Still Boogie

One of 2026's early album treats was Number's Pollinate, a ten track dance/ post- punk/ punk funk affair from the Red Snapper duo of Rich Thair and Ali Friend. This A Certain Ratio rework of Amber ratchets the buzz and the rhythms up a few notches too. A vinyl release of Pollinate is happening- get it here. 

As well as Number and Red Snapper Rich Thair records as Dicky Continental and has recently remixed Hungarian artist Doktorhokashi and his track It's Still Boogie...

The drums rattle in like a New York subway train, the bass rumbles and a nagging synth part works its way through. The vocals, slightly lower in the mix, and a repeated 'Hey!' echoed by a softer 'boogie'. The sound of the Hungarian underground. Out on Budapest's Mana Mana Records and available here. 

Amber

Number are Ali Friend and Rich Thair exploring and creating something different from what they do in their main band Red Snapper. Number do post- punk, dirty disco basslines, wiry guitars, drum machines paired with live drums, vintage synths and keys, with Ali's vocals and songs. It's a sidestep from Red Snapper's jazz/ trip hop/ sci fi blues. Last week Number released a remix of their song Amber by long term friends A Certain Ratio. Martin Moscrop, Jez Kerr and Donald Johnson brought their Mancunian dub/ funk to the song and it became this...

Amber is an infectious and funked up blend of Tomorrow's World sounds, 80s punk funk and soul, and chunky 21st century rhythms. The finale, a pile up of drums and percussion as Ali sings, 'heaven', and the synths rise with him, is rather wonderful and not a little uplifting. An early 2026 musical treat, one I've been clicking play on repeatedly. Highly recommended. 

ACR previously remixed Number in 2020 on Number's debut Binary, a track called Wedge, and then Number remixed A Certain Ratio on Estate Kings, a track from ACR's It All Comes Down To This that was on Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 2 last year.

Amber is the opening song on Number's second album, Pollinate, out last week, their early 80s, Talking Heads, NY disco, punk- funk sounds spread out over ten tracks. It's followed by Let's Stamp On It, a funky dark disco/ electro wiggle. Other highlights include Discoid- a slinky, gliding, synth funk protest against capitalism and consumerism- and Rebel Corners- a lone guitar line in a world of echo and percussion. On Smoke In The Skies Number go 80s alt pop, the New Order- esque playing and production a brightly coloured counterpoint to lyrics about Gaza, Syria and Sudan. 

There's loads more on Pollinate, something to enjoy round every corner, an album that's fresh, inventive and packed with tunes. You can listen and buy at Bandcamp. 

Manchester Stockport Tokyo Ancoats

Ban Ban Ton Ton is Dr. Rob's Tokyo based music blog covers everything Balearic/ acid house and beyond. I've been writing guest reviews for some time. Two weeks ago I wrote about Ace Of Swords, the second album by Thought Leadership, a guitarist from Edgeley, Stockport. Stockport, people round here keep saying, is the new Berlin (a student of mine told me this week that Eccles is going to be the new Didsbury- I await this development patiently). 

Thought Leadership's music is entirely instrumental, just guitar FX pedals, some bass and synths and a drum machine- ambient, with detours on the latest album into Balearic Jazz. The spirit of Vini Reilly hovers close by. I loved the first album- Ill Of Pentacles- and love the second too, an album about to get a limited vinyl released on Be With Records. My review is at Ban Ban Ton Ton here. This is XVII, six and a half minutes of ambient soundscapes and echo and chorus laden guitar playing. 

Thought Leadership is shortly to find a home on a 12" by Jason Boardman's Before I Die label, a Manchester based independent with a growing back catalogue. Arrival features the guitar playing of Kevin McCormick (another ambient guitarist and another artist I've written about at Ban Ban Ton Ton). The 12" is going to include a Thought Leadership remix among its four tracks. More news to follow.  

A month before that post I wrote about Ein Null: Ten Years Of Sprechen, a celebration of a decade of music coming from Chris Massey's Manchester based label, an album that is packed with exclusives and one offs. A Certain Ratio appear with a track that you won't find anywhere else, the Martin Hannett referencing Faster But Slower, percussive Manc- funk noir. 

Ein Null includes tracks from The Utopia Strong, Psychederek, The Thief Of Time, Low Pulse, Lena C and Gina Breeze and Massey and Supernature's Walk... Now Walk. Lots to enjoy. My review is here. 

Yesterday Rob posted a piece to celebrate the soon coming 30th anniversary of Bugged Out, a 90s Manchester nightclub institution that spread its wings beyond its birthplace, a scuzzy former mill in Ancoats called Sankeys Soap. Bugged Out's 30th birthday includes the publication of a very nice looking book. As someone who attended Bugged Out nights at Sankeys on many occasions in the 94- 97 period including memorable nights that Andrew Weatherall and Carl Craig headlined, Rob asked me to pen some of my memories of the times which you can read here. The music on the post is heavy on mid- 90s techno, as Bugged Out at Sankeys was, with tracks from Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, Green Velvet, LFO, Dave Clark, Ron Trent, Carl Craig and Der Dritte Raum. This twenty minute documentary came out ten years ago for the 20th anniversary...

Twenty Seven

Today would have been Isaac's twenty seventh birthday. He died aged twenty three, four years ago next Sunday. It'd be nice to get to a point where we can separate his birthday and the anniversary of his death but I'm not sure we're there yet. It'd be nice too to get to a point where we can celebrate him on his birthday without the feelings of loss that it's currently weighed down with. Maybe one day. One thing I've learned is that grief is what it is and one doesn't have much control over it- to some extent, you have to go with it as it is and let it pass through. 

This A Certain Ratio song came out in 1991, seven years before Isaac was born. I'm pretty sure Jez Kerr wrote the lyrics about Brian Jones, a member of the 27 club- Brian was 27 when he died and is forever that age. I thought I had a digital file of the original mix, Jez singing with the late and much missed Denise Johnson but at the moment I can only find the Jon Dasilva mixes. Denise appears on this one, singing 'You were so lonely/ Never be lonely again/ I'm gonna love you til the end'. 

27 Forever (Dasilva Bubble Bath Mix)

Happy birthday Isaac. Miss you. 

Twenty Five Minutes Of Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 2

Our second album, Sounds From The Flightpath Estate, went on sale for pre- orders last week (as announced here on Monday and on various Flightpath Estate social media platforms). We are pressing 1500 copies. We did 1000 of Volume 1 and sold them all, something that still amazes me although it shouldn't- the music was so good it should have been no surprise we'd sell out. Flightpath and Rude Audio main man Mark Ratcliff has done a taster mix of all ten tracks for Volume 2, deftly sequenced and mixed, with the unreleased Sabres Of Paradise track making its presence known more than once. 

The unreleased version of Lick Wid Nit Wit stands alongside anything else Sabres recorded and released. It got it sole airing when Andrew Weatherall played it as part of his legendary 1993 Essential Mix at the BBC and even then that version is not the same as the one we have. 

