Foals

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Searching for Foals’ “Balloons” video—the companion clip to one of my favorite songs on the U.K. quintet’s excellent debut, Antidotes (released here in the States by Sub Pop)—on YouTube, I accidentally typed “foal” instead of “foals.” Within a few moments I was watching, with much fascination, a six-minute video from Britain titled “Birth of a Foal,” in which a man pulls a foal from a prone, stabled horse to the overdubbed strains of the Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush duet “Don’t Give Up.” Afterward, I found the “Balloons” video, and for a while I couldn’t decide which I preferred—the horse nuzzling and licking its newborn as it struggled to take its first steps, or the way the youthful, art-schoolish members of Foals wear their instruments practically under their chins as they romp through knotty, battleship-tight, infectious dance-rock that’s typically compared to Gang of Four and Battles but to me often sounds a lot like our very own Minus the Bear, except fronted by the dude from Bloc Party instead of the dude from Jawbox. Ultimately I chose Foals over foals, because while the latter makes you sit in your chair and go “Awww . . . ,” the former makes you jump up and around and go “Woooo!!”

Fri., May 30, 8 p.m., 2008