11 Oct 2019
Factory Records' NYC HQ at 325 Spring Street 


325 Spring Street, New York City was the former location of Factory Records’ US operations in the form of Factory US and Of Factory New York.

In 2017 photographer Sean Vegezzi took an amazing series of photographs of the upper floors of the building which were completely empty. Factory was in Room 233 and it's quite possible that some of the pics show the location of the old office. However, with most of the building contents completely stripped out it is not possible to discern exactly where it was.

In September/October 1986 the video / sculpture / installation 'Compact' designed by Peter Saville took place at the White Columns art gallery which was also located in the building. This was commemorated by the Fac 171 poster.

Many thanks to Sean Vegezzi for the photos and for giving factoryrecords.org permission to use them. I have published them as a series of three mini photo galleries on Instagram in order to do justice to the detail that they show. These are also embedded on the main page for 325 Spring Street on this site.

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7 Jun 2017
True Faith in promotion 
True Faith badge

Here we present the True Faith "leaf" promo badge/brooch (in gold and in silver editions) for special promotion of FAC 183 True Faith by New Order.

The promotional fun didn't stop there either for this release - there was also a poster and the True Faith Paperweight.

True Faith badge

See also: Factory Records Badges and Factory Records posters.

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23 Jan 2014
Section 25 - From The Hip [FBN 33 CD] 


Section 25's From The Hip 30th anniversary edition will be released by Factory Benelux on 5 May 2014. The album which was originally released as FACT 90 in 1984 and which marked a turn towards pioneering electronica for the Blackpool band. Produced by New Order's Bernard Sumner and replete with Peter Saville's iconic coded imagery and Trevor Key's photography it is a landmark of the Factory Records history.

The new FBN edition is a digipack which presents the full album, remixes including the seminal Looking From A Hilltop (Megamix), a BBC radio session, b-sides, demos and a new recording of Reflection by the current line-up. Rounding it all of are liner notes to which Vin Cassidy and Jon Savage contribute.

More info and ordering details via factorybenelux.com.

Tracklisting

Disc 1

1. The Process
2. Looking From A Hilltop
3. Reflection
4. Prepare To Live
5. Program For Light
6. Desert
7. Beneath the Blade
8. Inspiration
9. Looking From A Hilltop (Restructure)
10. Looking From A Hilltop (Megamix)
11. Dirty Disco II
12. Dirty Disco II (Pre-Mix)
13. Beating Heart (12" Remix)
14. Back to Wonder (12" Version)
15. Beating Heart (12" Version)

Disc 2

1. Looking From A Hilltop (1984 BBC session)
2. Reflection (1984 BBC session)
3. Warhead (1984 BBC session)
4. The Process (1983 demo)
5. Looking From A Hilltop (1983 demo)
6. Prepare To Live (1983 demo)
7. Reflection (1983 demo)
8. Desert (1983 demo)
9. Program For Light (1984 vocal mix)
10. Another Hilltop (Stephen Morris Remix)
11. Reflection (Young Image)

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Artist: Section 25
Title: From The Hip
Format: 2CD / Digital download
Catalogue number: FBN 33 CD
Label: Factory Benelux
Release date: 5 May 2014

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7 Nov 2013
FBN 114 - From deboss to die-cut 
FBN 114 The Return of the Durutti Column

The packaging for the previously announced Factory Benelux sandpaper sleeve edition of The Return of The Durutti Column has changed slightly. Instead of a square deboss there is now a die-cut of the early Factory Records logo that first appeared on FAC 13.

The album will be available direct from Factory Benelux mailorder from the beginning of December, priced at 25.00 GBP including UK postage. EU please add 4.00 GBP for airmail post. Rest of the World add 6.00 GBP for airmail post. The album will be dispatched in strong cruciform mailer. All enquiries about the album release, postage, etc direct to Factory Benelux please!

