Freshly floating from the vapour trails let in the wake of their latest album, Manchester’s post-punk funk pioneers A Certain Ratio have announced a new single, A Clockwork Orange, due to be released as a 7” on July 26th on Speedy Wunderground as part of their illustrious single series.
Listen here.
Marking the band’s first material since the release of their acclaimed new album It All Comes Down To This, which Speedy Wunderground’s own Dan Carey also produced, A Clockwork Orange will be physically released as a 7” on July 26th as part of the label’s illustrious single series. Pre-order the single here, featuring a Carey b-side dub rework, Dubwork Orange.
”A long time ago when I was a teenager, I was out in Manchester and spotted a poster that said something about A Certain Ratio remixed by Norman Cook” Carey explains on his affinity for the pioneering band. ”At the time I didn’t really know what a remix was, who Norman Cook was, or who/what A Certain Ratio was, but somehow I knew it was worth investigating. As a result, I discovered ACR, figured out what remixes were, and started trying to do my own. I’ve loved ACR ever since.”
The new single builds around malign synths, incorporating contorted vocal passages and shape-shifting electronics that make the song a compellingly dark, shadowy force. ”We spent a day recording the song with Dan Carey and arranged to pick up our equipment the following morning at 10 am. Dan had been up since 8 am working on the elements of the song and as we walked into the studio our jaws dropped. He had transformed the song into something very dark, different and full of interest factor” comments Martin Moscrop (trumpet, guitars) on working in the customarily quick fashion that Carey and the Speedy Wunderground single series are so famed for. ”We left the studio on a real high telling Dan to carry on in that direction and make it as heavy as he possibly could. It was a real eureka moment.”
”We’d worked with Dan on the album, so we knew how quickly he liked to get things down. As a joke [Factory Records producer] Martin Hannett used to like to confuse engineers by disappearing to the pub with the parting line, “Yeah just tidy up that patch bay and make that delay on the guitar a bit more yellow.” I think Dan is the guy who can actually make a delay more yellow” continues Jez Kerr (bass guitar, vocals).
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A Certain Ratio Live Dates – Tickets here.
Aug 2nd – Kendall Calling, Lake District, UK
Aug 18 – Kampnagel Festival, Hamburg, DE
Aug 28 – Pop-Kultur Berlin, Berlin, DE
A Certain Ratio | Website | Instagram | Facebook | X | Youtube | Spotify
Speedy Wunderground | Website | Instagram | X
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