Foals end epic journey with new CD
Electric Guest roars back with excellent album
Foals, “Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2” (Warner Bros) When the last album from indiepop art rockers Foals ended, things sounded grim. There were dead foxes and burning hedges and rain. Frontman Yannis Philippakis was on his knees.
Things seem a little more hopeful on their new album, “Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2”, which comes out seven months after the first part. Taken together, these batch of songs prove Foals to be at the top of their game, making complex, brilliant music.
“Part 1” came out in March, giving us the super tracks “Exits”, “In Degrees” and “On the Luna”. If that album was often new wave-y and computer-assisted, the second part is much harder and guitar-driven, with the bombastic, hyper-masculine “Black Bull” almost veering into thrash.
The band this time explores elements in nature – fire, earth, sea and sky. The 10-track album kicks off with the instrumental “Red Desert” (who else could get away with starting a CD with an instrumental?) and then moves into “The Runner”, one of the band’s best and an exhortation to keep fighting. Philippakis is no longer on his knees.
In fact, there’s defiance built into the second part. “I will not be undone,” Philippakis sings in “Like Lightning”. And on “10,000 Feet”, he vows to “burn all the liars.” There are thematic connections between the two album parts – crows and the surf echo throughout – but they scratch different musical itches.
It gets progressively proggy by the end, eventually ending with the bold, spacey and cinematic “Neptune”, which clocks in at more than 10 minutes. (Who else is doing 10-minute songs?)
“It’s time to go,” Philippakis sings and his band seems to have found a way out of this existential horror, an escape they sought in “Exit” from “Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1”. The snag? It may be in outer space, judging from the title. To which we say: Take us with you. Electric Guest, “KIN” (Atlantic Records)
Maybe the third time will be the charm for Electric Guest, a sunny southern California pop duo who deserve more attention. Their third album, “KIN”, is a breezy confection of fiendishly clever pop hooks augmented by some computer wizardry.
The 11-track album from Asa Taccone and Matthew Compton kicks off with “Dollar”, the best song on the album – and the one that perfectly sums it up: “Turn the music up and get it poppin’/ I’m trying to have some fun before I die.”
The infectious grooves continue with the reggae-pop “More”, the R&B-inflected “Play With Me” and the expertly crafted electro-cool of “Birthday”. The vocals get seriously warped by computer effects on “Basic”, and they almost sound like Alvin the Chipmunk on “24-7” and “I Got the Money” but somehow pull it off with goofiness and grooviness.
Most of the songs concern love gone bad, but there’s self-conscious humor throughout the album, appropriate for a Taccone project. He won an Emmy Award for co-writing the “Saturday Night Live” skit “Dick in a Box”.
On “Play with Me”, Taccone interrupts his breakup song with “Sheesh, call the police.” On “Dollar”, he breaks character again: “Pssh, everybody’s a model.” On the funky “I Got the Money”, the band mocks everything from greed to the internet and layers in a gravel-voiced radio DJ. Ne-Yo stops by for “Freestyle”, with unrushed lyrics over what sounds like the electro-beat of that ‘80s show “Knight Rider”.
The net effect is a big bounce back from the band’s underwhelming “Plural”, which nonetheless gave us the sensational “Oh Devil”. Since then, Taccone worked on Portugal. The Man’s Grammy-winning 2017 track “Feel It Still” and contributed a song to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Dedicated”.
But Electric Guest, with its shards of quirky audio asides, its retro feel and yet very current sound is where the music really shines. Check them out. Be our guest.
Also: LOS ANGELES:
Bebe Rexha has dropped a video for her song “You Can’t Stop the Girl”, the female empowerment theme from Disney’s forthcoming “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”.
Directed by Sophie Muller, the music video features scenes of Rexha reimagined as Maleficent and wandering through the film’s fantasy landscape, leading a marathon of women and snippets of the film. The variety of running women highlight body positivity, people with physical disabilities and racial diversity. Over the years Muller has directed videos for Beyonce, Shakira, the Killers and No Doubt.
The wicked Disney sequel begins several years after the 2014 “Maleficent”, which retold the classic “Sleeping Beauty” from the perspective of the villain. The film follows the strained relationship between Princess Aurora (played by Elle Fanning, “The Neon Demon”) and Maleficent (played by Angelina Jolie) amidst Aurora’s upcoming wedding and emerging alliances in the magical realm.
Jolie, Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville reprise their original roles, while Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Skrein and Chiwetel Ejiofor are newcomers. Harris Dickinson replaces Brenton Thwaites as Prince Phillip from the first film. Joachim Ronning directs. (Agencies)