Album: Divide & Exit
Artist: Sleaford Mods
Born: Grantham, Lincolnshire
Released: May 2014
Genre: Punk
Sleaford Mods provide a potent reminder that, throughout pop music's history, the most original music has always come from the underground, "outside traditional music biz structures", as comedian Stewart Lee puts it in his brilliant review of Divide & Exit. He called them "visionary English ranters" in the same lineage as William Blake, The Fall and Happy Mondays, while poet John Cooper Clarke has also been widely mentioned as a reference point for the rabid musings of lead singer Jason Williamson. Tied Up In Nottz was apparently written in a bar late at night and, like all the songs on the album, was enhanced with a simple Andrew Fearn dance loop. Fearn and Williamson met in Nottingham, both older and bruised by years of music industry rejection in London and elsewhere, and their sound retains a strong East Midlands accent. Similar to his heroes Wu-Tang Clan, Williamson's lyrics are delivered in an almost impenetrable, regional accent and there's something sinister about the furious profanity, but the sense of rage is a universal quality that has helped the band win over new audiences in continental Europe and the US. In a world where capitalism has created an ever-widening gap between rich and poor, the music of Sleaford Mods manages to articulate the sense of anger at being at the bottom of the heap. This glorious rage is what saves Williamson from rotting away "in the aisles of Co-op", as he says on Jolly Fucker, and the scars of years of low-paid jobs are raw on Jobseeker. Other highlights are Keep Out Of It, You're Brave ("Chumbawamba weren't political / they were just crap"), Tiswas (dig at London media types via the spectrum of a 70s kids’ TV show) and the post-punk of Under The Plastic And N.C.T. ("the state is no longer your voice / the mechanics hijacked by the lies in false choice"). Album closer Tweet Tweet Tweet is a powerful wake-up call to a Britain numbed by social media and political apathy, and Divide & Exit is a timely reminder that the album will remain a vital form of artistic expression just as long as it gives voice to the marginalised.
Though it was unintentional, it occurs to me that my final nine blogs have covered many of the most important strands in pop music's history: from electronic and dance (Laurel Halo) to hip hop (Frank Ocean), rock (Swans), psychedelia (Tame Impala), folk (Alasdair Roberts), art pop (Julia Holter), soul and R&B (Beyoncé), indie (Sun Kil Moon) and punk (Sleaford Mods). Of course, pop music draws from an even wider pool of influences -- including classical & jazz, blues & country and Latin & African music -- but it's clear to me that new genres today are very rare indeed, and that the best innovators find ways of fusing existing genres in original ways, while also focusing on finding a unique voice and attitude. Increasingly, most musicians today define their music as genre-less and see the album as the best of way of achieving their vision. There have been many articles bemoaning the decline of the album as an art form in recent years, especially since the advent of the iPod and streaming services like Spotify, which favour playlists over albums, but the LP remains surprisingly resilient. The even bigger challenge to the album comes from the ever-decreasing attention spans of music listeners, as well as changing habits (music is often now played in the background, whereas TV & film are the favoured form for immersive experiences). Part of my obsession with vinyl, shared by an ever-growing number of people, is that it privileges the album as an immersive experience -- you can't so easily skip tracks, you get to look at the album artwork while you're listening and you get a warmer, richer sound. Anyway, enough of my closing mini-essay on the album, just listen to the Sleaford Mods. They're the best thing happening right now.
Sleaford Mods provide a potent reminder that, throughout pop music's history, the most original music has always come from the underground, "outside traditional music biz structures", as comedian Stewart Lee puts it in his brilliant review of Divide & Exit. He called them "visionary English ranters" in the same lineage as William Blake, The Fall and Happy Mondays, while poet John Cooper Clarke has also been widely mentioned as a reference point for the rabid musings of lead singer Jason Williamson. Tied Up In Nottz was apparently written in a bar late at night and, like all the songs on the album, was enhanced with a simple Andrew Fearn dance loop. Fearn and Williamson met in Nottingham, both older and bruised by years of music industry rejection in London and elsewhere, and their sound retains a strong East Midlands accent. Similar to his heroes Wu-Tang Clan, Williamson's lyrics are delivered in an almost impenetrable, regional accent and there's something sinister about the furious profanity, but the sense of rage is a universal quality that has helped the band win over new audiences in continental Europe and the US. In a world where capitalism has created an ever-widening gap between rich and poor, the music of Sleaford Mods manages to articulate the sense of anger at being at the bottom of the heap. This glorious rage is what saves Williamson from rotting away "in the aisles of Co-op", as he says on Jolly Fucker, and the scars of years of low-paid jobs are raw on Jobseeker. Other highlights are Keep Out Of It, You're Brave ("Chumbawamba weren't political / they were just crap"), Tiswas (dig at London media types via the spectrum of a 70s kids’ TV show) and the post-punk of Under The Plastic And N.C.T. ("the state is no longer your voice / the mechanics hijacked by the lies in false choice"). Album closer Tweet Tweet Tweet is a powerful wake-up call to a Britain numbed by social media and political apathy, and Divide & Exit is a timely reminder that the album will remain a vital form of artistic expression just as long as it gives voice to the marginalised.
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