Sleaford Mods aren’t from Sleaford, and nor are they mods, but the Nottingham duo (it’s not a million miles from sleepy Sleaford geographically, and singer Jason Williamson was born in Margaret Thatcher’s home town of Grantham, while music man Andrew Fearn hails from Lincolnshire village of Saxilby. If you’ve ever visited either of these places, it all makes sense) really broke through with their sixth album, 2013’s ‘Austerity Dogs’. Yes, that’s album number six. There’s a lot of catching up to do, people!
This is where ‘Chubbed Up’ comes in. Originally a self-released singles collection, it’s being given a new shove and a physical release )with three previously unreleased tracks) to a wider audience courtesy of Ipecac, and as the title suggests, features bonus tracks. It provides an essential run-down of their work to date and encapsulates what Sleaford Mods are all about: in short sociopolitical fury set to simple and repetitive hip-hop grooves. The simplicity is the genius: without complex musical structures or anything beyond simple beats behind the words, the lyrics are the focal point. And lyrically, it’s open season.
The surly sulk of the bass-led ‘The Committee’ lands somewhere between The Fall and Goldie Lookin’ Chain, sociopolitical venom spewed over a thudding bass and drum machine groove. ‘Fuck off twat,’ Williamson sneers (not for the first or last time) on ‘14 Day Court’. Whatever there is, these guys are against it. The shuffling beats and relentless monotony is the perfect foil for the repeated refrain of ‘your attack is fuckin’ useless!’
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The krautrockabilly ‘Black Monday’ is just one of many highlights, while ‘Jolly Fucker’ is pure vitriol and spits in all direction, slamming the EDL and ‘office turds’ and every other ‘fucking cunt’ while ‘Tweet Tweet Tweet’ drives hard at social networking, UKIP and, well, take your pick. If you like your astute and articulate proletarian ire expletive-laden and sincere – with dashes of wit and some killer one-liners thrown in, this is the album you need.
Of course, a lot of people are going to hate it. It will offend their sensibilities on so many levels. Good. If you don’t like it, Sleaford Mods will tell you in no uncertain terms where you can stick it. Blunt to the point of brutality, unflinchingly straight and as unpretentious as it’s possible to be, Sleaford Mods are the band everyone seemed to think The Streets were, but for gritty social realism, spoken in the voice of the man on the streets who’s lived it, this is the real deal.
Sleaford Mods Online
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