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5 Nov 2013
Section 25 - From The Hip [FBN 33 CD] 
Section 25 - From The Hip [FBN 33 CD]

As trailed the other month, we now have fuller details direct from Factory Benelux about the forthcoming-in-2014 deluxe edition of From The Hip by Section 25.

This 30th anniversary edition will be comprised of 2 CDs in a deluxe 6-panel digi-pack. The first disc will contain the original album and the second will feature several original album demos from 1983 as well as their 1984 David 'Kid' Jensen BBC radio session plus remixes and a new track, Reflection (which will also be released as a limited edition 7" single for Record Store Day 2014).

Add to that the original Fact 90 artwork by Peter Saville, Trevor Key's mountain photography and a 12-page booklet you have a very nice package indeed.

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More details at factorybenelux.com

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31 Oct 2013
Meaningless Excitement 
Meaningless Excitement by Peter Saville

Peter Saville has designed the prints and typography for a new collection of shoes made for the Adidas label Y-3 by Yohji Yamamoto.

Dezeen.com reports that Saville has drawn inspiration from "the vastness of the internet, culling images and words from online forums, social media, and personal blogging platforms".

Saville, you may recall, previously worked with Adidas on the Adicolor project, resulting in a tracksuit and the G2 hi-tops. In this video he talks their association.

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28 Oct 2013
visceral pleasures 
Visceral Pleasures - Vaughan Oliver

After finally catching up with the excellent Vaughan Oliver/23 Envelope monogram 'visceral pleasures' by Rick Poynor (think FAC 461 for 4AD if you're not familiar) a paragraph which compared Oliver's working influence to Peter Saville caught my eye:

"Oliver is a designer whose most characteristic work is about music. At their most expressive, his designs embody his intense emotional responses to his sensations as a listener. This is by no means always the case with designers of music graphics. Reid Miles, creator in the 1960s of many classic covers for the Blue Note jazz label, never had much enthusiasm for hard bop, even though fans regard his graphic rhythms as perfectly in sync with the music. Peter Saville, designer of sleeves for Factory Records, was engaged more by the subcultural, stylistic and fashion aspects of the post-punk milieu than by the music itself, and this detachment can be seen in the conceptual control of his designs. For Oliver, the connection with music is much more visceral and intimate. Music is a way of twisting the moment, leaving the mundane reality of the here and now, the world of bills on doormat, and attaining a more vital state of being beyond rational understanding, beyond the comfortable habits and orderly procedures of everyday life, where reality can be experienced anew, as if looking back from the other side."

In other words, Vaughan Oliver actually listened to the music but Peter Saville didn't.

Cheers Andrew @ Irk The Purists for the book.

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22 Oct 2013
The Return of The Return of... LP (FBN 114) 
The Return of the Durutti Column LP (FBN 114)

Factory Benelux has finally announced full details and pricing of its new re-edition of the classic debut album by The Durutti Column, the enigmatically-titled 'The Return of The Durutti Column' originally released in the infamous sandpaper sleeve in 1980.

This new edition imagineers the narrative of the original FACT 14 edition on Factory Records. So, rather than some old LP sleeves with some 12" square sheets of sandpaper glued on on either side, there's an 11-inch square sheet of coarse glasspaper seated in a recessed deboss. And then there's the back cover which features period photographs Daniel Meadows.

The original Hannett 'Test Card' flexi-disc has been converted to a regular non-flexi-disc black vinyl 7" single and this brings commensurately better sound quality.

There are two bonus tracks on the main album itself, 'Madeleine' and 'Lips That Would Kiss' which previously came out on an FBN single in 1980.

Wrap that all up with liner notes with quotes from Vini Reilly, Martin Hannett, Tony Wilson, Peter Saville, Daniel Meadows, John Brierley, Bruce Mitchell and members of Joy Division and you have a very nice package thank you very much. It's all finished off in a plastic bag which will protect the other records in your collection.

