Factory Benelux Vinyl & CDs

Review: On its initial release in 1995, Sex and Death marked the end of an era for Vini Reilly's Duratti Column ensemble, and the start of a new one. It was recorded in the years following the collapse of Factory Records, boasts a string of guest musicians including New Order's Peter Hook, and was their final collaboration with producer Stephen Street. As this expanded reissue proves, the album, remains a strong one, offering a mix of opaque, dream-like soundscapes, jazz-flecked musical meditation, effervescent post-punk pop and jangling downtempo compositions. This edition includes a second disc packed full of alternate takes and previously unheard tracks discovered in Tony Wilson's archive, the majority of which is every bit as interesting and entertaining as the full album.

Review: "People have described their music as ambient, although that's a description they don't care much for. It's certainly atmospheric and there's something about their sunny-sounding guitar that seemed appropriate to a book that, although published in 1927, didn't become popular in America until the 1960s."
So says writer and director Gerard McInulty about The Durutti Column, the group he drafted for the soundtrack to his 12 Stars group production of Treatise On The Steppenwolf, first staged in Glasgow in 2003. This is what that sounds like - call it what you like, essentially it's just beautiful music to captivate and enthral, without insisting on itself - and you also get an additional trio of extended movements that were used to score the Human Avatars art installation at MOSI, Manchester, in 2005. Ace all round.

Review: Factory Records has retained a cult following well into the 21st Century. The imprint lent at least part of its name to a L250million arts centre in its Manchester hometown, opened in 2023, and those famous yellow and black stripes from the Hacienda appear everywhere from property developers to cookie cutter bars in the city. Section 25 may not be the first band that springs to mind when thinking about that legacy, but in many ways represent just how deep the talent ran through the roster. Outliving Factory itself, the Preston, Lancashire group reformed after a 13-year-hiatus in 2001, partly driven by just how much interest there was in their back catalogue. In 2007, they releases Part-Primitiv, a spellbinding collection of weird electronica, spooky synthdom, Roland pop, and forward-punching post-punk. A vital reminder of the outfit's quality, the impact remains on this reissue.

Review: Glasgow post-punk underdog heroes, The Wake, arguably never achieved nor received the success they were due with their excellent gloomy, shivering early work. Often unfairly compared to Joy Division, which only got worse upon their touring with New Order who were their labelmates at the time; it only feels like now, four decades removed from the release of their seminal debut, 'Harmony', that naysayers have learned to appreciate the work for what a cornerstone of the genre it truly was. The, 'Harmony & Singles', compilation has been reissued on Factory Benelux, then bounced to LTM then right back to Factory again, and here, we arrive at yet another reissue, commemorating a somehow criminally underrated staple of post-punk history, one decade shy of a half-century ago. Post-punk is pushing on...