When I launched this blog I wrote that it would feature a lot of indie music, but that hasn’t really happened so far. There are a couple of reasons for this. Crotchety Man’s memory goes back over fifty years and ‘indie’ is a relatively new term in music journalism; a lot of what I have written about pre-dates it. And then ‘indie’ isn’t a particularly well-defined musical style; it’s just an average of what bands on independent labels were doing in the mid eighties. (That’s the 1980’s, by the way, the nineteenth century is well before even my time.)

More significantly, perhaps, ‘indie’ is my bread and butter: a staple food for the ears, everyday fare that hardly ever disappoints but rarely breaks through the excitement threshold that would make it worthy of a blog post. Of course, there are exceptions and much of the music I listen to has an independent-of-the-mainstream flavour, anyway. A dusting of herb here, a pinch of spice there. That’s why many of my rock and pop posts also carry an ‘indie’ tag; it’s the seasoning for the primary ingredients that lifts up the ordinary to the blog-about-it level.

Anyway, there’s no reason why those plain, vanilla indie tracks should be banished from these ramblings so I’ve chosen Mountain At My Gates by Foals as my Track of the Week.

I like Foals. Whenever I hear them on the radio the sun shines a little brighter, a little warmer. Mountain At My Gates is no exception. It has an infectious rhythm that wakes you up and gets you going like a breakfast of coffee and toast. And marmalade. I like marmalade (as Pink Floyd’s roadie once said). Strangely, though, Mountain At My Gates has a dark side, too. There is a deep sense of foreboding in the lyrics. Just beyond the next gate a mountain blocks the path. The steep slopes must be climbed. It will be an arduous and possibly dangerous journey.

But, for now, the sun is bright, there’s a spring in our steps and the music carries us down the path, across the fields and out into the countryside. For the next few minutes let’s forget the ominous mountain ahead and just enjoy Foals‘ latest single.

P.S. There’s a terrific 360° video of Mountain At My Gates on YouTube. You’ll need to have the latest version of the Chrome browser to see it properly, though, I think.