As well as that track Mark has mixed in the nine other brand new tracks, music by Richard Fearless, Red Snapper, A Certain Ratio re-worked by Number, David Harrow, Bedford Falls Players, Dicky Continental, Richard Norris, Unit 14 and a cover of Two Lone Swordsmen's Sick When We Kiss by Sleaford Mods. Mark's mix, featuring excerpts from all ten tracks, can be found here. Mark has adeptly brought together mid- 90s dub/ techno skank, 21st century machine techno, Manc noir, North African percussion, chuggy cosmische, thumpy acid house, clattering Notts post- punk and much more into one sequence- you can play guess which track is which.

Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 2, double vinyl clad in a beautiful sleeve courtesy of Personality Crisis, can be pre- ordered from Golden Lion Sounds and/ or the GLS Bandcamp. There are still some copies left but don't hang around- as with Volume 1 there will be no repress. When they're gone, they're gone. 

Forty Minutes Of Jezebell

A Jezebell mix for this Sunday to go with their weekend takeover at The Golden Lion in Todmorden with the emphasis on dancing. Jesse and Darren's music, edits and remixes have been one of post- 2021's joys starting with Thrill Me in November 2021, taking in various EPs and singles, an album and most recently Cream Tease (wordplay and sexual innuendo are a Jezebell speciality. Personally, I'm not a fan of innuendo- if I see one in my writing I whip it out, straight away*). 

Forty Minutes Of Jezebell

• Bibbles (Pots And Pans Mix)
• Re- birth
• Perfect Din
• Citric
• We All Need (Jezebell's Ghost Train Mix)
• The Jezebell Spirit
• Darren's Theme

Bibbles is by Brighton Balearica duo Andres Y Xavi, a single on Higher Ground in February 2024. Jezebell did three remixes, the Pots And Pans Mix being my favourite, all manner of whirrs and clicks and abstract rhythm sounds.

Re- birth first saw the light of day on the Diavol edit label and then on Jezebellearic Beats Vol. 1, a shimmering, shuffling, woozy piece of edit work. 

Perfect Din is from Shelter Me, a compilation released in April 2024 to raise funds for Crisis, a homelessness charity. 

Citirc was one of four tracks released as the Weekend Machines EP, machine funk for cyborgs to strut their stuff to. Hand claps, hi hats, guitar riffs, synths, all synced up for endless, beautiful repetition.

We All Need is one of the songs on A Certain Ratio's It All Comes Down To This album, one of 2024's best records. Jezebell's Ghost Train Mix came about when ACR's Martin Moscrop was record shopping in Berlin and found and bought a copy of Jezebellearic Beats Vol. 1. 

The Jezebell Spirit takes one of the key tracks from David Byrne and Brian Eno's groundbreaking 1981 album My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts and Jezebells it, the 808 cracking away under the sampled American TV preacher. My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts is a seminal album, a record streets ahead of almost everyone else in the early 80s. 

Darren's Theme is from Cream Tease, a track and EP with its tongue firmly in its cheek and possibly its trousers undone as well. A snatch of vocal from Karen Finley's Tales Of Taboo, a 1986 song with a lyric that could be described as sexually explicit. 

* Thanks are due to Kenneth Williams for this joke obviously

Christmasville

A Certain Ratio have had quite a year. They put out one of 2024's best albums, It All Comes Down To This, an album as good as any in their back catalogue. They followed it with a standalone 7" single, Clockwork Orange, in July and a limited edition vinyl only live recording of the band playing at Kendall Calling, the band playing at Tim Burgess' Tim Peaks Diner, a career spanning nine song album. In mid- December released a new four track 12"/ digital EP called Christmasville. The EP came with a brand new song, Now And Forever, ACR's song for Christmas, and three new remixes, all of which take the ACR sound into new places. 

Jane Weaver's rework of Where You Coming From is a cosmische/ analogue synth psyche delight. Emperor Machine remixes Out From Under into a nine minute electronic funk workout. Jezebell take the third remix slot- Jezebell and ACR hooked up via Martin Moscrop finding a copy of Jezebell's Jezebalearic Beats Vol. 1 album while record shopping in Berlin and approaching Jesse and Darren. Jezebell's Ghost Train Mix of We All Need is six minutes of smouldering electro/ Balearica, dance floor beats, menacing bass and swirling FX. The bright orange vinyl has all gone but you can get the digital here. 

A Certain Ratio weren't finished for the year with the Christmasville EP though. On Monday they put out their gig at New Century Hall in Manchester on 17th May as a live album, all of It All Comes Down To This played live in front of a home crowd (including me). You can find It All Comes Down To This Live St New Century here. I'm assuming that's the end of 2024's ACR activity but there's still five days to go, so who knows, anything could happen. 

It All Comes Down To This

Back in May we went to see A Certain Ratio play their then newly released  album It All Comes Down To This in full and in order followed by a hits and favourites set. We were down the front on the left, near Martin Moscrop. The gig was being filmed- during The Big E we were asked to give it our best audience singalong that we manage and I thought we sounded pretty good. The gig has just been released as a film, made by director Sebastian Faits- Divers, with the ten songs from the album in order interspersed with snippets of interview with the band and members of the audience. 

ACR stripped themselves back to a three piece for It All Comes Down To This, with producer by Dan Carey at the controls, each member mostly sticking to their main instrument, and Dan adding bits of keys, with as few overdubs as possible. As mentioned in the film (by Dave Haslam) the album is as good as any ACR have made in the forty plus year history. Live, recent recruit Viv takes on Jez's bass duties and singer Ellen Beth Abdi adds her vocals. The film is great, the gig brought to life six months later, the interviews an insight into the band and the way they work, and the songs are superb from the title track through to the closer Dorothy Says, Jez channeling Dorothy Parker in his lyrics, 'If you want to know what God thinks of money/ Just look at the people who've got it' and 'I plan to die at the very last minute', as well as a wry line about homosexuality. It's a great document and performance and I hope we're going to get the second half at some point too. 

Tock Tick

A Certain Ratio's It All Comes Down To This is one of 2024's most played albums round these parts. Last week they announced the release of a 7" single, a song and a dub of the song recorded during the sessions for the album with producer Dan Carey- Clockwork Orange. ACR have refused to stand still and repeat themselves. This song shows them continuing to break new ground- it kicks into life with Jez's FXed voice intoning, 'tock tick tock tick', and a grimy industrial groove, a bassline that buzzes ominously and then a second Jez vocal, verses and choruses about cruelty, hatred and a clockwork orange. The distorted, grinding rhythm nods to one- time Factory label mates, early 80s Cabaret Voltaire, but this is still very much ACR being no- one else but ACR. 

