Factrix

Infobox musical artist
Name = Factrix


Img_capt =
Background = group_or_band
Origin = San Francisco, CA, USA
Genre = industrial music
experimental, gothic rock
Years_active = 1978–1982
Label = Subterranean Records, Adolescent Records, Storm Records
URL = [http://www.myspace.com/factrix Myspace fan page]

Factrix was a pioneering industrial group from the U.S. city of San Francisco, formed in 1978 by members Bond Bergland, Cole Palme, and Joseph T. Jacobs.

Factrix the group released a number of experimental industrial and gothic rock recordings in the early 1980s. Their first 7" single, "Empire Of Passion/Splice Of Life" balanced sound-poetry with minimalist rock, using tape permutations and found percussion to evoke bleak and droning walls of sound. The first full-length LP, "Scheintot", expanded on the directions taken with their first single, creating a morbid, moody, and subtle experimental rock album that was highly innovative for it's time. Reminiscent at times of bands like Throbbing Gristle or early Cabaret Voltaire ("Anemone Housing" or "Over My Shoulder - And Out of My Life"), the album also managed to demonstrate a strong rock sensibility, betraying influences of bands like The Velvet Underground ("Ballad of the Grim Rider") or even avant rock contemporaries like Art Bears or 70's era King Crimson (the opening track, "Eerie Lights" or "The Center of the Doll"). The live LP California Babylon (1982) (a collaboration with Monte Cazazza - the record is credited to "Factrix-Cazazza" on the cover) by contrast was a far more stark and abrasive release, in both minimalist sound and morbid lyrical content. The record also featured a musical treatment of the Brion Gysin cut up "poem" "Kick that Habit Man" with avant garde percussionist Z'EV backing the band.

In 2003, German based Storm Records re-released both the single and album recorded by the band as well as selections from the California Babylon LP and previously unreleased live material on a double CD titled Artifact. The release was well received and has since gone out of print.

Discography

*"Empire of Passion / Splice of Life" 7" single (1980, Subterranean Records)
*"Scheintot" (1981, Adolescent Records)
*"California Babylon" (with Monte Cazazza) (1982, Subterranean Records)
*"Artifact" (2003, Storm Records)

External links

* [http://www.headheritage.com/unsung/albumofthemonth/1307 Article by Julian Cope on the band]
* [http://www.heimdallr.ezwww.ch/Reviews/2003/Factrix-Atrifact.html Review of Artifact release on HEIMDALLR web site] (now defunct)
* [http://www.myspace.com/factrix Myspace Fan Page]