#fallfriday Is there anybody there? Yeah!

Kraftwerk closing the Forever Now festival at Milton Keynes Bowl yesterday 👌

Lovely evening with King Creosote at @burymet.bsky.social last night. Great to see a full house and bump into old friends.

As usual my gig pics are crap but really great night at Peace Hall seeing James for the first time since 1984 😳. A set spanning the ages, full of energy and a crowd surfing Tim, and poor old Jonny Yen to open things up 👊

Lovely evening of English Teacher and Mogwai

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 🥇 Flight - A Certain Ratio (12 inch version) One of the earliest ACR tunes that had a few reworking over time. This 12 inch version is one of my top ten all time tracks. Genius. If you want an entry point to ACR, Set is it. youtu.be/r_5DwObXHE0?...

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 🥈And Then She Smiles - A Certain Ratio (1986) Only selection from Force, but what a tune. An earlyish indication of the softer side of ACR. youtu.be/-GarSOIXKD4?...

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 3️⃣ Wonder Y - A Certain Ratio (1992) youtu.be/Aj2LwHv_A60?...

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 4️⃣ Be What You Wanna Be - A Certain Ratio Time to dance. youtu.be/GPTwX_FMwG8?...

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 5️⃣ Knife Slits Water - A Certain Ratio Second choice from Sextet… dark and funky coming together in an intriguing mix. Took many years for me to appreciate this. Much prefer the dirtier, longer album version to the single. youtu.be/uqw5fWER4Gs?...

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 6️⃣ Do the Du - A Certain Ratio (1980) Mine and I am sure a lot of other people’s introduction to ACR. Still a staple of the live sets and guaranteed to get your foot tapping. youtu.be/TsJ_54WyZ48?...

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 7️⃣ Where You Coming From (Jane Weaver rework) - A Certain Ratio Wasn’t a huge fan of the Christmas track but was of this Jane Weaver rework of Where You Coming From youtu.be/9EWau7sUxnE?...

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 🎱 Afro Dizzy - A Certain Ratio (2023) From the brilliant album 1982, with Ellen Bethabdi playing a crucial part in the band now. Love this tune. youtu.be/I1v0Bnr1J-Y?...

Very excited to pick up the new bdrmm album today albeit a week later than planned 😎

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 9️⃣ Berlin - A Certain Ratio (2020) youtu.be/hpcIlvzRO8U?... After another long break without a studio album came Loco. This would be the last album to feature Denise Johnson which adds a level of poignancy. Possibly my favourite ACR track, emotional.

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 🔟 Mind Made Up - A Certain Ratio The title track from their 9th album after an 11 year hiatus, the incomparable Denise on vocals🙏. What a comeback, with the amazing artwork that just gets better. Genius. youtu.be/0XkA5kL7OcQ?...

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 1️⃣1️⃣ Samba 123 - A Certain Ratio youtu.be/RgBx5HgRcCY?... From the very funky Change the Station

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 1️⃣2️⃣ It All Comes Down to This - A Certain Ratio (2024) Not too many two and a half minute singles in the ACR catalogue. This is a little banger. youtu.be/r9XI0es77iw?...

#ArtistFave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 1️⃣3️⃣ Lucinda - A Certain Ratio (1982) The spellbinding opening track from Sextet. Performed here live in 2023 with the incredible Ellen Bethabdi on vocals - if you haven’t seen ACR recently this is what you are missing. youtu.be/-R-AxkBEuGU?...

#Artistfave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social 1️⃣4️⃣ Winter Hill - A Certain Ratio Nearly 13 minutes of hypnotic, dark, brutalist drum funk to draw ‘To Each’ to a crescendo. Takes you back to Hulme 1980. youtu.be/isMh1itIiuU?...

#Artistfave15 @acertainratio.bsky.social There ain’t enough ACR gets posted on here. 1️⃣5️⃣ I Won’t Stop Loving You youtu.be/Q_M8QEUITOA?...

Kind of skimmed past this a bit but since buying tickets to see English Teacher in March I’ve had it on repeat. It’s a thing of rare genius and I’m super excited to see them live…

Nice delivery today (apart from the postie chucking it over the fence and damaging the sleeve 😡)

@c86freak.bsky.social @dickinso12.bsky.social @tansleyjames.bsky.social @grandcentral186.bsky.social Christmas coming very early this year! If you have t been to The Grand at Clitheroe before it’s a high recommend and a perfect warm up for the Albert Hall.

