Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

No shit.

Not a 5 though

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

Maybe not, but it is a classic.

Too homogeneous

I still think Spanish Sahara is one of the best songs of the year though

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

homogenous my arse.

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

This from a guy with no more stories and el cielo as 5's...

El Cielo is really engaging, and almost every song on No More Stories is distinctly different

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

idk I'd say both are as 'homogenous' as this is, if not moreso. That's not saying they're bad albums (they aren't)

Besides, an album being homogeneous isn't always a bad thing assuming you like its formula well enough, and while I do love this album, some songs seem to still sound too alike to me. Maybe I need to listen to it EVEN more idk

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

Try listening to it in this order:



Blue Blood

This Orient

Miami

2 Trees

Total Life Forever

Spanish Sahara

Fugue

After Glow

Alabaster

Black Gold

What Remains



Varies it up a bit.

Sometimes the track listing of an album lowers my overall scoring for it, I just can't think of any particular examples right now.

This is still to blah blah for me.

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

"Maybe not, but it is a classic."



Rosco, hold your ground under gyro's fire of logic.

This record is somewhat baffling to me. I like it. I'm not sure I get it, though.

Antidotes took a while to grow on me. Songs like Cassius seemed to owe too great a debt to Q and Not U and Battles... But then it grew on me. The nervous twitchy rhythms, coupled with confident melodies and detatched vocals, hit me in an unexpected way: I found the record to have a strong emotional underpinning. I listened to it often and searched everywhere for bsides and live takes. I couldn't wait for a second full length.

News of TLF had me unlocking puzzles on promo sites just to hear strands of guitar and see scribbles of lyrics. So when I finally got the record, I didn't know what to do with it. The math rock jitters were tamed into a mid-period Cure dance party(the beginning of Miami still sounds like Summertime by the Fresh Prince to me). The detatched vocals were now overtly sentimental at times. Spanish Sahara had a little Coldplay in it's sweet "Martin-esque" delivery...

Not to say the record isn't beautiful. The playing is inspired. Much of the lyrical content is evocative. The record may have more in common with contemporary music than Antidotes did but that's not a negative, necessarily. Just as having moments that recall Dead Can Dance's tribal darkness or Bauhaus' Mask doesn't automatically make Antidotes a masterpiece, Totallifeforever isn't doomed by it's affinities.

So. What to think? I still don't know. Many of my criticisms of this album sound hypocritical coming from me. My band has constantly shifted directions, after all.

Has anyone seen the foals since they released the new album? How has it sounded next to the Antidotes material?

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

i dunno i just listened and it was good.

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

Interesting thoughts Geoffthurs. The first thing that took my attention was you saying 'Cassius' grew on you. It needed all of about 20 seconds on first listen for it to grow on me... The song is infectious as.



As per my review, there is a huge change of direction here... I think that as a fan of their debut - and one who took a while to get into it - you may sort of now feel like you have to do all that work again to really like this... And you maybe feel that you shouldn't have to. There is no doubt this can be tough listening at times, but I am certain this will stand the test of time.



As for seeing them live, I missed out on tickets to their shows down under (in 2 weeks time). They sold out much quicker than I expected. I would indeed be interested to hear how they integrate both albums into their live set though.

Davey--- Cassius IS super catchy. I just couldn't help the feeling that I had heard it before with the title "End the Washington Monument(blinks goodnight" 12 years ago, by Q and Not U. Once I got past that skepticism, I loved it. I don't feel like I have to do any work for this record and maybe THAT'S my hang-up. Like each song was tailor made to appeal to different pop music archetypes.

I guess they sound more like everything else and less like themselves. I do listen everyday, hoping to fall in love with the record. And 2 Trees already rules my world.

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

Wow! I don't get that feeling at all. You seem to be insinuating the album is either immediate and/or generic... And I don't think it's either. I know that's not what you specifically said, but it sort of comes out that way.



If they were more like everything else, please tell me of all the other "Secret Sahara's" out there. :-)

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

My bro saw Foals recently (since TLF's release) and he said that in a live setting the songs from TLF stand up to and maybe even surpass those from Antidotes (unlike me, he prefers Antidotes to TLF).