A Certain Ratio
Formed in 1978 with a core line-up of Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson, A Certain Ratio emerged from the hallowed grounds of the late 70s punk scene, and from that day on they’ve moved forwards with gleeful disregard for the 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 the band take everything from experimental electronica to vintage funk, and filter it through their own Mancunian lens.

Shortly after forming in 1978, Joy Division’s manager Rob Gretton – having seen A Certain Ratio on one of their many live shows – put them in touch with Tony Wilson, a well-known local TV personality who was then in the process of setting up a record label. A Certain Ratio were one of the first to record for the fledgling Factory Records, debuting with their 7″ single, ‘All Night Party’/’The Thin Boys’.

On December 10, 2023, A Certain Ratio contorted Manchester’s Band on the Wall venue with their deep funk grooves and scabrous post-punk stabs of guitar, the band standing astride the venue where they started their career 45 years ago. It, like them, is one of the few remaining elements of the Manchester music scene’s heyday that seems stronger now than ever.

ACR were celebrating the 45th anniversary of their time playing live together as a band, but make no mistake, this was no syrupy, nostalgia-ridden greatest hits tour. After all, earlier in the year, A Certain Ratio had released 1982, one of their career-best works. That album captured the blend of wiry funk bass, Afrobeat-flavoured drums and post-disco indie dance arrangements that placed ACR at the vanguard of the no wave, no nonsense underground music community of the early 1980s, and has kept them there ever since. And yet, in the handful of months since 1982 had been released, the band had long since moved on from it.