A cold, driving hybrid of post-punk and early electronic dance music from a Factory Records band that never quite got its due. Larry Cassidy’s deadpan bass and vocals lock into drum machines and sequencers, making this an unheralded bridge between Joy Division’s bleakness and the coming acid house revolution.
This is the sound of a band pulling a thread and watching the whole row unravel. Section 25 had spent their early years as Factory Records’ shadow-version of Joy Division—same label, same producer in Martin Hannett, same black-and-white minimalism. But by 1984 they had traded the live drummer for a Roland TR-808 and the angular guitars for a Juno-60 synthesiser. From the Hip is the document of that trade, and it still sounds like a transition caught in amber.
Recorded at Blue Studios in Manchester across late 1983 and early 1984, the album was self-produced by the band with engineer John Brierley. Larry Cassidy’s bass is the gravitational centre—thick, round, played in a way that feels less like a instrument and more like a heartbeat. The rhythm programming lets him breathe. Where Hannett might have layered reverb until the mix disappeared into itself, Brierley keeps everything dry and close, giving the 808 snare a crack that feels like a door slamming in an empty hallway.
The standout is “Looking from a Hilltop,” a track that could have been a single in a better world. Jenny Ross’s detached vocal floats over a pulse that won’t quit, while Larry’s bass weaves underneath like a Fisherman friend sitting in on a house session. It’s not dance music yet—the tempo is too hesitant, the arrangement still too sparse—but you can hear the blueprint forming. “Knew Noise” pushes harder, layering a sequencer pattern against a live guitar that sounds like it wandered in from a different session entirely.
What makes From the Hip worth returning to is how unguarded it feels. These aren’t calculated moves toward the pop charts. The album has the wobbly confidence of a band that has read every manual but still trusts instinct. There’s a track called “Willow” that sounds like it was recorded in a stairwell, the hi-hat bleeding into the vocal mic, Larry’s voice barely staying in key. That imperfection is the whole point.
Factory Records had a habit of letting bands follow their worst impulses. Section 25, to their credit, followed a good one here. They never made a record this cohesive again.
Was Section 25 related to Joy Division?
Both bands recorded for Factory Records and shared the same early producer in Martin Hannett—Hannett produced Section 25’s first two albums before they self-produced *From the Hip*. But Section 25 were never the same band; they were from Blackpool, had a different bass sound, and moved toward electronic music faster than Joy Division ever did.
What makes *From the Hip* different from earlier Section 25 albums?
It’s the first album where drum machines and sequencers dominate the rhythm section. Their previous work, especially *The Key of Dreams*, still had live drums and more guitar. This record marks a deliberate pivot toward dance music, even if the results remain uneasy and cold. It’s less punk, more proto-techno.
Is there an original vinyl pressing I should look for?
The original Factory Records pressing (FACT 74) has a black-and-white sleeve with a photograph of a street in Blackpool. It’s not particularly expensive—usually £20–40 in good condition—because it wasn’t a hit. The sound quality on the vinyl is decent, but the 2018 reissue on LTM adds a booklet and remastered audio that might be more listenable today.