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The boycott, launched in early 2025, advocates for artists and labels to have their music restricted in Israel as a means of demonstrating solidarity in cultural protest. Rather than having artists music pulled from these platforms entirely, the campaign is set to employ a type of geo-blocking as a means of restricting access by region without leaving it inaccessible elsewhere. Following in the tone of traditional cultural boycotts, this particular movement has to now deal with the mechanics of digital streaming. For Lorde, the announcement builds on her recent political messages made throughout her current Ultrasound World Tour. Whilst performing her hit ‘Team’ (2013), she lit up the stage behind her with the Palestinian flag colours, underlining her participation in the boycott. IDLES, who have long maintained a reputation centred around socially charged lyrics and performances, are one of the more high-profile bands to announce their involvement, while the American trio MUNA and producer TOKiMONSTA has also confirmed their participation in the boycott as well.

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The movement has continued to grow rapidly since its initiation. Starting with around 400 artists, the tally has now just surpassed 1,000 participants in recent weeks. These artists encompass musicians from independent collectives to internationally touring acts. Its organisers describe the campaign as an active attempt to highlight the problem of cultural “normalisation” in response to the recent events in Gaza. However, the success of such will rely on the cooperation of mainstream platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube, and how they will involve themselves with the geo-blocking requests.

The campaign’s expansion also raises questions about how effective geo-blocking will operate when put into practice. Critics note that streaming access is harder to regulate fully, with many stating whether the impact will effect the everyday listeners rather than affect the political institutions. Supporters counter that the movement is more symbolic than functional, a movement of withdrawal whose main goal is to create a visible disruption in cultural flow.

For now, ‘No Music for Genocide’ looks like it will continue to gather momentum, with the list of signatories growing weekly. The involvement of the headline names such as Lorde, IDLES, and MUNA gives the campaign a higher profile than before, bringing it into the lead of music-industry conversations. Whether it proves a lasting movement or whether it just remains largely symbolic, it marks another moment where the global music community intersects with the political climate, and where artists are testing how far their platforms extend beyond performance.

‘Cheerleader’ is quick, rough, and almost overwhelming. The guitars grind, the drums crash, and singer Joe Talbot shouts with his usual mix of anger and passion. The title itself feels ironic. A “cheerleader” usually suggests something positive and uplifting, but the track has almost no trace of that mood.

The band helped shape the Caught Stealing soundtrack, working alongside composer Rob Simonsen. Aronofsky wanted to inject punk energy into the film, and IDLES delivered exactly that.

Talbot has said meeting Aronofsky felt like “a lucid dream” and a career highlight. It makes sense: IDLES’ music, with its urgency and raw emotion, pairs well with the director’s tense and obsessive stories.

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‘Cheerleader’ follows IDLES’ 2024 album Tangk, which earned the band Grammy nominations and wide praise. That record showed the group stretching their sound, mixing punk aggression with moments of vulnerability. Now, with ‘Cheerleader’ they’re proving they can also make music that works beyond the stage or record player, it can drive a film’s atmosphere too. By stepping into movie scoring, they’re showing a new side of themselves, while still keeping their raw core intact.

The band aren’t slowing down. Talbot has already teased that their sixth album is on the way, describing it as “more driven” than before. If ‘Cheerleader’ is any hint, fans can expect IDLES to keep pushing their sound into new and unexpected territory.

 

 

 

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IDLES are keeping busy in 2025 with a packed schedule of shows across the world. Fresh off their two massive hometown gigs in Bristol’s Queen Square at the start of August, the band dove straight into the European festival circuit, playing Pukkelpop in Belgium and Festival Cabaret Vert in France on August 14. 

From there, they turn their attention to North America, where they’ll be touring heavily throughout September. Highlights include a sold-out show at Fenway Park in Boston on September 7, followed by stops at Montreal’s Bell Centre, and Denver’s Ball Arena, among others.

The band’s tour doesn’t stop there. Later in the year, IDLES will head back to Europe, where they are already confirmed for the Inside Seaside Festival in Gdańsk, Poland, on November 9. These dates follow what has already been a landmark year for the group, showcasing both their live energy and their expanding reach into cinematic projects like Caught Stealing. 

Fans can keep track of new dates or get ticket access can follow announcements on the band’s official website.

