SLEAFORD MODS レコード& CD

Review: Festival favourites and working-class heroes Sleaford Mods hail from the East Midlands and have become the voice of the oppressed and the pissed off. Their gritty, lo-fi, raw and stripped-back music is powered by punky electronic beats and overlaid with bars spat out with real anger and ire. They have churned out plenty of it by now, subtle tweaking the template each time but never losing the visceral appeal. This new album UK Grim - a play on UK Grime? - is more dancefloor focussed than before it with the angst and pitfalls of modern life all addressed. It's another winner, no doubt.

Review: Sleaford Mods have long dealt in biting, angry and frustrated social commentary. Right now, they're not short on inspirations, and it's this that makes 'UK Grim' such a terrific album. Throughout, mic man Jason Williamson takes aims at the ills of the UK and the increasingly dark, nasty rhetoric of the Conservative government that he so clearly detests. Combine these inspired vocal diatribes (shout-along hooks included) with backing tracks that don't shy away from making things heavy, paranoid and intense - think warped, weighty basslines, lo-fi drum machine rhythms and fuzzy, scuzzy, post-punk guitars - and you have one of the Nottingham duo's most hard-hitting and breathlessly brilliant albums to date... and that's saying something.

Review: Sleaford Mods have long dealt in biting, angry and frustrated social commentary. Right now, they're not short on inspirations, and it's this that makes 'UK Grim' such a terrific album. Throughout, mic man Jason Williamson takes aims at the ills of the UK and the increasingly dark, nasty rhetoric of the Conservative government that he so clearly detests. Combine these inspired vocal diatribes (shout-along hooks included) with backing tracks that don't shy away from making things heavy, paranoid and intense - think warped, weighty basslines, lo-fi drum machine rhythms and fuzzy, scuzzy, post-punk guitars - and you have one of the Nottingham duo's most hard-hitting and breathlessly brilliant albums to date... and that's saying something.

Review: If you don't know what Nottingham duo Sleaford Mods are all about by now then where have you been? They lay down raw, ragged MIDI beats that are deceptively simply but impossibly catch, with pressing social commentary and Tory baiting lyrics over the top. This new album UK Grim - a play on UK Grime, no doubt - is even more dance floor focussed than any before it. The gritty reality of modern life and all its pitfalls are in sharp focus throughout making it another gem from this much loved duo that also somewhat redefines their sound in new ways.