Los Angeles – There’s no way the five members of Foals do not feel on top of the world right now. First of all, their last album, Holy Fire, produced an out-of-left-field modern rock radio hit in “Inhaler”. Then the band spent the summer headlining ever-larger music festivals, and they just released what could truly be their biggest mainstream crossover hit in What Went Down. To celebrate this stunning and meteoric rise to the top of the alternative rock universe, the Oxford, UK band has been hard at work touring the world. Los Angeles was lucky enough to get a taste of the artsy, danceable indie quintet in a live setting not just once, but twice this week. First was a traditional headlining gig at The Wiltern as a part of Red Bull’s 30 Days in LA live music extravaganza. The following night brought music fans a more intimate set, as the band performed 10 songs at Santa Monica’s Apogee Studios as part of KCRW’s Apogee Sessions.
Able to accommodate a little fewer than 200 patrons, Apogee Studios was an incredibly warm and personal place for the band to perform. Because the setting offered incredible acoustics even when packed full of noisy music fans, those in attendance could hear every intricate element of their sound. At the midway point of the set, host Jason Bentley of “Morning Becomes Eclectic” on KCRW took the stage to conduct a brief interview with lead vocalist and guitarist Yannis Philippakis as well as guitarist and keyboardist James Smith. Bentley asked them questions about topics like breaking through the mainstream and being played on stations like KROQ, how their sound has evolved over the course of four full length releases, and what they think about the label (and frankly, misnomer) of “math rock.”
The first five songs of the set that came before the interview were a healthy mix from the bands discography, including the aforementioned “Inhaler” and “My Number” from Holy Fire, as well as “Olympic Airways” from their debut Antidotes and from their sophomore effort came “Spanish Sahara”. It was a nice primer for those who only knew the band from their big radio hits, showcasing the influence dance music has had on their output. Many of the band’s older songs sound a bit like if Q and Not U or Minus the Bear mostly stuck to 4/4 time, perhaps explaining why Antidotes was quickly stuck with the “math rock” categorization.
Speaking of dance music and its influence on Foals, one of the topics Bentley discussed with Philippakis and Smith was their choice to use James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco as the producer. The band leader explained that they have always had a close relationship with both rock and electronic music, and the choice to use an eclectic-minded producer was a very deliberate one. That influence was fairly clear in the second half of the set, which was mostly made up of songs from the brand-new What Went Down. The band closed out the set with the title track from their latest LP, a song that has been described as the band’s heaviest yet.
Foals continue to tour throughout the United States this winter. Check out the band’s web site for tickets.
Photo Credit: Dustin Downing on behalf of KCRW
Matt Matasci
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