A Certain Ratio

A Certain Ratio emerged from Greater Manchester in 1977, bringing funk, disco and Latin percussion into the tense, stripped-back vocabulary of post-punk. The original lineup comprised Peter Terrell on guitar, Simon Topping on vocals and trumpet, Jez Kerr on bass and vocals, Martin Moscrop on trumpet and guitar, and drummer Donald Johnson. Vocalist Martha Tilson joined soon afterwards.

Often shortened to ACR, the group were among the first acts to release music through Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Their 1979 debut single, “All Night Party,” was produced by Martin Hannett. During their early Factory years, A Certain Ratio scored seven Top Ten releases on the UK independent chart, including “Flight” and “Waterline.” They released five studio albums for Factory, beginning with The Graveyard and the Ballroom in 1980.

After their Factory period, the band's work moved through spells with A&M Records and Rob Gretton's Robs Records. Lineup changes and periods of intermittent activity followed, but A Certain Ratio returned to the studio for their ninth album, Mind Made Up, in 2008. Their catalogue was subsequently reissued through an arrangement with Mute Records, while the band continued to perform.

A Certain Ratio released ACR Loco in September 2020, their first studio album in 12 years. It was followed by the EPs A, C and R in 2021, then the eleventh studio album 1982 in 2023. Their twelfth studio album, It All Comes Down to This, arrived in 2024.