Time Machines (1998...a) [Time Machines...CD]

01 7-Methoxy-ß-Carboline: (Telepathine)
02 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Ethyl-Amphetamine: (DOET/Hecate)
03 5-Methoxy-N, N-Dimethyl: (5-Me0-DMT)
04 4-Indolol, 3-[2-(Dimethylamino)Ethyl]' Phosphate Ester: (psilocybin)

Notes...

First 3000 came with stickers.
According to John Balance, the premise behind this release is that hallucinogens act as time machines - they can conjure up histories of yourself and/or act as predictors of the future. In any case, they can remove you from "temporal reality". These tracks on this disc are not only formulas for hallucinogens, but the tracks have been tested, retested, rejected, et cetera.
There are two links listed inside the disc: www.fungi.com and deoxy.org/deoxy.htm.

Review...

Overall impression: excellent. The line on the back of the cardboard two-fold sleeve probably says it best: "4 tones to facilitate travel through time." The four track names are all chemical names for hallucinogens. The music is drone-based, deep ... very deep ... sub-bass drones that somehow seem to entangle with your very thoughts and emotions as they carry you. I listened to this disc twice with headphones while at work earlier this evening, and although I didn't travel through time, feel like I was traveling through time or achieve an instantaneous erection ... it did give me a strange emotional sensation. I really can't explain it .. the drones maintain a similarity throughout each track, but they shift and become altered without you really realizing what's taking place. They remain what I would call "beautiful" drones, they never become too distorted or resonant ... very haunting yet affirming and all consuming. This disc is another welcome tool, alongside the likes of Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works II", Dead Voices on Air, Propeller, and of course, many Brian Eno and Coil discs, in my collection of ambient and/or ambient/drone works. I sometimes think that JB and PC have come across some greater plane of knowledge that allows them to subliminally communicate with your psyche through sound. Their work is remarkable. Also, be sure to check out the latest single, "Spring Equinox: Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull". Note: I have not, nor do I intend to use the above disc in conjuction with hallucinogens. I'll leave that to you . - Mark Weddle

Discussion...

John Balance says "Telepathine is one of the constituent compounds of Yage, the complex hallucinogenic Shamans drink that can be brewed in as many ways as there are Shamans.I think Telepathine was on of the first to be identified as being present in the brew and as one of Yage's powers is to bestow telepathy on participants thats how it got its name."

Clay Pinn says, "I once blanked out for about 20 mins. while listening to time machines. when i came through, i was extremely disturbed, because, as far as i remember, before i blanked out, i was sitting on the floor in my room, but afterwards, i was standing in my closet, with the door open, and the television was on. one other time, i decided to remain awake throughout the night, and i was listening to moon's milk... it was on repeat. i started having very slight and suggestive hallucinations (this was about 2 in the morning, and, in case you ask, i was not sleepy at all.) soon, i had this very stimulating feeling. i was extremely happy, but totally fucking wierded out (i had to say that). i had these ideas streaming through my head, and i could have sworn that i heard rain falling in my room. it was beautiful... truley one of the best experiences (sans chemicals, as well) i have ever had."

Images...

telepathine sticker
hecate sticker
phosphate ester sticker
DMT sticker
persistence is all (with monad)
persistence is all (without monad)

Spring Equinox (Moon's Milk Or Under An Unquiet Skull) (1998...b) [Coil...CD EP]

01 Moon's Milk Or Under An Unquiet Skull (Part One)
02 Moon's Milk Or Under An Unquiet Skull (Part Two)

Notes...

Collected on Moon's Milk (In Four Phases).

Review...

Overall impression: excellent. This is the first of a 4 part series to be released this year in conjuction with the 4 seasonal equinoxes. It will cease to be available on June 21, the Summer Solstice, at which time the new single "Bee Stings" will become available. This disc continues in the same vein musically as the preceeding Coil oriented release, "Time Machines". The music is essentially instrumental drone based pieces, Parts 1 and 2 being much alike, except that Part 2 has the wonderful addition of electric viola melodies. Very organic and relaxing in nature. My only complaint is how short the running time is. I understand that it's a single, but just when you're starting to really get into it, it's over. However, it's a wonderful companion to the "Time Machines" disc. I'm really looking forward to the next 3 (and anything else Coil decides to release during that time period). - Mark Weddle

Discussion...

