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Idles Uncork One of the Most Innovative Rock Records in Years With the Bruising ‘Tangk’: Album Review
British-Irish quintet Idles' 'Tangk' fuses hardcore punk and electronic skronk into one of the most exciting rock albums in years.
The album’s production — from guitarist Mark Bowen, hip-hop auteur Kenny Beats and Radiohead veteran Nigel Godrich — is suitably next-level, and finds the band going both harder (“Dancer”) and softer (“Grace”) than ever, a dichotomy that is reflected in an utterly awesome official Idles T-shirt that reads, hilariously although not entirely accurately, “Hard rock for softies.” However, they’ve dramatically dialed down the preachiness of their earlier albums in favor of a more measured approach: It’s an artful mashup of “Vulnerable / Strong like bull,” as Talbot sings; the most traditionally punk song here is actually called “Hall & Oates.” “Dancer,” maybe the strongest song here, is entirely based around a single repetitive bass note and the rhythm, with Talbot singing over the top and the guitars careening in and out: It’s an arrangement more reminiscent of a hip-hop track than most rock records, although the template isn’t worlds away from AC/DC’s use of tension and release.
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