Foals FACT 7 of the year

In which I get very excited about Hummer, Foals' unmistakably brilliant single, and interview the singer Yannis, for FACT magazine
Hummer dropped in April, and – to be frank – it wiped the bleedin’ walls with us. Eight months on, it still leaves us gasping. Despite being an attempt to transcribe minimal techno’s precision and rigour to fuck-up the peculiar mixture of try-hard laziness that infects today’s dull-as-dishwater indie scene, Hummer is as sonically breathtaking a call-to-arms as rock’n’roll ever has heard. Yes, it is precise and unnervingly accurate from conception to execution, but it’s also a breathless, sweaty affirmation of youthful destruction, snotty arrogance and rhythmic raw power. Rather than the measured, perfection it was aping, there is the furious, vainglorious tumult of ideas – its drums alone bring to mind Don Cabellero, Topper Heddon, The Field, Neu, Timbaland and Fela Kuti – that only the most thrilling singles have. Just ten seconds are allowed to pass before the tugging hook snares you – this song is so desperately full of fresh ideas, impertinent diffidence and ruthless unwillingness to conform that seizes this hour, this minute, this second by the jugular before it skids, grazed, to a halt. Hummer is an obnoxious, snotty record, a song which head-butts every tepid, lazy stylistic cliché that surrounds modern indie; and that, ironically, is the most perfect an argument for independent guitar music I can think of.

FOALS INTERVIEW:

Foals have had a pretty damn good year. In summer 2006, they were a twinkle in the eyes of a set of Oxford mathrock and techno-loving student students. Eighteen months later, they’ve wowed crowds at stadiums to squats from here to Texas, dropped Kompakt mixes and had their choons played on Skins – all this at just two Transgressive singles (there’s the third, Balloons, out on 10th December) and a live EP old. To top it all, they’re received the coveted (and entirely imaginary) FACT 7” Of The Year gong for their April single Hummer. With a new, Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio-produced album in the bag, we chatted to their tea-sipping vocalist Yannis.

So, you’ve won the 7” of the year…
Yeah, we’re really surprised. We really like FACT, you’re quite discerning. We haven’t quite accepted it.

2007 went pretty well, eh?
Yeah, it was pretty wild, I guess. A year ago we weren’t yet signed, and yeah, we’ve come a long way I suppose. The thing is that it doesn’t really register when you’re in the middle of it, but it does feel like we’re getting more reactions at shows, which is weird because we only started this band to irritate our friends by trying to write pop songs and be banal. You know, show that music is about communication, not just displays of virtuosity. We just wanted to make fresh and authentic pop music.

Do you feel like you’ve done that?
We don’t know – we’re a small family and we stick together, it’s hard to see outside of that. The angst, self-doubt and criticism are still there. We’re quite agitated, so we have to keep moving.

How was the recording of Hummer, and how do you feel it matches up?
We wanted it to sound very clinical, like we were trying to be tight, not slapdash, drawing influence from every single note and piece of sound, so the overall big “sound” was constructed out of lots of little sounds working against each other. When we were recording it, we were shacked up and getting drunk, playing horseshit and making pop songs. The irony is that I don’t ever listen to it know – it’s not my favourite song. I must have listened to it 700 times when we were mastering it, so by the time we heard it finally we couldn’t tell if was good or not. We just wanted to get it out before we split up.

What music have you enjoyed this year?
Cornelious’ record was amazing, such sumptuous production. Yeasayer are so fucking tribal it’s unbelievable. Fuckbuttons are awesome, so are Metronomy and Cut Off Yr Hands. I know it’s a bit old, but the whole Dubstep thing is awesome, especially Burial. There’s a really cool noise thing happening in Oxford – it’s like a reaction against all these really technical bands, just like punk reacting against prog. There’s lots of bands who just don’t give a fuck and just want to make loads of noise. Timbaland is breathtaking, still. It’s like, with all these amazing things happening, why fucking bother making music that sounds like it is ten years old?

What have been the highlights of your year?
Doing an album with Dave Sitek in New York – just incredible, he’s a fucking genius, so playing and getting high all day in New York… and playing on Jules Holland was great. Generally though, it’s been playing and touring which has been amazing and not having to work a shitty job. This music is like knives; we’re making knives to cut things with, and people reactions seem good. We still love playing house parties.

What are the reactions like?
It gets very energetic. Jimmy broke his tooth one time… There’s also something that comes out when we play – people rip down and kick though walls. It’s like this weird, primal urge that comes out when we play. You see someone fucking up their house because they’re so wild, which is always odd. You’re like “Why are you hanging off your light?”

What are the lowlights?
Never having enough time to read.