English Tapas

Sleaford Mods
English Tapas
(Rough Trade Records)
Reviewed by BravoMarco

Hard working & repetitive splendor from the Nottingham area of the UK. This is protest music for a new generation. Listen up! Uncompromising duo with hard-hitting salvo after salvo espousing real life woes. Spit fire lyrics angrily going to work over the drum machine, thumping bass & synth. Full of slang & very English references, although the messages will resonate with most. This may not be for everyone, give it a listen though, even if many of the tracks are only playable during safe harbor (some of them, even then maybe not)

Like: John Cooper Clarke, The Fall, Crass (for the venom) & the Marine Girls – not really, they just both share that bare bones magic.

All good – Give the track a play first, before playing on air.
*FCC’s – Fucking fucks all over the fucking place…1,3,4,5,6,8,11,12

1) *Army Nights (3.03) Tales of boys on the town. Softer chorus among the abrasive style.
2) BHS (3.48) Bit “March Violets” drum machine style. BHS – is a store similar to Sears in the US, it went out of business and the track is for the Chairman.
3) *Carlton Touts (2.53) Here we go…Hypnotic background under the abuse.
4) *Cuddly (3.44) “I had an organic chicken it was shit” What more can you say…
5) *Drayton Manored (3.36) 80’s electro pop dedicated to a trip to the local corner shop amongst other things.
6) *Dull (2.42) Angry. Reminds me of ‘The Mob’ bassline. Great track, might not be playable during the evening, not sure.
7) I Feel So Wrong (3.11) More assessable, even Indy pop-ish.
8) *Just Like We Do (2.55) Head nodding abuse.
9) Messy Anywhere (3.13) Slower paced with a nice steady beat. The one to play during the day.
10) Moptop (2.38) Upbeat & catchy.
11) *Snout (2.44) Easy…Not really playable on the radio, but give it a listen.
12) *Time Sands (3.10) Great laid back smooth sounds takes over this one; an instrumental would have been ideal.