Back catalogue: Experimental/Electronic

Review: Ivan Pavlov aka CoH's new experimental electronic opus Radiant Faults makes a point of its creation deriving from the use of a rare new synthesizer, the Silhouette Eins. Developed by the artist Pit Przygodda, the Eins is the centrepiece of this album for good reason: it is a unique bit of gear, in that it uses real-time video signal as its carrier for sound synthesis. This direct interfacing of visual and auditory realms inspired a haunting praxis in Pavlov, who began the album as a means to commune with ELpH, one of the "celestial beings" first communicated with and summoned by the supergroup Coil. Pavlov continues what Coil devilishly started here, fleshing ELpH out evermore into whispery echoes and sinewy traces.

Review: New CD edition of Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2, the 2000 studio album from Coil and. As with Part 1, it was described by the band as "moon musick." This contrasts to earlier work which was solar rather than lunar inspired, but either way, it was another classic from Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson and John Balance. Their partnership remains one of electronic music's most magically alchemic and after a quiet start, this album slowly but surely takes its hold on listeners. 'Ether' and 'Paranoid Inlay' are confessional tone in tone while the final two 'Where Are You?' and 'Batwings (A Limnal Hymn)' are brilliantly haunting. Fact fans might know that the latter was actually played at John Balance's funeral service.

Review: Originally released as a double CD in 2002, Moon's Milk (In Four Phases) is a collection of four EPs Coil issued seasonally in 1998 via their Eskaton imprint. Featuring John Balance, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, Drew McDowall, and William Breeze, it was recorded in their Chiswick, London home studio before they relocated to Weston-Super-Mare. This pivotal work has long been considered a high point in Coil's discography, though it was never reissued or pressed on vinyl at the time. Arranged around the equinoxes and solstices, Moon's Milk captures Coil's deep dive into improvisation, ritualistic sound design and mystical atmospheres and stands proud as a testament to their individuality.

Review: Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2 was the 2000 studio album from Coil and, as Part 1, it was described by the band as "moon musick." This contrasts to earlier work which was solar rather than lunar inspired, but either way, it was another classic from Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson and John Balance. Their partnership remains one of electronic music's most magically alchemic and after a quiet start, this album slowly but surely takes its hold on listeners. 'Ether' and 'Paranoid Inlay' are confessional tone in tone while the final two 'Where Are You?' and 'Batwings (A Limnal Hymn)' are brilliantly haunting. Fact fans might know that the latter was actually played at John Balance's funeral service.

Review: First released 22 years ago at the turn of the millennium, Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil has been described as one of Coil's most "mind-altering creations"; given the fiercely experimental and often otherworldly nature of their catalogue, that's some going. The album, which has now been fully remastered, was one of the first things Coil recorded following their relocation to Weston-super-Mare, and sonically it's as bleak, windswept, and barren as the town itself seems out of season. It's full of droning tones, modular blips, metallic melodies, slowly shifting ambient textures and musical motifs that lap in and out like waves. Furthermore, the album's standout moment, the near 14-minute 'I Am The Green Child', is like some mutant, experimental sea shanty crossed with a hypnotic ambient-industrial raga.

Review: First compiled as a double CD in 2002, Moon's Milk (In Four Phases) is a suite of four EPs that Coil released seasonally via their in-house Eskaton imprint across 1998. The line-up for these sessions were John Balance, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, Drew McDowall and William Breeze. Recorded primarily at their home studio in Chiswick, London on the eve of a permanent relocation to the small seaside town of Weston-Super- Mare, the collection has long loomed as a pivotal and pinnacle work in the group's discography, but has never been officially reissued, or re-pressed on vinyl. Time has only ripened its tapestry of regal strangeness. Arranged sequentially in tribute to the equinoxes and solstices, Moon's Milk captures Coil at a revelatory crossroads, leaning deeper into improvisation, spontaneity and sound design. 'Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull' initiates the proceedings on 'Spring Equinox', a two-part netherworld organ seance woven from vocal drones, cathedral keys, seasick strings, and opiated undertow. From there, 'Summer Solstice' skews lighter but no less incantational, with Balance embracing his voice- as-instrument across lucid dream torch songs ('Bee Stings'), purgatorial spoken word ('Glowworms/Waveforms'), sultry chamber pieces ('Summer Substructures'), and falsetto ravings ('A Warning From The Sun (For Fritz)'.

Review: Coil arguably were in their best form as the new millennium dawned as well as being already deep into their career. Musick To Play In The Dark not only lived up to its name, it marked a transition both sonically and astrologically for the band as they declared a new era as a lunar rather than solar group. Mixing gently melodious ambient motifs and immersive aural textures with more experimental sounds, spoken and sung vocals and a variety of unobtrusive rhythms, the album remains one of the most vivid and enjoyable outings in their vast, action-packed catalogue. Whether it's spooky distorted sounds on 'Strange Birds', 'Red Queen''s strange droning late-night piano soul, or the yearning ambient pop on 'The Dreamer Is Still Asleep', this is a subtly bold record packed with exceptional ideas.

Review: Queens Of The Circulating Library stands as a post-industrial masterpiece alongside Time Machines and Soliloquy For Lilith and is a sensory-warping long-form drone. Created by Thighpaulsandra and John Balance, the 49-minute track flows in cyclical waves which echo the minimalism of La Monte Young. Released in 2000, it marked the beginning of a series of evolving compositions and its theatrical opening features Thighpaulsandra's opera-singer mother delivering a dreamlike, declamatory monologue, setting the stage for the trip that ensues. The music shifts like slow-motion surf and is a fine example of Coil's unique ability to embrace extremes and mutation.

Review: Coil's comprehensive compilation Moon's Milk, based on the four annual seasons and the overpoweringly doomy moods they inspire, comes reissued 18 years after its initial 2002 release. With a strong Coil member base in tow - John Balance, Peter Christopherson, and Thighpaulsandra included - the Four Phases are once again called to mind, and seem to pierce the unconscious with their incisive quietude and unsettling (dis)inhibition, most often totally electronic and droning, but occasionally peppered with faintly hollering vocals and chromatic electric viola interspersals, the latter performed by the now notable occult cleric, William Breeze aka. Tau Silenus.