Foals contribute to !K7 Mix Series; the Oxford band delivers old school cassette style mixes

Foals Contribute To !K7 Mix Series; Oxford, UK Outfit Deliver Old School Cassette Style Mix On Tapes

Foals - Tapes (July 24th, !K7)

"It's easy to throw some music together and call it a DJ mix," says Edwin Congreave from Foals. "But we're not interested in anything mediocre like that."

So began the process of putting together the third installment of !K7's Tapes series, the follow-up to releases from The Rapture and The Big Pink.

The concept is self-explanatory. It's a selection made along the lines of an old school cassette mix tape. Two sides, with different moods on each - in this case more song-driven on side one and more dance oriented on side two. There's even a sound effect to mark the 'turning over' point.

Side one starts with a sample from a news report that runs: "Most people gave up on cassette tapes years ago".

Maybe, but the love and care that went into compiling cassette mixes is alive and well here. Congreave raided the other band members' record collections to craft something that reflects the Foals collective mindset. Not an easy task given their wide-ranging, some might say clashing tastes. It's a wildly eclectic mix that veers from delicate electronica to world music, woozy disco and new generation house.

"We wanted it to reflect the taste of the whole band," says Congreave. "I wanted to pick music from the whole time we've been together. The Bibio remix of "Ted" by Clark is a track that I associate with the beginning of the band. We had a rental van - the band cliche - and we drove ourselves around. We had a cassette player and we used to blast it out. The weirdness and the melody: it's a very interesting record."

"Confusion (Ma Afrika)" by Condry Ziqubu is perhaps the biggest curveball in the mix.

Congreave explains, "It's off a tape that Yanis had that used to belong to his mum. It's a compilation of South African pop from the '80s and most of it is absolutely terrible. But this song we kept coming back to. We've been listening to it for three or four years now, always on this tape and with terrible sound quality. It's such a good song. We don't have any context for it. None of us know anything about him or where he's from."

Less mercurial are tracks such as the Gatto Fritto Remix of "Way Savvy" by JR Seaton.

"The tracks following that are kind of woozy and a lot less structured, more headphone music. That side ends with the Carl Craig remix of "Kilode" by Tony Allen, which is something that we all like. I remember buying it on 12-inch. It was something that we'd never heard before and it was really exciting."

It's a hugely varied set. It's also very different to the music the band make themselves, heavy on dance and electronic as opposed to indie rock. They could have done a guitar band mix, but the truth is they don't listen to that kind of music, Which begs the question: Why do they make it then?

"That's a very good question," says Congreave. "It's one that we're always trying to work out ourselves. It's a lot to do with the fact that we've all been in bands growing up. We don't know how to structure ourselves in any other way at the moment. But I still think it makes sense with the music we make."

Perfect sense, in fact. Foals are one of the most inventive bands of the last five years. They were always going to come up with a genre-jamming mix. And a stunning one to boot.

Tracklisting

SIDE A
Nicolas Jaar - Variations
Clark - Ted (Bibio Remix)
Dorian Concept - Tropical Hands
Condry Ziqubu - Confusion (Ma Afrika)
The Invisible - London Girl
JR Seaton - Way Savvy (Gatto Fritto Remix)
Blood Orange - Dinner
Tanner Ross - B Side
Teengirl Fantasy - Cheaters (John Talabot's Classic Vocal Refix)
Château Flight feat. Marie Daulne - Superflight (Maurice Fulton Remix)
In Flagranti - Effective Placebo Affect
Tony Allen - Kilode (Carl Craig Remix)

SIDE B
Art Department feat. Soul Clap & Osunlade - We Call Love
Cerrone - Give Me Love (Frankie Knuckles Remix)
Arnold Jarvis - Take Some Time Out
Oni Ayhun - OAR003-B
Sepalcure - Every Day Of My Life (Jimmy Edgar Remix)
Marshall Jefferson vs. Noosa Heads - Mushrooms (Justin Martin Remix)
Julio Bashmore - Battle For Middle You (Maurice Donovan Dub)
Caribou - Sun (Midland Edit)
Konono Nº1 - Paradiso
Gospel Comforters - Yes God Is Real

2012 marks the 27th anniversary of !K7 Records. The label will be celebrating with a series of live events, releases, and special projects incorporating music and artists from past, present and future of the label, and the DJ-Kicks series.

!K7 Records Official Website

Foals Official Website