FOALS MY NUMBER

You may already know what I've written about this one. That was live. This is recorded. If you don't like listening to live stuff, and shunned my last post for that very reason, then you can not-shun this post. Let's recap anyway.

'My Number' is totally groovesome, like a loveable though uncoordinated janitor injected with PURE funk who then discards his drab uniform revealing a huge tattoo of a palm-tree-lounger-cocktail-complete-with-paper-umbrella combo on his chest and then body pops down the corridors of the school he works at whilst the children rush out of classrooms to cheer him on and clap and the teachers are stuttering and flustered and the head teacher is raging as the janitor clicks his heels and makes his final tango out of the main doors of the school - nice, eh?

PRE-ORDER your very own copy of the upcoming Holy Fire - scheduled for release on 11th February 2013 (UK) - by clicking any word of this sentence.

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FOALS LIVE @ WEST END CENTRE ALDERSHOT

I never thought I'd be writing a post that even mentioned Aldershot, let alone one that actually featured this fair town's name in its title - yet, here we are. And there we were, in Aldershot, in a spookily empty pub at an acceptable drinking hour waiting to see Foals live at the West End Centre. Measuring the minutes with alcohol (what else?) the time quickly whizzed by and, before we knew it, we were en route to the gig itself; 'exciting' didn't cover it.

This rather intimate gig - the venue is officially 175 capacity, although Wikipedia cites it as something more like like 200 (what's 25 more people, eh?) - is just one in a series of rather intimate gigs, that started in Sheffield and will end in Tunbridge Wells in two days' time, stopping off at Derby, Stoke, Southampton, Bournemouth and Brighton on the way. It's a kind of teaser tour, according to the band themselves:

Thanks to everyone who bought tickets for our mini tour this winter. like we said elsewhere it is only a tease, and for us to get back "into it", so don't stress if you missed out, or if we weren't coming near to your home... because there will be many, many more shows coming up.

So there you have it. A mini-tour. Getting back "into it". Of course. That's what it was.

But it really didn't sound anything like that. It sounded like a polished gig. An actual gig. After the danceable grooves of support Trophy Wife, the main event came down on the crowd like a veritable ton of bricks. With Yannis Philippakis, Foals' frontman, typically animated and fully imbued with the feeling of the very music he's playing, a kind of perpetual motion machine in which he is driven by the music in order to drive the music and so on - a cyclical relationship where energy swaps hands between the band, usually culminating in Yannis getting very excited and jumping from whatever pinnacle the stage happens to offer into a sea of outstretched hands and, seemingly refreshed by crowdsurfing in pure adoration, onto the stage again - the gig was suitably frenzied.

They hopped between big tunes from their back and current catalogue, fever-pitch anthems and let's-have-a-breather tunes that nevertheless had everyone screaming. Starting with muscle-beach-evocative 'Miami' they moved onto 'Blue Blood' and new tune 'My Number', whose unquenchable funk had the whole crowd displaying whatever fancy footwork they could muster. Other songs included the now old-school, sweaty indie disco anthem that is 'Balloons' and the epic builder-upper 'Spanish Sahara', which cooled, calmed, and subsequently set ablaze the room with the band's sheer mastery of dynamics.

After a premature departure from the stage, the band returned to the wild shouts of the crowd to launch into the heaviest-ever-Foals-song 'Inhaler', blowing everybody away, bursting many an eardrum, and getting the whole crowd bouncing around and headbanging - not something you expect from Foals, but something that gives a teaser to their own diverse tastes in music (for instance, I noticed that the drummer, Jack Bevan, was wearing a HEALTH vest - +1 point). Then came the ending: 'Two Steps Twice'. This is Foals' usual gig-closer and, with its addictive beat and that chanting-in-the-stands breakdown and Yannis's brave walk from the stage into the crowd itself, bringing everyone together in shouting out this wordless anthem - a beautiful moment.

