Pop-Post-Rock for the Skins-generation.
Foals are one of my favourite contemporary bands, making a sort of pop post-rock - as popular with the post-Skins generation as chin-strokers like me.
The original version of 'Balloons' (a single from their awesome debut album, Antidotes) is a twitchily funky track with a trademark Foals duelling-guitars riff. Kind of like Wishbone Ash meets Soweto rock. It hits a straightahead groove for the verse and barks out a lyric that seems to be about the floaty feeling you get from being in love. Then the chorus smashes in like an alcoholic bull in an Oddbins, joined by squawking Fun House sax, tribal drums and shouty vocals.
The Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet - see the Four Tet/Burial/Thom Yorke tracks elsewhere on #TRNWRD) session takes the track in a completely adroit direction - elongated the track to the other side of eight minutes and accentuating the afro funk, adding in subtle electronics but not over-powering the core band sound. It moves at a much less frenetic pace than the regular version but has a much more hypnotic groove to it, especially as it builds speed and intensity through the middle section into the aircraft-taking-off bit (you'll know it when you hear it) and then breaking down and building up again.
Only available on a one-sided 12", it's a really engrossing track that also shows a whole other direction that Foals could have gone in.
Download Foals 'Balloons (Kieran Hebden Session #1)' (Foals Kieran Hebden post-punk, math rock, post-rock mp3 download, Mediafire)
Foals website
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