I don't use anti-static devices, nor do I clean my LPs with anything other than a carbon fiber dust brush.
But I am very used to no ticks and pops even with older LPs, as long as the LP surface looks OK.
The trick is a stable phono preamp. Phono playback is a bit of a trick as the cartridge and tone arm cable form a resonant circuit which can inject ultrasonic or RF noise into the preamp. If the preamp is unhappy with that, it will not sound right (will need the cartridge loaded to detune the resonant circuit) and it will exhibit excess ticks and pops regardless. Also note that loading the cartridge causes the cartridge to be less able to follow the groove as the cartridge has to do more work by driving the resistor.
The ticks and pops come from actual imperfections that would otherwise be inaudible- they occur in a very short time duration. But if the preamp is unstable, it will exhibit a damped oscillation with each event and so the tick becomes audible.
So this is really worth dealing with!
There really isn't any way to fix the phono circuit except by design.
