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Concert Tue Apr 22 2008
These Guys Are From England and Who Gives a ..., Part 23
If you were to believe all the heavy-breathing banter from the likes of NME, the Observer, and Drowned In Sound over the past 9 months or so, Foals just might be this year's contender for Big U.K. Breakout Band of The Year. But then again, we're used to hearing those sorts of proclamations coming over the big water every other season. That's just the British music press being the British music press. And there's plenty of reasons to be skeptical this time around, seeing how so many people drank the kool-aid of that Klaxons hype back in 2007.
In the case of Foals, some of the advance hubbub for their debut album Antidotes started washing up on these shores months ago. It was bound to. Foals had been through the rounds of the usual Brit music-biz grooming – which means singles, a video for each single, TV appearances, etcetera. Then along came word of a debut album recorded with TVOTR's Dave Sitek in New York with some assistance from the Antibalas horn section, capped off with a signing to Sub Pop for U.S. distribution. Talk about sailing through customs with all the right stamps of indie-pop credibility on your passport.
Nevertheless, Foals seem about as wary of the industry machinations as anyone else. There's more than a few sarcastic taunts and self-deprecating barbs scattered throughout Antidotes, with the band seeding the field for critics, haters-in-waiting, and would-be fans alike. And no doubt it all has something to do with why they describe themselves as "SNOTTY ART SCHOOL DROPOUTS HUNGRY FOR THE DOLLAR" on their Myspace page.
In a short gloss, Foals make something akin to what some would call "avantpop" – a mix of chart-aspiring pop stylings as filtered through their own art-rock leanings. Many of the tunes glide on understated punk-funk rhythms and skittering hi-hats, with some diffuse washes of keyboard chromatics a la Bloc Party. So far, so very mode du jour, admittedly – but Foals manage it with non-cloying finesse. Since the group take more than a few cues from their country's fervent post-rock scene, much of their music's allure is tied up in the guitarwork -- in taut clusters of notes played high on the necks that give many of their songs a tightly coiled energy and counter-rhythmic tension. But inevitably the stringplay loosens and slows; allowing ample room for the arrangements to breathe, for the textural undertow to seep through, and for listeners to find some space to fit themselves. On the whole, Antidotes makes for an intriguing -- and often transfixing -- debut.
Foals play at Subterranean this Saturday evening, April 26. Welcome To Cambridge and Yourself And The Air play the opening bill. 2011 N. Avenue. Doors open at 9 PM, the show starts at 9:30. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 the night of.
[video]: Foals – Balloons
[video]: Foals – Red Sox Pugie