Foals seemed to make quite an impression on everyone who say any of their five (or more) CMJ shows. I was able to catch them at the After the Jump Fest at thr Music Hall of Williamsburg and was pretty smitten. The Foals easily repertoire easily could be filed somewhere between The Rapture's 1999 debut LP Mirror and their 2001 EP, Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks.

That's not to say that they lack any originality, but their Cure meets Gang of Four sound has become pretty well covered Territory these days. The difference is that some groups do it well and others aren't able to bring any of themselves into the sound collage. At times, Foals do succeed in making the sound their own. When they start sounding to derivative, they did make up for it with a great stage presence.

Foals came off as the perfect type of band to see at CMJ. I was surprised and enjoyed them enough that I now want to follow them further and see what they bring to the table next time they're in town......