Winter Solstice (North) (1999...a) [Coil...CD EP]

01 A White Rainbow
02 North
03 Magnetic North
04 Christmas is Now Drawing Near

Notes...

The CD has an extended version of "A White Rainbow"
"Christmas Is Now Drawing Near" is a traditional, performed here by Rosa Mundi.
Collected on Moon's Milk (In Four Phases).

Review...

Overall impression: excellent. The fourth and final of the 1998 seasonal singles, "North" continues in the same vein as the previous three: "Amethyst Deceivers", "Bee Stings" and "Moon's Milk". Once again Coil create a minimal yet deep, emotive aural environment for Balance's interesting words. "A White Rainbow" is centered around John's double tracked sprawling vocals and William Breeze's electric viola. Balance's lyrics on this song seem to tie the whole equinox/solstice singles series together. The last 3 minutes or so are essentially instrumental and the song ends in a chaotic jumble of sounds (similar to "A Warning From the Sun" from "Bee Stings"). "North" is comprised of washes of sound, a hushed spoken 2 line vocal from Balance and a heavily chorused, subtle beat. "Magnetic North" is more drone-y ... flowing synth lines form the background for Balance's quietly spoken words. "Christmas.." is sung by Rose McDowall with a glorious backing of disorted snyths and viola ... only Coil can transform a traditional Catholic song into something so achingly beautiful. The artwork is similar to the previous singles, except that this time it appears energy is exploding outwards from the oval. "North" evokes the same sort of feelings in me as most other music by Coil ... a sense of otherworldliness and unsettling familiarity, and an impression of a great importance that is beyond my ability to fully comprehend. This is emotion drenched music. All good things must come to an end though, so I eagerly await the next project by Coil. - Mark Weddle

Astral Disaster (1999...b) [This Version Was Reissued, Touched Up & Revisited In 2.000, With Bonus Track] [Coil...CD]

01 The Avatars
02 I Don't Want To Be The One
03 2nd Sun Syndrome
04 The Sea Priestess
05 The Mothership And The Fatherland
06 MÜ-ÜR [Bonus Track]

Notes...

The songs "The Sea Priestess," "I Don't Want to be the One," and "2nd. Sun Syndrome" have been remixed or extended.
"MU-UR" is a remix of "The Mothership and the Fatherland."

Review...

Some tones, some drones, beautiful soundscapes and even a guitar bit on here. Most unmistakably Coil, however, this is the CD release of an LP originally recorded back around Halloween 1998. The recordings took place outside Coil's studio however, and were produced in part by Gary Ramon of the Prescription label. The LPs were made in a quantity of 99 and only given to those who had subscribed to this series released on Prescription. The original recordings seemed rather different from Coil's work, almost without the absolute quality control work that Coil put into everything. Coil have rearranged the running order, reworked most of the songs, added one song, and left a couple untouched on this release - stretching the 45 minute-long LP into a 72 minute-long CD. The electro-glitchy looped bits "The Avatars" and "2nd Sun Syndrome" along with the haunting epic, "The Mothership and the Fatherland" remain almost completely untouched, while in "I Don't Want to Be The One," the song gets extended about 3 minutes, Peter's voice gets added subtly and an unrecognizable voice (could it be Thighpaulsandra?) appears in a brand new part tagged on at the end. The new track "MU-UR" sounds like altered takes from "The Mothership & the Fatherland" with the pulsing tympani, mesmerising scapes and Maggot Brain-era Funkadelic organ. Also added is a vocal whose effects echo those of "Amethyst Deceiver." Perhaps the most drastically changed tune is "The Sea Priestess," where a droney sitar has been completely removed. Beautiful choral voices are added along with brilliant droning Tibetan vocal samples. Pretty chimes paint an aural picture of the water glistening in the moonlight and the vocals are mixed much better and prominent sounding. - Jon Whitney

"Astral Disaster" was originally released in 1999 as part of a subscription only series in a ridiculously limited edition of 99 vinyl copies (I was not one of the chosen few). Now it has been re-released on CD via Threshold House with a few tracks re-done/extended/re-mixed, 1 extra track and fantastic digipack artwork by Steven Stapleton (Nurse With Wound) and photos by Coil. Unfortunately, this album still sounds unfinished to me and is no where near as enthralling as the album recorded after this one, "Music to Play in the Dark Vol. 1". "Astral.." is composed of 3 lengthy minimal pieces, 2 short synth pieces and 1 short song which further explore lunar magick. "The Avatars" and "2nd Sun Syndrome" are little more than aimless synth noodlings that aren't all that interesting in comparison to similar work from the recent past. "The Mothership & the Fatherland" is tediously long with a plodding beat, minimal synth pads, effected sounds here and there, some drifting female backing vocals and Balance quietly speaking in tongues near the end. "The Sea Priestess" features Balance's forthright spoken words over and through synths and effects with the most intriguing lyric: "if it goes any faster there will be an astral disaster." "I Don't Want to be the One" is a poorly recorded 'song' with Balance's vocals, guitar pluckings and swirling synth atmospheres ... not bad until Balance begins wailing in the final few minutes. "MU-UR" is similar to "The Mothership & the Fatherland" with the same sort of synth pads, drones and effected sounds floating about for 20+ minutes and a brief passage of Balance's vocals transformed into a female tone. All in all, this is the first time I can honestly say that I've been disappointed by a new Coil (or related) release. "The Sea Priestess" and "MU-UR" are my favorites and are really the only two that bear repeated listening. The rest of the album contains fragments of great ideas and sounds but fails to expand upon them properly to capture the 'magick' ... it simply doesn't meet Coil's usually high quality control standard. I'm surprised they bothered to re-release it on CD, especially after the release of Music to Play in the Dark Vol. 1. - Mark Weddle