More new music? I shared Er... Hello? by OBOST earlier this year, an absurdly accomplished and wonderful album made by seventeen year old Bobby Langfield and an EP of remixes of his song I Don't Want To Be Alone (including one by Richard Sen whose forthcoming album India Man promises to be one of 2024's highlights). Bobby/ OBOST has recently remixed the work of a classical pianist Christian Blandford, taking tracks from Christian's album The Waves and editing/ remixing them into one piece, The Waves (OBOST Unification Mix). There's a minute of juddering, out of time and out of sync sound, pianos glitching, and then it all suddenly snaps into place- a drum track rattles away, layers of piano and synths come and go, all flowing onwards and together/ against each other. Really good stuff. Find it here. 

Let's complete a Tuesday new music trio with Sheffield's Crooked Man whose It's My Pleasure- Part 4 came out at the end of last week in three versions- a lush, mid- tempo nine minute main mix, an instrumental and an acapella. There's a lot going on, layers of synths, drums, ripples of sounds, a house vocal, and an insistent groove that grows increasingly percussive and intense. The EP is at Bandcamp. In a neat link to the Cabaret Voltaire sounds of the ACR song that opened this post, Crooked Man aka Richard Barratt was one half of legendary Sheffield bleep techno pioneers Sweet Exorcist along with the Cab's Richard H. Kirk. Cab it up. 

ACR: NCH

A Certain Ratio finished their tour with a hometown gig at Manchester's New Century Hall last Friday night, a set of two halves- first the new album, It All Comes Down To This, played in full and then a second set of career spanning ACR classic. In truth, it's all one set, there's no gap between the two halves, the stripped back ACR never sounding better. I first saw them play live in 1991, have seen them periodically ever since and in recent years have seen them regulalrly at various Manchester venues (the Main Debating Hall at the university, Gorilla, The Ritz, New Century Hall a year ago, Band On The Wall and most recently Soup- a few years ago a group of us had a jaunt to see them in Blackburn too. Sometimes it feels a bit like this blog is just a constantly updating ACR live review service and I make no apology for that, they are in many ways Manchester's finest band with a rich back catalogue, a quintessential Factory act in the 80s, a dalliance with a major label, some turn of the 80s/ 90s acid house adventures, a re- appraisal in the early 2000s, and since signing to Mute have had a run of records that are as good as any of their previous ones). 

ACR have stripped back to the core trio of Martin Moscrop (guitar, trumpet, weird Brazilian percussion instrument, sometimes drums), Jez Kerr (vocals, samples and keys) and Donald Johnson (drums and bass) with new bass player Viv covering for Jez. This pared back version suits them, they sound as good as ever if not better. They play It All Comes Down To This in order, from the opening title track, all clanging guitar and urgent vocals to the chiming closer Dorothy Says, Jez quoting Dorothy Parker in the lyrics. It's already one of 2024's best albums, made by a group over four decades in, who are renewed and energised. As well as the two mentioned the penultimate Where You Coming From is a highlight, driving bass, scratchy guitar and a vocal that rolls the years away. 

The second half is jaw dropping, the band powering through their back pages, cherry picking a dozen highlights and playing them with a freshness and energy that cut through the room. Long time instrumental set opener Winter Hill buzzes with electricity and dark drones, then they dive into the stepped staccato punk- funk of Du The Do and The Fox from 1981's To Each... album, arty New York inspired scratchy funk originally recorded in NY with Martin Hannett. They stay in New York for their sublime cover of Talking Heads' Houses In Motion, the song with Grace Jones that never was, resurrected live for their 40th celebrations, a bendy, shape shifting cover version. 

ACR's recent albums have been so strong that songs from them are part of tonight's set and they stand alongside the ones that would make up any Best Of ACR album. Berlin (from 2020's Loco) is sleek, Mancunian guitar melancholia. Samo (from 2023's 1982) is early 80s inspired funk/ rap. 

The Big E is dedicated to Denise Johnson who Jez tells us they still miss terribly, and is the cue for a mass audience singalong, the build up to the chorus and the line, 'I won't stop loving you', as much one of this city's mainstays as any by bigger and better known bands. Good Together, a 1989 acid house banger with squiggly acid bassline, throbbing synths, purloined Beach Boys lyrics and massive dance music energy, is a highlight and is followed by Shack Up, their calling card in many ways, a song they borrowed from funk band Banberra and never gave back. Martin gives an impassioned between song speech about supporting smaller venues, something of an issue in Manchester at the moment with the farrago at the much vaunted brand new Co- op arena and the farcical delayed opening, its boss (who resigned a few weeks ago) having previously made comments about how the problem with smaller venues is that they're sometimes very badly run- lol, as the kids say. 

For the final two songs they invite support act and singer Ellen Beth Abdi back on stage to join them, powering through the 1982 song Knife Slits Water, a song with a weird tension and stuttering drum pattern, echo and minor chords, demob haircuts and army jumpers, greyed out funk for the early 80s. Tonight it's a powerhouse, Don slapping the bass and Martin playing trumpet and guitar simultaneously. They finish with Get A Grip (from Loco), Ellen skipping and singing her way through a song that as much as any demonstrates ACR still have so much to give. 

Tonight's gig is being filmed. Hopefully in the near future it'll be released so that those who weren't there can see what all the fuss is about- and those who were can relive it. I have friends who went to the Bristol and Aberdeen gigs who were equally blown away by ACR and their live show. Genuinely life affirming stuff from a group who just don't seem to want to stop. 

It All Comes Down To This

A Certain Ratio's new album, It All Comes Down To This, came out last week. Piccadilly Records and the band arranged an album launch where if you bought the album from them, for an extra £2.00 you got a ticket for a gig at Soup, a 200 capacity club in the Northern Quarter with a Q and A with Martin, Jez and Donald followed by ACR playing the album in full. At a time when £2.00 won't even buy a half of lager in the Northern Quarter this seemed a no brainer as they say. 

The three long standing members of ACR have stripped back to a three piece for the album, their third since 2020, recorded with producer Dan Carey. Pulling the sound back to guitar, bass and drums plus Martin's trumpet has shifted the ACR sound again- they really do sound like a band re- energised, fired up, with something to say and the means to say it (thanks to the deal with Mute records). The Q and A is interesting and funny, with stories of drummer Donald practicing his skills as a young man in his front garden in Wythenshawe, and Rob Gretton giving him thumbs up or down when he passed by depending on whether he liked what he heard. Gretton would soon introduce Don to the drummer- less ACR and the band suddenly shifted from post- punk gloom to punk- funk. Asked who the best bassist in the band is (ACR gigs frequently see members swap instruments) all three say 'Viv', the youthful bassist they recruited last year to deputise for Jez (whose rheumatoid arthritis has forced him to stop playing the bass live. 

After the Q and A we get the album, played in full and in order, the ten songs already sounding like ACR live favourites. The opener and title track thumps in, led in by a rat- a- tat- tat drum intro and Martin's guitar, trebly and right up close,with urgent Jez's vocals. Martin's guitar and Jez's bass form the sound of the album- Donald's drums absolute on the beat, Jez's basslines deep and rubbery while Martin's guitars slide around, clanging and bright. Second song Keep It Real thunders in straight away, choppy guitar riff and freight train rhythms. 

