WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Coil - Love’s Secret Domain

Bad trip House and savant electronics. Epochal. How can it be 30 years? See the future peaking through, further back and faster “you’ve got the gift”, it weighs as a hefty opus even today. Think how many copycats Coil’s sounds generated, how they mutated constantly. The mythos around Christopherson and Balance et al means different things to different people. I know people who worship them (my brother) and others who dismiss their work as occult nonsense. The latter should be avoided, physically if you have to, for missing the magic

This lp is top 5, not from its contemporary musical impact or reputation but from that which cannot be articulated other than from listening. The way it bowling-balled British culture and the process of listening. The first dozens cycles you’re only beginning to map its ether. Rewind. What did I hear? Indecipherable majesty. Forget one or two dated rhythm sequences and effects, the sounds are unmistakably Coil. Unbounded, missing the paranoia tropes of Richard Kirk with a succinct and distilled archive. Possibly the most taped band I’m aware of in terms of tape compendium sharing pre-internet, which extended through live mp3’s appearing up until rerelease mania just started to take the piss

LSD. Curses as fold-ins from the first second. What the fuck is happening? Teenage Lightning’s (oh aye Mr Christopherson) exotica swing with a dissociative, pre satnav voice set to chorus and reverb. Meet in the shadowed cabaret, leer into murderous corners, don’t look there, it’s all ok, no it isn’t, yes it it isn’t, see his hands, look at the fingers



The didgeridoos? I know, but they’re Coil didgeridoos
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Trans-Pennine express. You get both mixes of the former because of mixing tool potential, the 2nd is monumental. If any records epitomise the molten impact of House on Manchester and Nottingham, Todd T and Blaze‘s 2 here are necessary

If You Should Need a Friend has a radio friendly mix but what you really want is a longer blend of the Friendship and Movin mixes together




What adulation hasn’t been paid to TT? As a jock I’ve heard him play sloppy House sets and another occasion move beyond into transcendence. As a producer? Baby Can You Reach really lays it on you, a track where you don’t want the full vocal. That would too easy, too shortcut. Instead Billy Elliot yourself through delirium drops, ruptured rapture, jouissance, purpose, focus and among the finest ear fuckings known to humanity


 
Last edited:

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Cheers duck

try and avoid social media and while I knew he was deep into a writing project this news raises the bar

day off will try and attempt a tune summary some time afternoon or eve, work has been chaotic
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Tonka, Hacienda and Venus behemoths. Cabaret Voltaire are in the aether with Minister Kirk of Sheffield’s recent passing. As if the world isn’t off its psychic axis enough. This requires condensing and comparing two lp’s



Groovy, Laidback and Nasty is the worst title in this thread. Can’t believe that got passed. Mixed bag among a very competitive discography. Listening now, it sounds like comedown anthems as much as dance floor melters, two cultures of Sheffield synths and Jefferson’s chops feeling each other out. It doesn’t quite click imho. Post-barking, smoothed out vocals, couple of notches too earnest and shleppy, the most played tracks imprinted on my brain from the release are Easy Life and Rescue Me

Mallinder‘s vocals don’t help either composition. Mates revile the whole lp as an atrocity, “formula” and “sell outs” eg “Hypnotised”, I love the bass wobble intro but there are loftier summits. Drugs are a mighty source of fun and despair and, as you mature, certain drugs can get deeper into the cracks. These records are soaked in so many different drugs, their agency is beyond retroactive - they tap into life at its most reckless, altered states for days on end, relationships, sex, friendships, rigs and a cornucopia of venues, indoors and outdoors


 

Leo

Well-known member
I have the jive turkey remix. thought Kirk's Sweet Exorcist sidekick Richard Barrett/Crooked Man had something to do with it but discogs doesn't credit him.

 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Being critical and comparing the following lp release, Colours has glinting gold woven all the way through it. Punchier, more coherent. Grand Cru. This selection are fixed in sweat pits like Venus which only come round once in your life, so all of this post’s picks ride on the confluence of experiences that night afforded, it’s connections and communities, the orbits spun by Weatherall, Paul Wain, Christian Woodyatt, DiY - Venus smashed it. Bedlam, long hair, puffer jackets, a real mix, more garage orientated than the Hacienda. Smaller, intimate, chunky rig, blow up inflatable air guitars at times appearing, so many E’s and fresh madness in your backyard

Colours is Venus to a t. These ROCK, so much so we’re going to include a video too. Shout out to the 5 E’s cohort - Bekka, Claggclagg, Mothball rip, Tash, Trish, Dan & Matt D, Rachel C, Emma, Layon, Col K rip, Rich, Helen, Dru and the BSE massives, Maples St, Foxhall, Arbo, Greg Blvd, Mansfield Rd, Forest Rec and all dribble troubles. I salute your acts of ceaseless generosity, compassion, commitment to pickled, labyrinthine mornings and riotous hedonism





the heavyweight




Last point and a creative one, the video work elements CV seemed to share with Psychic TV are superior even when they’re shit, like here. They presented a wordview unlike anyone before or since, not including the batch of ambient (prescient) surveillance-beat paranoia direleases Kirk spawned in 93/94 as Sandoz, Sweet Exorcist and Electronic Eye which we’ll come back to later




Comedown adds - In the Shadows and the Mantras release which is savage
While looking for tune links add - this gigmwith a totally wired gurn fest


 

luka

Well-known member
i was saying in another thread cabaret voltaire never managed to actally make a tune, but they had some of the right elements. but as you say overegged the pudding, never managed to really capture the magic. good ideas but no talent whatsoever.
 

catalog

Well-known member
it's all there, but it's done better elsewhere and broken down. i think clearly different for senor hands cos he was there at its inception, listening at the time it was contemporary, so there's all the nuance that comes along with that.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
it's all there, but it's done better elsewhere and broken down. i think clearly different for senor hands cos he was there at its inception, listening at the time it was contemporary, so there's all the nuance that comes along with that.

