Monday, March 13, 2023

Don't know your place

Given Jason Williamson's combative attitude to criticism and keyboard warriors - of which I have prior personal experience for the admittedly provocative framing of this five-star live review - it was with some trepidation that I submitted an honest review of the new Sleaford Mods album UK Grim to Buzz. Allow me to offer some pre-emptive clarification/justification...

As a reviewer, tight word counts can be your enemy, preventing you from including the level of nuance and qualification you'd ideally want. I'm aware that the review as it stands might seem to suggest that Sleaford Mods should stay in their lane and stick to what they know. That's categorically not what I meant to imply.

My contention with UK Grim is simply that its attempts to broaden horizons are only patchily successful, whereas the more familiar material - minimal, lean, pugilistic - is as strong as ever. This is not the same as saying that they couldn't or shouldn't seek to break new ground; on the contrary, it's vital for artists to continue to grow and develop rather than stagnate.

Maybe the next album will (to these ears) achieve that ambition more effectively. Until then, I'm very much enjoying the title track (in particular) and hearing the Nottingham accent from the mouth of someone other than Lee fucking Anderson.

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