- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
- Release Date: '16th February 2024'
Our Rating:
I’m confused and conflicted here. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been busy with life and other stuff, but when I caught IDLES early doors at Live at Leeds in 2018, an occasion which had people queuing a mile round the block long after the venue was at capacity it was a major buzz moment. They were riding on the crest of the wave following the explosion of ‘Brutalism’ and were building up to ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’, and were in the middle of going absolutely fucking massive. And they put on one hell of a show.
Between then and now, they’ve released ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’, ‘Ultra-Mono’ and ‘Crawler’ and have grown their fanbase exponentially. Is this why people – critics and beyond – have gone funny about them? They’ve had some high-profile feuds with Sleaford Mods and Fat White Family over notions of ‘authenticity’, on account of their espousing working-class values, and despite rather more middle-class backgrounds. But is that it? I mean, I get that Sir Kier Starmer isn’t exactly the face of the working class either, and that right now the Labour Party is more New Labour than traditional, pro-union pro-rights left-wing Labour, but giving a voice to real issues by anyone regardless of background is surely something to be lauded, rather than slammed down. Such bitching is pretty undignified, given that these acts are all essentially on the same side, shouting for the same cause, railing against the same common enemy.
Sure, IDLES are prone to simple, reductive sloganeering, delivered by means of fairly primitive, stomping punk, which appeals to lowest common denominator brackets of dissenters, and on the back of this, they’ve gone stratospheric in their popularity. Sure, they probably pull a bunch of neanderthal meatheads to their O2 gigs now, but the same is true of many acts, including Sleaford Mods. The bigger a band gets the greater the likelihood of there being some twats along for the ride. But can you blame the band for that?
‘Tangk’ is a decent album. It begins with some atmospheric, moody piano on the minimal opener, ‘Idea’ before recent single cut ‘Gift Horse’ roars in. And if it’s primitive, so what? Punk was never about being subtle or smart, and this is a raucous blast of disinfection, and they absolutely slayed it on Jimmy Fallon the other night in what could be a career-defining moment. It’s also a rare moment of stomping fury on an album that’s largely quite subdued-sounding.
You can’t exactly accuse Idles of being two-dimensional or samey, either – and, love or hate Sleaford Mods, it’s hard to celebrate their musical range. ‘Pop Pop Pop’ is a stark synth-driven, feedback-laden droner, which – for better or worse – ventures into hip-hop spoken word territory. The album’s longest track, it’s an interesting foray into more experimental territories, and by no means the only one: ‘Roy’ is sparse and gritty, drawing on myriad inspirations from jazz and blues and beyond, before going anthemic electro – and perhaps a bit U2, I dunno. ‘Hall & Oates’ is perhaps the album’s most quintessentially Idles track, with a throbbing bass and pounding drums blasting through a rough ‘n’ ready sub-two-thirty punk tune, and you just know that live it would be a proper mosher.
‘Tangk’ is wide-ranging and diverse. How successful some of the diversions into different styles are is something only time will really tell, but spanning the close, intimate heart-on-sleeve emotionally bare croonings of ‘A Gospel’ to the motoric thump of ‘Dancer’, vvia rhe scratchy ‘Jungle’, ‘Tangk’ is an eclectic album which, more often than not, presents as reflective and introspective, and as such, is more of a slow-burner than an instant smash.
‘Tangk’ is not an easy or immediate album, and it’s certainly not back-to-back rabble-rousing ruckus bangers. Respect is due for this: for a band who have gone so big so fast, they could so easily have gone commercial – and they do inch close on ‘Grace’, but it ends up more murky than mainstream – or played safe with back-to-back fist-pumpers. But they’ve done neither. ‘Tangk’ is an album which carries risks, and detractors be damned, it’s an artistic triumph.
