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Spotlight

Foals

Who? A quintet of Oxford art school dropouts spawnedfrom the technical side of dance rock, Foals is Yannis Phillippakis(vocals/guitar), Edwin Congreave (keyboards), Walter Gervers (bass),Jimmy Smith (guitar) and Jack Bevan (drums). In the year and half thatthey’ve existed, these house party scenesters have charted a handful ofsingles in the U.K., been invited to summer ragers in Ibiza, andimpressed TV on the Radio’s David Sitek enough to produce theirforthcoming debut LP. Teaser single “Balloons” drops Dec. 10 via theLondon-based Transgressive label.

What’s the Deal?Like a British version of the Rapture, Foals prefer their guitars tightin the upper chest, so they can fire off frenetic, dance floor uziriffs so synonymous with the new-rave, Klaxons scene. Name-checkingobscure German techno influences like Monolake’s Plumbicon and the verynon-obscure pioneer of minimalism, composer Steve Reich, Foals mapsthings out in a very mathematical way; “Mathletics” being the mostobvious example, complete with crisp, bleepy guitar exchanges thatbreak down like steps on a ladder, and precise call and response punkyelps on the mic. As for the David Sitek collaboration, expect all thatcalculation to get thunderous — thickened vocals, horn sections, andmountains of reverb. All they need now is a trademark dance shimmy.

Fun Fact:Singer Yannis Philippakis is a tennis fanatic and American Grand Slampro Andy Roddick is his favorite player. The lyrics for “The FrenchOpen” are based on Roddick’s advert with Lacoste.

Now Hear This:
Foals – “Balloons”

On the Web:
Foals at MySpace
wearefoals.com

Talk: Foals or just a wily, British-phonetic spelling of fools?