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Antidotes
Foals
Sub Pop, 2008
3 stars 2.5 stars

Genre tags can be a pain in the ass. For me, the best 'math rock' dances around and hints at an unusual underlying beat without ever really sticking to it, or cleverly overlaps a number of mismatched time signatures to form one glorious, complex mesh, ala Battles. The subject of this review, Brittish new wavers Foals, are described as 'math rock' but, despite attempting to mimic Battles' guitar/percussion style (in particular about half-way through Heavy Water), their formula of danceable, angular Bloc Party-esque guitar music is far easier to access than the term implies - if this is math, it's basic arithmetic. 'Emo' is another term these guys have struggled to avoid, and rightly so - since when do emo kids allow themselves to be seen having this much fun? Antidotes won't blow you away, nor will it redefine music (though the British media will no doubt tell us it does), but its melding of rock, math, Franz Ferdinand new wave, post-punk and more than a hint of ska isn't at all bad. There are some truly nice moments on this album - opener The French Open is both a great introduction and the most math-oriented piece on the album, and the ambient Big Big Love is a welcome interlude - but overall it's a case of the UK delivering more of the same.

Artwork: B

Published in mX, Thursday April 3, 2008.