ARTIST: Foals
TITLE: Andtidoes
YEAR RELEASED: 2008
CHART ACTION: #28 Heatseekers, #3 UK
SINGLES: Balloons (#39 UK), Cassius (#26 UK), Red Socks Pugie (#89 UK), Olympic Airways (#160 UK)
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Probbaly Not
LINEUP: Yannis Phillippakis, Jack Bevan, Jimmy Smith, Walter Gervers, Edwin Congreave
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: British indie dance rock / post punk band wears its influences on their sleeves but pull off a great album.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Yes, there’s a bit of the Gang of Four, a smidge of Joy Division, and a bit of other post-punk bands here, but Foals do a good job of coalescing their influences into a somewhat original sound.
Sometimes they’re up and dancy with a very rigid and staccato rhythm – on other songs they’re a bit spacier and loose. Due to this, they’re not locked into the same-old on each track, and the diversity is good for listenability.
This is definitely worth checking out if you want something new and unfamiliar here in a UK post-punk vein.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: They mixed the album themselves as they didn’t like the initial mix from producer Dave Sitek
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: Yes, early singles are appended.
GRADE: A-: Great debut, varied and compelling.