Simon Reynolds has a great new book out entitled Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to its Own Past, in which he argues that pop culture has been killed off by its obsession with its own past and that we are now trapped in a mire of tributes, reissues and revivals. It’s his opinion, and being a music journalist, he has a fair chance of being wrong but hey! – he talks a lot of sense, and who could really argue against that? It’s a self-evident truth surely, without even going to the effort of reading his argument?
Factory Floor are heavily addicted to their culture’s past, and perhaps ironically, to those parts of the past that were the most forward thinking and futuristic of their time – Georgio Moroder, Throbbing Gristle, Chicago House. They recently even hired TG’s Chris Carter and New Order’s Stephen Morris to remix their tracks… missing the point or what?
Well… the magic of pop culture is that it isn’t really subject to rules and theories and Factory Floor turn out to be the most ace and exciting group around at the moment. At ATP’s New Year’s Eve party in London, they blew both Sonic Youth and The Pop Group, two of the most revolutionary groups of all time, off stage with their retro industrial disco. It shouldn’t work, but it really fucking does!
Factory Floor have a new 12” out – it’s called ‘~(REALLOVE)’ and it’s really great… on the other side is the Optimo (Espacio) remix of the same tune which is equally great, if slightly slower. It also sounds a lot like their previous records, which were also really great.Most groups and artists spend a lifetime trying to perfect the right sound, with or without success, while a handful – Ramones, Motörhead, Bridget St John, Suicide, Neu!, Pere Ubu, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind – get it right first time and any future deviation only distracts from their genius. Factory Floor can now join those hallowed ranks. Let’s hope they realise how great they are and don’t try to ‘progress’ or anything!
-Alan Holmes-
