Factrix was an American pioneering industrial group from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, formed in 1978 by Bond Bergland, Cole Palme, and Joseph T. Jacobs, and was praised by

Carlo McCormick Carlo McCormick is an American culture critic and curator living in New York City. He is the author of numerous books, monographs and catalogues on contemporary art and artists. Pedagogic and art writing activities McCormick was Senior Editor ...

as "one of the great bands of their era, prescient and influential."''

RE/Search RE/Search Publications is an American magazine and book publisher, based in San Francisco, founded by its editor V. Vale in 1980. In several issues, Andrea Juno was also credited as an editor. It was the successor to Vale's earlier punk rock fan ...

'' #1 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 An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

album that was highly innovative for its time. Reminiscent at times of bands like

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in 1975 in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evolv ...

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 The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacL ...

("''Ballad of the Grim Rider''") or even avant rock contemporaries like

Art Bears Art Bears were an English avant-rock group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler (percussion, texts), Fred Frith (guitar, bass guitar, violin, keyboards) and Dagmar Krause (vocals; previously of ...

or '70s era

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

(the opening track, "''Eerie Lights''" or "''The Center of the Doll''"). The live LP California Babylon (1982) (a collaboration with

Monte Cazazza Monte Cazazza is an American artist and composer best known for his seminal role in helping shape industrial music through recordings with the London-based Industrial Records in the mid-1970s. Career Cazazza, based primarily in San Francisco ...

- 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 Brion Gysin (19 January 1916 – 13 July 1986) was a British-Canadian painter, writer, sound poet, performance artist and inventor of experimental devices. He is best known for his use of the cut-up technique, alongside his close friend, the ...

cut up "poem" "Kick that Habit Man" with avant garde percussionist

Z'EV Z'EV (born Stefan Joel Weisser, February 8, 1951 – December 16, 2017) was an American poet, percussionist, and sound artist. After studying various world music traditions at CalArts, he began creating his own percussion sounds out of indust ...

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 Subterranean Records is an independent record label based in San Francisco, California. Founded by Steve Tupper and a then partner, Michael Fox in 1979, it focused on that city's underground punk and industrial music scene. Subterranean and fel ...

) *''Scheintot'' (1981, Adolescent Records) *''California Babylon'' (with

) (1982,

) *''Artifact'' (2003, Storm Records)

References

External links

Article by Julian Cope on the band
(now defunct)
Myspace Fan Page
{{Authority control Musical groups from San Francisco American industrial music groups