The title is pretty self-explanatory: it’s been five years since rabble-rousing racketmongers IDLES exploded with ‘Brutalism’, the album that put them firmly on the map.
There’s a certain irony in the fact they’ve spent a chunk of those five years feuding with Fat White Family over their working-class credentials, and I suppose which side of the argument you land on depends on how much of a crap you give about such peripheral shit, and it’s about as worthwhile as Blur vs Oasis at the end of the day. Fat Whites have largely come across as rather self-absorbed, whereas Idles present as more heads down and getting on with it, and that’s very much true when it comes to the music, too.
‘Five Years of Brutalism’ reminds us that a lot has happened in a short time, and while ordinarily a five-year retrospective would be far, far too soon, it does actually seem appropriate here, presenting the album with a parallel album of live recordings of each of the 13 songs. It also reminds us that this is an album which was self-released and like so many self-released albums could have sunk without trace.
But a cracking album and endless blistering live performances have meant IDLES have only grown in popularity since lockdown, and from the get-go, ‘Five Years of Brutalism’ is a powerful, punishing album, opening with ‘Heal / Heel’, an explosion of powerhouse drumming and a frenzied blast of bass and guitar pitched against Joe Talbot’s ragged, raging vocals and barely drawing breath all the way before to the murky minimalist reflection of ‘Slow savage’, which proved that they’re not one-dimensional rabble-rousing fist-clenching fury. But songs like ‘Mother’ and ‘1049 Gotho’ resonate, and repetition isn’t necessarily mere sloganeering. Sure, IDLES’ approach is a pretty blunt instrument, but it’s real, it’s raw, sincere, and immediate, and is punk – and protest music – in its purest form. It’s not designed to bee pretty.
Of course, it’s live that it makes the most sense, and there’s something that’s immensely exhilarating and unifying being in the presence of a band who play this hard and channel every drop of energy into blasting out songs that are pure in what they feel, what they believe. It has a unifying power, and the simplicity is key to that. It needs to be direct, and delivered with passion.
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Because the live experience is so integral to the IDLES experience, this edition features live cuts of all of the album’s tracks recorded at their performance on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury this year – where they played the album in full (but switching the order of the last two songs). Live albums can be hit and miss, but this is definitely all hit, capturing the band’s intensity perfectly. Sure, they’re better witnessed in a smaller, sweaty venue where the atmosphere is really electrified, but the chances of that happening again soon is looking increasingly slim. But you can’t begrudge that fact: it may be a simplified discourse, but the simple fact that they’ve grown to such a level of popularity without diluting their sentiments or values is encouraging in these bleak times. We need unity and to be calling out the real enemy rather than infighting, and IDLES are a unifying force. Stand strong.
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