The collaboration came about following a surprise performance at Glastonbury earlier this year. Brown joined IDLES on the Other Stage to perform the track, having earlier played his own set on the West Holts stage. The moment gained traction online, with fans praising the unexpected pairing.

‘Fuck the king’

Should be Main Stage…. That’s how you rouse an audience.

— 3 minute hero (@hammerman1111) June 28, 2024

Where the album version gives no-nonsense advice about being reliable but not taken advantage of, the remix lowers the pitch and tempo, bringing the track into gloomier territory. Brown’s frantic rap delivery contrasts starkly with Joe Talbot’s slower, more deliberate vocals, creating an unsettling juxtaposition that has caused a stir online.  

Reactions to the remix have been mixed. While some fans welcomed the creative shift, others questioned its direction. One Reddit user wrote: “Nice way to increase their reach, but it’s a personal ‘meh’ from me. I heard five seconds of it and prefer the original.”

Comment byu/Gooby1992 from discussion inIdles

IDLES are no strangers to collaboration, with Talbot previously working with acts like METZ, and LCD Soundsystem on their track ‘Dancer’. The band’s willingness to experiment was also highlighted in their appearance on CBeebies’ Hey Duggee!’s ‘Stick Song’, where they gave the children’s track a punk spin.

The remix reflects a growing crossover between punk and rap, two genres with shared roots in anti-establishment energy. The origins of this blend go all the way back to the origins of rap, and became mainstream with Run-DMC’s cover of ‘Walk This Way’. It has since been built up by acts like Beastie Boys and Limp Bizkit, and more recently, Death Grips.  

TANGK itself received praise for its more personal approach, with Mojo’s Andrew Perry describing IDLES as “tuneful, approachable geezers capable of love, and sharing it with the world.” The album went straight to number one in the UK Album Charts. The remix, however, sees the band embracing the raw energy of both punk and rap, with more emphasis on the experimental side of the record, than keeping Brown’s lyrics tied to the themes present in the original song.

 

 

 

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Danny Brown’s recent collaborations have included electronic duo Frost Children and country character Wheeler Walker Jr., contributing to a larger back catalogue of eclectic crossovers. Neither Brown nor IDLES have commented on the remix, though both shared a joint Instagram post featuring their Glastonbury performance and the remix cover art.

The remix is available now on all major streaming platforms.

The London band had previously promised via Radio X that they would bring out a special guest for their performance at Worthy Farm who had appeared on their album ‘My Big Day’. Then X account @secretglasto hinted at who the mystery guest was going to be saying that the guest “could make Bombay Bicycle Club’s set go by in a Blur.”

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Albarn thanked Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club’s Jack Steadman and then and then took to the stage and addressed the crowd on “three things” that “You have to show me how you feel about it,” which he said during the performance of ‘Tender’. He then attempted to encourage the Glastonbury crowd to vote in the coming UK general election which looks like it is going to be an overwhelming victory for Labour over the conservatives.

He addressed the crowd on how they felt about Palestine. “Are you pro-Palestine? Do you feel that’s an unfair war?”

He then continued, telling fans they need to vote. “The importance of voting next week. Now I don’t blame you for being ambivalent about that, but it’s still really important.”

Before saying “And thirdly, maybe it’s time we stop putting octogenarians in control of the whole world” probably in reference to the USA election which will see voters choosing between 81-year-old Joe Biden and 78-year-old Donald Trump. The two engaged in a debate on the 27th of June.

Speaking to Sky News Bombay Bicycle Club said that they “were never expecting to have him on the record or to be playing a show with him, but… we just kind of asked, and he was really up for it. You don’t ask, you don’t get.”

The first day of Glastonbury also saw a secret DJ set played by Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker in the early hours of Saturday Morning. This came after Kevin Parker appeared alongside Dua Lipa on her headline set of the Pyramid stage on Friday (June 28). The two had previously collaborated on Dua Lipa’s last album ‘Radical Optimism’ and they paired up for a performance on Tame Impala’s huge psychedelic hit ‘The Less I Know The Better’.