Foals are certainly a band that needs to be seen live - not only does their energy onstage lend itself to a better quality of sound (because they really do play for all their worth when onstage), but it leads to an exciting show: they are animated and totally gripped by the energy of their own music, lost in a trance like a whirling Dirvish, none more than Yannis, who steals the show with his daredevil jumps from the speakers and his fearless forays into the crowd itself. Phew. Get tickets to the tour proper next year if you know what's good for you.

The night ended with a maniac running out of his car with a golf club and all the pent up aggression of a 17-year-old with a frigid girlfriend. Not typical Aldershot behaviour, I'm sure.

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FOALS MY NUMBER LIVE ON JOOLS HOLLAND

More new Foals. Last night they had a little slot on Later... with Jools Holland, long a bastion of new and exciting music (famously rocketing the likes of Seasick Steve, amongst others, to fame in the UK), and as well as playing 'Inhaler' - which we, by now, all know and love - they also played a new number from upcoming new album Holy Fire (chalked for release 11th February 2013), 'My Number'. Here they are, the Foals boys, doing what they do best.

This one has a tropical vibe to it, a very danceable groove (reminiscent of 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' by Yes, which is by no means at all a bad thing) that is, as ever, infectious to the very core. Add to that overall atmosphere a beat that, whilst steady, introduces the quirks that dominated the math-rock-style drumming on the first album Antidotes - and earlier demos - and a guitar so plinky and evocative of water that I think it's made me need the toilet, and you have 'My Number'. It has more of a hook than its much heavier partner at the moment, 'Inhaler', but if this variation is something we can look forward to on Holy Fire, then we're in for a regular buffet, smörgåsbord, sushi platter, tapas table of sounds.

And everyone knows how fun that kind of eating is: very.

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FOALS INHALER VIDEO

Well, they've gone and done it themselves. Forget Konbini, watch the new video for Foals' latest single from their eagerly, highly, excitedly anticipated new album Holy Fire right above. We're just about dying from the full frontal force of this new song to even contemplate the contents of the video, remembering only graffiti, skateboarders, a tape player, a girl with lungs tattooed on her chest, and a wonderfully colourful bit of attire sported by Foals frontman, Yannis Philippakis.

As you'd expect, the song is good. It's so good that my words are running away from my brain before I've even had a chance to think about what I've just typed. Sorry about that. But the song is amazing.

It's an unexpected turn that Yannis himself has described as the "heaviest" song on the new album, but my goodness, do they do it well. Despite having that hard rock force, a killer riff that could rival any riff-maker of the last decade, and a wide, all-encompassing stadium sound that could uproot a whole forest, Foals penchant for all things dance is evident in the songs inescapable, nearly effervescent groove. Yeah, that's right. Even in the midst of heavy, distorted riffs, a danceable groove comes into place with a genius sense of dynamic, moving from that shredding, 900-storey-high guitar riff into a gentle, quieter part that plinks and plonks with palm-muted, heavily reverbed guitar arpeggios. You headbang, you tango. That's just how Foals works.

If this is anything to go by, which specifically (being an anomaly because of its latent heaviness) it isn't but generally it is, then we have a lovely surprise for us in store in the form of Holy Fire, due for release in the UK 11th February, 2013. For a band that has gone from sweaty but brilliant twiddly math rock indie floorfillers to the grace and beauty of anthemic ambience, the next venture holds in store for us something that we won't expect, but something that promises to tread new paths. Excited is an understatement.

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Konbini.fr
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FOALS INHALER KONBINI EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

The wonderful Foals, two years after their stunning album Total Life Forever will be releasing a sure-to-be exciting third studio album: Holy Fire. This will be released in the UK 11th February, 2013.

For now, we have left with teasers and tidbits, including a pre-album tour later this year - one of which I'll be popping along to. Of those teasers, their official website, www.foals.co.uk is the biggest - newly designed and newly launched, it looks set to house all the nerve-shredding developments on the new album.

In other news, or should I say, mainly, Foals will be giving a sneak peak of a video for what we can only assume will be a single from the album, entitled 'Inhaler'. Where? Where will it be? On the French entertainment, music, lifestyle, etc. site, Konbini.fr. We're absolutely brimming with anticipation to see this.

