Transgressive, the label responsible for bringing The Young Knives to the attention of the public at large, have struck gold once again. Since their first single for Transgressive, Hummer, Foals have started to garner massive interest and with Mathletics it can only be a matter of time before they become the band that everyone is name checking in order to look very cool indeed.
Fortunately you don't have to read their press release, because name checking in the name of cool is something Foals are already very adept at. Hence we get references to Battles, Devo, Steve Reich, and German minimalist techno (Monolake incidentally). All very cool we're sure, but we're not interested in who you know, just how you sound.
Foals music is far from minimal regardless of their influences. There are spidery guitar lines, but they weave an intricate web, darting in and out of each other creating a mass of possibilities for vocalist Yannis to explore. When instruments drop out, it's usually preceding a massive build up resulting in a sonic assault. Mathletics will get described as angular electronica played on guitars, but for all the attempts to keep the lines perfect and the delivery mechanical, Foals revel in noise. Nowhere is this more evident than when the track builds to a climax and the band explode into action.
Dancing like a malfunctioning robot is fine for most of this single, but Foals are at their most fun at their furthest point from minimal.
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