Coil and related thread

Favorite new record? Favorite old record? Got a band? Post it here.
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nrs24985
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Coil and related thread

Post by nrs24985 » Sun May 06, 2018 2:58 pm

I have done a search and cannot find a thread solely dedicated to Coil, though I am surprised Shadowplay has not started one, and I feel it is high time one is created for the purpose of discussing their extensive back catalogue. I have been a fan for a long time, however my listening rarely strayed out of Scatology and Horse Rotorvator, but recently I have made an effort to hear as much as their back catalogue as possible. I have become so enamoured with them that I often find at the end of the day that a whole day's listening has been dedicated to Coil and Coil alone. My favourite track currently would have to be "Fire of the Mind" of Ape of Naples, but my favourite album at the moment is Time Machines.

I also am hugely indebted to Coil, through reading interviews with Balance, for inspiring in me an enthusiasm for the art of Austin Osman Spare, which has been nothing short of a revelation and cost me a considerable amount if time and money tracking down any book of his art that is within my price range.

I am hoping that this thread might help people wanting to get into them but not knowing where to start, it can also serve as a discussion point for Coil related bands like Throbbing Gristle, early PTV and Sleazy's post Coil work such as SoiSong and Threshold House Boys Choir.

I can't recommend enough the book by David Keenan, England's Hidden Reverse, which has already had some discussion here, and is a great history of not just Coil but Current 93 and NWW, two other excellent bands that deserve their own threads.

There is also a book of John Balance's art called Bright Lights and Cats With No Mouths which I highly recommend.

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by oid » Sun May 06, 2018 5:14 pm

I completely forgot about Time Machines, that used to be one of my favorite albums! Need to get that one again, thanks for the reminder.

Coil used to be pretty big for me but I have not listened to them for years, think it is about time I reacquainted myself with them.
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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by shadowplay » Mon May 07, 2018 2:17 am

nrs24985 wrote:
Sun May 06, 2018 2:58 pm
I have done a search and cannot find a thread solely dedicated to Coil, though I am surprised Shadowplay has not started one.
I think I tried not long after I joined but it unsurprisingly went nowhere. I once asked if anyone had bought both Nevermind and Loves Secret Domain in 1991 because for me that was thee big record that year but it went down like a cup of cold sick.

For me Coil are the sun my musical solar system revolves around and pretty much have been since the early 80's. I think they are a collective beyond genre, they make 'Coil music'. They aren't just my favourite but a favourite of my children. When I took our eldest to see Throbbing Gristle when she was around ten or so she told Sleazy that she had heard so much Coil they soundtracked her dreams, something which absolutely delighted him.

One thing that I'm really encouraged by is the broadening interest in their music and either because it just came too early for the world and fits better now than it did in period or in some ways because the demographic has expanded. For most of my life Coil as been a male thing, not even necessarily a gay male thing but a band that seemed to attract a fandom blanketed in obsessive collectormaleness but thankfully things have changed and it exciting to not only see lots of woman enthused by their music but also making music loosely influenced by their soundworld, like Iona Fortune.

My favourite song is probably Batwings A Limnal Hymn but my theme tune is forever Loves Secret Domain.

I'll come back and add more later but if we are talking friends and family recommendations check out Chris Carters new record Chemistry lessons Volume on.

D
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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by aRoseisaRoseis » Mon May 07, 2018 10:30 am

Ape of Naples has been somewhat of a revelation for me last year, I haven't experienced music exercise such a psychical force upon me as Teenage Lightning 2005 did. I had listened to Scatology fairly heavily many years prior to that, but only from then on the switch flicked. I'm taking my time with the back catalogue, but it's safe to say they became the most significant musical act in my life.

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by wingnutkj » Tue May 08, 2018 12:59 am

oid wrote:
Sun May 06, 2018 5:14 pm
I completely forgot about Time Machines, that used to be one of my favorite albums! Need to get that one again, thanks for the reminder.

Coil used to be pretty big for me but I have not listened to them for years, think it is about time I reacquainted myself with them.
Luckily, Time Machines has been reissued recently, so you might be able to get a copy without forking out serious amounts of cash.
Kenny

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by shadowplay » Tue May 08, 2018 2:58 am

aRoseisaRoseis wrote:
Mon May 07, 2018 10:30 am
Ape of Naples has been somewhat of a revelation for me last year, I haven't experienced music exercise such a psychical force upon me as Teenage Lightning 2005 did.
Anyone looking for an 'in' should probably start with Ape of Naples it literally drips with deathly beauty like a particularly seductive carnivorous flower. I think it's pretty much a folk album or at least something deeply ancient and modern at the same time, like the anthems and hymns of some lost technological civilisation. For me the likes of Amber Rain aren't just beautiful songs but deeply profound art that never leaves you. Key to this is Jhonn finding his voice, he always had incredible presence but in later life he seemed to reconnect with his choirboy self.

I was recent deep in conversation with a friend, Mrs S and the two elder Shadowplay daughters regarding Coil. Elder daughter model 'A' was trying to get her new gentleman caller up to speed regarding music in general but with Coil as something she was keen to hammer into is head. We were all suggesting songs and ways into them but the truth is that their scope is so wide you probably have to stumble into the maze willingly. Her idea of 'destroying all the shite music he owns and taping heaphones to his head for as long as it took' was a little heavy handed but her mother maintained that this was an 'apple doesn't fall far from the tree' situation. That isn't true, I merely told her that her records 'go over there (and later on go in another room)' and that our record collections will never be unified'

Btw it's worth looking at This Immortal Coil the sanctioned cover record. Most of it is forgettable if occasionally interesting but the cover of Dark Age of Love is magic. That song was originally a half finished demo they gave a way during the song of the week project and IMO Marc Almonds original vocal isn't up to the sort of standard he turned in on the fucking ASTONISHING Falconer cover he did for XTG, when even as a long term fan (and a Desertshore superfan) I feel he never sounded better.

