Factrix

Post-punk music group Factrix shaped in 1978 and included Joseph T. Jacobs (bass, vocals), Connection Bergland (guitars, vocals), and Cole Palme (consumer electronics, vocals), the last mentioned two of whom acquired performed with Patrick Miller’s Minimal Guy. Like their Western european commercial brethren (Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Einstürzende Neubauten), Factrix augmented an average rock and roll band’s instrumentation with discovered percussion and tape manipulation. Their unrelentingly bleak, experimental audio could have been in the home on like-minded brands like Mute and 4AD but, getting from SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, their resources had been relatively limited and had much less reach. Throughout their five years jointly, they were able to record an individual (“Empire of Interest” b/w “Splice of Lifestyle”) and a set of albums, 1981’s Scheintot and 1982’s California Babylon (the last mentioned documented with Monte Cazazza). Obscure more than enough to lack insurance coverage in the ’70s/’80s underground bible Trouser Press, the band’s highest profile admirer is most likely Julian Cope. The majority of their studio room recordings, along with some previously unavailable live recordings, had been compiled for Compact disc on Artifact, a 2003 discharge from Germany’s Surprise label.