Coil

Wonderful band.

RIP peter .A new star in the sky !

I once did reviews and interviews for a local music rag and if there's one thing I learned from that experience is that people are people no matter what they do. So it's hard for me to get all whimsical and enraptured in any artist no matter how much I may like his or her music.

But there was something about Coil. Was it Jhonn's remarkably sweet yet haunting voice? Was it Peter's constant explorations of sound? Was it how every piece of work was peppered with some hint of the occult and obscure and profane, like some sort of musical Robert Anton Wilson?

Could have it been their constant surprises? I know that drew me back more than once. My first discovery was "Love's Secret Domain" and its lush techno-heavy psychedelic form of industrial stood apart from the rest. I was surprised and delighted by the decadent "Horse Rotorvator" and was completely floored the first time I heard the original themes to "Hellraiser."

But there was no gimmick to Coil. They made genuine beauty that just kept growing more lovely by the moment. Even in their harshest moments (Zos Kia) they never seemed so destructive as their peers, even their forefathers (TG!). "Worship The Glitch" was a audiophile's wet dream and it was also a masterpiece of digital manipulation. I saw "A Thousand Lights In A Darkened Room" as a more organic extension of this idea, with the song "London's Lost Rivers" being a particularly standout track, even against an otherwise remarkable piece of work.

Thier ambient/noise/drone (blurred all fuzzily together of course) works were remarkable. I still consider "Time Machines" and "ANS" to be among my most favourite of the genre(s). Couple it with vocals like on albums such as "Astral Disasters," and you have something so unique, yet so expected from much superb experimentalists.

"The New Backwards" was long in coming, and it was well worth the wait.

Every now and then I seriously think I miss Jhonn Balance. It seemed as if he bared his soul in his music and it's hard not to feel like you knew him. And that was A Good Thing.

I would easily put the entire discography of Coil up for my highest recommendations to anyone, as it is all borne out of pure magick.

Death of Jhon Balance due to freaky accident is still resonating within the community of Coil fans and those who love ambient/experimental music in general. I personally disagreed with Jhon beliefs, but nonetheless one cannot deny that most of material produced by Coil will still be remembered in years to come, unlike music that currently occupy charts. Too bad that we will never hear a single new note from them, but re-releases of old material and abundance of works written in Jhon lifetime should heal the pain.

I don't know what else to say about Coil other than it's one of the most prolific and talented bands in electronic music, ever, period. That's it. You may like it or not, but these guys have influenced on and collaborated with a nice bunch of famous artists, such as Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, David Tibet of Current 93, Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound, Boyd Rice of NON, and many others. Their influence on the experimental music stage of the last twenty years (a clear heritage of the legendary Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV) is obvious, and many other artists and bands digging in this area state them and their work as innovative and inspirational.

Now when John Balance is dead and Coil cannot continue their wonderful experiments all we can do is to listen to their godly music and to introduce it to others who haven't got acquainted with it yet, provided Coil's style changed many times as they have explored different directions in electronic music, and almost anyone can find something appealing to him.

If you like classic industrial, then you should check out their 80's works such as 'Scatology' (1984) and the brilliant 'Horse Rotorvator' (1987). Also look for the 'Unnatural History' antology releases which contain many of their early works.

If you're into techno or acid house, be sure to lay your hands over 1991's classic 'Love's Secret Domain', it's follow-up 'Stolen and Contaminated Songs' (1992) and one of their most dancey release ever, 'Windowpane & The Snow' (1995).

Starting from that period (around 1995), their music became more and more experimental up to the point where you can't really define the style of a given release.

Some of them were drawn towards experimental industrial and dark ambient. The highlights here are 'A Thousand Lights in a Darkened Room' (released under the Black Light District alias in 1996) and 'Time Machines' (released under the Time Machines alias in 1998).

Then came the solar cycle EPs -- Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, Summer and Winter Solstices (from spring'98 to winter'98-99), where almost all tracks were done in different styles from droning dark ambient (Moon's Milk, or Under an Unquiet Skull) to neo-folk (the ever-popular Amethyst Deceivers). Later all that EPs were released as 'Moon's Milk (In Four Phases)' (2002), which is a finest addition to any Coil collection, and a very good buy.

If you want soft and melancholic ambient to put your children to sleep with (just kidding!), try 'Astral Disaster' (2000).

One of the most brilliant albums in Coil career was 'Musick to Play in the Dark', volumes one (1999) and two (2000). This one is a masterpiece, an absolutely must-have release for all experimental music lovers in the world. It incorporates Coil's most innovative and beautiful soundscape techniques to date and is extremely complex and atmospheric, although not very 'industrial' and therefore may not appeal to those who are used to Coil's oldschool experiments. Even so, the album's sound is heavily drawn towards more abstract and ambient-alike electronics (and maybe IDM), while it still retains Coil's approach to the sound.

From there on, most of their releases were the recordings of their live appearances from all over the world, sometimes accompanied with tour CDs and CDRs such as 'Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil' (2000) and 'The Remote Viewer' (2002).

The very last Coil studio album (and their last album ever) released more than a year after John Balance's death, is 'The Ape of Naples' (2005), which is another fine piece of music containing some soft, sometimes melancholic and generally friendly to a casual listener songs.

The last release I wanted to point your attention at is 2002's anthology release named 'The Golden Hair With a Voice of Silver', which is recommended to you if you want a more or less complete overview of Coil's entire career in mere 133.5 minutes. It's a good album to start, and a very representative one: if you don't like it, chances are that you are still unable to derive that unearthly pleasure from Coil's magick.

Happy listening.

Coil is one of those few bands, that has their own unique music style - you can tell that they play ambient, industrial, postindustrial, abstract electronic, noir ballads, dark wave or something else, but none of these definition even in half describes their music.
Their music is magical, mystical, mysterious and incredible climatic.
They started out with "Scatology", which is generally classical industrial record: tracks constructed mainly on samples, lots of noises ("Solar Lodge", "At The Heart Of It All") and crazy sounds at once raised them to the top of "post-industrialists".
Second full-length, "Horse Rotorvator" only confirmed their status on the underground avantgarde music scene. It contains more melodic and climatic sounds then debut - they started even make ballads ("Ostia"). It's one of the shiniest stars from the 80's and for lots of people their best work.
They greeted 90's with techno-sounds from "Love's Secret Domain" (obvious reference to LSD). Fascinated with new-formed british rave scene, they created one of the first pure "techno-oriented" album ever. Only few tracks, (as "Titan Arch") are reminiscences of the past - noises and crazy sounds speaks for themselfs.
After "LSD" thay stopped off for a while. For about 8 years they release only one worth-mentioning thing: "Worship The Glitch". Steady, static and very irritating sounds - isn't it that for what we love them?
In 1999 "Musick To Play In The Dark 1" showed up.
Back to their heights - as the title says, it's musiCK only to play in the night. Ambient, drones, abstract electronics.
Probably my best album.
After that, they released to present-day many good releases. They've started even touring in 2000, and in 2002 released 4 live-albums. Each one with different tracklist.

I can only say more that Coil is in my personal top three of best artists, together with Einstürzende Neubauten and Nine Inch Nails.