Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 + 2 by Foals

We’re officially into the top half of the 2019 Top 31, and it’s with a new spin on what qualifies as an “album”. I’ve always been ok with putting double albums on the Top 31 (just look at DJ Shadow back at #21). But the latest from Foals, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost was released in two distinct parts, months apart from each other. Does that mean it’s now two albums, and should therefore be considered separately? Wikipedia thinks so. But I’m not as strict as the Wikipedia community, and I’ve decided that, yes, both parts of the album can qualify as one “album”. In fact, I’d go so far as to say multiple releases by the same artist in the same year can qualify as a single “album” as it pertains to the Top 31. I guess that means I’m no longer charting albums, but instead the entirety of output from an artist within a single year. So be it. It won’t be the last time we encounter this within this Top 31, either.

Foals are an exceedingly popular band that you’ve never heard of They’ve been around since 2005. They hail from Oxford, England (where another band you’ve never heard of called Radiohead also hail from). And they’ve only released five albums in that time (or six, if you count Everything as two albums), nearly all to great acclaim — in England. They just haven’t had the promotion and adoration here that they’ve experienced in their home country.

While I’ve heard of the Foals name for a few years now, I can’t say I’ve ever actively listened to them before 2019. And I’m so glad I did. Part 1 of Everything is really what won me over, and specifically the song “Exits,” which is featured in the above video (starring Isaac Hempstead-Wright, aka Bran Stark). It’s one hell of a banger. This song is quite typical, I’ve found, of the band’s sound in general. It’s a very English sound. Good use of keyboards, guitars, swelling crescendos, evocative of bands that I used to love eons ago, like Placebo or, more currently, Elbow (when they’re particularly loud). Lead singer Yannis Philippakis’s voice is on the higher register, but it’s always projected fully — not dainty and removed, but entirely present and loud, but never screechy.

The band also appears to have a bit of humor as well. The name of these albums was joyously cribbed from the memific Nintendo Wii ’Quit Screen’ message: “Anything not saved will be lost.” Regardless of its source, that’s a pretty fun thing to name your album after.

These albums slay. There’s just no other way to put it. Put both of them on, back to back, and get fully immersed in what the band has to offer. I’m compelled (but have yet to do so) to listen to their older work. I’ll be sure to report back once I do.

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16. Gallipoli by Beirut
17. My Finest Work Yet by Andrew Bird
18. Four of Arrows by Great Grandpa
19. Designer by Aldous Harding
20. Norman Fucking Rockwell! by Lana Del Rey
21. Our Pathetic Age by DJ Shadow
22. Juice B Crypts by Battles
23. Pony by Orville Peck
24. Hyperspace by Beck
25. Eraserland by Strand of Oaks
26. Dogrel by Fontaines DC
27. You’re the Man by Marvin Gaye
28. Big Wows by Stealing Sheep
29. 1000 gecs by 100 gecs
30. In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers
31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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