The songs shoot past, both on record and at the gig, short, sharp bursts, transmissions from a band forty five years into a career and not content to rest or take it easy. Surfer Ticket rolls ominously, some of the early 80s Factory dread evident. God Knows echoes some of the poppier sound that they reached for at the end of the 80s, a melody line picked out on the guitar and some sweetly sung multi- tracked vocals from Jez. Out From Under seems to nod its head to Shack Up, their calling card, with staccato bass and chak chak chak guitar riff. Estate Kings is narrated by Don from behind the drumkit, a Manc noir reflection on growing up in M23. Final song of the album and the gig is Dorothy Says, a song inspired by the words of Dorothy Parker, Jez singing over a rolling groove and ringing guitar line, 'Well I've heard it said that beauty is only skin deep/ But ugly it goes clean to the bone', and later, 'I plan to die at the last possible minute/ I'm not myself I'm not really in it/ I can't seem to filter out the static/ And my self- doubt is automatic'. 

The album, the gig and the songs show there's plenty of life left in ACR, a group who've outlasted many of their contemporaries and are making new music more alive and more vital than the ones who have lasted the course. They're on tour from this week ending up back at Manchester's New Century Hall in mid- May (two days before my birthday incidentally) playing the album and then a second set of ACR classics, and if you can, I'd get out and go to see them. 

All Comes Down To This

A Certain Ratio released a new song last week, a two and a half minute burst of energy called All Comes Down To This. An album of the same name follows in April. On All Comes Down To This ACR recorded as the core trip of Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Don Johnson and hooked up with Dan Carey as producer, a person with a reputation for stripping away and honing in.

By reducing themselves to the trio that first came together in Manchester in 1979 they have distilled their sound down to its core, the rubber basslines and drums leading the way, funk and post- punk rhythms reworked and reimagined for 2024. Martin's guitar slides around, all chords and FX pedals. Synths and electronics burst in in the middle with Jez's voice very much at the centre of things. The band say that the album is in part as response to the madness of the world in recent years- this first song from it sounds like that, an urgent and necessary song from a group who keep on finding new ways to express themselves. 

2023: My Year In Music

2023 has been a year of 23s for me in many ways. I've written before about the number and its occurrence, its relationship to us since Isaac died and the tattoos the three of us got done in October. This is my end of year post, a list pulling together what has been the best of 2023 for me. Inevitably there are 23 entries (but much more than 23 artists, singles and albums) and as I was writing it I realised that today is 23rd December (I planned to post this today before thinking about what date it would be). I have heard so much new music this year and so much of it has been really good- my long list of albums of the year came to thirty albums without much thought, a new album for every ten days of the year. And while much of this year has been a real struggle with grief and the long aftermath of Isaac's death, I've had some great nights out at events that were (almost) entirely about the music- the grief never goes away, it sits inside me or hovers above me but music- recorded music, live music- often has the power to transport me in a way nothing else does. 

This is a list of my favourite musical things of this year. It's not objective. I haven't heard everything I should have done and I'm sure there are records that I'd love if I had more time and more money. Usually I find something early into the new year that instantly screams 'best of last year' to me. Also, ranking art and declaring one album 'better' than another is inherently subjective but end of year lists are fun and looking back and putting it all into one place is a good way to mark the end of the year. The year of 23. 

Twenty Three: Venue Of The Year

No contest here- The Golden Lion in Todmorden and a fitting place to start the list. I've enjoyed several superb nights out at The Lion this year with the honour of DJing on a few occasions. ALFOS in June was very hot and memorable, David Holmes' album launch party in November was a 2023 highlight, Dan Donovan’s Casbah Club in August (sadly Paul Simonon was unable to attend), our Sabresonic celebration and Q&A with Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns and Jagz’s DJ set (videos of the Q&A to follow shortly), the Tici Taci Party in August with Sean Johnston and Duncan Gray DJing downstairs after a blistering set from Sons Of Slough upstairs, Red Snapper rattling the fittings in November and the legendary, untouchable AW60 in April with a beautiful cast of artists and revellers and a huge headlining set from Justin Robertson. 

Twenty Two: Label Of The Year

There are lots of independent labels putting out loads of good music, keeping things in house and small scale- not that there's anything small scale about the music- with digital and physical releases. These three have kept me busy all year with singles, EPs and albums, one offs and compilations- a three way tie for first place. Leeds based label Paisley Dark has put out releases by Warriors of The Dysthoteque, Jay- Son, The Machine Soul, Hogt I Tak and James Rod, all top notch electronic psychedelia. Duncan Gray's Tici Taci has had a year long celebration of ten years in the business with a tenth birthday party at the Golden Lion, a series of compilations, Decades Volumes 1 to 4 with outstanding new releases from The Long Champs' 'Nostalgia For The Future', Jack Butters' ‘Shake It Off’ and singles and EPs from Mystic Thug, Uj Pa Gaz, Viper Patrol and Mr BC. Along with those two is Exeter's Mighty Force, the label that back in the early 90s put out Aphex Twin's first 12" single, reborn for the digital age. Mighty Force have sent all of these into the ether and all are excellent electronic music- Yorkshire Machines ‘Firing Up’, ‘Fluffy Inside’ by Nylon Corners, M- Paths' ‘Hope’ AP Organism's EP ‘Space Docks And Moon Rocks’ David Harrow's ‘Jitter’ and ‘Described Spaces’ by KAMS. Long may all three labels continue.

Twenty One: Gig Of The Year

I had the pleasure to see some great gigs this year, several of which lived long in the memory. Spiritualized at Manchester's New Century Hall were genuinely breathtaking. Red Snapper at the Golden Lion kicked up a storm of cosmic jazz, trip hop and downtempo. Eyes Of Others at The Castle on Oldham Street were great, another great Heavenly Records artist. Chris Rotter and Andy Bell's two man set on Saturday afternoon at AW60 playing songs from Andrew Weatherall's A Pox On The Pioneers was a gem. 

But the win goes to A Certain Ratio who I saw live three times this year. They toured twice, released a superb new album, 1982, and an EP, celebrating 45 years of making music and they're still forging ahead with new music and ideas. Their gig at New Century Hall earlier on this year, the free one outdoors at Factory International in June and the two set 45^th anniversary celebration at Band On The Wall at the start of this month were all brilliant, a dance floor blend of youth and experience, post- punk/ punk funk/ jazz funk, the old and the new. 

Twenty: Compilation Of The Year

I've already mentioned Tici Raci's four volumes of Decade, several hours of chuggy sci fi, nu disco, house, techno sparkle. Aficionado's 25 Of Aficionado is a celebration of a Manchester institution, the anything goes, genre free spirit of Jason Boardman and Moonboots pressed onto four sides of vinyl is right up there with Colleen Murphy's Balearic Breakfast Volume 2 not far behind. But the stand out compilation of the year was Richard Sen's Dream The Dream: UK Techno, House And Breakbeat 1990- 1994, a perfectly pulled together and superbly sequenced set of tracks from the early 90s that show what a fertile period that was and how much was going on in the underground. 