As well as this, elsewhere in Worthy farm on the first day of the festival Paul Heaton and Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) paired up for a Housemartins reunion where they performed their 1986 hit ‘Happy Hour’ on the Pyramid stage. IDLES also brought out Danny Brown as a special guest during their closing set on the Other stage where the rapper joined the Bristol band for a performance of the band’s song ‘Pop Pop Pop’.

Comprising Adam Devonshire, Joe Talbot, Mark Bowen, Lee Kiernan, and Jon Beavis, the indie-rock outfit expressed their gratitude to fans for propelling ‘TANGK’ to the summit. With 85 percent of its opening week sales in physical format, the album also secured the top position on the Official Vinyl Albums Chart and the Official Record Store Chart, emerging as the best-selling LP in UK independent record shops over the past seven days.

Reflecting on their achievement, the band conveyed heartfelt appreciation to their supporters, acknowledging their pivotal role in attaining the Number One spot. “Thank you very much to all of you that’ve supported us, bought our album and got us to Number 1. It’s a beautiful feeling,” the band relayed to Official Charts.

‘TANGK’ surpassed competitors such as Paloma Faith’s ‘The Glorification of Sadness’ and Crawler’s debut album ‘The Mess We Seem To Make’ to secure the top spot. This latest triumph adds to the band’s impressive chart history, with previous successes including ‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’, ‘A Beautiful Thing: IDLES Live At Le Bataclan’, ‘Ultra Mono’, and ‘CRAWLER’.

It’s go time! The lineup for #EOTR2024 is here. Explore the full lineup and book your tickets here: https://t.co/zGKGdovsd8
(1/5) pic.twitter.com/pYaRg3duJG

— EndOfTheRoadFestival (@EOTR) February 7, 2024

The festival returns to Lamar Tree Gardens in Wiltshire and will take place from 29 August until 1 September 2024. One of Britain’s best alternative rock and folk festivals, it traces its roots back to 2006, and has since won a number of festival awards, including ‘Best Small Festival’ at the 2011 UK Festival Awards and ‘Best Small Festival’ at the NME Awards in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

Bristol rock favourites Idles will end their summer with an appearance at End Of The Road before jetting off for their second North American tour of the year later in September. The post-hardcore heavyweights return to Lamar Tree Gardens having performed at the Big Top stage back in 2018.

Shoegaze giants Slowdive will cap off a heavy summer schedule filled with European festival shows with a headline appearance at this year’s event. The group released their fifth studio Everything Is Alive last September, returning with their signature shoegaze sound that continues to delight fans new and old.

Watch the music video for “Sugar For The Pill” by Slowdive below:

Another headlining act is Swedish artist Fever Ray, AKA Karin Dreijer, formerly part of electronic music duo The Knife. Dreijer will bring their illuminating, experimental art-pop for all to witness next summer and will be joined by folk hero Will Oldham, better known professionally as Bonnie “Prince” Billy (or Palace in his formative years). Once labelled an ‘Appalachian post-punk solipsist’, the DIY folk singer is known for both his ability to transcend sub-genres of folk, making them his own, and for his enigmatic and wholly spiritual live shows. His upcoming first appearance at Britain’s premier folk festival is, therefore, long overdue.

Watch the music video for “I See A Darkness” by Bonnie “Prince” Billy below:

End Of The Road festival saw King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Allah-Las perform last year, and past years have seen acts like Jeffrey Lewis, Patti Smith, Tame Impala and Mac DeMarco play. Check out this year’s full line-up here.

Tickets are available to purchase now here.

The anticipation is particularly high for Jamie T, who organisers claim is “one of the most requested headliners in Truck Festival history.” Alongside this, Wet Leg, the Brit Award-winning “Best New Artist” of 2023, will be making their UK festival headline debut. Meanwhile, the Thursday night slot is reserved for the energetic and politically charged IDLES, who are expected to showcase tracks from their upcoming album ‘TANGK,’ set to be released on February 16, read more about ‘TANGK’ here. The festival’s grand finale will be brought by The Streets, alias Mike Skinner, who released the critically acclaimed album ‘The Darker The Shadow, The Brighter The Light’ last year.

