Classic post-punk outfit A Certain Ratio has dusted off and reworked a cover of Talking Heads’ “Houses in Motion” that it recorded with famed Factory Records house producer Martin Hannett in 1980 with the intention that Grace Jones would sing the lead vocal. Check out the cover and its video here.

In a move that once might have seemed unthinkable, New Order — a flagship act of the iconic Factory Records imprint — has signed to the equally legendary Mute label, long home to contemporaries Depeche Mode and Erasure, as the group continues to work on its new album.

Annik Honoré — girlfriend of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis at the time of his death, the alleged inspiration for “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and the co-founder of the Les Disques du Crépuscule and Factory Benelux labels — died this week at the age of 56, according to press reports and associates.

Peter Hook’s site fac51thehacienda.com has been slowly uploading early ’80s concert footage shot at New Order’s club The Haçienda over the past couple years, and this week added a real gem: four clips of Bauhaus performing at the Manchester club on Aug. 14, 1982, less than a year before the band broke up.

Rhino Records will follow up its 2010 Record Store Day limited-edition Factory Records sampler with a second 10-inch label sampler for this year’s event: a 4-track EP that will feature one song each from Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays and The Durutti Column, according to Wax Poetic.

The recently revived Factory Benelux next month will reissue the Martin Hannett-produced ‘Swimming’ — the lone album released by Brussels-based post-punk act The Names during its original run — on CD and vinyl, featuring a remastered version of the original 1982 record plus non-album singles and a Peel session.

Pylon Records next week will release an expanded reissue of the debut mini-LP ‘Eureka’ on vinyl and, for the first time ever, CD from late-’80s Los Angeles post-punk trio Abecedarians, the only American band to have released a single — 1985’s “Smiling Monarchs” — on Manchester’s legendary Factory Records.

Thirty years ago tonight, The Haçienda — the famed Manchester nightclub opened by Factory Records, New Order and Tony Wilson — opened its doors to the public. Check out clips of New Order playing there, plus full sets from The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The Chameleons.

The limited-edition Joy Division box set comprised of 10 newly remastered 7-inch singles that was released late last year is being reissued next month — this time on compact disc, collecting ‘CD replicas of 10 singles presented in a beautiful clamshell box.’

New Order has commissioned Factory Records graphic artist Peter Saville to design a pair of posters — based on his classic Substance album cover — for the reunited group’s European charity concerts next week in support of longtime band associate Michael Shamberg, who is fighting a ‘debilitating illness.’

A treasure trove of early ’80s concert footage shot at New Order’s legendary club FAC51 The Hacienda soon will make its way online thanks to a deal by Ikon — Factory Records’ video spinoff — to provide its remaining archive of performances to Peter Hook’s site fac51thehacienda.com.

Martin Hannett help craft the sound of a generation, most notably through his sparse, reverb-heavy production of Joy Division — plus work with other acts from Manchester and beyond, including landmark tracks by OMD, U2 and New Order, as well as the debut single by The Stone Roses.

Exactly 28 years ago today, The Smiths took the stage for only their third concert — and only their second with the final Morrissey/Johnny Marr/Andy Rourke/Mike Joyce lineup — opening for Factory Records funk band 52nd Street at New Order’s infamous Manchester club The Hacienda.