Mark Reeder: From Factory Records to MFS, a Life in Music

Mark Reeder, born in Manchester in 1958, is a pivotal figure in post-punk and electronic music. In 1978 he moved to Berlin, becoming the German representative for Factory Records and promoter for Joy Division and New Order. He formed the band Die Unbekannten (later Shark Vegas), considered founders of German goth, and worked as a sound engineer for Malaria! and Einstürzende Neubauten. In 1990 he founded the electronic label MFS, launching artists like Ellen Allien, Cosmic Baby, and Paul Van Dyk, pioneering trance music. He later created Flesh in 1999. Reeder has remixed New Order, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, and others. His 2015 documentary B-Movie (Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989) received international acclaim. In 2018 he revived MFS, releasing work by Chinese band STOLEN. In 2020 he collaborated with Lithuanian singer Alanas Chosnau on Children of Nature, and in 2021 released the double album Subversiv-Dekadent. Reeder does not consider himself an artist, preferring others to bestow that title. He cites Andrzej Zulawski's film Na Srebrnym Globie as his favorite visual artwork and King Crimson's 'In the Court of the Crimson King' as a timeless song. He recalls serving on the jury of the See You Sound Film Festival in Turin in 2015, where he DJ'd at the Cavallerizza Reale, an artist squat later seized by the city.