MAY: the Planting Moon or Milk Moon. The full moon in May this year just happens to be on the 11th at 14:29GMT (and it's in Scorpio if you care). Also found was the following obsolete definition in the OED: Milk of the Moon: A white, porous, friable, insipid earth, frequently found in the form of white farinaceous powder, but sometimes concreted into a mass, not unlike agaric. (Chambers Cycl. 1727-52) And as if that wasn't enough, there was also the reference to Italo Calvino's story in Cosmicomics titled "The Distance of the Moon," in which two men periodically travel to the moon when it's orbit brings it close enough to the earth for them to climb on and gather Moon Milk. For those who are curious about the other names of the full moons they are listed below:

* JANUARY - the Old Moon, or Moon After Yule
* FEBRUARY - the Snow Moon, Hunger Moon or Wolf Moon
* MARCH - the Sap Moon, Crow Moon or Lenten Moon
* APRIL - the Grass Moon or Egg Moon
* MAY - the Planting Moon or Milk Moon
* JUNE - the Rose Moon or Flower Moon
* JULY - the Thunder Moon or Hay Moon
* AUGUST - the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon
* SEPTEMBER - ..the full moon of September is called the Fruit Moon. Usually it is also the Harvest Moon..
* OCTOBER - As the full moon nearest to the autumn equinox [in 1982], this is called the Harvest Moon.. Other versions of the rule are that the Harvest Moon is the full moon at or after the equinox, or that it is always in October...Farmers at the climax of harvest can work late into the night by the light of the moon...
* NOVEMBER - the Frosty Moon or Beaver Moon. As the full moon after the Harvest Moon [in 1982] this is called the Hunter's Moon...Since the fields have been reaped, hunter can ride across the stubble, and can see the fox more easily; also other animals which have come out to glean and can be caught for a thanksgiving banquet after the harvest..
* DECEMBER - the Moon Before Yule, or Long Night Moon. In a December with two full moons, the second of these title should apply to the second of them.

- Tim J. DuFour

Summer Solstice (Bee Stings) (1998...c) [Coil...CD EP]

01 Bee Stings
02 Glowworms/Waveforms
03 Summer Substructures
04 A Warning from the Sun (for Fritz)

Notes...

"A warning from the sun" is dedicated to a friend Fritz who commited suicide in May of 1998.
Collected on Moon's Milk (In Four Phases).

Review...

Overall impression: excellent. This is the second installment in the equinox/solstice series by Coil. Once again, this cd is limited, and is available only until the Autumnal Equinox, September 23rd. This disc continues in the minimal vein, like "Spring Equinox: Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull", but each of these tracks has vocals. "Bee Stings" begins with an electric viola melody (courtesy William Breeze), which continues throughout, as Balance's spoken vocal, more misc sounds and a subtle beat are added. "Glowworms/Waveforms" is comprised of various bizarre effected sounds, loops and drones as Balance asks various questions, such as "where's the bells?", "where's my corn field?", "where's my breeding ground?" and "where's my horse head?" "Summer Substructures" is a moody vocal, electric viola and keyboard piece. "A Warning .." begins with a noisy barrage of distorted/effected sounds that give way to one crunchy, distorted loop (reminiscent of Autechre) and what sounds like a slide guitar as Balance sings in a high-pitched, nasal, operatic voice. An odd, but very intriguing batch of new stuff from Coil. Two more singles to go. - Mark Weddle

Discussion...

Bees seem to have enjoyed a long tradition in history and mythology. The ancient Egyptians believed bees were born of the tears of the sun-god, Ra, dropping to earth. In Greece they were a symbol of the soul and Plato believed that the souls of the righteous are reincarnated as bees. Christians associated bees with resurrection and the three month winter season when bees seem to vanish into the hive was compared with the three days when Christ's body vanished after the crucifixion only to reappear at the resurrection. Bees produce their young from their lips just as Christ proceeded from the Father's mouth. The honey and the sting make bees an emblem of Christ, the former for his mildness and mercy, the latter for his role in the Last Judgment.

The Effects of Bee Stings on the Human Body:

Bee venom has many different effects on the human body. This is based on the total effect of the bee venom. The person who is not hypersensitive to bee stings can tolerate one to five stings at a time. This is followed by minimal local symptoms accompanied by swelling, redness and itchiness of the skin. Initially, the symptoms are little painful but later change to a pleasant and warm sensation. Fifty to one hundred stings can cause a cramp, temporary shortness of breath, the skin turns blue or rapid pulse and symptoms of temporary paralysis follow. Two hundred or more bee stings can cause paralysis of the respiratory system. Some people can tolerate more than 1,000 stings.

Product Selection for bee sting treatment listed in order of most effective:

Lobelia Cayenne Formula, Black cohosh, Oatstraw Shavegrass Formula Echinacea, Goldenseal Myrrh Formula, Plantain Wild Lettuce Scullcap Formula, Yellow dock

Curing Malaria With Bee Stings In Sudan:

KHARTOUM, Sudan (PANA) - A former employee of the Sudanese ministry of agriculture has gained fame here since he started treating patients with chloroquine-resistant malaria by using bees. For immunization against malaria, a patient takes eight stings every week for one month, if the patient happens to be coming from an area infested with anopheles, the mosquitoes causing malaria. Other diseases treated with bee stings include lymphatic gland inflammations, rheumatism and recurrent miscarriages.

