Scream City 5 was the last edition of the fanzine that I produced, back in 2010 after a 2-year gap from the fourth edition. I didn't know at the time that there wouldn't be any others. In fact, for quite a while after this edition I had an active concept for SC6 "the Video Edition" which would have delved into the world of Ikon, Doublevision, Play at Home, etc and probably come with a free VHS tape glued to the front cover (seriously, this was in the concept!). I did some tests for video titles and had some ideas for articles including the Ikonathon (a non-stop marathon of video-watching that would somehow morph into a critical masterpiece plus, on a more serious note, the extensive interview by Brian Nicholson with the late Malcolm Whitehead that eventually made it onto Cerysmatic (and which, in turn, inspired the whole Scream City digital archive).

Back to Scream City 5 and its international theme, starting with the cover and Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion projection which has absolutely nothing to do with Factory but just seemed right for this edition. I stopped short of doing the fold-out inside front cover which would've enabled a build-it-yourself Dymaxion globe but I resolve to make the template available for those who are geometrically inclined. This, and other supporting materials such as alternate covers, source materials, etc will be made available once the main issues are published.

There were 10 different articles spread across 60 pages: Andrew James took a Factory Trip Around the World, I interviewed Fiona Allen about The Area and The Haçienda, James Nice presented an extract from his Shadowplayers book and discussed the background, David Quantick sleevenoted The Distractions, Ian McCartney gave us his magnum opus on Mozart vs Joy Division, Matthew Robertson had an exclusive interview with Andrew Penhallow of Factory Australasia, I talked to Mark Reeder, Ike Yard and Michael H Shamberg and David Nolan paid tribute to Larry Cassidy.

To top things off there was a limited edition compilation CD featuring Section 25, Ike Yard, Thick Pigeon, The Wake, The Names, The Durutti Column, Biting Tongues, The Distractions, Shark Vegas and Fidelity Kastrow & Spartak.

Phew! Enough fanzines already!!

Labels: Biting_Tongues, FAC281_The_Area, FAC51_The_Hacienda, Fiona_Allen, Ike_Yard, Malcolm_Whitehead, Scream_City, Section_25, Shark_Vegas, The_Distractions, The_Durutti_Column, The_Names, The_Wake, Thick_Pigeon

Factory Benelux has lined up a new album of remixes by Mark Reeder, the ex-Shark Vegas Berlin-based musician and producer. Featuring his work for a varied selection of artists including Blank & Jones, Bad Lieutenant, Westbam, Koishii & Hush, Marnie, Sam Taylor Wood / Pet Shop Boys and Crépuscule act Marsheaux, the aptly-titled Collaborator is out on CD on 19 May 2014.

Several tracks reflect Reeder's early influence on the electronic/dance direction taken by New Order after 1981 given that they feature his friend Bernard Sumner. There's two Bad Lieutenant singles Sink Or Swim and Twist of Fate, plus tracks by Westbam, Blank & Jones and Corvin Dalek (this last one intriguingly being an early version of Crystal). Completing the connection, Sumner also produced You Hurt Me by Shark Vegas which appears here in its Radio Edit version. The FAC number for that single, 111, provides the FBN number for this album.

Completing the overall package there's great cover photography is by Katja Ruge.

More info and how to order via factorybenelux.com.

Tracklisting

1. Bad Lieutenant - Sink Or Swim (Rettungsring Radio Remix)
2. Marsheaux - So Far (So Close Remix)
3. Corvin Dalek w. Bernard Sumner - Crystal (Original Demo Mix)
4. Koishii & Hush w. John Taylor - C'est Tout Est Noir (Black Night Remix)
5. Blank & Jones w. Bernard Sumner - Miracle Cure (Genussmittel Remix)
6. Blank & Jones w. Anne Clark - The Hardest Heart (Hardest Soul Remix)
7. Marnie - Sugarland (Sweet & Sticky Remix)
8. Queen of Hearts - Neon (Electrically Excited Remix)
9. Sam Taylor Wood w. Pet Shop Boys - I'm In Love With A German Film Star (Stuck in the 80s Remix)
10. Westbam - w. Bernard Sumner She Wants (Old School Remix)
11. Die Unbekannten - Radio War (Re-tuned)
12. Bad Lieutenant - Twist Of Fate (Synth of Fate Remix)
13. Shark Vegas - You Hurt Me (Radio Edit)

