better late than never, total life forever

album review >> foals >> total life forever

every year there are one or two albums that completely blow me away. the kind of album that if i was listening to it on a cassette during my pubescent days, would have died in a pile of thin black tape after only a few listens. last year it was the brilliant 'primary colours' by the horrors, played to a point where i knew the songs so well, i felt like i wrote them.

this year it has to be 'total life forever' the second album from foals. every song is just the right length, even 'spanish sahara' at almost seven minutes leaves the listener begging for more. it's quiet and timid to begin with but then brilliantly, leaves you just when it finally arrives. after the first listen 'after glow' was the one track i struggled with out of all of the oxford lads' offerings, but on reflection and after countless plays it's now up there, knocking about with my other favourites on the 2010 musical pedestal (alongside previously mentioned 'spanish sahara', 'this orient', 'total life forever' and 'black gold'). best part of the track? skip to roughly three minutes in and it transforms from a melancholic growl into an explosion of funky beats that get my head a-nodding and feet a-tap tap tapping.

the vocals on this album push yannis to a level he didn't even attempt on 'antidotes' and the lyrics seem personal. the music is catchier than ever and the songs have that "i need to see these live" effect (foolishly i turned down the chance to see them in camden a few weeks ago, what a twat i am).

i should have reviewed 'total life forever' when it leaked in the weeks leading up to it's official release, but sometimes it's best not to rush an opinion. i'm now convinced it belongs in the list of the elite albums i've heard in recent years. i don't declare to know everything about music and i'm not hip enough to know every trendy band that's filling the shoreditch gutters, but i do know that this is an album that will last. well, at least until next year...

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