Dream Frequency: Dream The Dream

Nineteen: Edits Of The Year

Some of my favourite tracks of this year have been edits- do edits count as new music? Or old music? New versions of old music, rejigged for the dancefloor. Jezebell's Jezebalearic Beats Vol 1 is a masterclass in this area and will appear further on in this list. Jezebell's Diavol Edits Vol 7 as a four track joy. Beyonder's Present Case Edits Vol 1 was a stunner, not least Hardway Bros edit of Sleaford Mods' Mork And Mindy, the M&M Acid Edit. Peza's Rock The Spectre, a layering of Joe Strummer's vocal from Rock the Casbah over Mystic Thug also hit the spot for me. But just pipping all of these for me were the pair of edits on the A- side of a recent vinyl only 12" by Coyote, their reworking of Monsoon's Ever So Lonely as Lonely and Gil Scott Heron as Western Revolution lighting up December for me.  

Eighteen: Andy Bell

Pretty soon from here there will be some proper lists and less wittering from me but first Andy Bell who at first glance seemed to have had a quiet year after all his solo albums and GLOK activity in 2020- 2022. Even so he put in a tour, released a lovely ambient/ free jazz mini- album with Masal, Tidal Love Numbers, and a ten minute live cover version of Neu!'s Hallogallo (also with Masal), a live in session album for Electronic Sound called Gateway Mechanics wearing his GLOK hat, two sides of soaring kosmische electronics and guitars, a bunch of remixes for other artists and put out a fanzine, Volume, Fuzz And Delay (which contained my review of his gig at Gulliver's in April 2022. Which, as the man on The Fast Show used to say, was nice). The fanzine came with a download code for three hours of live recordings from Andy's Space Station gigs, live versions of songs from his solo albums and as GLOK, all of which are stunning. 

Seventeen: EPs Of The Year

All of these were essential listening for me at various points this year, all of them somewhere between the single and the album, with Sons Of Slough's chug and cosmic wallop recorded live at Convenanza in September,  Jezebell's messy day and night out in the sun with Siouxsie on Trading Places, the three remixes of Unloved's Polychrome album, Justin Robertson's rocking dub especially, and at the top the wondrous Magic Hour EP by Wigan's Mark Peters, resplendent on 10" yellow vinyl.

• 11. Whitelands ‘Remixes’ 
• 10: Steve Queralt and Michael Smith ‘Sun Moon Town Versions’
• 9: Yorkshire Machines ‘Firing Up’
• 8: Woodleigh Research Facility: Apparently Solo 4 Borderlands
• 7: Sons Of Slough ‘Live at The Castle’
• 6: Chug Norris ‘Dark and Sweaty’
• 5: Richard Sen ‘Dream the Dream’ remixes
• 4: Andy Bell and Masal ‘Tidal Love Numbers’
• 3: Jezebell ‘Trading Places’
• 2: Unloved ‘Polychrome’ Remixes
• 1: Mark Peters ‘The Magic Hour’ EP

Sixteen: Albums Of The Year Numbers 30 to 8

• 30: Laurel Halo 'Atlas'
• 29. Red Snapper 'Live At The Moth Club' 
• 28: Young Fathers 'Young Fathers'
• 27: Dicky Continental ‘Uh?’
• 26: House of All 'House Of All'
• 25: Goat 'Medicine'
• 24: Boxheater Jackson ‘Indigenous State Of Mind’
• 23: Konformer ‘Konformer’
• 22: A Certain Ratio: 1982
• 21: Slowdive ‘Everything Is Alive’
• 20: The Coral ‘Sea Of Mirrors’
• 19: David Harrow ‘Rare Earth Technology’
• 18: Steve Cobby ‘The New Law Of Righteousness’
• 17: HiFi Sean and David McAlmont ‘Happy Ending’
• 16: Woodleigh Research Facility ‘Phonox Nights’
• 15: Andy Bell ‘Gateway Mechanics’
• 14: The Thief Of Time ‘Where Do I Belong?’
• 13: Coyote ‘I Hear A New World’
• 12. Grian Chatten ‘Chaos For The Fly’
• 11: Rude Audio and Dan Wainwright ‘Psychedelic Science’
• 10: Jezebell ‘Jezebellearic Beats Volume 1’
• 9: Richard Norris ‘Oracle Sound Volume 1’
• 8: Yo La Tengo ‘This Stupid World’

Fifteen: Singles Of The Year Numbers 23 to 8

• 23: Four Tet ‘Three Drums’
• 22: Woodentops ‘Ride A Cloud’ and Coyote remix
• 21: Hurdy Gurdy and the Local Psycho ‘The Hurdy Gurdy Song’
• 20: X- Press 2 ‘Phasing You Out’ David Holmes remix
• 19: Rude Audio ‘The Grinning’
• 18: Warriors Of The Dysthoteque and Joe Duggan ‘Fitzroy Avenue’
• 17: Dicky Continental ‘Simon Says’ Congagong Rework’
• 16: Dot Allison ‘Unchanged’ GLOK Remix
• 15: JIM ‘Phoenix’ Crooked Man Remixes
• 14: Flamingods ‘Dreams (On The Strip)’
• 13: Islandman ‘Godless Ceremony’ plus the Hardway Bros Remix
• 12: A Man Called Adam ‘The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart’
• 11: Aphex Twin ‘Black Box Recorder 21f’
• 10: Psychederek ‘Test Card Girl’
• 9: Jo Sims ‘Bass- The Final Frontier’ David Holmes remix
• 8: Katy J Pearson ‘Willow’s Song’ Richard Norris remix

Fourteen: Album Of The Year #7 Eyes Of Others ‘Eyes Of Others’

Eyes Of Others debut album is a heady collage of electronics, synthpop, dub, acid house, early New Order and John Bryden's singular world view.   

Thirteen: Album Of The Year #6  African Head Charge ‘A Trip To Bolgatanga’

Bonjo and Sherwood back on the African Head Charge express, ten songs built over Bonjo's drumming, chanting and dub. 

Twelve: Album Of The Year #5 10:40 ‘Transition Theory’

I first heard Jesse Fahnestock's music a couple of years ago, an edit of Spacemen 3. This album, a complete piece of work, each track containing the seeds of the next one, an eleven song trip through the 10:40 world roaming in the spaces between ambient house, chuggy electronics, indie dance, psychedelia, bleepy dub and atmospherics, floating in inner/ outer space.  

Eleven: Album Of The Year #4 JIM ‘Loves Makes Magic’

Surprise of the year for me, a Balearic song based album that lit up summer- the hot, sunny summer we didn't really get this year. 

Ten: Album Of The Year #3 Sonic Boom and Panda Bear ‘Reset In Dub’ by Adrian Sherwood

Sherwood and the On U Sound collective proving they've lost none of their power, sending Sonic Boom and Panda Bear into echo heaven. 