Labels: Bad_Lieutenant, Bernard_Sumner, Blank_and_Jones, Factory_Benelux, Mark_Reeder, Marsheaux, New_Order, Pet_Shop_Boys, remix, Shark_Vegas, Westbam

The new edition of Electronic Beats magazine includes an alphabet (from Amiga to Zong) by ex-FAC remixer extraordinaire Mark Reeder.

You may download the electronic version at issuu.com but be aware that the printed edition comes with a free CD which includes the Shark Vegas track You Hurt Me (taken from the FAC 111 single) plus a Pet Shop Boys interview.

Labels: Electronic_Beats, Mark_Reeder, Pet_Shop_Boys, Shark_Vegas

It's still not too late to buy your copy of Scream City, the Factory Records fanzine which was published at the end of June. Yes, Scream City is back with its fifth (the biggest and best ever) issue which is 60 pages in colour and black & white and is available to buy now for 3.00 GBP + Worldwide postage and packing via eBay (Buy it Now with Paypal only).

Contents

- A Factory Trip Around The World - the art of international collecting by Andrew James
- An interview with FAC 51 The Hacienda's (and Smack The Pony's) Fiona Allen
- The Distractions by David Quantick
- An exclusive extract from James Nice's new book about Factory Records 'Shadowplayers' plus a Q&A with James Nice
- Closer, Karamazov and K550 by Ian McCartney
- Looking From A Hilltop... at Lytham St Annes (or "When Interviews Go Wrong") - a salutary lesson about the dark art of the interview and a touching tribute to Larry Cassidy by David Nolan
- An interview with Shark Vegas man and remixer extraordinaire Mark Reeder
- Matthew Robertson talks to Factory Australasia man Andrew Penhallow
- Factory Over America - Scream City talks to the US wing of Factory Records with new interviews with Michael H Shamberg and Ike Yard's Stuart Argabright and Michael Diekmann

Scream City is still an old school fanzine and is made from paper, ink and staples.

Labels: Andrew_Penhallow, Fiona_Allen, Ike_Yard, Joy_Division, Larry_Cassidy, Mark_Reeder, Matthew_Robertson, Scream_City, Shadowplayers, Shark_Vegas, The_Distractions

Scream City 5, the Factory Records fanzine, is out now and there are still copies available with the limited edition compilation CDR, the tracklisting of which is:

1. Section 25 Poppyfields (Live at Plan K) 5.12
2. Ike Yard Sweep 4.56
3. Thick Pigeon Merry Christmas 3.41
4. The Wake Something Outside (Live at Plan K) 5.35
5. The Names Zeroes 5.30
6. The Durutti Column Untitled Guitar Piece 1989 1.46
7. Biting Tongues Iyahbhoone (Live at Plan K) 6.09
8. The Distractions (I Thought You Were Dead) Josephine (Hollywood Mix) 2.02
9. Shark Vegas You Hurt Me (Radio Edit) 4.47
10. Fidelity Kastrow & Spartak Bad Love (Reeder's Playing the Game Radio Mix) 3.19

Scream City 5 (and a few copies of Scream City 4) are available to buy on eBay priced £3.00 plus Worldwide P+P.

Labels: Biting_Tongues, Ike_Yard, Scream_City, Section_25, Shark_Vegas, The_Distractions, The_Durutti_Column, The_Names, Thick_Pigeon

Scream City, the Factory Records fanzine from the people who brought you Cerysmatic Factory plus special guest contributors, is back (finally) with its fifth (and biggest ever) issue. Scream City is still an old school fanzine and is made from paper, ink and staples.

Scream City 5 (60 pages in colour and black & white) is priced 3.00 GBP + Worldwide postage and packing via eBay (Buy it Now with Paypal only).

