Best of 2020 #6: A Certain Ratio - ACR LOCO (Mute Records)

    This album came out of nowhere for me. I had no idea that A Certain Ratio (ACR) were still recording. That being said, this is the first proper album in 12 years. ACR have been around since 1977 and were a seminal left-field, dance and funk fueled post-punk band. They're from the UK, but their sound always had more in common with the no-wave scene of late 70s New York. ACR LOCO feels like it was recorded in a New York loft in 1978 with James Chance or ESG lurking somewhere around the production or engineering part of the record. "Bouncy Bouncy" is classing proto-punk-funk, plumbing the nascent grooves of hipster disco and hip-hop. Lyrics echo the late 70s social problems of hippie and disco culture. This is album is a retro mindtrip that's worth digging into in our 2020s world. It sounds fresh despite being drenched in 70s nostalgia.