Just when you think you have the measure of Bristol noiseniks Idles, they change tack spectacularly. Frenetic hard rock may have made their name and cemented their reputation as an electrifying band, but the dial is turned down several notches on their surprising and compelling new fifth album, Tangk.
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It is a long way from Crumlin to Miami but Conor McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout was inescapable at a bare knuckle championship night in the Florida city this month. The logo was everywhere, including on the back of the knickers sported by the scantily clad ‘ring girls’.
It has been a long 14 years since Kanye West last delivered an album worthy of his talents. That record, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, remains a sprawling masterpiece and it arrived hot on the heels of four albums that had established him as the greatest rapper of the 2000s.
A thought occurs to me halfway through the Rhythm Ride spin class at Perpetua Fitness: have I ever sweated as much as this? For 45 minutes, in this subterranean corner of Dublin’s Portobello, I pedal furiously, mostly off the saddle. The idea is to cycle to the rhythm of the music hip-hop, power pop and Whitney Houston and to experience a workout that’s more about fun than hardship.