- A Factory Trip Around The World - the art of international collecting by Andrew James
- An interview with FAC 51 The Hacienda's (and Smack The Pony's) Fiona Allen
- The Distractions by David Quantick
- An exclusive extract from James Nice's new book about Factory Records 'Shadowplayers' plus a Q&A with Mr Nice
- Closer, Karamazov and K550 by Ian McCartney
- Looking From A Hilltop... at Lytham St Annes (or "When Interviews Go Wrong") - a salutary lesson about the dark art of the interview and a touching tribute to Larry Cassidy by David Nolan
- An interview with Shark Vegas man and remixer extraordinaire Mark Reeder
- Matthew Robertson talks to Factory Australasia man Andrew Penhallow
- Factory Over America - Scream City talks to the US wing of Factory Records with new interviews with Michael H Shamberg and Ike Yard's Stuart Argabright and Michael Diekmann

Initial copies come with a free 10-track compilation CDR featuring live / rare / unreleased material by Section 25, Ike Yard, Thick Pigeon, The Names, The Wake, The Durutti Column, The Distractions, Biting Tongues, Shark Vegas and Fidelity Kastrow & Spartak (produced & remixed by Mark Reeder).

The tracks by Section 25, The Wake and Biting Tongues were recorded live at Plan K in December 2010.

The CDR is a strictly limited edition of 160 copies available on a first come first served basis.

Labels: Biting_Tongues, Ike_Yard, Larry_Cassidy, Mark_Reeder, Scream_City, Shadowplayers, Shark_Vegas, The_Distractions, The_Durutti_Column, The_Names, The_Wake, Thick_Pigeon

On 1 June, LTM releases a new volume in the ongoing compilation series Auteur Labels, featuring releases on Factory Records in 1984.

"Founded in late 1978, early Factory releases were guided by the five original directors: Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, Peter Saville, Martin Hannett and Rob Gretton. By 1984 Hannett had departed, and many Factory singles were produced by all four members of New Order under the generic name Be Music. These reflected the influence of New York dance and electro music, though the label's Haçienda nightclub was not yet a conspicuous success. Meanwhile the artier side of Factory remained evident in records by The Durutti Column and Kalima, and pop/rock in The Wake, Stockholm Monsters - and New Order themselves."

The 77 minute remastered CD features several rare edits and tracks, detailed liner notes by James Nice, and archive images.

Tracklisting

1. New Order Lonesome Tonight (7" Edit)
2. Stockholm Monsters Terror
3. The Wake Talk About The Past (7" Edit)
4. Section 25 Reflection
5. Marcel King Reach For Love (New York Remix)
6. 52nd Street Can't Afford (Unorganised Mix)
7. Quando Quango Atom Rock
8. Shark Vegas Pretenders Of Love
9. Abecedarians Smiling Monarchs
10. Red Turns To Deep Sleep
11. The Durutti Column Duet (Without Mercy)
12. Kalima The Smiling Hour
13. Simon Topping Chicas Del Mundo
14. Streetlife On Instinct
15. Lavolta Lakota Prayer

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Title: Auteur Labels: Factory Records 1984
Label: LTM
Cat No: LTMCD 2534
Released: 1 June 2009

Labels: 52nd_Street, Abecedarians, Auteur_Labels, Factory_Records, Kalima, Marcel_King, New_Order, Quando_Quango, Red_Turns_To, Section_25, Shark_Vegas, Stockholm_Monsters, Streetlife, The_Durutti_Column, The_Wake, Tony_Wilson

Mark Reeder (ex-Shark Vegas) tells Cerysmatic has written a new track with Bernard Sumner. Mark says "It's too early days yet to see what will eventually happen with it and it doesn't even have lyrics or a title yet".

Mark has also produced the latest Fidelity Kastrow track '21st Century Girl' which can be heard on myspace.com/fidelitykastrowmusic. This was chosen to be the anthem of this year's Summer of Love festival in the Czech Republic (where she is also performing on 16 August 2008.

Finally, and perhaps most tantalisingly, there's the remix that Mark has just finished for the new Pet Shop Boys / Sam Taylor-Wood single 'I'm In Love With A German Filmstar' (a cover of the old 80s hit by The Passions). The single will be released on CD and MP3 on the German Kompakt label in October to coincide with Sam Taylor-Wood's new exhibition at the White Cube gallery in London which opens on 22 October 2008.