The diverse lineup also includes renowned acts such as The Kooks, Declan McKenna, Yard Act, Holly Humberstone, The Magic Gang, and English Teacher, along with emerging talents like Willie J Healey. Sea Girls, Black Honey, Peace, The Snuts, Sundara Karma, with many more set to grace the stages at Hill Farm. The Magic Gang’s presence in the Truck 2024 lineup has sparked speculation, given their recent breakup announcement and plans for a farewell tour. Despite confirming their final show, it remains unclear if the band will perform at the festival.

Truck Festival’s Head Of Marketing, Sam Harris, expressed his enthusiasm for the lineup, stating, “Truck 2024 is a landmark year for us, and we can’t wait to see everyone there!” Harris added, “Whether it’s discovering new favourites, diving into mosh-pits, or enjoying the amazing comedy and family entertainment on offer – Truck 2024 promises to be a special weekend.”

A ticket pre-sale is scheduled for 18:00 GMT on Thursday (January 25) with general sales opening at 10:00 on Friday (January 26). Tickets start at £140 for the weekend, with an early-bird option priced at £175, allowing entry on Thursday to catch the electrifying performance by IDLES. Both pay-in-full and payment plan options are available. Tickets can be purchased on the official festival website via this link.

Truck Festival, conceived by brothers Robin and Joe Bennett in 1998, has come a long way from its humble beginnings with an actual truck as the stage. More acts are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, building on the success of last year’s headliners Royal Blood, Alt-J, Two Door Cinema Club, and The Wombats. For more information and to secure your spot at what promises to be “the ultimate summer party,” visit Truck Festival’s official website.

‘GIFT HORSE’ diverges from the album’s previous releases, embodying a lean and taut intensity delivered in the unmistakable style of frontman Joe Talbot. Directed by David Helman, the music video for ‘GIFT HORSE’ accompanies the single’s release, offering fans a visual journey into the raw and thought-provoking world of IDLES. The video features a distorted and dystopian, yet slightly familiar, day within a supermarket. Talbot comments, “Look at us go! Music and movement for you and yours. Be bold and ride us like the disco donkeys we are.”

The release of ‘GIFT HORSE’ comes on the heels of IDLES’ eagerly awaited comeback in October, marked by the debut single from ‘TANGK,’ titled ‘DANCER,’ featuring contributions from James Murphy and Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem. In December, IDLES released another single, ‘GRACE,’ a slower and more soulful song exploring themes of redemption and introspection, adding another layer to the ‘TANGK’ repertoire.

The band recently unveiled an extensive tour schedule, spanning North America in May, June, and September, and the UK in July, November, and December. A substantial number of these upcoming shows have already sold out, some nearly a year in advance, but for those eager to secure a spot, tickets are available here.

To coincide with the album release, IDLES has expanded their tour schedule to include three intimate outstore shows in London and Bristol. The band will be taking the stage at Pryzm in Kingston, London on February 15, Electric Brixton in London on February 16, and playing a hometown show at the Marble Factory in Bristol on February 17. Tickets for the shows sold out within hours of release, a further testament to the growing IDLES fanbase.

‘TANGK,’ pronounced as “tank,” is promised to follow in the footsteps of their previous album ‘CRAWLER,’ which earned them two Grammy nominations. Fans and newcomers alike can mark February 16 on their calendars as IDLES prepares to unleash ‘TANGK,’ with a diverse production team and a series of powerful singles leading the way, fans can expect an album that pushes the boundaries of rock while staying true to the band’s unapologetic ethos.

Victorious Festival 2024 will run from August 23-25 with Fatboy Slim and Snow Patrol co-headlining the event’s opening night. Jamie T and Biffy Clyro will then take the headlining spot for Saturday and Sunday night respectively. The 2023 instalment of Victorious Festival featured another star-studded line up as the likes of Mumford and Sons, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, Jamiroquai and Ellie Goulding were amongst the big names of performers.

The festival also houses a comedy stage, and at next year’s event, leaders of the industry Russell Howard and Frankie Boyle will be headlining on Friday and Saturday night at Southsea seafront.

One of the most successful dance artists of all time, the Grammy and Brit award-winning DJ and producer Fatboy Slim will bring a memorable Friday night opening party packed full of hits. His attendance of the festival had previously been teased as a sign saying “Praise You”, in reference to his hit song of the same name, appeared at the event’s location.

