Audio By Carbonatix
A few oddly brilliant Nintendo cover bands — notably the Advantage — began packing clubs everywhere a few years back with a sound culled from the 8-bit video-game music that saturated our souls a couple decades ago. More interesting than those unabashed musical Zelda and Metroid devotees, however, are bands like England math-pop sensation Foals. The Oxford fivesome’s 2008 Sub Pop debut Antidotes, produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, is filled with electro-clash beats, passionate soccer-chant-style vocals and sprightly, interwoven guitar melodies influenced equally by Graceland and Megaman 2. Total Life Forever, the deep-lyric, dance-party phenoms’ latest, which delineates the Theory of Singularity and was recorded in Sweden, explores more My Morning Jacket-esque vocal and musical territory than its fun-filled predecessor, but the band’s live shows are still more Super Mario than Yim Yames.
