As a follow-up to their mathy 2008 debut, Antidotes, Oxfords Foals released an album oddly infused with elements of funk and Caribbean percussions. The precise guitar work and sprawling vocals are still there, and the lead single Spanish Sahara stands out for being so magnificently solemn. But many songs on Total Life Forever (which was nominated for this years Mercury Prize, the UKs prestigious industry-awarded honor, but lost to The xx) like Blue Blood and Miami are splashy, dreamy, and tropical, unexpectedly evoking some tiki-torched beach party. And that might be just the kind of escape we need during this dreary Northwest fall. With Esben and the Witch, Pica Beats. ERIN K. THOMPSON
Sat., Oct. 23, 7 p.m., 2010
