Good mood, as always: Sleaford Mods in Action
How time flies, like in a loop. A decade has now passed since Jason Williamson’s first opportunity to pull his snot up and drool over “Tied up in Nottz” on a German stage. Since then – “The smell of piss is so strong it smells like decent bacon” – everything has stayed the same. And a lot has happened. The Nottingham duo Sleaford Mods’ hypnotic two-component recipe of minimalist drum and bass loops to rhythmic hate speech is as consistent as British austerity policy. The Mods were on the top of the pops for a year or two, the stages and egos got bigger, the welfare system continued to shrink, Williamson gave up drinking, Brexit came and Covid stayed, and the Sleaford Mods’ seventh album “Divide and Exit” is now available as a 10th Anniversary Edition.
It looks good on red vinyl and with the new cover made by Cold War Steve. It’s pretty and tells a lot. In a bizarre dystopian scene, medieval monks hand over Noel Gallagher’s signature guitar, the “Epiphone Supernova,” to the fire, the Union Jack blazes on the pyre, and the cavalry is lined up ready for battle in front of an oversized white van with a St. George’s flag on it. On the left in the background on the mountainside are half a dozen gigantic cooling towers. In the sky at the top right is a quote from the original cover of “Divide and Exit,” a photograph of Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamson looking pissed off into the lens. From a decade’s distance, the two just about look over the absurd yet familiar events below them; you’d think the class-conscious duo had been trying to convey something for years. A message or something like that, perhaps.
Of course, some Moserer think that the Nottingham guys haven’t been real Sleaford Mods for a long time, but that the message has been clearly received and has been “Sell out” since 2016 at the latest. Admittedly, the two have had nothing against growing as a band and making money for years and even put on a light show now and then. A few synth sounds or a guitar may be heard on the half dozen albums released since 2014, and one or two almost sing-along parts may have slipped into the repertoire. Otherwise, Sleaford Mods remain as electropostpunk as possible and ever, if not as fuck. And they were kind enough to press two new tracks onto the remastered, actual breakthrough album after the album breakthrough “Austerity Dogs” (2013). And this may provide one more reason to buy the record on which the Sleaford Mods first and impressively found their running system, which does not need any changes to remain relevant and listenable.
