YOU had to seek it out, but there was a passable strain of new wave disco that managed to straddle the arty end of late-punk and the thinking end of the dancefloor. Tony Wilson knew it as Factory got over its first flush of credibility and he pushed New Order towards the funk while trying to work out why A Certain Ratio weren't world-beaters.
Alongside pre-fame Japan, very early Spandau and the likes of Wire and Au Pairs, there was something in the air that made the first generation punks want to dance. It's the feeling Friendly Fires invoke as they shake off any nu-rave hangover with a short (37 minute), sharp blast of a debut album that's popping with dancey energy driven by scratchy guitars, Pigbag basslines and loose-limbed drums.
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