The album will be available direct from Factory Benelux mailorder from the beginning of December, priced at 25.00 GBP including UK postage. EU please add 4.00 GBP for airmail post. Rest of the World add 6.00 GBP for airmail post. The album will be dispatched in strong cruciform mailer. All enquiries about the album release, postage, etc direct to Factory Benelux please!

Tracklisting

Side 1

1. Sketch for Summer
2. Requiem for a Father
3. Katharine
4. Conduct

Side 2
1. Beginning
2. Jazz
3. Sketch for Winter
4. Collette
5. In ‘D’
6. Lips That Would Kiss
7. Madeleine

Side 3

1. The First Aspect of the Same Thing

Side 4

1. The Second Aspect of the Same Thing

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20 Sept 2013
Always New - Section 25's latest activities 
Following on from our recent piece on Section 25's prolific spell of activity, we take a more detailed look at the band's most recent releases, re-releases and remixes from the past year or so, as well as a quick glance at their upcoming gigs, one of which might be of interest to Factory fans next year!

Section 25's Dark Light

Dark Light CD/download

Released early 2013, Dark Light is the band's seventh studio album 'proper' and their first since 2009's Nature and Degree (also their first without founder Larry Cassidy). By turns forward-thinking with its electronics and feminine vocals, courtesy of Bethany and Jo, yet still harbouring attitude and awareness reminiscent of earlier material, DL comes decorated in a fresh new Peter Saville sleeve and heralds something of a new chapter in the band's history. For a full review, head to Flipside here

My Outrage 7"

Perhaps the focal point of the band's pristine new album Dark Light was this sprightly pop nugget, selected for a Record Store Day release, back in April. Coupled with an otherwise unreleased instrumental called Hinterland, My Outrage came dressed in a variant of the smart Peter Saville sleeve designed for its bigger brother/sister. There may be a few copies left for a fiver - more details here

From The Hip vinyl

Summer 2012 saw a double vinyl issue appear on the resurrected Factory Records, dressed smartly in its original Peter Saville sleeve and sporting a sticker declaring the inclusion of a bonus 12". This extra slab of plastic includes the original Megamix version of Looking From a Hilltop from Fac 108 and a much-fancied remix of the same tune (re-titled as Another Hilltop) by New Order's Stephen Morris. A worthy reissue and well worth seeking out.

Love and Hate CD

Love and Hate CD

Previously issued on CD by LTM, its newly refurbished cousin Factory Benelux dusted down this under-rated set by sprucing it up with some natty extras. As well as the main album re-assembled back into its original running order, you get both sides of Bad News Week (FAC 157), 'retro' mixes of Warhead and the previously unrecorded Boogie Beat and two tracks from the Factory Benelux EP, Crazy Wisdom. Buy it from FBN direct and you get an exclusive slipcase sleeve.

Split 12" with Stereograph

American electro stalwarts met Blackpool, er,  electro stalwarts for this split coloured-vinyl 12" single, housed in a die-cut sleeve in a limited run of just 500 copies. Section 25's offerings were hard-to-find dubs of Colour Movement Sex and Violence and Inner Drive - you also get a download code to preserve your precious wax. There are still copies left at Phaneron Records direct for 10 bucks plus postage.

Invicta Max 10"

Expanding on the earlier 2011 download release on Hacienda Records, this clear-vinyl 10" on Minimal Maximal took the Invicta EP to the Max by adding two more titles to the running order, namely a double-whammy of remixes of the previously unrecorded Microgroove. Absolute Body Control lent their industrial chops for one version and very good it is too. Even rarer than the split Stereograph single, only 400 copies were pressed up. If you want a copy of MM011, you should try Daft Records in the first instance.

Eigengrau CD

Eigengrau remix album

Following on from the band's own collection of reinterpreted favourites, this collection from Austria's Klanggalerie imprint featured third-party remixes of classics such as Dirty Disco, Beating Heart, Girls Don't Count and The Process, as well as adding another reworking of Looking From a Hilltop. A stellar cast of mainly electro or industrial remixers includes Cabaret Voltaire's Stephen Mallinder, Zoviet France, 23 Skidoo, Renaldo and the Loaf and Absolute Body Control. After reading the Flipside review, you should nip over to LTM to grab a copy - it's rather good.

