On Partisan Records
Album review by Rob Harrison
The new Idles album attempts to look at toxic masculinity through the lens of a post Brexit Britain, and the various layers of misinformation we are constantly being bombarded with by an increasingly right wing media.
Misinformation about our environment politics, and ourselves as men.
Sorry about the essentialist tag there, but what we can hear from the album masculinity appears to be in crisis.
What’s the solution? Well maybe we need some debate at least, and the Idiles album joy as an act of resistance attempts to talk about this. It’s a start perhaps.
Throughout the album there is anthemic lad anthems aplenty, and at times sounds like a cross between Sonic Youth and The Fall, which I guess can”t be a bad thing.
‘I’m Scum’, for instance, definitely sounds like The Fall. It’s probably got the In built loser attitude that the late great Mark E Smith used to talk about as well.
‘Television’ is a good track and should have been the single. its brilliant driving rhythms make it power along like the best Joy Division tracks, and has a real feel to the atmospherics. Nice.
I think its It’s better than the one they have at the moment. ‘Danny Nedelko’ is about how refugees and immigrants are viewed in this country, which is great. Applaud the sentiment, TV just has a great riff art for art’s sake, maybe.
Another track ‘Rottweiler’ reminds us that punk is not dead. Perhaps punk has become the new folk music in terms of official protest music. Who knows but I’m sure Joe Hill would approve.
So that’s it. Great sound, great songs. Very post Fall, and with the glam drumming it’s another one for the post Brexit canon of albums, the ones which actually talk about the now.
So wake up kids and be a part of the musical mindfulness and start to live in the moment.