Antidotes - SP775

Foals are a five-piece dance-rock band currently living in and native to the town of Oxford, England. Completing the circuit between the minimalism of American composer Steve Reich, guitars that sound like insects and tennis player Andy Roddick, theirs is a uniquely winning formula. Driving percussion high in the mix, guitars played above the 12th fret, no chords, splashes of synth color all come together like the schematics for a piece of precision engineering. And there’s something strange about those guitars. “They’re meant to sound like insects,” offers singer/guitarist Yannis Philippakis, “like a cloud of insects forming these strange harmonies.”

Last June, Foals traveled to Brooklyn, NY to record Antidotes, with TV on the Radio guitarist and producer (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars) David Sitek. Recording took five weeks. The horn section from afrobeat band Antibalas played on five tracks and Celebration’s Katrina Ford sang on another. Lauded variously as “Shitpipe midget guitar strap bullshit,” “Snotty art school dropouts hungry for the dollar,” and one of the new bands that will define 2008 (by NME), Antidotes is the debut album by Foals.

“Hummer” and “Mathletics” (tracks 12 and 13) are bonus tracks for Sub Pop’s US release and were previously available on UK 7” singles.

Foals in the New York Times
Foals in Rolling Stone
Drowned in Sound review of Antidotes

Video for Cassius on Youtube

Video for Balloons on Youtube

Released: 2008-04-08 (CD), 2008-04-08 (LP)