What was the French author who wrote about addiction? I don't know how to spell in french 😬

I hope you do one day visit their album Joy as an Act of Resistance. I think everything you mentioned liking from this album, that album has in spades. This album Crawler is just more thematically cohesive which is what I love about it.

Man this was fucking awesome. You should do a video on The Fall. By far my favorite band and some of the wildest lyrics ever.

I have been going through a really bad rough patch recently and the album and this review are both really nice takes on the whole keep on going thing.Thank you proffesor skye very cool.

Hi professor Skye, as a teenager who never grew up in the rock in roll or post punk era, through all the music I’ve been listening to I’ve found there has been a widespread influence of both genres and many more, I don’t like to think any genres as dead, maybe very few people are making music in that genre, but there is so many artists/bands still making music in nearly every genre, one of my favourite artists, brakence is making pop punk, math rock inspired music with a modern take, making music with influences from Bon iver, and adding elements of trap and R&B, I would highly recommend his album punk2, There is always new interesting music being made, you just have to look for it :)

I swear I could listen to you talk about music all day! Loved this review!

Amazing analysis of an amazing album!

So I wanted to say I actually really enjoy The New Sensation specifically because it fits the narrative, but then I tried breaking down all the lyrical connections and it's actually way more than I anticipated. I'm gonna have fun editing the Genius pages when I get around to it. :D (I only occasionally go on there because I don't like the format not promoting a discussion before things get approved or rejected.) "I was on my knees for days And then I set on all fours" - In Beachland Ballroom relates to verse 3 in TNS: "Okay, get on all fours Then slap that d-d-d-dancefloor Then scream "I'll die for the cause" What else could your lungs be for" - And that has more context with verse 2 in the same song: "So you wanna re-train now? Jumping from the right to the left brain, now You just gotta change your stance up And re-train as a dancer and" - Moving from right to left brain means moving away from instinctual risk-taking and pursuing logic and facts. - Re-training as a dancer in relation to the song's political subject matter means doubling down on his unique strengths in spite of imposing circumstances; Outside of the political matter, it could mean learning to dance around a different set of issues. *Back to verse 3: - This has a triple meaning, between dancing (a physical expression) as defiance, being so drunk that you're on all fours, and being physically damaged, crawling. You have to change your stance if you have a bad back / can't stand up straight. Verse 4: "Yeah boy, just break your back ... ...Shake so hard, shake the demons shook dead" - He probably broke his back in the crash and had to re-adjust his stance... because of this illness he couldn't control that kept him "on his knees for days:" It was the alcohol that was making him sick. And it took his body being forced into an emergency to realize the connection between his actions and consequences. Reality just doesn't really support the idea of running from your problems for forever. Crawl!: "That's why I'm smashing my pretty face in" - He's taking responsibility for his actions, saying "I did this" instead of "this happened to me." There's a dichotomy between a self-destructive behavior intended to make one feel alive and crawling with a dwindling sense of life to disavow physical self-destruction. I think that this is why BB might be considered the central track: It's the most foundational admittance that damage is damage no matter how you look at it... so the only part that could change, and thus matter, is how you look at it. It is natural for nature to rebuild itself after a tragedy. It was in his nature to just sway with the wind until he was forced to confront needing to re-grow. I'm gonna stop before I do the whole album. I didn't even dive into the lyrics until I saw this video. :P I am now thoroughly impressed with the lyrical content. So in short, I think "The New Sensation" could be a general reference to sensationalizing, to say he is doing the same thing as a dishonest government ad when he drinks because he isn't being honest about his representation. I could interpret it as dumbing yourself down so things feel new while it just stops you from actually reaching something new. I definitely see this as a common element to inebriation, it's why I don't drink. Ok, really I'm done now. Have a nice day, sir!

Really enjoyed this review - now subscribed. Thanks!

Your description of Kenny hahahaha. He's basically the big friendly giant in real life

Favorite band! Here to see what you think

Glad that you picked this album to review first. As a fan of the band I'm not as keen on Crawler but the more experimental bits are more than enough to keep me interested in the band's future. This is the second to last anticipated release of the year for me, the final being Converge and Chelsea Wolfe teaming up next week for Bloodmoon. Maybe a bit out of Prof's wheelhouse but it'd love to know his thoughts on it.

He didn’t actually get into an accident. It was a close call, while high, and cold, that triggered an internal existential vision, which became the basis for the song

Just your opening statement alone made me so happy. As a soon to be 23 year old who is a musician and was raised throughout his childhood and teenage years by that kind of blues based rock I have come to terms in the last 4 years with the fact that it is a genre that should be mostly abandoned by new musicians. That's because I don't see much new things to do with it and THAT'S OKAY. We're talking about a genre that's been around for at least 70 years. And I embrace that change because the best and most forward thinking rock music I've heard these days is in that post punk niche you talk about which I find myself in love with at the moment. Great review!

Loved this review man

This was a great video, I hope you check out their first two albums as well. Brutalism and Joy as an Act of Resistance are both amazing as well.