#ALLALBUMS Day 1️⃣9️⃣ an album you hate by an artist you love Labour of Love - UB40 I’m not saying I love UB40, but I did love their first 2 studio albums; their dub album and live album before this came along and they decided karaoke classics was the way to go. Shame.

#ALLALBUMS Day 1️⃣8️⃣ a guilty pleasure Ray of Light - Madonna Well outside my normal genre but this is a splendid album. Currently listening to Frozen.

#ALLALBUMS Day 1️⃣7️⃣ an album that reminds you of home What Does Anything Mean? Basically - The Chameleons Home is Where the Heart is.

#ALLALBUMS Day 1️⃣6️⃣ newest album The Night - Saint Etienne I like these factual ones cos I don’t have to think. 3rd Saint Etienne feature though!

#ALLALBUMS Day 1️⃣5️⃣ oldest album I own Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel (1970) One of a few I inherited from the parents.

#ALLALBUMS Day 1️⃣4️⃣ an album that changed the way you think about life The Specials - The Specials A manifesto for life 🖤🤍

#ALLALBUMS Day 1️⃣3️⃣ an album that tells a single coherent story The Race for Space - Public Service Broadcasting Could have chosen one of any from PSB but this is a cracker.

#ALLALBUMS Day 1️⃣2️⃣ a particularly meaningful album Script of the Bridge - The Chameleons For many many reasons, particularly lyrics recited at my brother’s funeral. ‘When something slips through your fingers you know how precious it is’ 🙏

#ALLALBUMS Day 1️⃣1️⃣ a break up album Strange Times - The Chameleons The last album The Chameleons would record for a very long time. A masterpiece in every way.

#ALLALBUMS Day 🔟 an amorous album So Tough - Saint Etienne Second feature for these guys. Hobart Paving is just beautiful, but the whole album was a soundtrack to a summer of love.

#ALLALBUMS Day 9️⃣ an album with good memories Seven - James A summer taking kids canoeing on the Delaware River. The prime job was dropping them off then driving the trailer downstream to pick them up at the end of the day, with this blaring out in the sunshine 😎

#ALLALBUMS Day 🎱 a sad album Ensoulment - The The Not sure I have any sad albums, definitely a few melancholy ones including this belter from last year.

#ALLALBUMS Day 7️⃣ an album that made you feel like you were listening to music for the first time. Snivilisation - Orbital Other worldly at the time and another door to another world.

#ALLALBUMS Day 6️⃣ an album that changed the way you thought about music. The Smiths - The Smiths After 2 Tone I was musically homeless for about 2 years until I heard The Smiths… my gateway to Peel, independent labels and basically everything.

#ALLALBUMS 5️⃣ an album you love the cover of This Nation’s Saving Grace - The Fall Really hard to pick just one in these categories, but this gatefold with artwork by Claus Castenskiold and Michael Pollard suits the music perfectly.

#ALLALBUMS 4️⃣ an album you played to death Setting Sons - The Jam Quite a few contenders here but went for this. Having an older sister with a slightly older boyfriend meant I got into some great stuff aged 11. This was a big one.

#ALLALBUMS Day 3️⃣ last album listened to (or in this case currently listening to) Reunion Wilderness - The Railway Children Picked a pre-loved copy of this up for £8 yesterday, only knowing a couple of tracks including the lovely Brighter. It’s a fabulous album.

@waxandbeans.bsky.social Popped I to Wax and Beans for a spot of lunch and….

#ALLALBUMS 2️⃣ an album that reminds you of summer Fox Base Alpha - Saint Etienne

#ALLALBUMS 1️⃣ A classic album Document - REM

#5albums24 🥇All Comes Down to This - ACR 🥈Romance - Fontaines DC 🥉Ensoulment - The The 4. Madra - New Dad 5. Rampen (apm: alien pop music) - Einsturzende Neubauten Great year. Had the joy of seeing all of these acts live playing most if not all of their 2024 album tracks. Thanks Richard!

#Gigsof2024 @c86freak.bsky.social @dickinso12.bsky.social @plc69.bsky.social @tansleyjames.bsky.social @richards7370.bsky.social Create a playlist with a track taken from each gig you went to in 2024 and share. open.spotify.com/playlist/1Mt...

#5albums24 Change My Mind….

@richards7370.bsky.social #5albums24 Very strong contender. Their best album ever?