Frightening times call for a frightening band. As 2020 shudders in the face of a crescendo of sour notes bellowed by culture-warriors, isolationists, free-marketeers and propagandists, a sound from the Westcountry quintet IDLES arrives like a noise from a long-mothballed foundry. Driving, insistent, relentless, it powers every song on this, the band’s third LP. Its title is Ultra Mono, but they may as well have taken a leaf out of Nick Cave’s book and called it Kicking Against The Pricks. Or The Clash, even – Cut The Crap. IDLES do not identify as a punk group, which is their right. But the presence of politics writ large, and a hulking menace that recalls bands such as The Stranglers and The Fall means that these 12 songs could hardly be a greater reflection of British culture were t...