The Post Romantic Empire album

Now this IS a grand project and no mistake. Both Vincent and Larry Cassidy can be heard on two atmospheric versions of Love Will Tear Us Apart - the former contributes drums to the first version while Larry's last ever recording, a spoken word recital of Ian Curtis' lyrics, has been interwoven with music provided by Peter Hook, Nat Wason (Haven, The Light) and Eliot Bates. The rest of the limited hand-produced vinyl-album includes equally expressive contributions by David Tibet, Annabella Lwin, Little Annie and several others. More details can be found on the PRE website.

And that's not all - a 2 x CD deluxe reissue of From The Hip has been earmarked for a 2014 release on Factory Benelux - more on this new exciting release of FBN33 to follow...

Gigs:

Section 25 have announced a veritable smorgasbord of shows during 2013 and 2014. Here's our handy guide - tickets subject to availability.

Machinenation Nation

Islington Mill, Salford on 19 October

First up is the much-anticipated Machination Nation event at Islington Mill on 19 October. On the bill with S25 are AAAK, otherwise known as As Able As Kane, plus DJ slots from MC Tunes, Chewdisco and Mouseybrown. Head to Allgigs for tickets (Early Birds have all gone, still a few standard entry tickets left though).

Germany - Cologne at the Blue Shell, Luxemburger Strasse 32 on 6 December

Austria - Vienna at the Fluc, Praterstern 5 on 8th December

Blackpool County Cricket Ground, Blackpool on 25th May 2014

The band will play at the fourth instalment of Alfresco alongside Factory label-mates A Certain Ratio, plus a nifty line-up that includes Mr Scruff, Andrew Weatherall and more. Tickets from Cowbell Radio direct, priced from £10 upwards.

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25 May 2013
The Other Two T-Shirt 
The Other Two T-Shirt

Official Other Two T-Shirt in orange-on-navy blue featuring Peter Saville-designed "O2" wireframe logo.

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Unknown Pleasures 3D 
Joy Division's FACT 10 Unknown Pleasures cover designed by Peter Saville has been rendered on a 3D printer with the plans for how to do it published alongside (via BoingBoing [->]).

However, although the age of the 3D printer is only a few years young, this isn't the first time the classic cover has been modelled in 3D. Morph did it in 2006 in moulded latex in a series of exclusive (and pricey) one-off editions.

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7 Mar 2013
FAC 73XXX 

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19 Jan 2013
Deciphered: Peter Saville upon paper 
There is an interview with Peter Saville by Paul Hetherington at uponpaper.com. This is an extensive discourse on the colour code design that Saville developed for Blue Monday, Power Corruption and Lies, Confusion and From The Hip.

The online publication accompanies the "colour" issue of UPON PAPER magazine; a collectable XXL-format visual arts magazine. Saville has created new works using the colour code in the magazine. Inside the magazine there is no text, which is keeping with the enigmatic style of th.

Watch out at the Upon Paper Facebook page for some giveaway signed copies nearer to the 30th anniversary of the release of Blue Monday.

More on Peter Saville's colour code at factoryrecords.org.

Peter Saville Colour Code

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4 Jan 2013
Section 25 - My Outrage [7 FBN 62] 
Another Record Store Day release for Factory Benelux in the form of My Outrage b/w Hinterland [7 FBN 62], the brand new single by Section 25, issued in a limited edition of just 500 copies to mark RSD 2013 this April.

Taken from the new album Dark Light, My Outrage was produced by the band and remixed by collaborator Derek Miller of Outernationale.

"The song is a comment on the small pleasures of the everyday," says vocalist Beth Cassidy, "and when they run parallel to/mirror with the purely outrageous. One is just as important as the other. Outrage is the Yin to Sunday morning's Yang."

B-side Hinterland is an exclusive track and will not appear elsewhere.

