Spare Ribs
Sleaford Mods
The production on this is slightly warmer than earlier Sleaford Mods work — there's a collaboration here that softens some of the harshest edges without domesticating the underlying anger. A bassline that breathes a little, synth textures that have minor melodic content lurking inside them, suggesting something almost musical before retreating. The title does the work that Sleaford Mods titles always do: surplus, disposable, cheap cuts kept after the valuable portions are gone. Made in the context of pandemic lockdown and written against the backdrop of years of austerity policy remaking the visible landscape of British towns, the song carries a particular historical weight — this is art made from inside the conditions it's critiquing, not observing from outside. Williamson's voice sounds worn in a productive way, like someone who has been saying the same thing for years and is still saying it because it still applies. There is an unexpected emotional openness in parts of the record, a sadness that doesn't aestheticize itself. This is music for the specific melancholy of recognizing that your anger has been correct all along and that being correct has not changed anything.
medium
2020s
warm, spare, weathered
British working class, austerity and pandemic era
Post-Punk, Electronic. Spoken Word. melancholic, defiant. Begins in weary, years-worn anger and opens unexpectedly into emotional honesty, arriving at a sadness that is not resignation but proof the critique was always correct.. energy 5. medium. danceability 3. valence 3. vocals: worn male, emotionally open, sustained sardonic undertone. production: breathing bassline, minor melodic synth textures, slightly warmer than earlier work. texture: warm, spare, weathered. acousticness 2. era: 2020s. British working class, austerity and pandemic era. The specific melancholy of recognizing your anger has been correct all along and that being correct has not changed anything.