ALBUM REVIEWS
A Certain Ratio – 1982
With post-punk sounds everywhere these days, it’s an opportune time for Manchester pioneers A Certain Ratio to return.The title references the year they released two influential albums, Sextet and I’d Like To See You Again, though they insist it’s more of a playful red herring than nostalgia. ACR worked on dance sounds and bassheavy funk from the start and, while their sound is timeless, they are not standing still while staying true to their original vision. Waiting on a Train features two rising Manchester stars, rapper Chunky and neo-soul singer Ellen Beth Abdi, who is also on Holy Smoke, paying tribute to funk greats from James Brown to Chaka Khan and Prince. Abdi penned lyrics for Afro Dizzy, written around drum samples recorded by the late Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen.
Lies – Lies Review by Alexander Hoggard
Nate and Mike Kinsella may be synonymous with American Football, the band that helped define the Midwest emo scene in the late 1990s, but new project Lies sees the pair forge a path away. Surprisingly the first time the cousins have written together without anyone else, debut album Lies comprises striking synthesiser hooks, keyboard melodies and subtle string arrangements that merge to create powerfully intricate pop songs. The electronic-heavy soundscape is immediately introduced on opener Blemishes, while jazz is represented on Echoes, with the soaring saxophone solo coming as an early surprise. Dance beats dominate the buoyant Summer Somewhere, yet there is still space for the gentle introspection the pair are so renowned for on Sympathetic Eyes.
Murray A Lightburn – Once Upon a Time In Montreal Review by Matthew George
Murray Lightburn is lead singer and main songwriter for Canadian indie rock stalwarts the Dears, but is in full crooner mode for this solo album. It is about his father, a saxophonist from Belize who moved to Montreal to reconnect with his teenage sweetheart, gave up jazz music when he became a born-again Christian, and died in 2020. Lightburn draws inspiration from late 60s and early 70s folk, jazz and pop, Dionne Warwick, Bill Withers, Serge Gainsbourg, with echoes of Lee Hazlewood and Kris Kristofferson. Supporting fellow Montrealers Stars earlier this year, Lightburn played these charming songs solo just with guitar. Here he adds strings, brass, flute and even oboe for the eight tracks, played by accomplished Montreal jazz musicians.
Various artists – Leeds Noise of the Valleys 1978-1987 Review by Duncan Seaman
Compiled by Gary Cavanagh and Matt Webster, who have also curated volumes of ‘missing music’ from Bradford, this CD explores a fertile period in Leeds’s musical history that gave the world Soft Cell, Sisters of Mercy, Chumbawamba and Gang of Four. A companion to Richard Rouska’s book It Ain’t Peters and Lee, the 21 tracks here show how wiry postpunk, in particular, flourished in the city thanks to the likes of The Mekons, Delta 5, The Expelaires and Girls At Our Best!. By 1982, that had given way to the darker grooves of Sisters of Mercy and March Violets, in whose gothic stead followed Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. Leading an electronic strand were Soft Cell and Music For Pleasure, while flying the anarchist flag were Chumbawamba. Visit bradfordnoise.com