A Certain Ratio - The Joy of Sextet (Curacao Coloured Vinyl)

A Certain Ratio - The Joy of Sextet revisits the sessions behind one of the band’s most celebrated albums and presents them in a newly mixed form. Released on The Joy of Curacao coloured vinyl, this companion record marks 45 years since the recording of Sextet and offers a revealing alternative perspective on music that helped establish A Certain Ratio as one of the most adventurous groups to emerge from Manchester’s post-punk era.

Long-time collaborator Andy Meecham, also known for his work as The Emperor Machine, returned to the original session tapes to create a new mix of the material. The result is not designed to replace Sextet; instead, it brings different details, spaces and rhythmic relationships to the foreground. Familiar pieces such as “Lucinda”, “Gum”, “Tumba Rhumba” and “Day One” are heard with renewed clarity, while the album’s extended treatment of “Knife Slits Water” highlights the group’s deep connection to dance music, dub and studio experimentation.

A Certain Ratio’s music has always worked through movement and texture as much as conventional song structure. Bass, percussion, guitars, electronics and voices interlock in arrangements that feel precise but never rigid. On The Joy of Sextet, those qualities are opened up for close listening. “Crystal (EM Night Version)” and “Waterline (EM Dub)” make the remixing process explicit, but the entire sequence demonstrates how much possibility was contained within the original recordings.

The release is packaged with extensive sleeve notes by A Certain Ratio and photographs drawn from the group’s archive. These additions place the recordings within the band’s wider history and make the LP a substantial companion for anyone who already knows Sextet. It is issued alongside Force Majeure, which performs a similar archival deep dive into the sessions surrounding the 1986 album Force.

Pressed on The Joy of Curacao coloured vinyl, this edition is suited to fans of post-punk, mutant funk, experimental dance music and the wider Factory Records lineage. It is both an accessible route back into a classic A Certain Ratio period and a genuinely different way of hearing the material. This is a pre-order for release on 28 August 2026.