A very Happy New Year to FACers around the world from Cerysmatic Factory!

It appears from the Turntable Lab site that Ed Templeton has a new book out called The Contagion of Suggestibility. Details are slightly sketchy at the moment but schaden.com, a German book site, has a bit more info. Thanks to Mike for info.

Kevin Hewick ends 2006 and begins 2007 with three special dates in his home town of Leicester:

Wednesday 27 December 2006 - One of his now infamous 3+ hour non-stop sets at his spirtual home, The Twisted Toucan, Braunstone Gate. 8.00pm sharp start through to 11.15pm.

Thursday 28 December 2006 - Appearing with Steve Cartwright and other friends at an pre-new year bash at The Musician, Grafton Street, Leicester. 8.30pm through to Midnight.

Saturday 6 January 2007 - Phoenix Arts in the cafe, his first live date of 2007. Noon until 2.00pm.

The new website www.kevinhewick.co.uk has had over 2,000 hits in just two months and is being constantly expanded and updated. It includes an extensive slideshow of pictures taken between 1971-2006, new blogs and a 9 song KH jukebox.

Labels: Kevin_Hewick

POD Concerts presents
A Certain Ratio
Saturday 10 March 2007
Village * Wexford St * Dublin 2.
Doors * 8pm
Tickets 18 EUR available from Ticketmaster, Road Records, City Discs, Sound
Cellar and usual outlets.

www.ticketmaster.ie

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio

Martin Moscrop has confirmed a DJ set appearance in Athens, Greece on 5 January 2007 (just a couple of days before Section 25 play there if you're thinking of making the trip).

5 January 2007
Alterground
Athens
Greece

www.alterground.gr
www.myspace.com/alterground

Labels: Martin_Moscrop, Section_25

Limited edition prints of classic Central Station art will be available via centralstationart.com at the end of January.

Blow Up Press, www.blowuppress.com, is a new web-based business selling an initial collection of 30 photographic editions, including some great shots of Ian Curtis and Bernard Sumner. All the images are limited editions and are signed by the photographer. Their roster includes Ian Tilton (famed for his images of The Stone Roses), Stephen Wright (The Smiths) and Philippe Carly (Joy Division, New Order).

Philippe Carly talks about his iconic photograph of Ian Curtis: "This is one of the two "twins" two almost identical Ian Curtis photos, taken a few minutes apart, one framed to the left, the other framed to the right. When Joy Division returned to Plan K for a second gig a few months after this one, I gave a set of photographs of this first gig to Rob Gretton. From then on I lost sight of these photos until a few months later, I saw one pinned on Martin Hannett's kitchen wall and years later on various book covers and in CD booklets and all over the internet. Until I started my website, I had never realised how popular this photo had become and how many times it had been used without my consent or knowledge, often poorly reproduced."

Carly also recalls the intimate connections between Plan K, Joy Division and Manchester: "It's hard to imagine a band and a venue more intricately connected in Belgium than Joy Division and Plan K. The Plan K was the place to be, the place where we were. More than a venue, it was a statement in itself. The gigs were so frequent, the groups so great, it was so NORMAL! Only after did we find out how lucky we'd been to be there. Much like the CBGB, only less publicised. By an amusing twist of fate, the Plan K was located "rue de Manchester" (Manchester street) in Brussels. I don't think you can consider this a coincidence."

Labels: Joy_Division, New_Order

Check out ::slingthought's continuous mix of New Order tracks which is available as a free mp3 download

Tracklist

I Don't Care (::slingthought's:: Dub Re-work)
Bizarre Love Triangle (Extended Dance Mix)
True Faith (Original)
Confusion (DMC Mix)
Sub-Culture (Razormaid Mix)
Fine Time (Messed Around Mix)
Blue Monday 1988 (12 Inch Mix)
Everything's Gone Green (Original)
Temptation (Secret Machines Remix)
Perfect Kiss (Hot Tracks Mix)
Round & Round (Club Mix)

The mix is currently hosted at MixDepot.net and is available for FREE as a download.

Labels: New_Order

Audigist.com, "the MP3 selling website that pays the best deal to its artists", features a selection of 6 albums from A Certain Ratio (alongside a wide range of signed and unsigned music).

Single tracks at Audigist are GBP 1.00 and album downloads are GBP 6.99. All downloads come as 192 Kbps MP3s, so you can use them on any kind of MP3 player, including the iPod.

The ACR albums available are:

Early
The Graveyard and the Ballroom
I'd Like To See You Again
Live in America
Sextet
To Each

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Ike_Yard

A Tribute to Billy Mackenzie
In Aid of Sound Seekers

Very Special Guest including*
British Electric Foundation (world first live appearance as B.E.F.)
Electric Soft Parade
Subterraneans - joined by Paul Haig for a one-off performance

SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE
WED 28 MARCH 2007 7:00PM

Tickets £19.75 from www.ticketweb.co.uk / 0870 771 2000

* See myspace.com/soundseekers for further details and up to date news on line-up

As previously announced, AEG Live in association with Key 103 are proud to present the Haçienda New Years Eve party at the Manchester Academy One on 31 December 2006.

To win a pair of tickets just answer the following simple question:

"What was the name of Mike Pickering's legendary dance night at the Haçienda?"

Submit your entries via the Contact form with HAC NYE COMP in the title. Winners will be notified by email. Closing date Friday 22 December.

Key 103 will be broadcasting live from the party 12pm until 2am, so don't miss out and join the 2,000 other party mad ravers by booking now. Call the ticket hotline on 0871 230 4422 or buy online at www.aeglive.co.uk. This event will be a sell out show so make sure to buy early and avoid disappointment.