Nine: Album Of The Year #2 James Holden ‘Imagine This Is a High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities’

This album came out in March, an album that is endlessly innovative and entrancing. Holden recorded it partly as a memory of 90s rave and the free party movement but it works way beyond nostalgia, twelve tracks that never become predictable, never settle, always looking to twist and move somewhere else, melodies and squiggles, birdsong and synths. I played it again recently and it sounded as fresh as it did in March. 

Eight: Single Of The Year #7 Cole Odin and Marshall Watson ‘Just A Daydream Away’ versions plus Hardway Bros remix

Shimmering indie dance from the West Coast of the USA, in two versions, both equally great and a wonderful Hardway Bros remix serving up ten minutes of cosmic indie chug (a trick Sean repeated with remixes of Holy Youth Movement and Islandman's Godless Ceremony. 

Seven: Single Of The Year #6 Electric Blue Vision ‘Other Skies’ plus remixes

Jesse Fahnestock has been on fire in 23, a flood of music and ideas (see above, number 13). Other Skies is a song that has that magic, the magic that transports and transcends, Emilia Harmony's vocal about being lost and going home a key part of it. The remixes, all three of them, sent it into new places with the Hardway Bros and Monkton's dub version bringing the bass and melodica front and centre. 

Six: Single Of The Year #5 Khidja ‘Do You Know This Record Marius?

Two weeks ago this wouldn't have been here but it shoved its way in and won't let go- trippy, spinning electronic psychedelia from Romania that has been on a loop at home and in the car. 

Five: Single Of The Year #4 Dirt Bogarde ‘Heavy Blotter’

Dirt has provided several tracks this year that have pushed me forwards but this one has an oomph, an electric charge and a big acid house sound that rattles my speakers and hits me in the chest. 

Four: Single Of The Year #3 Matt Gunn ‘Learning By Loops’ Bedford Falls Players Remix

I wrote about this last week, a remix that has been in my ears since the early summer, and one I'm not remotely tired of hearing. A crunch of drums, long vocal sample about binary systems, time travel, the voice of Jesus and shit like this with a ringing guitar part looped in and out. 

Three: Sinead O'Connor and Single Of The Year #3 David Holmes 'Necessary Genius'

There have been a lot of high profile deaths this year, the losses of David Crosby, Tom Verlaine, Bobby Charlton, Jane Birkin, Steve Mackey, Spot, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mark Stewart, Andy Rourke and Shane McGowan all moments of sadness. But Sinead's death in July was shocking and brought a wave of heartfelt tributes and genuine bereavement from many, her death, coming a year after the loss of her youngest son Shane. I read her book Rememberings last year and the knowledge that Shane would die after the book was written made reading it very moving. 

Back in July when I posted my own tribute to her I included a link to an edit Rich Lane did of Sinead's song Jackie. A friend sent my blogpost to David Holmes who in response sent me the track he played at his own tribute to Sinead at NTS radio, his remix of Orbital's Belfast with Sinead's vocal from Nothing Compares 2U over the top. David also then got in touch with Rich and asked for a copy of Jackie to play when DJing (which he did and which David played at The Golden Lion in November, a moment that made me smile when it came over the sound system and I thought about how it got there). David also then asked Rich to do a remix for him which should be coming out soon. Sinead's face was on the art for David's Necessary Genius single and a print included with the Blind On A Galloping Horse album. She's been a presence all over the second half of 2023, a beautiful and fearless soul and it seemed right to include her in this list. Hopefully the album she recorded with David Holmes will see the light of day eventually. 

Necessary Genius was close to the top in my list of singles of 2023, a rollcall of talent and inspiration with glorious synths and drum machines. But it missed out to this...

Two: Single Of The Year- Fontaines DC 'Cello Song'

I thought long and hard about this, about whether I really think a cover version should be my single of the year and whether given almost all the music above is electronic, a rock 'n' roll rumble in the top spot is right- but in the end it is the song I've gone back to time and time again. Nick Drake's original is my favourite song of his, a song of acoustic and poetic beauty, and in some ways the words have become associated with Isaac for me in the two years since he died. Fontaines DC take the song and do something new with it, a squeal of feedback, a rockabilly drumbeat, acres of Dublin street swagger and Grian Chatten's deep hit of voice breathing new meaning into Nick's words. Back in July I put together a forty minute mix of Nick Drake songs which opened with Nick's version and closed with Fontaines. Here it is again. 

Forty Minutes Of Nick Drake

One: Album Of The Year- David Holmes 'Blind On A Galloping Horse'

The album I've been waiting for since the first single from it appeared in 2021, Hope Is The Last Thing To Die. Fourteen songs long, seventy minutes of music, a proper album from start to finish with contributions from Keith Tenniswood and Tim Fairplay, the voice of Raven Violet and the spirits of Andrew Weatherall and Sinead O'Connor. Songs that take in the personal and the political, the emotional and the righteous, the psychedelic and the electronic, over four sides of vinyl housed in a beautifully designed sleeve. Everything we wanted and more and as someone said to me, exactly the album we needed at exactly the right time. 

There were a slew of remixes to support the singles, all of them worth hearing and some of them right up there with the best music released this year, a case of more is sometimes more. Shout outs to Sonic Boom and Panda Bear's remix of Yeah x 3 and both Vendetta Suite's versions of the same song, Colleen Murphy's acid disco remixes of Stop Apologising, and the remixes of Necessary Genius by Decius (a riot in a sweaty basement), Lovefingers (a slowed down piano dub groove) and especially Phil Kieran's eight minute electronic kraut hammer remix. 

Necessary Genius (Phil Kieran Remix Vocal)

ACR At Band On The Wall- Early, Current And Future

During the lifetime of this blog I've reviewed live gigs by A Certain Ratio more than other band. ACR have played a range of small and medium sized venues around Manchester in the eight years and I've been at many of them (with a foray to Blackburn a few years ago too). On Sunday night they finished their current tour with a gig at Band On The Wall, Manchester's oldest/ longest running gig venue, with two sets. It was the third time I've seen them in 2023 alone- previous gigs took in a memorable celebration of this year's album 1982 at New Century Hall and an outdoor set at Factory International in the summer at Dave Haslam's request, with Dave DJing afterwards. At both the outdoor gig (thankfully with a roof) and Sunday's night's at Band On The Wall it poured down in typically Mancunian style, driving rain and wind welcoming us as we traipsed out onto the dark streets having seen ACR provide the punk, the funk, the post- punk, the Latin, the jazz, and the Manc- noir and signpost the way to the future. 

The tour, ACR45, is a celebration of the journey they've been on since 1978. The first set was the early songs, Martin Moscrop and Jez Kerr arriving on stage and kicking into debut single, 1979's All Night Party. It's quite the opening, the dark, scratchy, definitely inspired by punk sound of Martin's guitar and Jez's bass and doomy vocal standing out starkly- very early Factory. Halfway through the song Donald Johnson gets behind the drum kit and joins in, suddenly, both in the song live and back in 1979 when he joined the group, they change, the punk/ post punk dread instantly becoming fuller and funkier. Donald brought the groove to ACR and they never really looked back. 

