acr:mcr

A Certain Ratio return with a brand new 4-track EP set for release on limited edition 12” vinyl and digitally on 22 September 2023. The new release follows their latest album 1982 (released in spring this year), and includes three newly commissioned remixes of tracks from the album, alongside a brand-new track ‘Day by Day’, written and recorded with Ellen Beth Abdi – a seamless extension of 1982 to complete their playfully named 2023 EP.

Listen to the first track to be shared, a remix by fellow Mancunian and recent tour mate, Werkha, (Tom Leah) who has taken on one of the stand out singles from 1982. ‘SAMO’, named after Jean-Michael Basquiat and Al Diaz’s first art project, spent 4-weeks on the BBC 6Music playlist: https://youtu.be/1CglgYnf1h0

Elsewhere on the EP, close friend Andy Meecham, aka Emperor Machine reworks ‘Constant Curve’, the album track he originally co-wrote and contributed keyboards and electronic percussion to, while Manchester producer Jade Parker remixes ‘Waiting on a Train’ (feat. Ellen Beth Abdi & Chunky).

2023 EP tracklisting

Day by Day
SAMO (Werkha Remix)
Contant Curve (feat. Ellen Beth Abdi) [Emperor Machine Extended Rework]
Waiting on a Train (feat. Ellen Beth Abdi & Chunky) [Jade Parker Remix] 

A Certain Ratio recently announced a unique tour that celebrates 45 years of the band’s incredible career. The dates will see A Certain Ratio perform two separate sets each night: the first set will represent the early years of their career from their Factory releases and the second set will include the latest material

These very special dates, across intimate venues in the UK and beyond, kick off with a sold out show London’s Moth Club on 10 November and finish at Band on the Wall in Manchester, the venue that hosted their 33 1/3 anniversary celebrations, also the site of The Musicians Collective where the band honed their craft at their earliest performances alongside artists such as Warsaw, The Fall, The Passage, Joy Division and many more – full details below.

A CERTAIN RATIO 45 DATES

10 November – London, Moth Club – SOLD OUT

11 November – Preston, The Ferret

12 November – Glasgow, Stereo

15 November – Gateshead, The Sage

16 November – Reading, Face Bar

18 November – York, The Crescent

25 November – Brugge (BE), Cactus

2 December – Liverpool, 24 Kitchen Street

10 December – Manchester, Band on the Wall

Ticket details here

A Certain Ratio will also be appearing at the following festivals:

A CERTAIN RATIO FESTIVAL DATES
15 July – Kew the Music, London

20 Aug – Luna Festival, Coimbra (PT)

26 Aug – Shambala Festival, Northamptonshire

19 Nov – Shiiine On Weekender, Minehead

24 November – BBMix, Paris (FR)

We’re delighted to confirm that the first show of our 2023 UK tour in Edinburgh at The Voodoo Rooms is now sold out. We’re looking forward to seeing you there and across the UK this April.

April 20th – Edinburgh, Voodoo Rooms

April 21st – Huddersfield, The Parish

April 22nd – Manchester, New Century Hall

April 23rd – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club

April 25th – Nottingaham, Rescue Rooms

April 26th – Birmingham, Hare and Hounds

April 27th – Bristol, The Exchange

April 29th – London, The Garage

A Certain Ratio have shared their seazing afrobeat-inspired track, ‘Afro Dizzy’, writtenaround drum samples recorded by the late Nigerian master percussionist Tony Allen. The new single is the latest clue of what to expect from their forthcoming studio album, 1982 – out on Mute on 31 March 2023.

‘Afro Dizzy’ features one of Manchester’s fastest-rising neo-soul musicians Ellen Beth Abdi, Though a newcomer to A Certain Ratio, it says a lot about the band’s progressive instincts that she’s already as central to the process as the members who’ve been there since the 1970s. For ‘Afro Dizzy’ she penned her own lyrics around a whirling instrumentalbased on a sample pack of drums by Tony Allen. ACR, who have long idolised Allen, had hoped to one day work with him, and wrote the music for the track just days after he died, in 2020.