I listen to Coil most days, today I just played theSummer Solstice seven inch which is absolutely two sides of magnificence and it's probably just my age but I came over all emotional.

D
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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by Flurko » Tue May 08, 2018 3:42 am

I remember reading about Coil in one of David's post many years back, and listening to Horse Rotorvator back to back a few times and not getting it right away.
Needless to say, I am now deeply fascinated by their music -The Ape of Naples also being one of the most fascinating pieces of music I've listening to-.
I remember talking about them to a friend who's into a lot of cool music, and not knowing that Coil was also the basis of many of our shared musical obsessions.
Thank you Shadowplay for writing great posts about Coil over the years, I don't know where I would be if I hadn't discovered them on OSG !

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by NickD » Tue May 08, 2018 5:00 am

shadowplay wrote:
Mon May 07, 2018 2:17 am


I think I tried not long after I joined but it unsurprisingly went nowhere. I once asked if anyone had bought both Nevermind and Loves Secret Domain in 1991 because for me that was thee big record that year but it went down like a cup of cold sick.
Still haven't found a particularly sensibly priced copy.

(Of LSD that is)

I wish there could be a proper reissue done of their albums, they are a pain to get hold of.

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by nrs24985 » Tue May 08, 2018 12:46 pm

[/quote]


I'll come back and add more later but if we are talking friends and family recommendations check out Chris Carters new record Chemistry lessons Volume on.

D
[/quote]

Chris Carter's new album is great, I have been doing a fair bit of listening to Chris and Cosey, but haven't got beyond the 80's and early 90s albums.

As NickD said finding reasonably priced presses of their back catalogue is a task, so most of my listening has been through what I can find online.

Shadowplay, I think you hit the nail on the head when you stated that Coil were well and truly ahead of their time, I wasn't born early enough to get into them during their lifetime, but started to get into them, or at least selected early records like Scatology records that more closely aligned with my musical tastes at the time, when I first started getting into Throbbing Gristle about 15 years ago. They always stayed on the periphery until relatively recently where upon working my way through as much of their output as possible, they have, as for aroseisaroseis, become my most significant musical discovery . I'm constantly amazed at the depth and variety of their output and the music has an almost primal ability to move you emotionally and physically.

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by oid » Tue May 08, 2018 1:38 pm

wingnutkj wrote:
Tue May 08, 2018 12:59 am
Luckily, Time Machines has been reissued recently, so you might be able to get a copy without forking out serious amounts of cash.
Dug through the cd boxes and it turns out I still have 'Coil Presents Time Machines' and 'Horse Rotovator', got those ripped to listen tonight at work. Think I also still have the four Seasons EPs boxed up, I live in a 400 square foot house these days so the collection stays boxed up in the garage, pull out a big stack to rip every so often. Will be buying 'Time Machines' and maybe a few others after I dig some more to see if I have any others I have forgotten about.

This is exciting, I was about 12 when I first heard coil, my sister and her boyfriend picked me up from a friends and he had a Coil mixtape playing, Coil has never sounded as good as it did that first time.
Logic gates based on billiard-ball computer designs have also been made to operate using live soldier crabs of the species Mictyris guinotae in place of the billiard balls.

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by shadowplay » Sat Aug 22, 2020 3:51 am

Btw big Coil reissue news... Musick to Play in the Dark volume one is being reissued on vinyl.

In the uk Norman have them

In the US Dais have lots of fancy versions... They also have merch which looks pretty OK but I don’t wear band tee shirts ever ever ever because I’ve standards. I’ve a couple of old Coil tees which my kids wear and I think I’ll leave it at that, tempting as the tote bag is.

I’ve gone Norman Ltd as I already own a signed copy from 99. Actually I don’t because the original vinyl has slightly edited songs and this reissued is identical to the CD which I also own.

firstly roll on volume 2 but secondly imo these albums are arguably Coil at the height of their powers in possession of what Yeats called ‘a terrible beauty’. While other lesser mortals were pissing about playing snap, Coil were reading Tarot.

Hearken ye non believers

Musick to Play in the Dark volume one

Musick to Play in the Dark volume two Which contains probably my favourite song of all time Batwings (a liminal hymn)

D
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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by wingnutkj » Sat Aug 22, 2020 5:55 am

I've got a copy on pre-order (plain black vinyl for me on this one). I think "Red Birds Will Fly Out of the East and Destroy Paris in a Night" is my favourite Coil track. Looking forward to getting my hands on this (and vol. 2 if it happens). I've got them on CD, but they're worn out (from the days of actually carrying CDs around so I could play them on the train and at work).
Kenny

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by NickD » Tue Oct 06, 2020 2:34 pm

This is good news. Haven’t logged on in a while so hadn’t seen this, but it looks like there are still copies available.

I just wish they would re-release LSD.

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by NickD » Wed Dec 02, 2020 12:50 am

It arrived yesterday and on its second play already. Loving it.

Glad I preordered too, it’s widely sold out already.

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Re: Coil and related thread

Post by shadowplay » Tue Dec 22, 2020 8:05 am

NickD wrote:
Tue Oct 06, 2020 2:34 pm

I just wish they would re-release LSD.
LSD kinda dear but reissued

Norman had them when I bought but they are all gone.

D
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