What links the minimalism of American composer Steve Reich, guitars that sound like insects and tennis player Andy Roddick? The answer is Foals. The explanation is a bit complicated.
Foals are a five-piece dance-rock band currently living in and native to the town of Oxford, England. Thats where Yannis Philippakis (20, vocals/guitar), Edwin Congreave (22, keyboards), Walter Gervers (23, bass), Jimmy Smith (22, guitar), and Jack Bevan (21, drums) met and bonded over a shared sense of humor. Bored with the interchangeable electro records they heard at every party, they decided to make the kind of music they wanted to dance to. We wanted to make music that was very technical, that wasnt just party music, but at the same time you could dance to it, explains Yannis.
Christening themselves Foals in a nod to Yannis surname (which means little lover of horses in Greek), the band installed themselves in a tiny rehearsal room and started bouncing ideas off one another. Tensions ran high. I was shocked by how critical every one was of each other, says Edwin. Weve always been very self-critical, expands Yannis. If the high-pressure atmosphere strained intra-band relations, they quickly identified a winning formula: driving percussion high in the mix......[Read More]
What links the minimalism of American composer Steve Reich, guitars that sound like insects and tennis player Andy Roddick? The answer is Foals. The explanation is a bit complicated.
Foals are a five-piece dance-rock band currently living in and native to the town of Oxford, England. Thats where Yannis Philippakis (20, vocals/guitar), Edwin Congreave (22, keyboards), Walter Gervers (23, bass), Jimmy Smith (22, guitar), and Jack Bevan (21, drums) met and bonded over a shared sense of humor. Bored with the interchangeable electro records they heard at every party, they decided to make the kind of music they wanted to dance to. We wanted to make music that was very technical, that wasnt just party music, but at the same time you could dance to it, explains Yannis.
Christening themselves Foals in a nod to Yannis surname (which means little lover of horses in Greek), the band installed themselves in a tiny rehearsal room and started bouncing ideas off one another. Tensions ran high. I was shocked by how critical every one was of each other, says Edwin. Weve always been very self-critical, expands Yannis. 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, plus splashes of synth color. The result was pristine, perfectly-formed dance rock such as Balloons, Hummer and Two Steps Twice. Clean lines, like the schematics for a piece of precision engineering, and theres something strange about those guitars.
Theyre meant to sound like insects, says Yannis. Theyre played high on the fret boardwe even hold our instruments up high. The result sounds like a cloud of insects forming these strange harmonies.
Last June, Foals traveled to Brooklyn, NY to record their debut album, Antidotes, with TV on the Radio guitarist and producer (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars) David Sitek. Yannis recalls: The first thing he said to me when I spoke to him on the phone was, If you want to make a glossy pop record then dont work with me. We thought, He sounds great. Recording took five weeks. The horn section from afrobeat band Antibalas played on five tracks and Celebrations Katrina Ford sang on another. The album is porous, says Yannis. We allowed ourselves to have a dialogue with the influences and people around us. You can pretty much hear us smoking weed on it and people walking in and out of the studio. Its a document of the time and its the truest record we could have made.
Foals nano-tech precision is a result of Yannis obsession with sonic tidiness and the reductive approach of the aforementioned Steve Reich, the man who introduced the concept of minimalism to popular music in the 60s and 70s. I cant stand messy music, says Yannis. Its an obsessive-compulsive thing. It doesnt interfere with everyday life: its aesthetic. I like music that has a structure, an order and a pattern. And I like it when patterns fit together in weird ways.
As well as Reich, Foals cite minimal, German techno tracks such as Plumbicon by Monolake and Dead Man Watches the Clock by Dettman/Klock. But we like all kinds of stuff, says Yannis. Devo, Glenn Branca, Battles, Arthur Russell, Nelly Furtado. Justin Timberlake. Jack listens to electronica. We like taking the best bits of other music and forming a new whole. Thats not an original idea, but I think what comes out of it is fresh.
Live, Foals dont so much fizz with energy as explode like a well-shaken bottle of champagne. Its like were all battling for supremacy on stage, says Edwin. Its no exaggeration to say they are the best new live band in the UK.
Meanwhile, the lyrics are striking, surreal images seemingly disconnected from the music, boyhood reveries drifting over crystalline soundscapes. Theyre not narratives, says Yannis. ......[Read Less]