Thanks to Mark. Keep it cool over there in Berlin.

Labels: Mark_Reeder, Pet_Shop_Boys, Shark_Vegas

Mark Reeder (Shark Vegas) has done 2 Retro-Remixes for the 'Miracle Cure' single by Blank & Jones featuring Bernard Sumner which was released last Friday. The Radient Radio Remix and the Wundermittel Remix are 2 of 7 remixes in total (including one by OneTwo, featuring Paul Humphreys of OMD) available on a German Maxi CD single.

'Miracle Cure' is taken from the album 'Logic of Pleasure'.

Those Miracle Cure remixes in full:

Radio Mix (3:56)
Radient Radio Remix by Mark Reeder(3:49)
OneTwo Remix (4:39)
Lulu Rouge Remix (5:32)
G. Morrison & B. Wong Remix (8:03)
Wundermittel Remix by Mark Reeder (6:50)
Extended Mix (06:55)

Labels: Mark_Reeder, Shark_Vegas

Shark Vegas, one of Factory Records' mysterious "one-hit wonders", has a MySpace page containing a detailed line-up and biography.

Labels: Factory_Records, Shark_Vegas

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the result of the Cerysmatic Factory Top Ten Competition. In traditional fashion the runner up is announced first and it is Mike Stein from the USA (who wins a special consolation prize):

My Top 10 (for what its worth...)

1. FAC 183 - New Order "True Faith": New Order's highest chart position at the time and still one of their best pop singles. Peter Saville's artwork for both the standard and remix 12"s remains his best. Enough said.

2. FAC 34/FACT 35 - A Certain Ratio and ESG recording with Hannett in New Jersey: Factory goes to New York for the first time and records two seminal dance punk records across the river at EARS in New Jersey with Martin Hannett [->] at the knobs. One of the resulting ESG recordings would go on to become a Larry Levan favorite ("Moody") and another one of the most sampled records in hip-hop history ("UFO"). The equally groundbreaking ACR LP ("To Each") would forever be shrouded in myth due to the resetting of Hannett's mixing board settings by a studio engineer.

3. FAC 126 - "Alan Goes to Moscow": In true Factory fashion, an absolutely beautiful poster commemorating absolutely nothing. Alan's trip was a failure and it took another five years for Factory Classical to become established. Nevertheless, the poster works quite well in my living room!

4. FACT 275 - New Order "Technique" artwork: Saville goes Warhol to bring us some of his brightest and most memorable sleeves. The LP artwork, along with the "Fine Time," "Round & round," and "Run 2" singles were Saville's hottest streak for New Order.

5. FAC 242 - Happy Mondays "Madchester" EP: Hallelujah indeed! The Madchester frenzy begins leading to two years of NME front covers on the Mondays and Roses, along with countless MTV specials and magazine articles exploiting the scene surrounding the Hacienda. The single not only proved Hannett's continued viability, but launched the still on-going careers of Paul Oakenfold and Andy Weatherall, who produced the remixes for FAC 242R.

6. FACT 14 - The Durutti Column "The Return of...": Factory's way of "killing us softly with his song." The LP was an ahead of its time paradox of punk anarchy and Vini's tranquil guitar all wrapped in sandpaper. John Lydon threatened to destroy your record collection with a sandpaper sleeve but instead opted for a metal canister. In a Wilsonesque act of situationist fandom, Factory actually executed the concept.

7. FACT 75 - New Order "Power Corruption and Lies" artwork: Saville moves a step forward from his Graphica Industria phase to juxtapose Fantin-Latour's "Roses," a nod to 60s flower power, with Saville's self-invented color coded numbering schema for the computer age. The result was the perfect sleeve for New Order's movement (Movement - get it?) to sequencer driven pop. Saville's color coding concept was also brilliantly carried on New Order's associated "Blue Monday" (FAC 73) and "Confusion" (FAC 93) singles as well as Section 25's "From the Hip" LP (FACT 90).

