Foals – Antidotes
Foals are a exciting young band from Oxford, England. “Antidotes” is the type of album that can revive the British indie scene from its post-Artic Monkeys hang over. There are no songs here about going out and getting a few beers and having a great time with your friends or any of that nonsense. The album will get called “math-rock” and “dance-punk” a lot this year and those tags and sub-genres work. I feel the record is just much more than that. There is ambitious song-writing and a band taking chances. When the single “Cassius” was released I was skeptical that this would all translate well into an album but the band made me look like an idiot. “Antidotes” might go down as one of the larger albums of ’08.
The band also decided to leave off two of their famous previous singles ‘Hummer’ and ‘Mathletics.’ Not having these songs is brilliant by the band because they would not fit right on the album and it gives the early fans a treat who have the early singles. The album opens up with the track “The French Open” is a bold way to start off the album. The first minute and forty-five seconds are all instrumentals till vocals kick in. The song is almost played out like a techno song for indie kids a lot of rhythmic movements and very few vocals. “Cassius” the bands most recent single makes so much more since in the form of the album and one of the bands most accessible songs on the album. “Red Sock Pugie” the song starts off slow with a lot of drums and pounding but once the song lets loose it is irresistible. “Electric Boom” is one of the songs that really stands out on the album. The track is riddled with electronic influences and turned on the side and given the Foals touch. “Balloons” was the bands early singles last summer and it showed that the band love to take from both the mainstream and the underground while never sounding like either. “Two Steps, Twice” and “Big Big Love” both were once former bsides and now getting the attention they deserve. These two songs are the meat and bones of the album. They test the listener which after hearing their pop gems if they would hold out. “Tron” is a track that sounds like a hybrid of all things they wanted to do on the album but were not able.
“Antidotes’ may not be a revolutionary album but it may still have a massive impact on scene today. It is just refreshing and exciting to see a young British band break from the fold and come out with an album as diverse. They do take a lot of cues from a bands such as Battle and other American bands. Foals adds their own influx of pop and pop sensibleness to these songs and make it British as well.
By John Siwicki
