Kicking off a new week with a set by A Certain Ratio, recorded at the 2009 Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona on May 30, 2009 and preserved for posterity by RNE Radio 3 in Madrid.
One of the first indie groups to draw heavy influence from funk as well as disco and Latin percussion, A Certain Ratio were among the first to debut on Tony Wilson’s Factory Records in 1979 with “All Night Party”, produced by Martin Hannett. During ACR’s early years with Factory, they scored seven Top Ten UK independent releases, highlighted by “Flight” and “Waterline”, and released five studio albums beginning with The Graveyard and the Ballroom (1980).
Following late 1980s and early 1990s phases with A&M Records and Rob Gretton’s independent Robs Records, ACR was intermittently active. The group returned to the studio for its ninth studio album Mind Made Up (2008) and since then has continued to perform, with its back catalogue reissued through an arrangement with Mute Records.
They released their first studio album in twelve years, ACR Loco in September 2020, followed by three EPs A, C and R in 2021, and eleventh studio album, 1982, in 2023. Their twelfth studio album, It All Comes Down to This was released in 2024.
In 2018, Mute Records began reissuing their back catalogue, they released acr:set, an album of mostly old tracks with two new tracks, one (“Dirty Boy”) recorded with Barry Adamson of Magazine and featuring a recording of Tony Wilson, and undertook a tour of the UK with dates in Ireland and Finland. In November 2018 they recorded a session for Marc Riley’s BBC Radio 6 Music show, performing new song “Dirty Boy”, “Mickey Way”, and “Flight”.
They released a box set, a 40th anniversary retrospective named acr:box, in May 2019 and toured in support of this. It consists of 53 songs providing a detailed career overview to date. A Certain Ratio released ACR Loco in September 2020 on Mute. Their first album of new material in 12 years featured three of the original band members – Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop, and Donald Johnson – along with members of the band’s current live ensemble. This was followed by three EP releases and remix album Loco Remezclada in 2021. ACR’s eleventh studio album, 1982, was released in 2023. Their twelfth studio album, It All Comes Down to This was released in 2024.
Dive back to 2009 for a taste of A Certain Ratio at Primavera Sound.
