Inhaler- Foals

From the start, with the sound of echoic guitars sounding as if they are resonating down a street tunnel, you get the feeling that Foals have finally matched vision to product. Inhaler, the first single from their new album Holy Fire, is a very bombastic song but yet still maintains artistic cohesiveness. Three years since 2010's Total Life Forever, Foals have finally learned how to display what they want. The tones, effects and mixing are done flawlessly on Holy Fire such that they complement the vision of the individual song and Inhaler is a perfect example. The slow build-up of layers- claustrophobic, chaotic even- over top of the lustfully reverberated voice of Yannis Philippakis culminates and explodes. " ...and I can't get enough space"- he wails- as the song, which has built up perfectly, is blown into the atmosphere; only grounded by the drudgy, over driven guitars. The song never loses its drive and pushes the listener to the end. The true genius of this song is how expansive it feels, but yet maintains to stay grounded. This is a comforting and terrifying thought: if this is Foals with one foot still on the ground, imagine what could happen if they jumped.

The Return of Bowie

Just another quick update here. This track was released by surprise yesterday by an artist who has been inactive for 10 years. David Bowie, world famous for his theatrical characters like Ziggy Stardust has just released his new single from his upcoming album The Next Day. The first single is called "Where Are We Now" and it is very interesting. At my first glance it reminded me a bit of the song "Sweet Thing" from his album Diamond Dogs. However, to say that this song is similar to his back catalog would be an overstatement, it is new and fits perfectly in the modern age. The downtrodden and introspective nature Bowie takes in this song (which looks back on his days writing the Berlin-trilogy) is something not entirely different than the feel I get from many modern bands. What sets "Where Are We Now" from other introspective songs of late is its instrumentation. It gives the feel of minimalism, but yet it lacks that as it is a big song. It is good to see Bowie back on form and actually releasing new music. If this song is any indication of the rest of the album, it is going to be good and truly shows that Bowie has not lost a step in his musical genius.