Great review Prof, I adore this album. Their second album, Joy As An Act of Resistance, is my favorite album of all time, so of course I highly recommend you listen :)

Professor Skye another spot on review! Here are a few other great post-punk bands I have recently discovered (not from the UK); Lithics, French Vanilla, Priests, Crack Cloud, Sweeping Promises...enjoy! There really are so many terrific under-profiled bands out there, IDLES has helped pave the way with their modern post punk sound, with this album in particular really as a standout in their discography

Tropical Fuck Storm's new album Deep States is psychedelic post-punk-depression from Australia. I think you would really get a kick out of the clear dynamic between members of the band and the storytelling. #likebucket

I'd love to know your favourite modern post punk albums. Crawler was such an amazing album for me great review.

Joes lyrics on the wheel are so fucking relatable to me and what ive gone through with addiction in myself and of course in my people in my family

Were you thinking of Injury Reserve's Top Picks For You?

you seem to love Kenny, you need to check out his The Cave series, where he has artists come in and he makes a beat in 20 or so minutes and they freestyle over it and its all recorded. Its a very raw format and its very good.

Could you review Teenage Devil Dolls please?

I love this album, great review! Not too many people doing punk/rock reviews today besides the melon. Definitely check out a group called “Show Me The Body” they’re album “Dog Whistle” is one of my favorite punk albums of all time

"Whatever the hell Kenny Beats looks like." If you ever have the time for it or want to put something on in the background, he does a ton of streams (on Discord) that get uploaded to KZfaq (giving different kinds of useful advice, making a beat from scratch, hosting beat battles featuring aspiring producers), as well as a series called The Cave where he makes a beat for an artist in a short period of time based on what they want in that moment (and then they perform something they just wrote over it). He generally does a great job of playing the straight man to artist's eccentricities while being super anxious over yerba mate.

The opening track is a homage to Massive Attack - Angel

I'm sorry but I have to ask... are the bookshelfves in the back Ikea? ....

The only review that matters

I have some albums I want to recommend(for you to review ofc). They’re actually EPs by The Alchemist, both “This Thing of Ours,” and “This Thing of Ours 2.” This comment is unrelated to the video but I REALLY just wanted to throw this out there.

As a Gen Xer and a fan of today's music as well, I am so glad to hear someone else call out this creeping Boomer tendency of giving up on modern music (or any music released after your college years, apparently). It's rife all over KZfaq comment sections. And it even infects millennials now... no doubt Gen Z will fall to this sad trait in time too... it must be due to a very common result of growing old. But I'm not letting it happen to me - it is just laziness. It takes work to find the good music in any era, and with the decline of radio nowadays it's even harder. But it is worth the challenge. Long live curiosity and wonder, and screw the haters.

How do I submit music to be reviewed ?

i mean on this album idles incorporated blues punk elements but okay. what im trying to say is rock is not just alive in the "post punk" subgenre though it is one of my favorite genres. and also that even blues rock isnt necessarily dead either. Also you said Ive only listened to their second album and this one and how you said it makes me think you arent sure how many albums they have; they have 4 just fyi

Post-post is definitely still alive and well. Piano-based art rock is also still thriving. Have you checked out the new album by Tori Amos which is outstanding. Lana Del Rey and Lorde are clear descendants of Tori's music.

This is a superior album to Ultra Mono but it still looses steam quick after the initial 4 track run. Ballroom is a great switch up for Idles but most of the other experiments seem middling or underdeveloped as songs. Like ultra Mono I fear diminishing returns rather than growth with this one. Glad you liked it Skye.

"Sounds like he's from Bristol, but I have no idea. I'm from New York." Better than my response when first hearing them. "Yeah this band from somewhere's across the pond is sick as fuck."

Traditionally people from Bristol have a West country accent sounding like an 18th century Carribbean pirate aaargh!

Yeah I agree that "blues" based rock is currently dead but i disagree with your assessment that it had "some vibrancy ". It is rather dismissive and devalues an era of music that helped shape modern culture.

You should try Tropical Fuck Storm- they got there first with A Laughing Death in Meatspace- way more interesting than Idles- the lyrics are right up your alley and off the charts in terms of creativity and quality- and not from England either

I found that the deluxe booklet for Ultra Mono says, "Sorry for the shit french." I know that doesn't excuse it, but at least Joe recognizes it.

Solipsistic was pronounced correctly!

Post punk nebula....

Day 1 of asking Skye to listen to Joy as an an act of Resistance

Please tell me you're making time to attend your teacher union meetings?

APIDTA by Jay Electronica Jay Z says “i got numbers in my phone, that’ll never ring again, cause Allah done called em home”

Bad sound recording. (on this video, not in the Idles album)!

IDLES are based in Bristol but I don't think any of the members are originally from the City. The singer definitely doesn't sing in the accent. Typical features of a Bristolian accent is a emphasise on heavily pronouncing every R with elongated A sounds. Roughly imagine a stereotypical pirate accent.

Not to be that guy, but first