The debut album 'Antidotes' from Oxford six-piece Foals was highly anticipated by everyone involved in music. It was probably the album most music fans were most looking forward to. Foals were working with TV on The Radio man David Sitek however Foals panned his production of the album stating it sounded like it was “record in the Grand Canyon”. That is a sound I would be quite interested in hearing actually…
Anyway the other big news from the album was that two single smashes 'Hummer' and 'Mathletics' would not appear on the album. Quite a bold statement from Foals to leave out their two biggest hits before 'Cassius' went on to get them a top 30 hit. Listening to the album again you have to agree that Foals made the right decision by not including those two songs. When you listen to the album in its entirety there is no need for those two songs, they wouldn’t fit on Antidotes having now heard the album.
The album was released at the end of March on Transgressive and despite some poor reviews from most notably the NME and Pitchfork who gave it 5.9 I still think it’s an impressive debut album from one of the most hard working bands in Britain at the moment. Drowned in Sound gave it 9 out of 10 which was a surprise to me that they rated it so highly because I expected backlash from everywhere.
I am not sure what else Foals could have done on the album? To me they have made an album I’m sure they are extremely proud of. ‘Antidotes’ is best listened to all the way through, to me it’s not an album where I can just listen to a couple of songs. When I listen to it I listen to all of it because I like it as a whole piece of work, which is something that I think Foals wanted.
‘Red Sock Pugie’ was always my favourite pre hearing the album and post hearing the album it still remains my favourite song. ‘Big Big Love (Fig. 2)’ was a shock to me at least to be included on the album but one that I am glad of. I always thought that was one of the best b-sides ever, so to hear it on record was definitely music to my ears. There are so many great moments throughout the record and for a debut album it does break some boundaries in the current climate of indie music. ‘Ballons’ is an obvious single and a very radio friendly song but then there are some great songs on the album which aren’t so obviously radio friendly (for example ‘Electric Boom’, ‘Olympic Airways’ and ‘Heavy Water’). You do get the feeling that this could’ve been a perfect 10 out of 10 album but that’s always such a hard task however it’s almost as perfect as debut albums come.
9/10
Anyway the other big news from the album was that two single smashes 'Hummer' and 'Mathletics' would not appear on the album. Quite a bold statement from Foals to leave out their two biggest hits before 'Cassius' went on to get them a top 30 hit. Listening to the album again you have to agree that Foals made the right decision by not including those two songs. When you listen to the album in its entirety there is no need for those two songs, they wouldn’t fit on Antidotes having now heard the album.
The album was released at the end of March on Transgressive and despite some poor reviews from most notably the NME and Pitchfork who gave it 5.9 I still think it’s an impressive debut album from one of the most hard working bands in Britain at the moment. Drowned in Sound gave it 9 out of 10 which was a surprise to me that they rated it so highly because I expected backlash from everywhere.
I am not sure what else Foals could have done on the album? To me they have made an album I’m sure they are extremely proud of. ‘Antidotes’ is best listened to all the way through, to me it’s not an album where I can just listen to a couple of songs. When I listen to it I listen to all of it because I like it as a whole piece of work, which is something that I think Foals wanted.
‘Red Sock Pugie’ was always my favourite pre hearing the album and post hearing the album it still remains my favourite song. ‘Big Big Love (Fig. 2)’ was a shock to me at least to be included on the album but one that I am glad of. I always thought that was one of the best b-sides ever, so to hear it on record was definitely music to my ears. There are so many great moments throughout the record and for a debut album it does break some boundaries in the current climate of indie music. ‘Ballons’ is an obvious single and a very radio friendly song but then there are some great songs on the album which aren’t so obviously radio friendly (for example ‘Electric Boom’, ‘Olympic Airways’ and ‘Heavy Water’). You do get the feeling that this could’ve been a perfect 10 out of 10 album but that’s always such a hard task however it’s almost as perfect as debut albums come.
9/10
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