Earlier this week, IDLES teased an upcoming premiere on their YouTube channel titled “Workout with Dev”. The thumbnail featured a photo of their bass player, Dev, dressed in his finest workout gear. I was under the impression that Dev would be hosting some sort of live-streamed YouTube workout. Actually, he just may have…I missed the actual premiere the moment it went live, but when I came back to their channel later in the day, I saw the above video for “Mr. Motivator”. This appears to be a friend/fan-sourced video (did I spot Flea and Jarvis Cocker in there? Maybe?) for the lead single for their upcoming album, which is rumored to be produced by Kenny Beats (Gucci Mane, Vince Staples, JPEGMafia). It’s another loud but catchy track from these guys. They put on the best live show I saw in 2019, and I was supposed to see them again last month at Pappy & Harriet’s in Joshua Tree, but this damn pandemic got in the way of that. I highly recommend, when things get back to “normal,” you check these guys out live. If you need evidence, check out this amazing NPR Tiny Desk Concert and tell me I’m wrong.
