for a beginner band, the Foals have a knack for lyrics, filled with "butcher birds," falling towers, nameless fuels, exploding hearts, and eating clouds to pass the time when you're not fighting vampires. Isn't that great?

The Foals at first sound like just another art-rock band, but these guys have a special knack for effortlessly mixing elaborate cross-genre indie-rock with energetic dance. Keep an eye on these lads.

Catchy and danceable!
I first stumbled across the music of UK band Foals last Christmas on TV in the UK when I heard and fell in love with "Balloons". A hybrid of dance and rock, it reminded me of an other favourite band of mine; Franz Ferdinand.

Their debut, "Antidotes" is more of the same; high octane dance/rock with jangly, melodic guitars. My favourites are "Olympic airways" and "Electric bloom", which are both insanely catchy dance rockers.

However, it's a very tight race as much everything else is really great, from the more subdued and jangly "Big big love (Fig. 2)" with lovely rolling guitar sounds, the opening horn sprinkled epic "The French open" (with a Ska feel which morphs into something slightly African), the awesome "Red sock pugie" (starting off with skittery beats and spacey effects), the hand clap-filled instrumental "Like swimming", and closing cut the synth based "Tron" (with fleeting horns and haunting harmonies) which is truly dazzling.

This album is incredibly catchy and clever. The album hit #3 in the UK, and I hope they hit it big like they truly deserve.

The wind is in my heart
Here's a minor prediction for the musical year -- the Foals just might be the Next Really Big Thing in indie-rock.

Yeah, someone says that about a fledgling band every year, sometimes more than once. But this little Oxford band has what it takes, and "Antidotes" is a gloriously energetic debut album -- mellow, bright rock'n'roll that makes you dance and bounce, yet has some postrock spaciness, nimble electronics and clever funky twists to keep things interesting. And it actually gets better as it goes on.

It opens on a relatively simple note -- "The French Open," an jazzy-funky little pop intro that periodically erupts into solid dancy rock. "Un peu d'air sur la terre/D'air sur la/D'air sur la/D'air sur la terre!"

With that as the intro, they leap wholeheartedly into the cocky, rollicking "Cassius," with its muscular riffs and confusingly jabby lyrics ("Cassius, it's over! You're second best!"). And with "Red Sock Pugie," we get another catchy indie-rock melody -- but wrapped in a shimmering post-rock blanket, riddled with kettle drums.

And most of the songs that follow linger somewhere between those two styles -- ringing circling pop with convulsing violins, moody rock tunes, fast funky dance music, fast-moving spacey tunes with airy fantastical lyrics, and a shimmering pop anthem in "Big Big Love (Fig. 2)."

The Foals seem to wind down the album with the catchy "Like Swimming," a little instrumental that sounds like eavesdropping on a tropical pool party. Then they yank you back up for the final song "Tron," a dark little rocker with tight, muscular instrumentation and chirruping guitars.

The Foals don't seem satisfied just by making music that makes you dance -- they seem to be striving for something cool yet fun, clever yet not pretentious. And they apparently want a mishmash style -- if you listen carefully, the indie-rock sound is infused with elements of funk, dance, and shimmering hazy spaciness. All this, and it's fun too.

Part of what makes their music so appealing is the versatility -- we've got powerful bouncy riffs, undercurrents of grainy bass, and solid, hollow-sounding drums keeping the music energetic. But they can also make those instruments do some very odd things -- their guitars alone are a sonic circus, chirping or creaking or spiraling around in glittering loops.

And then you get the really out-there stuff -- blares of Afrobeat brass, the occasional kettle drums, shimmers of keyboard, and some pedal guita to, as it's been reported around the Web, "mimic the sound of the solar system." I don't really know what a solar system sounds like, but I presume that's the gloriously spacey, shimmery sound that wafts through most of these songs.

Yannis Philippakis always sounds like he's about to run out of breath, but his flexible voice has enough energy to keep up with the music. And for a beginner band, the Foals have a knack for lyrics, filled with "butcher birds," falling towers, nameless fuels, exploding hearts, and eating clouds to pass the time when you're not fighting vampires. Isn't that great?

The Foals at first sound like just another art-rock band, but these guys have a special knack for effortlessly mixing elaborate cross-genre indie-rock with energetic dance. Keep an eye on these lads.