The cover image by Peter Saville is an extension of the Dark Light cover and was designed by Matt Robertson at Peter Saville Studio.

Tracklisting

Side A: My Outrage
Side B: Hinterland

Artist: Section 25
Title: My Outrage
Format: 7-inch single
Catalogue number: 7 FBN 62
Release date: 20 April 2013

Section 25 - My Outrage [7 FBN 62]

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18 Dec 2012
Factory Records pin badges via Polite 
Three badges available to buy direct from Polite in collaboration with Factory Editions.

The re-edition of the FAC 120 badge in black/red colour variants is accompanied by a now-official badge based on the FAC 47 anvil logo (which was previously issued as a fan-created limited edition of 47 in 2008).

Polite states that a boxed set version of all 3 badges will be available in late January 2013, but meanwhile they are selling individually for 10.00 GBP each.

Factory Records pin padges via Polite

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4 Dec 2012
A Factory Benelux Story 
Cerysmatic Factory caught up with James Nice to find out about newly-revived Factory Benelux imprint.

How did it come about?

When the Shadowplayers book was published in 2010, Peter Saville and I discussed some sort of umbrella organisation to protect and preserve the Factory legacy, rather than the logos, brand, heritage and so forth being used willy-nilly. Something like the Bauhaus Foundation.

That led to the formation of a new company, Factory Records Limited - which in turn led to a lengthy negotiation with WMG... After more than two years all we'd manage to achieve was a double vinyl reissue of Fact 90, and the Polite postcard and badge editions. From the outset we tried to involved Alan Erasmus and several other interested parties, but it just proved unworkable - rather like New Order and Hooky have proved unworkable in recent years.

So Peter and I gave up, really. It was like trying to raise the Titanic. And as the old joke goes, it might have been easier to lower the Atlantic.

What I would say is, the moment you wave the Factory flag and stick your head above the parapet, all sorts of nutters break cover and start firing potshots. Life's too short.

Anyway, I didn't want to cancel the Factory music reissue projects I had in mind, and earlier in 2012 I'd already issued the limited edition vinyl album of Short Stories for Pauline by The Durutti Column, with the blessing of Michel Duval. Since that edition was favourably received, I figured why not carry on with Factory Benelux.

Who is behind it?

Me, and the participating artists. I obtained the FBN name and logos from Michel in exchange for a donation to the Christie Hospital in Manchester, who looked after Tony Wilson at the end. It seemed like an appropriate gesture. Annik Honoré gave the idea her blessing too. Plus, on a personal level, I'm a lot more comfortable working with the Factory Benelux brand, because I worked with Michel in Brussels for several years between 1989 and 1991, whereas I was never directly involved with Factory Records in Manchester.

FBN is also a nice way of returning the Factory marque to come key recordings, without actually calling it Factory. Like the original FBN, it retains a sense of distance and otherness.

What other reissues do you have planned?

They're editions, dear boy. It's a mixture of CDs and vinyl, mostly remastered and with upgraded artwork. So Swimming by The Names gains their Peel session, the Crispy Ambulance album the original De Roeck artwork, and so on. The booklets are mainly visual, usually period photography and satellite artwork, without too much in the way of sleevenotes.

We've expanded LC by The Durutti Column into a double disc edition, because Vini was so prolific at the time, and very little that he recorded was filler.

All the CDs will come in a special FBN slipcase also - at least if you order direct from us. It proved a bit difficult trying to apply a generic slipcase to shop copies. All sorts of tedious issues with barcodes etc, plus it obscures some rather nice original artwork, which is somewhat counter-productive.

The Blurt vinyl is interesting. Live In Berlin should have come out as a 10" (FBN 5 or 6, depending on which archive source you consult) in 1981, but then Ted got a better offer from Armageddon, who released In Berlin as a standard 12" live album. To fit all 8 tracks on, we've had to include a bonus 7" as well. That costs way more to press than a 12", but a 12" would be a bit boring, and not true to the original FBN concept. Plus a 10" really suits Blurt's music well. There's a kind of faux jazz sleevenote from Chris Bohn also. It'll probably lose money!