Check out Stuart Argabright's hazy lazy morning afterthoughts on last night's Ike Yard DJ set @ APT on DeMeDo".

Labels: Ike_Yard, Stuart_Argabright

Thanks to Ang for letting us in on what Factory employees were given on arrival at the FAC 301 International Congress:

- a blue plastic carrier bag with a Factory Records compliment slip stuck on it & each individual's name written on it in silver pen
- a World in Motion t-shirt
- a World in Motion hat
- a pen (rather disappointingly an ordinary biro from nearest shop and not some long lost rarity)
- a plain, white cotton napkin with the Factory label stitched on but not numbered

Other articles made for the event (replete with FAC numbers) were paper napkins and notepads.

Labels: Factory_Records, T-Shirt

The splendid surroundings of London's Wigmore Hall saw the reuniting of two of the founding fathers of Factory Classical, Rolf Hind and The Duke Quartet for a mixed programme of modern classical music.

The Eye of the Fire Tour, which also takes in Edinburgh tonight and Cardiff tomorrow, was conceived by yoga fan and spnm artistic director Rolf Hind. Hindu mystics believe that through meditation and yoga a "third eye" to a new level of consciousness opens up in the middle of the forehead and it also lends its name to a quite superb piece for piano quintet that concluded last night's performance. There was even a yoga demonstration as a prelude to the evening's musical entertainment.

Each movement was inspired by a different yoga position and also by the personal characteristics of the members of the Quartet. Louisa Fuller led the Dukes who produced some amazing sounds with all parts of their instruments and even whistling. The resulting music was reminiscent at times of the closing piece on Brian Eno's 'Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks' and even Talk Talk's 'Spirit of Eden'.

In his programme notes, Hind thanked "maverick impresario" Tony Wilson for getting his recording career started. Indeed it was Factory Classical artistic director John Metcalfe who brought the young Rolf Hind to the attention of AHW when the label was getting off the ground. Hind laments the passing of Factory Classical and notes that it wasn't until two years ago in Bromsgrove the he and the Dukes would actually play together (by some coincidence, when they did, it was for the premiere of 'The Eye of the Fire'.

Earlier on there were world premieres for new works by Naomi Pinnock, Shiori Usui and Philip Venables. During Usui's 'Liya-pyuwa, for piano quintet', Rolf Hind displayed his virtuosity by hitting and plucking various parts right inside the guts of the instrument. The mirrored lid craftily provided us with a view of proceedings. I would like to see the musical notation for those manoeuvres!

The concert was recorded for Radio 3's Hear and Now and will be broadcast on 24 February 2007.

Labels: Factory_Classical, John_Metcalfe, labels, Tony_Wilson

Ahead of tonite's Ike Yard DJ set, Stuart Argabright told Cerysmatic: "Yea should be fun tonight, will play some old stuff, cuts from the recent New York Noise 3, an obscure New Order cut or 2, maybe 'Thin Boys' by ACR, like that up through John Foxx Metamatic stuff."

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Ike_Yard, New_Order, Stuart_Argabright

A bucket of rubble salvaged from the demolition of FAC 51 The Haçienda is being auctioned by art collective UHC to raise money for the campaign reports Adam Moss in the Manchester Evening News.

Artefacts from the interior were auctioned before demolition commenced but, despite promises to the contrary, the legendary cruved façade itself was not retained as part of the structure of the Haçienda Apartments. The conceptual art piece is entitled 'We Will Preserve The Façade'.

Labels: artefacts

From DenseMedia Domain: (which also carries details of new Ike Yard recording activity): "DCC's High Priest, Stuart Argabright & Michael Diekmann from Death Comet Crew & Ike Yard will be at Apt. on the West side on next Tue's night (Dec.5) with OtherMusic's Scott Mou and others for a 'Mudd Club' New York Noise' inspired set after 11:30pm. Come on out, you'll hear something fresh"

Venue: APT
Address: 419 West 13th St, NYC, NY, USA

Thanks to Mike and Steven on FAClist for spotting.

Labels: Ike_Yard, Stuart_Argabright

More details have emerged via the OMD list / FAClist on the UK leg of the forthcoming Architecture & Morality tour in 2007 with the Glasgow, Liverpool and London venues confirmed:

May 2007

15 - Glasgow, Clyde Auditorium
16 - Liverpool, Empire
18 - London, Hammersmith Apollo

Tickets go on sale Friday, 26 January 2007 via all usual outlets.

Meanwhile, on Monday 30 April 2007 (coinciding with the 25th Anniversary) Virgin/EMI will release a double-pack CD and DVD of a digitally re-mastered Architecture and Morality plus a live DVD of OMD performing at Drury Lane Theatre in 1981.

Further details have been released on the plans for the OMD / Peter Saville installation:

The work will be premiered at FACT in Liverpool in March 2008 as part of the Capital of Culture celebrations. The installation has a working title of The Energy Suite and is based on five power stations.

OMD are also currently working with The London Philharmonic Orchestra for a unique tour in Autumn 2008. The series of concerts that will tour Europe and the States will see the LPO playing The Energy Suite from the OMD / Peter Saville Installation with giant screens carrying projections of the power station images as well as the band and Orchestra interpreting many of OMD's classic back catalogue songs.

More details via www.omd.uk.com

I Fagiolini is 20 years old this autumn and an hour programme about the group will be broadcast on Radio 3 next Saturday 9 December, from 13:00-14:00 GMT. Or on 'Listen Again' at www.bbc.co.uk.radio3

With thanks to Robert Hollingworth.

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