Foals will be played on MMW at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

I can’t remember exactly how I came upon Foals, but I do know it was love at first listen. It was during my math/electro-rock phase (other bands that were getting heavy plays at the time were Klaxons and Kasabian). Foals’ first album, Antidotes, rocked my world. Being a drummer and loving weird beats, this was perfect for my developing skills. I listened almost exclusively to the album and tried to mimic the patterns I was hearing on my set, and it was pretty difficult, since there was a lot of subtle stuff going on. I think that hyper-attentiveness caused me to grow a deeper attachment the album as a whole. My favorite song from that album was, and still is, “Two Steps Twice.” Probably because it has the most interesting drum part, but I also love the ¾ time going into a fucking rockin’ dance beat. So I listened to them for about a year and a half solid.

Then their second album was announced, Total Life Forever. They released the first single, “Spanish Sahara,” and it was quite different from the band I had come to know and love. The song starts out soft and quiet, with not much more than a piano and vocals. I was skeptical. Then the build started to happen. It built and built, and it turned into a beautifully articulate piece. Though it lacked the math-rockiness that I had always associated with Foals, it was amazing. It was Foals, but it was a new, more robust, fuller version. I was taken aback by it, and I was hungry for more; I wanted to know what other changes they had made to their sound, or if this was just one song that showed off that they were branching out a bit. I had to wait a month or so, but eventually their second single dropped, “This Orient.” Here was the upbeat, dance music that I had, admittedly, missed after they released the former single. It still was nowhere near as rhythmically intricate as the stuff from their freshman album, but it showed that they could still make the music I loved them for. All I had to do now was to wait for the album to drop. I was so impatient that I even dropped a bit of extra cash to get it a few days before it was released.

And drop it did. I listened to the first song, and was in love. They had done it. After listening to it again and again, I was convinced that Foals’ sophomore lived up to and even rivaled their first album in terms of greatness. TLF might not quite reach the pure dance/math rock awesomeness that was Antidotes, but it is a great piece of art. It’s also more approachable and accessible than Antidotes was, simply because it’s not dancey and mathy. Today, I think I might actually like TLF more than Antidotes (except for “Two Steps Twice,” which still may be my favorite song they’ve put out). My only request would be for them to FUCKING COME TO PITTSBURGH BECAUSE I WANT TO SEE THEM LIVE AND I’M SERIOUS YOU GUYS.

If you’re interested in hearing a collection of my favorite Foals songs and some very good b-sides and covers by them, tune in to MMW at 5pm on Sunday! I’ve marked up a rough list of what I’ll be playing below:

Astronauts & All (Hummer B-Side)
Two Steps Twice (Antidotes)
This Orient (Total Life Forever)
Hollaback Girl (Gwen Stefani Cover)
Balloons (Antidotes)
Wear and Tear (Miami B-Side)
What Remains (Total Life Forever)
One (Swedish House Mafia Cover)

tUnE-yArDs will be played on MMW at 2 a.m. Saturday.

tUnE-yArDs are Merrill Garbus (who sings, plays ukelele, tambourine and drums, and uses a looping pedal) and her bassist, Nate Brenner (and occasionally a saxophone section). Their w h o k i l l album, which came out in April, was my favorite album of 2011.

I’m going to play a few tracks from that album, including “Bizness,” “Gangsta,” “Doorstep,” “You Yes You,” and “Wooly Wolly Gong.” Unfortunately, a few songs from that album — including “Powa,” “My Country,” and “Killa” — are not FCC safe, but I definitely encourage people to check those out if you are interested in this band. I’m also playing a song that doesn’t appear on w h o k i l l but on its own EP, as performed live in the studio for the record label 4AD: “Real Live Flesh.” This song builds off layered nonsense syllables and drum loops made with a looping pedal.

Here are a couple of the tracks I’ll be playing, so you can check them out with minimal effort:

It’s pretty rare to see a songwriter break away from his original band and start a more successful solo project. But Ben Folds is a resourceful guy. Before forming Ben Folds Five, he was a percussion major at UMiami and played the hell out of the bass and piano in his down time. Ben Folds Five disbanded in the early 2000s and Folds was left to record most of the instruments for Rockin’ the Suburbs, his 2001 release, alone. This task may have been a problem for mere mortals, but after a week of listening to the 12 song LP, I’ve figured out that Folds is no mere mortal.

The album begins with the energetic “Annie Waits,” which properly sets the tone for the album by alternating a catchy piano riff with precisely placed claps. The track is layered with strong bass lines and several keyboards that are a strong part of Folds’ signature sound. One of the album’s strongest tracks, “Zak And Sara,” follows with thundering mixolydian piano arpeggios and lyrics about two oddball lovers navigating their young lives together. A delightful version of the song with Ben Folds and WASO is posted below:

The emerging pattern displayed here continues throughout the rest of the album. Most of Folds’ tunes tell tragic stories of the downfalls of various members of suburbia. “The Ascent of Stan” tells the story of an ex-hippie who has gone corporate, while “Fred Jones Part 2” is about a man who was fired from his job at an old age. The first nine tracks generally follow this trend and leave the listener thinking, “Alright Ben… suburban life isn’t that bad…” Well. Ben thought the same thing.

The title track, “Rockin’ the Suburbs” shows Folds’ lighter side. The hit single sarcastically plays upon the angsty cry of many modern musicians, displaying hilarious lyrics such as “I’ll take the checks and face the facts / That some producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks.” It’s tough to not crack a smile when Folds insists “Y’all don’t know what it’s like / being male, middle class, and white” in his toughest rapper voice. For those who aren’t into piano based “punk for pussies” (as Folds describes his music), “Rockin’ the Suburbs” is a fantastic gateway song.

All in all, Folds does quite well on his own. If you are in the mood to smile at a quirky lyric or tap your foot to some undeniably catchy piano melodies, this is the album for you.