Synthpop band Real PD formed in 1984 around the nucleus of songwriting classmates Alistair Cumberford and Mark Cahill, who began to record under the name of Potential Difference, distributing lo-fi tapes amongst their friends. 29 years and a few hundred songs later, they continue to produce lyrically incisive bargain-basement pop-dance gems that have both a foot on the 80's dancefloor and a keen ear for what's now. And, like, probably other metaphorical body parts in funky places too. Adrian Brailsford is the band's third writer, whose piano based tunesmithery has been the backbone of many a PD favourite. The Real PD sound is completed by the classic-pop vocal stylings of Claire Baker-Donnelly and the versatile guitar of Richard Entwistle.

An unconventional musical agenda was on the cards right from the beginning: original band member Guy Wigmore was recruited on the strength of his bassoon-playing skills. The scary lanscape of the early albums is marked out by distressed, scraping viola and corruscating blasts of kazoo, and the band's 80s songs twitch anemically on a bed of plinking kiddie Casio. Formed in the wake of punk and new-wave, the can-do aesthetic informed the early Real PD: what the group may have lacked in slick musicianship it made up for in enthusiasm and naive creativity. The 21st Century incarnation of the band may have picked up a little musical nous down the years but they're still about trying out new ideas in pursuit of the joy of pop, with a healthy disregard for the rules. They're here to wake your mind up..