All Night Party

All Night Party is a seminal Factory single, numbered Fac 5 in the catalogue system, produced by Martin Zero (Hannett) at Cargo in Rochdale. All Night Party was so early, that the only Factory record that precedes it is Fac 2 A Factory Sample. Fac 1, 3 and 4 were all Peter Saville posters. In the late 70s cultural commentator/ style guru Peter York was shown a photo of ACR and said they looked 'early'. 

'Early what Peter?', Tony Wilson asked. 

'Just early'. 

Back in 2002 when they reformed after a few years apart they played Band On The Wall to promote the album Early, a two CD compilation on Soul Jazz Records. Tonight, twenty one years later, they still have that feel, that feel of being early, of being pioneers. 

As All Night Party ends ACR expand to the current six piece line up, with new bassist Viv Griffin giving Jez the freedom to concentrate on vocals, whistle, percussion and triggering samples, long running sax player Tony Quigley, keys/ synths player Matt Steele and Ellen Beth Abdi, vocals and percussion, a youthful foil at the front next to Jez. Their early songs, those singular Factory songs, singles and album tracks, sound superb- Do The Du, Flight, Shack Up and Knife Slits Water, all as dark as the night outside and cut through with that skeletal funk. In the middle the rhythm and drone of Winter Hill shows how far they could go. Wild Party and Lucinda bring the jazz to go with the punk funk. At one point the six players are cooking up a storm, the sound filling the room and the crowd bobbing and moving, with various percussion instruments, lithe bass, keys and saxophone- none of the trappings of rock 'n' roll, no squealing guitars and crashing drum solos, but instead an alternative, a cinematic, dancefloor soundtrack. Just to show they aren't doing a nostalgia show (and at no point does the gig feel like nostalgia or a revival) on Mickey Way they update the 1986 jazz funk with its atonal trumpet and sax parts with the appearance of a rapper, Chunky- and it works perfectly. 

After a short break the come back for the second set. Jez is in good form, cracking jokes and muttering sardonic asides. He opens the second set by dedicating the first song to Denise Johnson- Won't Stop Loving You is as good a late 80s/ early 90s Manchester song as any of the others, and is lit up. Then they play a deep, dub house version of Good Together complete with Matt's freak out synth ending and then 27 Forever, a glorious piece of electronic pop from 1991. It's followed by their cover of Talking Heads' House In Motion, a song they recorded at Strawberry Studios in the early 80s with the intention of having Grace Jones on vocals. Grace made it to Strawberry but never put her vocal down. ACR released the cover in its demo form with Jez's guide vocal a few years ago. Hearing it played live tonight is worth the price of admission alone, Viv leading the way pushing Tina Weymouth's bassline into new spaces, ACR covering Talking Heads making perfect sense. 

It's testament to how revitalised they've been in recent years and how much of a streak they are on that the new songs they play for the rest of the set stand alongside the older ones they've played up to this point. Their 2020 album Loco felt like the result of four decades work, a distillation of their sound, experiences and influences. Yo Yo Gi and especially the sleek, early 80s noir pop of Berlin are immense. 

Berlin

The title track of this year's album 1982, a love letter to the time the band spent in new York in that year, is a modern Manc funk groove. SAMO is clipped, driving hook heavy dance music, Ellen Beth Abdi all exuberance and cool vocals. At the end they bring on a trio of new, young co- vocalists for Day By Day, the newest song and a nod to the future, three early twenty- somethings crowded round the mics, ACR the next generation, with Ellen's lead vocal front and centre. The finale is the customary set closer Si Firmir O Grido, everyone on drums and percussion, a heady, good time groove, Jez blasting his whistle, Martin and Don swapping seats behind the drum kit and then back again. At Gorilla a few years ago when they played Si Firmir O Grido they marched off the stage and into the crowd, the crowd gathered around ACR's tightknit circle. Tonight they stay on the stage, the crowd's faces grinning back at them. 

Earlier on between two of the songs Jez paid tribute to Alan Erasmus, the co- founder of Factory and co- manager of ACR in the early days. Alan turned up backstage before Sunday night's gig with a bottle of champagne for each member and apparently an apology for letting the band down in the early 80s. Looking at ACR tonight, it's difficult to see how they were let down- they've outlasted almost everyone else, they're making new music that is streets ahead of their contemporaries, have adapted and changed, bringing new blood in to update themselves and they look like they're having more fun than everyone else too. More power to A Certain Ratio.  

ACR: MIF

Manchester International Festival opened on Friday night with a free performance by A Certain Ratio in a brand new outdoor space, Festival Square. The new arts centre, Factory International, has been under construction for several years (on the site of the old Granada TV studios) and has run wildly over budget. As a result they've had to go for naming rights sponsorship so what should have been Factory International is now The Aviva Factory International (and we could discuss whether Manchester needs to get over its constant referencing of the past, Factory Records, the black and yellow Hacienda stripes and all of that). As Tony Wilson probably never actually said, 'This is Manchester. We do things differently here'. Well, maybe... 

The outdoor space, Festival Square, sensibly has a roof, is open at both sides and overlooks the River Irwell to the left and into the new arts centre to the right (a vast building with a warehouse size space and auditorium and is currently hosting what looks like a fantastic installation by Yayoi Kusama). Festival Square looks and feels like a good space, the sound was good, it's small enough to feel fairly intimate and opened in the pouring rain on Friday night, the decision to build an outdoor gig venue with a roof paying off already. The free gigs at festival Square include The Orielles next Sunday which I also intend to go to. Dave Haslam is heavily involved in the festival and he asked ACR to play. 

ACR play a blinder, a band about to celebrate forty five years of making music, who have been re- energised in recent years with the signing of a deal with Mute, new albums and EPs and the recruitment of a new young singer Ellen Beth Abdi and new young bassist Viv Griffin. They take the stage at 9pm with Martin on drums, drummer Don on bass and Jez centre stage on vox and whistle. Don published the setlist on Twitter (below), the group playing a mix of old and new songs, the new ones firmly established along side the older songs. By the time they get to Flight, their 1980 single and post- punk classic, they're red hot and their back catalogue sounds like one continuous piece, a group with several signature sounds, ever moving forwards and better than ever. 

The final four songs are ACR at their best, the wayward jazz funk of Mickey Way, the Mancunian ecstasy pop of Won't Stop Loving You (dedicated to Denise), the punk- funk noir of Shack Up and their latin percussion and drumfest of Si Firmir O Grido, everyone banging something, whistles being blown and Don and Martin swapping places at the drum stool and then back again. The gig was being filmed, a cameraman bobbing about on stage- hopefully the footage will surface sooner or later. 

The Big E

Afterwards Dave Haslam took over on stage, a DJ set of dance music old and new, joined periodically by a pair of very glamourous dancers and an MC. Dave's set included Strings Of Life, a Manc classic going back to the Hacienda days. Dave built the tension, a breakdown and everyone waiting for the piano riff to come in like a dam bursting. Later on he played something much more modern, something I know I've got but can't remember exactly what it was now, stretching it out and extending the electronic pleasure. Somehow, a largish crowd of middle aged and younger people, dancing as the rain fell only a few feet away, with dancers in drag on the stage, seemed a typically, brilliantly Mancunian way to start a hometown festival. 