Musick To Play In The Dark, Vol. 1 (1999...c) [Coil...CD]

01 Are You Shivering?
02 Red Birds Will Fly Out of the East and Destroy Paris in a Night
03 Red Queen
04 Broccoli
05 Strange Birds
06 The Dreamer is Still Asleep

Notes...

This album was originally supposed to be available only via personal mail order from Coil or World Serpent, but it was later given a more general release.

First CD edition is limited to 2000 copies. Those ordered directly from Coil (around 1000 copies) include certificate of provenance, numbered and signed by Peter and John.

Second CD edition is unlimited and features slightly different artwork. The catalog number GRAALCD2 appears on the back cover of this edition by mistake.

Review...

Coil return with exactly sixty minutes of new music. Moon Musick that is. As of January 26th of this year Coil are 5 with the addition of classically trained musician Thighpaulsandra (aka Tim Lewis). This is his first appearance on a recording, whereas electric violist William Breeze is not present due to geography and work commitments. "Musick.." began as a subscription release (direct from Coil with signed certificate of provenance) but small quantities will also be made available through World Serpent. With "Musick.." Coil continue to move forward with new ideas and new sounds. Most of the tracks feature vocals to some extent, usually spoken by Balance. "Are You Shivering?" utilizes drone-y organ chords, vocoded vocal snippets, static-y pops and crackles, watery thumps, a slow, steady beat, angelic backing vocals, drippings of sound and Balance's spoken words. A very haunting, liquidy (musically and lyrically) introduction to moon musick. "Red Birds.." is an instrumental track, mostly the work of Thighpaulsandra, comprised of a long series of flowing arpeggio patterns. This track has a constant sense of motion as the notes gain density and speed, interplaying and morphing their tones. It gets rather abrasive in the final minutes as swirling effects go into overdrive. "Red Queen" has a slow, jazzy feel to it: beautiful piano playing (courtesy of Thighpaulsandra), brushed snare, a swooping drone-y background and Balance's spoken words about the lies of media. This is a side of Coil I'd love to hear more of. "Broccoli" is pretty minimal: watery drips, static-y clickings and pops, deep bass notes and vocals by both Balance and Christophersen. The lyrics seem to suggest preparing oneself for the death of one's parents and to take heed of their words of advice. "Strange Birds" is also fairly minimal. It's primarily instrumental save for 1 quiet, spoken line from Balance. Again, static-y pops and crackles are used along with bird sounds, dogs barking and various natural environment sounds. It gives me the sensation of standing on a rocky coastline as hundreds of birds are about on the shore and in the air. "The Dreamer.." is like "Red Queen" in that it has a strong "song"-based format. A throbbing bass rhythm is the heartbeat of the song as a gentle keyboard melody, a subtle percussion loop and Balance's spoken and sung vocals express the lament of the lucid dreamer. Wow! All in all, this is yet another fantastic piece of work from Coil. The sound is nice and varied and Thighpaulsandra has proven to be an excellent addition to the lineup. The cd (with moon graphic) comes in a digipack which has a fractal, nightime winter/forest/mountain-horizon graphic. Inside, opposite the cd, is a rainbow circle with the four band members names around it. Very sharp. "Musick.." deserved an unlimited, domestic distribution via Nothing Records, but ... what are you gonna do? Get this while you can. It was well worth the $20 and the wait. This is going to get a lot of spins in my players in light *and* dark times and will definitely be in my top ten for 1999. I patiently await Volume 2 due in January of 2000. Thanks guys. - Mark Weddle

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Zwölf/20' To 2000 (1999...d) [ELpH...CD EP]

01 Zwölf

Notes...

On December 14 1999 Coil performed Elph.zwölf at Volksbuehne in Berlin. Although the performance lasted just under eighteen minutes, it marked the beginning of a new era of live performances. Coil would go on to perform close to fifty additional concerts, with varied set lists as well as performers.

20' To 2000 (Zwölf) was the creation of Carsten Nicolai.

Nicolai is a German installation artist whose installations are influenced by both cybernetics and John Cage. His audio installations employ "music" of a special kind, music which is not meant to be music in the traditional sense of the word. Rather than a musician, Carsten views himself as a "manufacturer of sounds", his main (and sometimes only) instrument being a computer.
He was the instigator behind the audio journal "20' to 2000": a series of CDs designed by a team of design artist and performed by artists of Carsten choice to provide a snapshot of the state of the art at the end of the millennium, including his own contribution, the EP Time..dot (Noton, 1999).