It will be, as the poster says, à 22h ce soir, which in English means 9pm, tonight. Hold on to your hats, lock your doors, dim the lights, and click onto Konbini just before 9pm tonight to get your new dose of Foals - hopefully the first new dose of many... new doses! Below is the artwork for the new album, cleverly picked apart by one Facebook user: ""フォールズ(=FOALS)" "深呼吸 (=Inhaler)" In Japanese...." Thanks. That explains it all.

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ZULU WINTER WE SHOULD BE SWIMMING RAIN DOGS REMIX

This is the remix of Zulu Winter's track 'We Should Be Swimming' by Rain Dogs. Zulu Winter have been at SXSW this year (along with 1,001 other bands) and after a quick bit of fun searching with their SEO-friendly, highly Googleable name, found that they were The Guardian's new band of the day on 11th October 2011. You know that episode of The Simpsons where Homer wants to be an inventor and makes that chart on his wall comparing himself with Thomas Edison? It's just like me and that bloody new band of the day blog on The Guardian.

Anyway, this remix is pretty nice. Flowing with an urban sensibility and the swagger that comes naturally with the dubstep beat, the song echoes with expansive synths and ghostly vocals above this epileptic, percussive little synth part. It's only till just over halfway through that we hear the 'original' vocals, heard nearly naked with just the beat swaying next to it. Then there's the occasional sub bass, used well and only at certain times. It's got a rich, clever sound - one that is ultimately more chill than thrill.

And now for the original.



It's pretty nice indie-pop-dance. They sound like a southern (being from London) Wild Beasts, somewhat anyway, with a few more electronic tricks added into the mix - like this ambient wave that just rises up throughout the song. There's something a little bit Foals about them too - not necessarily in the sound, a little bit in the sound, but more in the way the dynamic is brought to the listener's ears: guitar rushes up in surges and clashes with cymbals and that electronic tide that rises up with it.

The lyrics are pretty nice too (and was what, aside from the beat, made me compare them to Wild Beasts). In the first half of the song, before everything becomes loud and refraining, the lyrics are much more audible, clearer and varied. Lyrical acrobatics, little images here and there; they're nice words. To what 'We Should Be Swimming' refers eludes me though.

Zulu Winter's debut album Language is released on 14th May 2012 (Play It Again Sam Recordings).

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• Zulu Winter's blog
• Their SoundCloud
• Here is their Facebook page
• ... official site
• And follow them on Twitter if you like

• And this is Rain Dog's SoundCloud
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QUEEN OF HEARTS SPANISH SAHARA

This is the new song from Queen of Hearts - yes, it's a cover of 'Spanish Sahara' by the unobsequious Foals; and yes, it certainly sounds the part. Have a listen below to the electro-pop goodness:


You can still download this track from SoundCloud - I would (I have).

Though, all goodness aside, there seems to be something not quite there about this number. Whilst it sounds great, the worry for me is how easily this sound could be transferred onto someone more generic. It's self-styled electro-pop, sure, but it sounds nearly too in the direction of formulated pop to be altogether spirit-liftingly life-changingly exciting.

However, that is a little harsh; I just think it could've been done better. Is it because the original is so good? Could well be. I particularly like the last third of the song, where the crescendo begins to build up, with some lovely floating-ghost vocals sweeping over the top like clouds in front of the moon. The whole song should've been like this, then built up to something even more intense. That's it - that's what it's missing. Intensity. And it's also missing more dreaminess - where the soft-harsh sighs fly around is the most perfect part of this song, and it's where more attention should be focused, rather than forcing out some arpeggiated synth as an afterthought.

Nevertheless, I am looking forward to hearing more from Queen of Hearts. She has a new EP coming out soon, The Arrival (3rd October), so with Foals' masterpiece as its centrepiece it will be interesting to see, and more importantly, hear what else is on the spread.

• Like what you hear? There's plenty more on her SoundCloud
• And why not follow Queen of Hearts on Twitter?

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