FEATURE:
The Lockdown Playlist
IMAGE CREDIT: Rough Trade
Looking Ahead to the Release of Spare Ribs: The Best of Sleaford Mods
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I have not put together a feature…
IN THIS PHOTO: Andrew Fearn (left) and Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods
regarding the best albums to buy this month – as there are not that many -, but I have done for February. One of the two albums I am really looking forward to this month (aside from Arlo Parks’ Collapsed in Sunbeams) is Sleaford Mods’ eleventh studio album, Spare Ribs. It is out on the 15th of this month and I would urge people to grab it. This is what Rough Trade say:
“Poised to blow the cobwebs off life and unleash some much-needed wit and charm upon us, Sleaford Mods announce the forthcoming release of their astonishing 6th studio album, entitled ‘Spare Ribs’, on 15th January 2021.
Recorded in lockdown in a furious three-week studio blitz at JT Soar in July, the polemical Jason Williamson and dexterous producer Andrew Fearn kick against the pricks with unrivalled bite, railing against hypocrisy, inequality and apathy with their inimitable, scabrous sense of humour. And ‘Spare Ribs’, featuring Amy Taylor of Melbourne punks Amyl and the Sniffers and the British newcomer Billy Nomates, finds the duo charged with ire at the UK Government’s sense of entitlement, epitomized by its devil-may-care approach to the coronavirus crisis.
Commenting on the new album Jason says, “'Our lives are expendable under most governments, secondary under a system of monetary rule. We are stock if you like, parts on a shelf for the purposes of profit, discarded at any moment if fabricated or non-fabricated crisis threatens productivity. This is constant, obviously and notably in the current pandemic. The masses cannot be present in the minds of ill-fitting leaders, surely? Or else the realisation of their catastrophic management would cripple their minds. Much like the human body can still survive without a full set of ribs we are all 'spare ribs’, preservation for capitalism, through ignorance and remote rule, available for parts”.
The album is out on a range of great formats – including cassette and MP3 -, and I think Spare Ribs is already going to be one of this year’s very best! Formed in 2007, Sleaford Mods features vocalist Jason Williamson and, since 2012, musician Andrew Fearn. To honour one of the most-anticipated albums of this year, this Lockdown Playlist collects together the best cuts from Sleaford Mods (their earliest album on Spotify is 2013’s Austerity Dogs (their sixth studio album), so I am only including songs from then onwards). Regardless, I think the songs on the playlist provide ample proof that Sleaford Mods are one of the most consistently brilliant and engaging acts in music. I am excited about Spare Ribs arriving so, in preparation, here are some golden gems from…
A mighty force.