Factory Floor - Application Approved (2009)

Factory Floor formed in 2005, originally comprising Gabriel Gurnsey and Mark Harris, who were then joined by Dominic Butler, and they played a sort of 'post-industrial' music, using live drums, synthesizers and noise. In 2010 Harris left, going on to form Shift Work, and  Gurnsey and Butler were then joined by Nik Colk (aka Nik Colk Void), formerly of KaitO. This new line up had Gurnsey playing drums and drum machines, Butler using modular synths and electronics, and Colk adding manipulated vocals, guitar and samples. After the release of a 12" single and a 7" single in 2008, and the Japanese-only mini-album 'Talking On Cliffs' in 2009, none of which made any impact on the music scene, the band signed to the Blast First Petite label, releasing several twelve-inch singles, including 'Wooden Box' (featuring a Stephen Morris remix) and an untitled ten-inch mini-LP in 2010. This latter release was the one which introduced me to the band, and after some searching I managed to get my hands on a copy of the 10" untitled mini-album, which was described by the NME as "a terrifying racket that simultaneously frazzles the nerves and slackens the bowels" and "an incessant drone of keyboards wired through twisted-metal synthesizers and thundering drums summoned from the heavens". It still got a 9/10 rating though, and I have to agree with everything they said. The band approached Stephen Morris by sending him a CD and asking if he would do a remix, and after remixing 'Wooden Box', Morris continued to work with the band as producer. Two twelve-inch releases followed featuring remixes by Morris and Chris Carter, and the band released their debut album in 2013. Morris had polished the band into a hip dance act, and despite getting the album and playing it repeatedly, I just felt let down that they'd abandoned the sound that drew me to them in the first place. Subsequent albums have dropped the industrial part of the sound completely, and they are now a well-respected act in dance circles, but my favourite period is definitely while they were an independent entity between 2008 and 2010, in charge of their own destiny, and producing some of the most challenging music that I'd heard. Factory Floor are not an easy listen, but it was just what I needed back then, and I was impressed enough to try to search out other material from the band. I found one lone track on Soundcloud which I quickly grabbed, and then came across those two early singles, plus that self-released album from 2009. They did manage to regain my interest briefly in 2012, when they released a 50 minute live recording from 'The Boiler Room', but that was the last thing of their that I really liked, so this post is a celebration of that early work, including the whole of their 'Planning Application' 12" EP, the 'Bipolar' single, that Soundcloud track, plus the 2009 'Taking On Cliffs' mini-album. If Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle are your bag, then you'll love Factory Floor. 

Track listing

01 Taxidermist (from the 'Planning Application' EP 2008)
02 Post Is Here (from the 'Planning Application' EP 2008)
03 Francis, Francis (from the 'Planning Application' EP 2008)
04 Felt Suit (from the 'Planning Application' EP 2008)
05 I Was Always Wrong (from the 'Planning Application' EP 2008)
06 Untitled (hidden track from the 'Planning Application' EP 2008) 
07 Biploar (single 2008)
08 You Were Always Wrong (b-side of 'Bipolar')
09 Aeromodelling Club (posted on Soundcloud)
10 I Just Left These As Attempts (from the 'Taking On Cliffs' mini-LP 2009)
11 Lalalala La La (from the 'Taking On Cliffs' mini-LP 2009)
12 Far Away And Gentle Now (from the 'Taking On Cliffs' mini-LP 2009)
13 Taxidermist (Edit) (from the 'Taking On Cliffs' mini-LP 2009)
14 50,000 Particles Of Grey Ash (from the 'Taking On Cliffs' mini-LP 2009)
15 View Too Much (from the 'Taking On Cliffs' mini-LP 2009)
16 TMAOTW (from the 'Taking On Cliffs' mini-LP 2009)