This being a review of an album that came out almost twenty years ago, namely in 2008, and in which the post's title isn't present. No, in it you can find another version called 'Big big love (fig.2)', which is the same song, really, only with better production values. But I prefer the rawer version found in the 'Mathletics' E.P. - which leads me to the review proper.
Who : Foals
Album name : Antidotes
Formed : 2005
From : Oxford, England
What do they play : Indie rock / dance-punk / post-punk revival / math rock (at least according to Wikipedia)
Release date : March 24 2008
Well, if you were there, then in the really early 00's you might have experienced what was then called the 'post-punk revival'. A number of mostly NYC based bands came on the scene with big, energetic guitar-driven sounds, recalling somewhat the energy of that post-punk period that gave us bands like Joy Division, The Sound, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Smiths and so many others. This new era was spearheaded by the likes of Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Strokes - all bands that sounded completely different from one another, but you could clearly see where they drank deeply for inspiration. I mention these bands as a preamble to the next part of this era - one that was set circa '04, and that for me lasted well into 2011, at the very least.
It was in that '04 era that bands like Arcade Fire, Franz Ferdinand, Editors, and Interpol again - they released their sophomore album that year - fully started to enter my playlists. Back then I had a MP3 that could fit maybe a couple dozen songs, and those bands made up for most of that space. About a year or so later I'd start to DJ in clubs here and there, and my sets started including more and more songs from this genre. There were a few blogs where I could download all the new bands, and my ever growing digital music collection meant that pretty soon I'd have to have a dedicated hard-drive just for music. Foals came to my attention in early '08 when I listened to the song 'Cassius' - the very first time I heard the song I burst out laughing without really knowing why. And then I saw the video for it, which made me laugh even more. It's strange, quirky, odd... and I remember talking to this guy I knew back then who was a musician and he was telling me how Foals were his new favourite band. The way they used odd time signatures, he said, was astounding. I nodded in agreement, having no idea what he meant by that. Sure, they sounded different, I just didn't know that people were downright calling them odd.
Look, I know nothing about music, about the composing of it and of the playing of it. I just listen to it and like it or don't like it. That's all. These things have a tendency of flying over my head. I have no idea what a time signature is - and that has no impact in my enjoyment of music at all. But I certainly knew that Foals were pretty odd sounding, which I loved. I eagerly awaited 'Antidotes', and when I got it - I'd even buy it on vinyl, which was then sold off a few years later when I got rid of my second vinyl collection - and God, I loved it. I listened to it to death. Well, most of it anyway.
You see, the problem with albums being so front-loaded is that there is a real risk of the latter half being less played, or even mostly ignored. And goddamn, the first five tracks here are absolutely killer : 'The French Open', 'Cassius', 'Red Socks Pugie', 'Olympic Airways' and 'Electric Bloom' are almost all of my favourite songs of theirs. I still have them on my playlist that I listen to when I go to the gym. Then come two songs that, while not being clunkers by any means, I could do without - 'Balloons' and 'Heavy Water'. They're not bad songs, no, they just never clicked with me as much. And not even the mighty 'Two Steps Twice' was enough to make me want to listen to the full album for the longest time.
And how wrong I was, because the last few songs have become my favourites too. Now, I returned to this album about a month or so ago, after many years of being away from it. I can't tell you exactly why, what spurred me to do it, maybe it was my subconscious telling me that now was the time. And while it has been an absolute joy to listen to the songs I know like the back of my hand, man oh man was I blown away by how amazingly good the last bit was - the bit I hadn't gone to in a long time. 'Big big love (fig.2)' and 'Tron' have become daily listens for me, even if in between there's 'Like swimming' which is just OK and really just a bridge between both songs.
Listening to this record from one end to the other made me think of summer '08 when I moved to London. In the weekend after me and Sil got there, they were playing a festival right next to where we lived in Mile End, at the verdant Victoria Park. We could have gone, but I declined. I have this irrational fear of being terribly disappointed by bands that I adore when they play live and a few times in the past I even bought tickets to go see bands I really wanted to see, and when I get there, that fear just overtakes me and I end up not going to the gig.
As you can see, this was no real review, just an excuse to rant for a bit. Foals is a band that I haven't followed for a good while now, though I loved their second album. Everything I heard from them since has kinda left me cold. I liked some of their third record, especially the song 'You don't have my number', but pretty much most of it was forgettable. Still, this is a top notch record, which maybe if it had a couple more classics, would have been a desert island disc.
I'll give it a not inconsiderable 9 out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment