A Certain Ratio Returns With First New Album In 12 Years, “ACR Loco”

“Nothing was ever planned,” Jez Kerr told American Songwriter. “It was kinda chaotic but we always went with the best idea.”

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43 years ago, Kerr joined Simon Topping, Peter Terrell and Martin Moscrop to form the legendary post-punk funk band, A Certain Ratio. Throughout the years, there have been some changes — Donald Johnson joined the band, Topping and Terrell left — but through it all, A  Certain Ratio has remained a well-oiled machine, turning out organic, effortless grooves, textures and jams. Now, on September 25, the band is releasing their first original album in 12 years: ACR Loco. A colorful, dynamic and exciting record, ACR Loco captures the aforementioned spontaneity which has kept A Certain Ratio fresh for over four decades.

“We’ve been playing together for so long that we don’t really talk about it before we do it,” Kerr said. “Somebody will come up with an idea, we’ll try it, if it doesn’t work someone else will suggest something. You choose the thing that works, you know? Whatever inspires and ignites the passion.”

During the sessions for ACR Loco, that passion was certainly ignited — the band cranked out so many tunes that they actually finished early… which just gave them time to work on even more tunes. As a result, the record is arguably one of the better encapsulations of “live energy” recorded to tape. Maybe it’s the way the groove locks-in on funky tracks like “Family,” maybe it’s the way the melodic lines weave in and out on pulsing tracks like “Yo Yo Gi” or maybe it’s the way that the songs develop arcs which feel intrinsically tied with the circadian rhythm of the world, but ACR Loco is a living record, breathing in the air of the rooms it was made in.

“We were putting down ideas really quickly,” Moscrop told American Songwriter. “We’d spend a day — maybe a day and a half at max — working on a tune, then we’d put it to bed. We did that until we had all these ideas documented. When you start a tune, you do around 70% in the first day — the other 30% usually is the hardest bit and takes the longest. So, all of these ideas were about 70% there when we got back from our tour in Japan in January, we just had to finish them all off. We had a good, solid month where we were able to concentrate on finishing them all. That’s the hardest part about music. Coming up with ideas is easy, but getting them in the direction you want them to go and then finishing the production and mixing… that’s the difficult bit.”

Yet, this phenomenon is nothing new for the band from Flixton, Greater Manchester. Since they first began, they’ve been capitalizing on their phenomenal sensibilities and mutual musical understanding. “It’s very organic, which I think comes from the longevity of the band,” Kerr said. “In the early days we never spoke to each other anyway — for the first two or three years we were pretty arrogant youngsters. But, it was this thing where we all knew that we were working towards creating great tunes. It’s all about trust and belief in yourself. Don’t follow anything else other than what’s happening in the unit. We learned that early on, really.”

That past was a big part of the creation of ACR Loco — last year, the band put out acr:set and ACR:BOX, two compilations celebrating the cumulative achievements of the outfit. While the band maintains that they value originality over nostalgia — and that certainly rings true when you listen to ACR Loco — going back through their catalog helped spur some new ideas for the band based on their own history.

“We had never really listened to our stuff in chronological order before,” Moscrop said. “Listening to everything in order — including unreleased stuff and demos — gave us a bit of an insight into how we’ve developed over the past 40 years. ACR Loco is sorta the culmination of our 40 years of musical D.N.A. projected into the future.”

That “future” element has always been a key player for A Certain Ratio, who have not only remained fresh over the past 40 years but have also remained in the loop with the younger generations of music-makers and the sounds they make. This is evident by some of the features throughout ACR Loco, such as Gabe Gurnsey and Sink Ya Teeth’s Maria Uzor and Gemma Cullingford. Uzor, for one, sings on one of the record’s highlight tracks, “Get A Grip,” which features a classic funk beat and an utterly fantastic interplay between various wah-wah-clad synths and sounds. 

“There’s a tune called ‘Get A Grip’ with Maria Uzor singing on it — for that tune, we were inspired by a certain Chaka Khan song,” Moscrop said. “So, we went in with that in our minds and had a jam with Matt, our keyboard player. It sounded good, but it just sounded like ‘70s funk and we thought it needed a twist to get it out of its comfort zone. So, we sent the track to Maria and asked if she fancied writing a vocal part over it and she did. A few days later she sent it back to us and it was amazing. Because it was a typical funk groove, she didn’t sing in a typical funk style, so it really worked.”

Also on the record are two other legends from the Manchester music scene: Mike Joyce (of The Smiths) and Eric Random. “Another tune was ‘What’s Wrong,’ which has all the voices on it,” Moscrop said. “It’s got Maria and Gemma from Sink Ya Teeth, it’s got Eric Random, it’s got Mike Joyce — that was Donald’s idea from a sci-fi film. He sent them the phrases he wanted them to say and they recorded themselves saying these phrases as if they were in a sci-fi film. We had great fun going through these and we picked the best ones. That’s how that tune came about.” 

Another highlight of the record is “Superfreak,” which almost sounds like an eclectic, bombastic, trance-like romp through outer space. This was achieved by combining the band’s unique sound palette and energy with the vision of Gurnsey. “There’s another tune called ‘Superfreak,” Moscrop said. “Gabe Gurnsey had just released an album and we really liked all the effects he had on his vocals. So, we asked him if he would contribute to our track. We sent him a demo of the song with what phrases we wanted on it and he did that for us.” 

You might notice that seems to be a recurring format for ACR Loco — the band builds incredible jams and then inserts a “secret ingredient” element, sending the tune into artistic overdrive. “We would quite often get the tune to a certain stage and then get a piece of gear out — like a vintage vocoder or a 303 — to introduce new elements,” Kerr said. “That’s become a part of ACR, really. You can hear that on ‘Taxi Guy,’ which is really just a samba song but with mad 303 acid lines going through it.” 

Through it all, one thing is clearly evident: A Certain Ratio has stayed fresh, creative and original for their entire career. For a band formed in 1977, that is an incredible feat. What’s their secret? 

“We stay fresh by listening to new music all the time, going to gigs and seeing what people are doing,” Moscrop answered. “We try to go for our first instinct without being afraid — it’s about trying something and sticking with it. It’s important that you try to remember what your first impression of something is because in music there’s a tendency to overwork things. Don’t overcook things. All the best things that you do are those that happen effortlessly.” 

Kerr, for his part, agreed and added: “We’re only concentrating on moving the music forward, we’re not thinking about anything else. That’s where we’re still at — it’s always about the next thing.”

Watch a live performance of “Get A Grip” by A Certain Ratio featuring Maria Uzor below:

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