Factrix was a pioneering Industrial music group from San Francisco, formed in 1978 by members Bond Bergland, Cole Palme, and Joseph T. Jacobs.
As Factrix, the group released a number of subversive and 'dangerous' recordings in the early 1980s. The incredible 'Scheintot' LP was a document of morbid, moody, and subtle experimental rock that is as eerily unsettling today as it must have been way back in 1981 when it was initially released. The live LP 'California Babylon' (1982) was a collaboration with Monte Cazazza that remains a rough and violent selection of guitar-noise deconstructions and primitive machine-noise rumblings. Conversely, the 'Empire Of Passion/Splice Of Life' 7" single was a marvelously sinister bit of apocalyptic sound-poetry and industrial soundscaping..."
- Excerpt from "Industrial Nation" magazine
Discography
Scheintot (LP) (Adolescent Records, 1981)
California Babylon (LP) (Subterranean Records, 1982) - from a live performance with Monte Cazazza. This performance -which included Anabel Lee, Tana Emmolo, and a robotic pig named "Piggly Wiggly" (made by Mark Pauline, of Survival Research Labs/SRL)- was videotaped and entitled "Night of the Succubus".
Empire Of Passion / Splice Of Life (7" single) (Adolescent Records)
Artifact (2-CD) (Tesco/Storm label, 2003) - A double-CD retrospective of both studio and rare live/previously unreleased tracks.
"Live at Target" Comp. (VHS/LP) (Target Video/Subterranen, 1980)- Starts with two tracks from Factrix ("Night to Forget" & "Subterfuge"); Video/LP compilation of Post-punk/Industrial bands featuring Factrix, Flipper, Nervous Gender, and Uns (aka Z'ev).
Factrix's Cole Palme echoed the famous flinch-inducing image in Un Chien Andalou when he talked of the group's desire "to take a razor to the mind's eye," while Cabaret Voltaire nicked their name from the original Dadaist nightclub in WW I Zurich.
Like the Cabs, Factrix were big on the mistreatment of sound, deploying an arsenal of Eno-like reinventions such as amputated bass, "radioguitar," and "glaxobass," along with tape-loops, exotic percussion, and Multimoog.
Factrix started out influenced by TG and CV, but as they evolved they anticipated industrial's next stage, when Psychic TV, Coil, and their ilk embarked on a full-blown magickal-mystery trip.
The first wave of nihilistic punk had already begun to unravel in its self-destructive fury, and the time was ripe for new musical initiatives to make a complete break with the previous rock and pop entertainment clichés.
FACTRIX consisted of Bond Bergland, Cole Palme, and Joseph T. Jacobs (sometimes aided and abetted by Monte Cazazza).
This two-disc retrospective features all their important studio recordings, newly remastered from the original analog recordings, along with a wide array of obscure live tracks and unreleased material from the band's own archives.
Feeds |
Contact