Antidotes - Foals

This is a cracking debut from the marvellous Foals. The foals are probably best classified a kind of electro indie band. I know your probably thinking of Klaxons but the foals are really nothing like them, they are pretty unique on the music scene at the moment. "The french open" gets the whole album kicked off in blinding fashion. Starting with a slow brass line that slowly fades into a bruising guitar riff. This song, like a lot of the song on this record is pretty complex, with lots of different things happening. It certainly does get you moving though, with a great meeting of brass and guitar and a singalong chorus. The high energy is maintained ...  Read the complete review

The debut album from the band 'foals' was released on 24th march 2008 in the UK (8 April) in the USA. Following much hype around the band, particularily on myspace, they started to build a very strong fan base. The band combine indie rock with a edge of dance and punk to give their extremely unique sound in the genre of 'math rock' signed to transgressive records. Math rock is a genre of music which has a very complex rhythm based guitar style, which fits into experimental rock music. This genre originated in the '80s. It atypical rhythmic structures, which mean that the music sounds as if it starts and stops irregularily. It also uses ...  Read the complete review

I was waiting ages for this album to come out because i stated to like them when they had just released their EP. When foals released this album it was clear immediately that this is not your average 'indie dance' music, if it is indeed anything near that. Foals class their much style as "Mathrock" which i dont know any other bands from the genre. Their songs contain no plodding rhythms and over-produced guitars here, no vocals that sound as if they've been processed through damp socks. No, this record contains sprightly, upfront rhythms, bright instrumentation and elastic bass lines. The whole effect is thoroughly affirming, the music ...  Read the complete review

Brilliant record from an absolutely brilliant band, Antidotes is bursting with the Foals' quirky style from the wonderfully surreal cover sleeve to the wide array of unique tracks on offer from the band's debut album. Self proclaimed "math rockers" and with elements of their music inspired by bands such as The Talking Heads, Foals have made their own niche within indie music with their distinct staccato guitar lines and complex, catchy rhythms. Within the album each song succeeds in being diverse while mantaining the band's definitive style, from the lively cocophany of instruments in the fast-paced catchiness of "Cassius," "French Open," ...  Read the complete review

This is about as impressive as a debut album gets. and whilst i'm on the foals love, if you ever get a chance to see them live, go for it, i saw them at Reading, and they were one of the more entertaining bands. A terrific opening track with 'the french open', that has a wonderful upbeat tempo that gets a foot or two tapping, which leads well into the well known 'cassius'. the fun doesn't stop there, and keeps going with interesting and intelligent musical ideas, that last until 'tron', which is the perfect end to an album that i was surprised didn't get nominated for the mercury- i can't see what any of the others had that foals ...  Read the complete review