Will you be releasing any wholly new material?

Yes, the new Section 25 album Dark Light will be on FBN, as will their limited 7" single for Record Store Day in April 2013. Peter Saville kindly provided the cover image and the title for the album. There will also be a vinyl edition of the recent Wake album A Light Far Out, again for RSD.

It's important to stress that all 'new' FBN releases are new editions through, not simply facsimiles of the original releases and formats. That would be misleading, and plain dull. Instead it's high-end antique futurism. From Belgium. Kinda sorta.

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Many thanks to James Nice.

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5 Nov 2012
After Closer Competition Result 
The lucky winner of the Peter Saville / @seditionart After Closer (Digital Edition) competition is Steve Johnson who correctly identified (along with many others) that the New York City building that inspired Saville's designs for Joy Division's Closer sleeve was the AT&T building (now the Sony Building).

After Closer [Digital Edition] by Peter Saville is presented by s[edition] which specialises in bringing digital limited edition artworks by the world’s leading artists to mobile phones, iPads, computers and television screens.

This piece, which was and originally was conceived as a limited edition screen print in 2011 for the V&A's Postmodernism exhibition, references Joy Division's transition to New Order.

This digital version is presented in a limited edition of 1,000 copies and is available direct from s[edition]. It is presented as a full HD 1080p video lasting 3 minutes and a high-resolution (1919x1080px) still image.

After Closer [Digital Edition] by Peter Saville

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31 Oct 2012
After Closer (Digital Edition) Competition 
A reminder that our @seditionart / Peter Saville After Closer [Digital Edition] competition closes Sunday 4 November at 22:00 GMT.

In order to do is answer the following question:

"The designs for which skyscraper in New York City encouraged Peter Saville to adopt a neo-Classical style for the original Closer album sleeve?"

Normal Cerysmatic Competition rules apply - one entry by email per person. The lucky winner will be pulled out of the Cerysmatic SF Giants baseball hat. The winner will be notified by email and will receive a voucher code with which to download the prize.

After Closer [Digital Edition] is available direct from s[edition] art on dynamic pricing.

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22 Oct 2012
After Closer Competition 
Cerysmatic Factory is proud to present in association with @seditionart a competition to win a copy of Peter Saville's After Closer [Digital Edition] based on the original artwork for Joy Division which launched on 17 October 2012.

Originally a silk screen limited edition print made for the V&A's Postmodernism exhibition, After Closer [Digital Edition] is available as a full HD 1080p video lasting 3 minutes and a high-resolution (1919x1080px) still image.

In order to win a digital copy, all you have to do is answer the following question:

"The designs for which skyscraper in New York City encouraged Peter Saville to adopt a neo-Classical style for the original Closer album sleeve?"

Normal Cerysmatic Competition rules apply - one entry by email per person. The closing date is Sunday 4 November at 22:00 GMT after which time the lucky winner will be pulled out of the hat. The winner will be notified by email and will receive a voucher code with which to download the prize.

After Closer [Digital Edition] is available direct from s[edition] art on dynamic pricing.

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17 Oct 2012
After Closer [Digital Edition] by Peter Saville 
s[edition], the digital platform for collecting contemporary art, launches today the After Closer [Digital Edition] by Peter Saville. This piece, which was and originally was conceived as a limited edition screen print in 2011 for the V&A's Postmodernism exhibition, references Joy Division's transition to New Order following Ian Curtis's suicide. More explicitly, it directly recalls the album 'Closer'.

After Closer [Digital Edition] by Peter Saville

s[edition] specialises in bringing digital limited edition artworks by the world’s leading artists to mobile phones, iPads, computers and television screens.

This digital limited edition of 1,000 is presented with an early bird offer. For a limited time, the price will be just £10 and will rise automatically as the edition sells out.

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