Victorious Festival hints at 2024 headliner: https://t.co/85AAcyqY7K #FatboySlim #VictoriousFestival

— Neil Durham (@NeilDurham) November 27, 2023

In addition to these huge headliners, many other world class acts will be making their way down to Portsmouth for Victorious Festival. Other artists on the bill include Wet Leg, Becky Hill, Pixies, Courteeners, IDLES, Jess Glynne, Arlo Parks, Louis Tomlinson and Natasha Bedingfield. You can find the full line up below.

Big News!

We’re SO excited to announce @FatboySlim@snowpatrol , @jamietmusic , and @BiffyClyro are headlining VF24! Plus the incredible @wetlegband@BeckyHill@PIXIES@Louis_Tomlinson@jessglynne@arloparks@thecourteeners@idlesband & loads more!… pic.twitter.com/O6GEwuXxBP — Victorious Festival (@VictoriousFest) December 5, 2023

Victorious’ lead booker Andy Marsh said in a press release: ‘‘This is the first year we’ve released all our headliners at once and we’re thrilled to be able to announce the acts after months of planning. Victorious 2024 is going to be bigger than ever and it’s not just the headliners people need to look out for, we have booked hundreds of acts across the weekend spanning multiple genres. We can’t wait for August, it really will be a year to remember!” Early bird weekend camping tickets are now on sale from £180, while day tickets are priced at £65 each. For tickets and more information, you can visit the official website for Victorious Festival here.

The 11-track album will see the band stray from familiar themes which has made them so popular and championed. Rather then channelling anger and politicism, the band have stated that they, “have arrived in this new act to offer the fruits of such perseverance: love, joy, and indeed gratitude for the mere opportunity of existence.”

“TANGK. I needed love. So I made it,” frontman Joe Talbot posted on Instagram, “I gave love out to the world and it feels like magic. This is our album of gratitude and power. All love songs. All is love.”

TANGK was co-produced by Nigel Godrich (producer of all of Radiohead’s albums since OK Computer), Kenny Beats (producer of IDLES’ latest album Crawler), and IDLES guitarist, Mark Bowen.

Although fans may have to wait until February to experience TANGK in its entirety, listeners are able to drop-in momentarily with the lead single, ‘Dancer‘. This energetic and grungy track exudes bone-rattling basslines, guitar riffs and drums, giving singer Joe Talbot the opportunity to profess his sexual desires to someone on the dancefloor.

Joined by LCD Soundsystem’s, James Murphy and Nancy Whang on backing vocals, ‘Dancer‘ serves to represent the physical feeling of the beginning of a relationship, but it is also about the special dynamic between the band and their fans.

The band have stated, “It is a love song the same way that TANGK is a love album—open to anyone who requires something to shout out loud in order to fend off any encroaching sense of the void, now or forever.”

Joe Talbot said, “’Dancer’ is the violence that comes from the pounding heart of the dancefloor and rushes through your body and gives you life from music, from love and from you.”

Last night, IDLES debuted ‘Dancer‘, amongst a setlist of their biggest and best songs at Village Underground in London – billed under the name ‘TANGK‘.

The tracklist for TANGK is:

1. IDEA 01
2. Gift Horse
3. POP POP POP
4. Roy
5. A Gospel
6. Dancer
7. Grace
8. Hall & Oates
9. Jungle
10. Gratitude
11. Monolith

Although IDLES do not have any UK tour dates released, you can find European tour dates here:

29/02/2024 – Super Bock Arehna – Porto, Portugal
01/03 – Wizinik – Madrid, Spain
02/03 – Sant Jordi Club – Barcelona, Spain
05/03 – Alcatraz – Milan, Italy
07/03 – Zenith – Paris, France
08/03 – AFAS – Amsterdam, Netherlands
09/03 – Lotto Arena – Antwerp, Belgium
11/03 – SaSaZu – Prague, Czech Republic
12/03 – ROCKHAL – Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
14/03 – Halle 622 – Zurich, Switzerland
15/03 – Max Schmeling Halle – Berlin, Germany
16/03 – Sporthalle – Hamburg, Germany
18/03 – Annexet – Stockholm, Sweden
19/03 – KB Hallen – Copenhagen, Denmark
21/03 – Palladium – Cologne, Germany
22/03 – Zenith – Munich, Germany
23/03 – Jahrhunderthalle – Frankfurt, Germany