Ty Listens to Idles

A couple days ago I wrote about my newfound love for new wave music. I mentioned in that blog that I was going back and listening to older music to see what I missed. I am still doing that, but I will say, all thanks to my brother, I have found a new band, new to me, that I have started listening to for a little over a week now, and I have been a big fan of what I have been hearing.

A couple weeks back my brother, myself, my dad and a buddy of mine were all out for coffee. During these coffee runs we talk about a ton of stuff, but the conversation usually ends up with some discussion about music. We all like music, like everyone else, and we all have our personal tastes. I do go to my brother a lot with music recommendations, and he has delivered time and again. During this particular talk the topic found itself on punk music. Kirk is a big fan, my brother seems to like some and my dad and I have never listened to punk all that much. This particular day my brother Seth told us about a band he liked called Idles. I had never heard of them before. I don't think Kirk had either. We talked about them, Seth told us what he liked about them and we all left for home.

To be honest, I had kind of forgotten about them until I saw a headline on the internet that said, "Watch the Sweatiest Tiny Desk Concert", and it was featuring Idles. I watched a little bit of the tiny desk show and I found myself intrigued. Idles was crushing this particular tiny desk show. They were amped up, playing kick ass songs and they seemed to be having a hell of a time. And sure enough, the lead singer was dripping with sweat a few songs in.

After a bit of this show I watched I went and streamed some of their music. The first couple songs I heard were classic punk rock, but the lead singer had a voice that I could not get out of my head. It was raspy and he could do slower songs, but he excelled when doing punk music. This led me to checking out some of their records. I listened to a few tracks off "Brutalism" first. The stuff I heard I really liked. It was fast and heavy. They were actually singing about real life issues and their feelings. It was different from most punk rock for me. Next was a track or two off of "Joy as an Act of Resistance". Again, they were singing about real life things, but they went even heavier on this one. The tracks I heard reminded me of what I consider real punk rock. But the singer's voice was standing out above everything else. Listening to a few tracks off these records, and then getting into a run of LCD Soundsystem, led me to their most recent record, "Tangk". LCD Soundsystem is featured on a song with them on this record, so I went and checked that one out first. It was a cool blend of punk rock and LCD Soundsystem's version of electronic. I then just let that record play in my car this morning and it is rad. It isn't just punk rock either. They do a bunch of different stuff on this album and I have been enjoying the hell out of it. This record has slower songs. It has ambient songs. It has straight up rock songs. And it has punk songs. And I like all of them.

Idles are great. I see why they're having a moment right now. These dudes are talented and they look like they're having a good time when they're playing. If you're looking for new music, and want something a little heavier, check out Idles. And if I could do it all over again, I'd start right back where I did, with their tiny desk performance. That is the best jumping off point for this kick ass band. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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