Watch the video, an animation from artist and musician Tom Furse, and keep your eyes peeled for Tony Allen, who can be seen via archive footage.

To celebrate the release of the album, A Certain Ratio will be embarking on a UK tour throughout April – full details below.

A CERTAIN RATIO – 2023 TOUR
20 April – Edinburgh, Voodoo Rooms
21 April – Huddersfield, The Parish
22 April – Manchester, New Century Hall
23 April – Leeds, Brudenell
25 April – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
26 April – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
27 April – Bristol, The Exchange
29 April – London, The Garage

Before that, the band will be hosting a number of special Q&A / signing events in partnership with independent record shops in Manchester, Nottingham and London:

31 March – Manchester, Piccadilly Records – Q&A / signing
1 April – London, Rough Trade East – Q&A / signing
2 April – Nottingham, Rough Trade – Q&A / signing

A Certain Ratio have shared a new track, ‘Waiting on a Train’, the first to be taken from their forthcoming studio album, 1982, scheduled for release on Mute on 31 March 2023.

A Certain Ratio’s greatest strength has always been their unpredictability – “That’s what people like about us, they don’t know what’s coming next!” explains Jez Kerr – and this new track ushers that in via the slick and charismatic presence of Mancunian rapper Chunky . Chunky trades bars with the vocals of one of Manchester’s fastest-rising neo-soul musicians Ellen Beth Abdi, who you’ll recognise from the ACR live line up in recent years, resulting in a track unlike anything the band have made to date.

Watch the video for ‘Waiting on a Train’, directed by Rollcam Directors, produced by Joe Vickers with Jan Koblanski as Director of Photography:
https://mute.ffm.to/acr-1982

‘Waiting on a Train’ began life as a lo-fi hip hop jam in the studio, and it made perfect sense to bring in both Chunky and Ellen – already good friends outside of A Certain Ratio.

“It worked really well, there’s great chemistry between them,” Martin Moscrop continues. “It’s got the right amount of pop, the right amount of surrealism, the right amount of moodiness. It just works.”
Since they emerged from the hallowed grounds of the late 70s punk scene, A Certain Ratio have moved with gleeful disregard for boundaries of style and genre, their eye fixed firmly on constant progression. It’s an ethos that’s open-minded over all else, and that’s seen them take everything from experimental electronica to vintage funk, filtered through their own Mancunian lens.

Even by the band’s own standards, however, their latest studio album 1982 is multidimensional. It shoots off in every direction, whether via searing Afrobeat, mind- melting jazz breakdowns or moody electronic experiments. Recorded by the core ACR line up of Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson, alongside Tony Quigley, Matthew Steele and Ellen Beth Abdi, soon after their 2021 triptych of EPs and 2020’s ACR Loco, the band’s pleasure at being together in the studio is audible and follows a series of dates that have seen them perform at a huge variety of festivals, including Womad, Wide Awake, Blue Dot, Green Man, Latitude and the Manchester Warehouse Project, in recent years.

And the album title? Although 1982 might conjure memories of the year that saw ACR put out both the acclaimed Sextet and the cult favourite I’d Like To See You Again, it’s more of a playful red herring than an invitation to nostalgia. Like all the band’s best ideas it emerged spontaneously in the studio when Martin was ad-libbing into a vocoder. “It’s called ‘1982’ but I wouldn’t say this album sounds anything like ‘Sextet’,” he points out.
Adds Donald: “The title is just playful. People can take it whichever way they can.”

Looking backwards and forwards all at once, drawing on influences from across every spectrum, 1982 is a record that will reward a dedicated listener dozens of times over.

1982 TRACKLISTING (CAT # STUMM480)
Samo
Waiting on a Train
1982
A Trip in Hulme
Constant Curve
Afro Dizzy
Holy Smoke
Tier 3
Ballad of ACR
Constant Curve