Multiple Sclerosis pain alleviated with bee stings:

At first, one patient started with just a few stings a day. Now, she gets as many as 22 stings in one sitting and has been stung more than 1,000 times. The honeybees' stingers are kept inside the skin for up to 15 minutes. According to Downs, the venom inside the stinger enters the body, producing a chemical reaction. It's that reaction that helps MS patients move their muscles with less pain and discomfort, he said. - Tim J. DuFour

"In some traditional Catholic and Anglican Easter ceremonies (I don't know about Eastern Orthodoxy, although I could probably look it up), a blessing for bees remains in the Exsultet (i.e., the blessing of the candle). Part of the reason for this, as Tim said, is that bees were thought to procreate asexually and served therefore as a symbol for the Virgin Birth of Christ. Another reason is that they were responsible for the wax that made the Paschal Candle itself. The line -- which some churches delete in modern services, much to my chagrin -- goes something like this:

"In the grace of this night, then, O Father, receive for an evening sacrifice this burning light, which holy Church renders unto Thee at the hand of her ministers in the solemn offering of this candle of wax, wrought by bees. Though divided into parts, yet it suffers no loss from the light which it imparts. For it is fed from the melted wax which the mother bee wrought for the substance of this precious lamp." - Ayse

I just got Bee Stings yesterday and here's what happened last night: Last night, well actually this morning about 3:30 am, I was sitting in my den listening to Bee Stings on the headphones. I had a bunch of red candles lit and I was gently fading in and out, when all of the sudden, this black bird comes flying out of my chimney. It scared the shit out of me! I jumped up so quick I forgot to take off my headphones, which were jerked off of my head. I chased the creature around for almost half an hour before I caught him and sent him on his way out the window. The bird was chirping at me the entire time I was trying to rescue it. What made it all the more strange was that I could still hear Bee Stings playing quietly on the headphones, while the bird chirped along (seemingly to the music) in horror. I don't who was more scared, the bird or myself? And I'm not sure whether the bird was more frightened of Coil or me?? I felt sorry for the bird, but he also had me quite frightened. It was all very surreal. - Chad Price

I listen to talk radio and a guy named Ed Dames who does something called technical remote veiwing (a controled government devoloped psychic process) said that there would be a warning from the sun within a month from now that will be followed by a lethal kill-shot from the sun in '99. He also said, before science confirmed it, that the ozone depletion is changing the color of flowers and the bees can't find them anymore so they are starving to death. Only way to survive is to live underground and eat worms. I bought this guy's tape trust me he knows what he's talking about, maybe Coil knows something too...if interested go to: www.trv-psitech.com. - Arian Otto

Autumn Equinox (Amethyst Deceivers) (1998...d) [Coil...CD EP]

01 Regel
02 Rosa Decidua
03 Switches
04 The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant
05 Amethyst Deceivers

Notes...

Rose McDowell - vocal on "Rosa Decidua"
Robert Lee - vocal on "Rosa Decidua"
Collected on Moon's Milk (In Four Phases).

Review...

Overall impression: good. Ahhh ... the warm, fuzzy feeling of knowing that a new twenty-ish minutes of Coil is forthcoming every 3 months! Coil aren't ones to repeat themselves, but I do hope they do something similar to this solstice/equinox singles series in 1999, or at least manage to put out as much material as they did this year in future years. "Amethyst.." is, naturally, the third in the 1998 single series (see also: "Spring Equinox: Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull" and "Summer Solstice: Bee Stings") and it is the most musically varied of the 3 so far. Track by track: "Regal" is a short Balance vocal mantra piece with a minimal background of animal-like howls and some sort of keyboard sound (difficult to explain ... the kind of sound you'd only hear on a Coil record). "Rosa.." is a spacy mixture of Balance's spoken words with the vocals of Rose McDowall and Robert Lee of Sorrow, synthesizer and William Breeze's heavenly electric viola. "Switches" is comprised of very minimal pressure changes as composed via a synthesizer, this one would fit right in on ELpH vs Coil "Worship the Glitch". "The Auto.." harkens back to mid-80's Coil due to it's distorted orchestral sound combined with whispered and effected male and female vocals. "Amethyst.." features utterly beautiful swirling sounds, plucked acoustic instrumentation, and synth bass accompanied by whispered and/or effected chants of "Amethyst Deceiver" throughout ... truly one of the finest tracks I've ever heard by Coil. Again, this single is very minimal and similar to the other two, but at the same time completely different. All the tracks have the "Coil sound" as I like to call it ... a comfortable, meaningful, warm and welcoming sound. A good single, but overall I prefer "Bee Stings" to "Amethyst..". Once again, very nice artwork ... this time warping an image similar of that of the previous singles. The 7" version of this single features slightly different versions of just "Amethyst Deceivers" and "Switches". I'm looking forward to the final chapter, the winter solstice single on Dec. 22. - Mark Weddle

Discussion...

The tracks are different in feel from the Summer Soltice EP. We started last year with a session of treated vocals and an ARP 2600 synthesiser. William Breeze came over and added mandolin and guitar and viola. There are Balance vocals and Louise Weasel vocals, and Galactic calls to Star Forms. Counter-point, Confessionals and Rose as an Elizabethan boy. - Coil