Well, it took us a few weeks longer than expected to sort the first subscriber record out but hopefully it’s been worth the wait. The Quietus Autumnal Equinox Session is here and it’s the Little Bits EP by Sleaford Mods.
Their fantastic new track, ‘Little Bits’, plus remixes by Extnddntwrk, Manni Dee and Lone Taxidermist, is available as a download exclusively to Quietus subscribers only. To sign up, see the foot of this feature.
We have been big fans of Sleaford Mods since their days as strange companions to the likes of Consumer Electronics on the Harbinger Sound label. Their albums are masterpieces of caustic minimalism, painting a brutal yet honest and bracingly witty portrait of modern British life, while live they’re always an oddly compelling watch – a mixture of the absurd, the direct, the potent, the camp. So we’re massively chuffed to be releasing this EP.
‘Little Bits’ is a banging track as well; no cast off from the back of the Sleaford’s sofa – it sounds to us like a signpost to where the pair are heading with their next album, Spare Ribs, due for release by Rough Trade on January 15, 2021. ‘Little Bits’ is grit rap for a nation that, under Covid and a No Deal Brexit, is struggling to make sense of itself.
The EP also comes with three big mixes. The first reworking comes courtesy of Andrew Fearn in his Extnddntwrk guise, tweaking the bass up for a glowering, post punk reinterpretation of his own track. Manni Dee takes ‘Little Bits’ to the filthy techno foundry for a distorted, nocturnal belting rework, saying: "[I was] inspired by syllables & pace, a remix to retrain to while cloaked in a flood of tiers." Lone Taxidermist Natalie Sharp chops the vox, teasing out gulps and breaths of Williamson’s vocal under flute trills and a weird wet funk, saying, "Jason’s audible gulps of air before he spits words have been a source of pure pleasure to hear, mainly because they break convention. I wanted to highlight the breaths, intakes of air and grassiness of his voice, and then cut it all up into ‘little bits’."
To listen to Sleaford Mods’ Little Bits EP, you’ll need to become a subscriber and sign up to the Sound & Vision tier. You can find out more about why we’re introducing the subs and all the amazing perks you can get here and join via the checkout below. This release will be exclusively available to Sound & Vision subscribers until January. The next release is a collaboration by JK Flesh and Gnod, and will be available in December.
