Just the FACS please. A “Spinning Story”- The Sunday Read- Part 1/2)

2/22/2026

Just the FACS please. A “Spinning Story”- The Sunday Read- Part 1/2)

A couple of weeks ago Group member SYX invited me to his place for a coffee and a conversation. In case you don’t know SYX, he is a highly accomplished photographer and film-maker here in Wïndsor.

He did the superb documentary about collecting vinyl a couple of years called “Spinning Stories”.

You can view this doc at TV1.bell.ca. I highly recommend it.

When I arrived, he put on the latest LP by THE CURE 🇬🇧 – (“Songs Of A Lost World”). We had a coffee, he took some pics (more on that in a future post soon) and we talked nonstop for an hour – mostly about music.

SYX has a set up on a wall in his music room to display record jackets.

I looked them over, commenting that his taste in comparison to mine a) leans a bit more to heavier stuff; and b) is broader in scope. No Jane’s Addiction or “Boss” records in my collection thanks.

Just as I was putting on my jacket to leave, I noticed this record in the middle of the display.

SHELLAC- “To All Trains” (Touch And Go – 2024)

do not own this punk record but I certainly know of the band’s frontman STEVE ALBINI 🇺🇸. He was a prolific musician and music engineer from Chicago.

Over the years he worked on approximately 900 records! I did a quick scan of that listing and estimate I have almost 100 of them in my collection! Crazy.

The artists are as varied stylistically as THE PIXIES 🇺🇸/ SPARE SNARE 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿/ PJ HARVEY 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿/ NIRVANA 🇺🇸/ MEMBRANES 🇬🇧/ SLINT 🇺🇸/ WEDDING PRESENT 🇬🇧/ JOANNA NEWSOM 🇺🇸/ THE STOOGES 🇺🇸 and even CHEAP TRICK 🇺🇸 for crying out loud.

I digress. Sorry.

Tragically, ALBINI died suddenly of a heart attack on May 7, 2024 just shy of his 62nd birthday.

I said to SYX that in the recesses of my musically overstuffed brain I knew I had acquired an LP last year by an artist I loved that was the last record ALBINI worked on. I had to look it up to clear the fog. I said, “It was FACS 🇺🇸.”

SYX then said. “They are playing at METEOR Sunday night!” BOOM!!!

Somehow this gig had not come to my attention. Amazingly, if I hadn’t gone to see SYX and then randomly commented about that one record, I would likely have missed the gig! Life can be so utterly random.

We will feature FACS tomorrow. Today I have to post a track from what I think is the first ALBINI engineered record I acquired – “Surfer Rosa” by THE PIXIES 🇺🇸.