Consequence’s Annual Report continues with this particular version of Crate Digging, a recurring function the place artists take a deep dive into the albums they assume each music fan ought to personal. Because the yr winds down, we’ve bought tons of awards, lists, and interviews about the most effective music, movie, and TV 2024 needed to provide, together with our checklist of the 200 Greatest Songs of the Yr.
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After we final linked with IDLES’ guitarist and producer Mark Bowen in 2022, he took us by means of 10 guitar albums he thinks each music fan ought to personal. The checklist included data from bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Jesus Lizard, and PJ Harvey, in addition to IDLES’ debut album, Brutalism. It was a range that celebrated Bowen and his band’s carefully-curated slate of influences, to not point out their deserved breakthrough as probably the most beloved rock bands round proper now. However above all, it cemented one factor about Mark Bowen: The person has style.
At the moment, we reconnect with Bowen on the tail finish of one other massive yr for IDLES. They launched their fifth album TANGK again in February, which discovered the anti-fascist, post-punk agitators embracing a bolder sound whereas persevering with to render candy feelings as perilous plunges. Additionally they toured incessantly; once we chat over Zoom, Bowen is in Nottingham, the place IDLES is about to play their 106th present of the yr (they’d go on to play 10 extra gigs earlier than the yr’s finish, bringing their whole to 116 concert events). He even counted it for us: “We’ve accomplished a complete of 412 hours on stage. It’s been a giant yr,” he says.
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Even because the gang has been bringing TANGK to numerous venues around the globe, Bowen all the time makes time to maintain up with the most recent albums du jour. That features a number of of this yr’s indie favorites, like Mk.gee’s murky debut Two Star & the Dream Police, Kim Gordon’s experimental The Collective, and Model Pussy’s ferocious I Received Heaven. Bowen additionally praises the chic debut from English Instructor, our 2024 Rookie of the Yr, who truly supported IDLES on their North American tour this fall.
Bowen additionally seeks to highlight the varied actions that he thinks outline the yr in music. For one, he’s notably impressed with the yr in heavy music, citing “unbelievable” albums from Blood Incantation, Knocked Free, and The Physique as alerts of the heavy house’s burgeoning inventive pressure. He additionally spotlights nice new artists coming from his native Eire, just like the post-punk group Gurriers and the digital band Chalk.
Not like final time, nonetheless, Bowen does not title his personal band’s launch as considered one of his 10 choices. “If we do it each time, it’ll simply grow to be my factor,” he says earlier than including, “It’s a excellent album, I might say… It’s considered one of my favorites of the yr. Most likely my most listened to of the yr contemplating I play each night time!”
Revisit IDLES’ wonderful album TANGK beneath, and skim on for Bowen’s checklist of 10 albums from 2024 that left him captivated and enthralled.
Editor’s Notice: Take a look at our checklist of IDLES’ 10 Greatest Songs.