Strings Of Life (Piano Mix)

WRF Two

WRF, a series for Fridays celebrating remixes by Andrew Weatherall focusing on the lesser known or overlooked remixes, began last week with the 2011 remix of Allice Gold's Runaway Love. Today's remix jumps forwards two years by which point Andrew was so firmly back in the remix game and so on it in terms of quality that a list of remixes released in 2013 is almost an alternative best of album-

• Trentemoller: Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider Go! (Andrew Weatherall Prinz Remix and Sky 81 Mix)
• Toy: Dead And Gone (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
• Baris K: 200 (Asphodells Remix)
• Madness: Death Of A Rude Boy (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
• Emiliana Torrini: Speed Of Dark (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
• Moby and Wayne Coyne: Another Perfect Life (Andrew Weatherall Remix)
• Primal Scream: 2013 (Andrew Weatherall Remix and Dub)
• Jagwar Ma: Come Save Me (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

In the midst of this purple patch came Andrew's remix of The Emperor Machine. The remixes above, done with Timothy J. Fairplay as trusted assistant and engineer (and in The Asphodells, whose album was released in 2013 also, musical partner), there can be found sky scraping cosmic dub, thumping glam rock/ Brix- era Fall, dubbed out ska, twisted Turkish acid, widescreen joyous Balearica and hypnotic krautrock heaven and uptempo indie- dance- I'll let you decide which of these labels applies to which remix. The remix of Like A Machine stands out from all those, darker and deeper, more electronic and more acid, fat bass and synth arpeggios, relentless Belgian New Beat, more the sound of sweaty basements than the open air. For vocals just two voices repeating two words, 'electric desire'. 

Like A Machine (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

The Emperor Machine is Andy Meecham from Staffordshire whose first taste of musical fame and glory came with Bizarre Inc. Their rave singles were massive in the late 80s and early 90s, in the clubs and the charts- singles such as Bizarre Theme, Such A Feeling, Playing With Knives and I'm Gonna Get You. He was in dub disco purveyors Chicken Lips. His back catalogue as the Emperor Machine is wide and extensive. Recently he's remixed and collaborated with A Certain Ratio, including in 2021 to bring things to a neat conclusion on a track dedicated to Andrew.  

ACR:NCH

A Certain Ratio played Manchester's New Century Hall on Saturday night, a homecoming gig three nights into a UK tour and an evening with lots of familiar faces in the crowd, a real gathering of the fans in a room that holds 1300 people. Not too long ago they were playing much smaller venues in the city and to smaller crowds- the deal with Mute, subsequent re- issueing of their back catalogue and the run of album and EP releases over the last few years has brought a real ACR renaissance. They are very much a band who don't want to repeat themselves, don't want to just play the old songs and who want to continue to move forward and break new ground. 

ACR take the stage at nine and play a seventeen song spanning over four decades, kicking off with Winter Hill, from 1981, a tense, urgent instrumental built around a clattering rhythm and a load of oscillating drones. It's followed by the title track from their recent album 1982, a piece of retro- futuristic dark funk, Jez singing of the year in question, on record all synths and robotic backing vocals, live on stage all dark disco- funk. Martin Moscrop and Don Johnson swap instruments throughout the night, between drums and guitar.

New singer Ellen Beth Abdi, stepping into a gap left by the huge presence of the late Denise Johnson, bounds on stage for the third song, Get A Grip (from 2020's Loco). What she lacks in years she more than makes up for in voice and energy, her vocals on both the new songs and old ones absolutely spot on. After a wild romp through Emperor Machine they hit the back catalogue with Lucinda from Sextet, a record from the early 80s, discordant otherworldly dance/ post- punk and follow this with one of the night's highlights, an immense and tense version of Flight, the 1980 single that laid so many of the foundations of their sound, Martin Hannett's dark and dense 1980 production filled out by this new six piece ACR. Current single Samo returns us to the present via the past, a Eno- Byrne indebted drum intro and Jez's spoken vocals building up to a joyous disco/ punk- funk/ rap tribute to Jean- Michel Basquiat's art and the New York crossover scenes of the early 80s. Do The Du is dropped in, early ACR's thrilling, stepped mechanical funk, a song which has been with me since first hearing it in 1987, when it was on a compilation tape my friend Darren made for me (who is here tonight, standing next to me, decades later). 

Jez Kerr had a bad year last year, a bout of serious illness and time out of the band- 'I was on sabbatical' he quips at one point. To help with this ACR have recruited a new bass player, the youthful Viv Griffin more than filling in for Jez so he can concentrate on singing, cowbell and whistles with the odd bit of bass. On one song, there are three members of ACR playing bass- Jez, Viv and Martin Moscrop. 'That's the problem with this band', Jez says, 'too many bass players'. 

Berlin from Loco is another highlight, pulsing bass, keyboards and soaring twin vocals from Jez and Ellen, with it's memorable chorus line 'You never, ever leave/ Your head alone'. Then they give us Mickey Way from 1986's Force, jazz- funk from the middle of the 80s sounding very much reborn with ascending trumpet and flute lines. The home straight brings the crowd pleasers- there are few ACR songs I'd want to hear more live than the next ones. First, the 1989 dance pop of The Big E (with the house piano chords pointing to Bernard Sumner's much loved remix, Won't Stop Loving You, a song dedicated to Denise- earlier Jez dedicated a song to Mark Stewart who died the day before, whose group The Pop Group were an enormous influence of early ACR). Then Good Together, one of my favourite ACR songs, with an acid house 303 squiggle, some borrowed Beach Boys lyrics and full on Hacienda rhythms, again sounding not retro but modernised. The final song is Shack Up, the scratchy, punk- funk cover that has been played in ACR sets since 1980. Declining to go off stage and back for the encore, they stay where they are- 'it's too far', Jez tells us- Knife Slits Water's weird, danceable, skeletal funk, pumped up sound and funked up basslines filling the hall, a song with post- punk's ominous instruction to dance despite it all, now sounding celebratory rather than full of early 80s dread. 

Knife Slits Water (12" Version)

The usual ACR set closer is Si Fermir O Grido, the samba grooves from Force where everyone on stage grabs a cowbell, shaker, whistle and drums, a Latin Manchester, and they don't let us down tonight. Martin and Don swap places at the drum stool mid song, Don slapping the bass, everyone else powering their way to the finale. This photo, one of three taken by Jez as the finish has me in far left of the shot, hands above my head applauding. 

Afterwards the band play a DJ set in the bar below New Century Hall where I bump into friends from Newcastle, previously only known via social media. We eventually leave via the foyer with a rather nice poster and a t- shirt, and after a while the realisation we have yet again managed to miss the last tram home, all the while Do The Du's stuttering funk rhythms playing in my head.