In a year of awful surprises, the arrival of a new album from A Certain Ratio, the band's first in 12 years, is a pleasant surprise. ACR Loco, out now via Mute is a record that swings between edgy post-punk, funk, and rock. Featuring core members Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop, and Donald Johnson, along with vocals from the late Denise Johnson, this release offers up some of the most listenable music you're going to hear in the tail-end of September.
"Friends Around Us" is full of low tones, and a kind of shuffling dark energy, even as "Bouncy Bouncy" feels like something from decades earlier, American funk as heard by a bunch of Mancs. Elsewhere, "Always in Love" is sleek and smooth, a pseudo-ballad made for late-night drives, while "Berlin" is more of the same with an even better central melodic figure.
ACR Loco feels like a marriage of the various styles used by A Certain Ratio in past eras. While some of what's here is supple and shiny, a few other tracks, namely the infectious "Yo Yo Gi" and "Supafreak", aim to get asses moving, and people on the dance-floor. In a pandemic year, that's an odd thing to consider again, but ACR manage to echo past glories, while re-affirming the central strengths of these players, and the scene that spawned them. Elegantly sparse in spots, and full of texture and rhythm in others, ACR Loco really caught me off-guard, such that I'm here raving about a new A Certain Ratio record the way I would something from some up-and-comers. ACR Loco isn't new in style, but it's new in the way that it presents 40 years of funk in fresh, new ways.
ACR Loco is out now via Mute.
More details on A Certain Ratio via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Paul Husband]