Today A CERTAIN RATIO - Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson – have released a brand new four-track EP, Christmasville UK, via Mute.
The EP features ACR’s first-ever Christmas track, “Now and Laughter”, which embodies all of the hope and goodwill of the season and is accompanied by a video of the guys celebrating Christmas together. Originally demoed during the It All Comes Down to This album sessions, in true ACR recycling style the guitar chords are based on the chords from “The Big E” / “Won’t Stop Loving You”, while the lyrics acknowledge the unsung heroes that are on hand when the pressures of the festivities can become too much to bear.
Watch the video for “Now and Laughter” HERE.
With yuletide spirit, the band have invited some of the extended ACR family to join the celebrations and rework tracks from their 2024 album, It All Comes Down to This. Jane Weaver (labelmate when they were both on much-missed Rob Gretton’s label back in the ‘90s) says of her remix for “Where You Coming From”: “It was a joy to rework a track by ACR, true originals with a strong musical ID. I wanted to create something that incorporated more electronic instrumentation, drum machines and a variety of synths and effects so it still had a pop edge but with a new age chordal sentiment that matched the lyrics and vocal melody, perhaps it was a subconscious homage to both our musical pasts working with Rob Gretton. co-founder of the legendary Haçienda night club... I'm sure he would have been delighted with our collaboration!”
Long-time friend and collaborator Emperor Machine (aka Andy Meecham) has given “Out From Under” an extended rework. He explains, “I love the original version but I thought a Boogie / Funk Re-Work would make a great alternative, Martin’s funk guitar riff initially inspired me to take the mix in that direction.”
Some newer friends have been invited into the fold too. London-based Jezebell, who the band heard when they were on tour in Germany, brings the Electro Balearic party spirit to “We All Need” to complete the EP, explaining that: "’We All Need’ is a sermon of uplift crawling out of a sewer of druggy darkness. As usual, Jezebell got stuck in the sewer and threw a party in the dark."
Listen to the full Christmasville UK EP HERE.
The EP is available on 12” in a limited edition of 500 copies pressed on transparent orange vinyl, made in Scotland by sustainable pressing plant Seabass Vinyl, and digitally.
A Certain Ratio’s latest full-length release, the Dan Carey-produced album It All Comes Down to This (2024, Mute) was released in spring this year. Their thirteenth studio album, which featured tracks such as “All Comes Down to This” and “Keep It Real”, was their most political to date, and evidenced the band’s dogged, relentless demand to evolve, re-assess and reinvent with every new release. This new EP is yet another unexpected turn in their expansive catalog. “ACR does Christmas! Who’d have thunk it?”, exclaim the band, “We are big Slade fans though…
Christmasville UK EP art:
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