England’s Sleaford Mods and Philly’s Sheer Mag are playing Underground Arts
The British duo that mix post-punk and hip-hop are touring behind their new album 'UK Grim.' They share a bill with the Christina Halladay-fronted Philly hard-rock band.
For a decade now, going to back to their 2013 debut Austerity Dogs, Sleaford Mods have most skillfully blended hip-hop and punk on a series of albums that mix astute and acute social commentary with biting humor, training a jaundiced eye on their native Britain in the age of Brexit.
On the excellent, darkly funny new UK Grim, you can tell how much lyricist Jason Williamson and minimalist beatmaker Andrew Fearn love the land they live in by how much they complain about it. The album includes contributions from another excellent talk-singer in Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning, plus Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction.
On Tuesday at Underground Arts, the Mods are well paired with Philadelphia heavy rock quintet Sheer Mag. The fearsome Christina Halladay-fronted band grabbed the indie world’s attention with a series of pre-pandemic releases that celebrated the joys of making music. These brandished an affinity for ‘70s guitar rock while railing against fascism and gentrification. The band’s last official release was their 2019 album, A Distant Call, so it should be time for new music. They’re overdue. $25, 8 p.m., April 11, Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St., undergroundarts.org.