I don’t think being a completionist helped. Pre-internet, you had to source a copy or the original and I couldn’t access taped copies of either release. You had to take a punt and buy them. An investment. It’s the transition from the works played in the La Edad De Oro video era above (83), moving past Sensoria, into more beaty realms and influences that show Cabaret Voltaire had it all. No talent @luka ? Won’t dignify that with a riposte

Don’t get me wrong here, there’s always guff with any artist, look at a tune like Keep On. Simply repugnant. The counterpoint is Low Cool. Easily one of my favourite tracks, rarely floats past in a mix - unforgettable spoken word gang intro, light keys then an angelic chorus run that‘s the antithesis of the gang talk, followed by divine percussion and chord work. Majestic

“Trade love and we out of here”


Have to subsume Plasticity lp into DiY‘s scope next
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
DiY Sound System epics. What a crew, their soirees and cultural imprint are truly legendary well beyond the UK. They took house to another degree of filtering and fun. If we condense a few tracks played down from a core cohort of jocks across a couple of sample years, you can hear how they solidified their place among British musical folklore. Thank you to Emma, Jack, Rick and Peter, Simon DK, Lord Harrison, Lucy, Cookie, Chilly Phil, all the Smokescreen clans and countless others from Charles Webster to Nail, Atjazz to Jovonn to Ralph Lawson

As a collective, they were more than gifted playing across so many moods/genres/words for categories, even though the main thrust was house with serious swing. They co-hosted and guest invited everyone you can think of and many many more, defining what could be done by letting the music speak for itself in hi-fidelity. I miss it, not painfully or for archaic sentiment, just the madness. Trudging from a van in the darkness with mates navigating with a shit, scrawled map, all weathers, only for someone to blurt out "sssssshhh, can you hear it? over there!". The best buzz you can have with your clothes on. The eyes of casualties, city kids, crusties, students, older gen, friends, friends of friends, life on and off sites, the camaraderie. You have to admire creative anarchy of this calibre. It took work

You could also take umbrage that this as an excuse for prolonged caning sessions and there's an element of truth. How can you build a community on the premise of drug consumption? Time holds the answer, DiY's values lasted long enough to show that notion as warped, side-tracked thinking. Before Pete Woosh, one of the main founders, checked out, he stated the experience free parties generated in specific settings (with the optimal track selection) existed more as an ideal now. No-one else taught me where rhythm, levelling out and acceptance could take you with house, its occulted aspects seeking out soul flight, as pretentious as that sounds. Their Strictly 4 Groovers lp and Hothead ep on Warp are among my favourite ever releases, Nail's Big D's Lounge is still relentless and 2922 Days showcased top draw local talent like Essa, Rhythm Graffiti and Fresh and Low

Add a mobile human zoo generator, full of flying saucer abductees, confluences of class, race, sexuality and a central emphasis on smashing the best possible music through a rig of glory, what more could you ask for? Pioneers like this are rare and i'm forever grateful for their dedication to The Cause of liberation through fun
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Jack - if one DiY jock could dose a picky dissensus membership live, before subsequent raptures, it might've been through his sets. Bit more piano, few breaks, old NY tracks, so AOC's Slow Motion Riot (Gonna Live Forever Mix) is the one for coming up fierce on the last wave of genuine Doves, i still get a rush from airing it from time to time



Guide My Soul. 1993 is a crossroads year for a range of reasons. Todd lifting the fucking roof off, caned at outdoor events and Bounce


 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Rick and Pete (rip), two craftsmen of playing back to back in blocks, the memory is hazy but "you've got me down" is the sound of hundreds of comedowns, weaving through untold locations on another planet. Their signature flyers would surface temporarily turning up adorning lampposts and walls all over the place, only to be over-layered across the seasons



Bizarre Inc - You Took My Love, another heavy face melting dove record, apply sparingly. Images of buses parked up, bedlam, trying to get home alive. Not what you might expect from BI's quite commercial (and corny) repertoire



Secret mass destruction sound damage, Rick and Pete played across the board with a knack for intersectional garage and what is pejoratively termed deep house. Lemon Jaxx Ice Cube Crumbles is lost in sound somewhere in a quarry in north Derbyshire. Rough, mastery of swing and bottom end compression. Everything i love about this music distilled, tremendous

 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Finish DK in the week, as @thirdform knows one of the most prolific, stealthy, borderline mythical figures in house. I always looked for his name on anything, it was a guarantee of a distillation of an array of sounds that coalesced when he played. He didn't invent a style so much as play a chunky, dub-heavy 4x4 set with a wide net cast. Never known ANYONE nail it like Simon, Frankie Knuckles maybe. We look back and listen to mixes that were plucked from tune hunting before the internet and still marvel. Simon is, was and forever shall be among this class of operator, hope he's well wherever he is
 
  • Like
Reactions: sus
Top