8. FACT 210 - Cath Carroll "England Made Me": An ashamedly underrated LP. An eclectic mix of Cath's soulful voice with dance pop, Brazilian rhythms, and a touch of Steve Albini. Like many Factory productions, it was expensive to make and didn't sell well!

9. FACT 250 / FAC 213 - Joy Division "Substance" and "Atmosphere" artwork: It is extremely difficult to limit the number of Joy Division / New Order sleeves from this list, but Saville's work for the "Substance" retrospective and its accompanying single "Atmosphere" was again timeless. The posters for the album and single incorporating the Jan Van Munster sculptures are particularly stunning. As always, Saville's artwork would not be as special were it not backed with some of the best pop gems of the last century.

10. FAC 331 - Ben Kelly board room table: Quite simply an ultra modern and expensive table that the Mondays broke! One of Factory's greatest examples of hedonism and corporate waste - well before the dot com boom. It also made for a great scene in "24 Hour Party People" with Paddy Considine (playing Rob Gretton) trying to strangle Steve Coogan (playing Tony Wilson).

Thanks very much to Mike. But now, the winner – Andrew James from Blighty:

My 10 — Not a top 10, 'cos no way is 'Can't Afford To' better than 'Flight', but 10 good reasons to like the label.

New Order Play At Home. Long before Big Brother and Wife Swap, Channel 4 was known for innovative programming, and once a week in late 1983 (?) let various groups loose with cameras and total editorial control. Siouxsie and the Banshees created a surreal homage to Alice In Wonderland, Level 42 waxed lyrical about the Isle of Wight, and New Order chatted to their mates about Factory in this one hour documentary. Includes priceless footage of a naked AHW explaining "praxis" to a fully clothed Gillian Gilbert — in the bath — and Bruce Mitchell in the Hacienda bar, regaling sundry Fac artists with tales of Wilson’s parsimony.

Fact 204 The Guitar and Other Machines Durutti Column Martin Hannett and Vini produced some sublime moments to be sure, but for me, DC’s greatest producer was Stephen Street, and this was the best of their collaborations. Their "White Rabbit" from around this period is equally good, but you have to get the original 12" version on The City Of Our Lady single, and not the watered-down mix tacked on to the Domo Arigato reissue.

Fac 92 Reach For Love Marcel King Why wasn’t Marcel King a huge star?

Fact 210 England Made Me Cath Carrol They spent zillions making it, then only had 47p left to promote it. An overlooked masterpiece.

Fac 104 Tube special Madonna, Martin Fry, plus the Factory All-Stars. And Leslie Ash, post-Quadrophenia, pre-collagen injections, if I remember correctly.

Fac 201 Dry All the style bars of the 90s owe Ben Kelly.

Fac 52 Waterline ACR ACR: always the bridesmaids, never the bride. This was 20 years ahead of its time. And quite a few months before Blue Monday.

Fac 118 Can’t Afford To 52nd Street. Though often accused of being raincoat-wearing miserablists, Factory were always diverse, and never more so than with 52nd Street, who were closer to Five Star than Fad Gadget. Diane Charlemagne later enjoyed success with The Key and sang backing vocals for Goldie. If your friends tell you the label was po-faced, show 'em the video for this.

Fact 219 Flyaway Kalima, like 52nd Street, are rarely mentioned on the Faclist. Am I allowed to say "overlooked" again? For me, though, groups like Kalima and the Jazz Defektors (and John Dowie and Steve Martland) are what make Factory more interesting than, say, Sarah and InTape. This compilation is a good place to start.

Factus 17 Young, Popular and Sexy Various Artists Michael Shamberg's finest moment (and pretty much the Factus swansong). Includes Shark Vegas' fantastic "Pretenders of Love". And "No New Order".

Nice one Andrew. Your Cerysmatic Factory mousemat is on its way.

Labels: 52nd_Street, A_Certain_Ratio, Ben_Kelly, ESG, Factory_Classical, Happy_Mondays, Jazz_Defektors, John_Dowie, Joy_Division, Kalima, labels, Marcel_King, New_Order, Shark_Vegas, The_Durutti_Column, Tony_Wilson

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