WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
ELpH vs Coil - Worship The Glitch


My brother has the 2 disc 10” release listed above. Beautiful artefact. Sleeve reminiscent of Colours by Cabaret Voltaire. The content is entirely different. Wasn’t aware of the supposed production errors, communicated as channelling a transmission signal intercept (or nature of said inception) initially. 'This is a Sidereal™ Sound Recording untouched by human hands'. Coincided with dark turn into heroin and a lot of ELpH’s music was immersed in *heavy nods, *just say no

A clear distinction or demarcation in sounds exists between LSD, ELpH and Black Light District, a 90degree turn into very different forms of compositional experimentation. It’s more fun too (rather than playful) as your ears aren’t lost in endless indecipherable fold-in curses. Expansive as opposed to highly compressed, still in the fairgrounds of the abyss. From the moment the needle drops, it’s on, cue Dark Start



Opium Hum, appropriately titled



Manunkind’s lilting choir-horns



Hysteron Proteron Jewel, dialling up fleeting lights at dusk with what may or may not be a glitch locomotive



Anything That Flies, vortexes presencing on the brink of psychosis, seep into its uncomfortable delirium



Ended. Indeed, pinned pupils looking into bleak horizons via a weathered mirror during 4am’s half-light



Re-evaluating treasured lp’s is graft
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
You’ll get over it

Lull - Slow Fall Inward. Easily one of my favourite Mick Harris projects and this track may be the pinnacle. I find Scorn a bit over-dependant on slow percussion, whereas Lull are the epitome of descending into sound. Huge, undulating pulses of bass tones, passing car samples woven into etherealised trails, I’ll never get bored of its 23 minutes of magic

 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Coil presents Black Light District - A Thousand Lights in a Darkened Room. Simply put, world changing. Before the Equinox releases or touring fully, ATLIADR was a beacon of quality in a world of dance dross. May as well include the entire YT upload


First galaxy size number to register was Red Skeletons. Sampling phone scanner intercepts a la Scanner, intermixed with a drugged, heartbeat paced shuffle, its audio clips start slowly with a soppy declaration of love, before tangenting into more deranged pathologies, warring lovers and what might be a couple of firms arranging an orgy of violence. Immense



Die Wölfe Kommen Zurück. Train coach rumbles bleed into drones. A master lesson in immersive minimalism



Stoned Circular I and II. There are numerous tracks in the Coil archive which seem to have the main riff hook encased at specific times. What grips my ears is its multifarious layering. The rhythm is almost a distraction and every element comes front and centre in rotating, disoriented glee



Chalice. The perfect concluding track after 50 minutes of off-world exploration. Swim up to the choir’s light, if it is light

 

craner

Beast of Burden
Stephen Thrower wrote an amazing book about Lucio Fulci. Not sure about this Coil shit, though.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Thrower left late 80’s didn’t he? Put out some glorious gore/horror mags, but “this Coil shit”? Don’t hold back Oliver

Two Lone Swordsmen ‎- The Fifth Mission (Return To The Flightpath Estate). Pick any Weatherall release from the 90’s and we could all argue indefinitely over which has the most chutzpah. His releases stack my own collection and Fifth Mission/Return to Flightpath is one of the most articulate. It hints at concrete stairwells and trauma, scoring drugs and mania. All bagged up with vertiginous, rhythmic experimentation. Bought as a cd multipack some time after regular anarchic Sabresonic gigs that dispersed to the great unknown, it’s been an old friend for years. A twin to the genuinely epic Stay Down lp released shortly after


Too many good tacks, have to stick to a core group, eg Big Man Original’s hypnotic, dubbed-out, soaring squiggle-fest



Lino Square, tapping into almost Cabaret Voltaire esque realms



Two Barb Quickstep, deceptive 4/4 pacing over layered with a gurgling, humming bass synth, electronic cicadas and sumptuous harmonics. Weatherall in full effect



Backstair Rattler. Bit of a Planetary Assault System chug which can be pitched down a notch for a house set or dropped in as/is if you prefer things with a rougher touch

 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Mates procure his publications into shrines, Cyclobe and UnicaZurn (with Ossian Brown) have plenty of worthwhile listening moments. If you aren’t feeling Coil, probably a fruitless exercise

Two Lone Swordsmen - Stay Down. Was going to list a couple of Fila Brazillia tunes from their mid/late 90’s output but they’re not a band I’m still glued to. Mess, Luck Be a Weirdo Tonight and Power Clown (hear New Cannonball’s funk) all have their moments, but Stay Down’s adventure and punch to the guts supersedes such picks. Love the album art too, deep sea engineers working on subterranean structures, Weatherall to the max

“Sometimes in a fight it's best to just stay down", a stark quote tucked away in its design, illuminating for a decade rapidly running out of worthwhile venues for collective enlightenment and steam. Gems galore, I keep returning to Hope We Never Surface, Mr Paris’s Monsters and Light the Last Fire

 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
I know, goals Leo, goals, clogging up the count like insurrectionists

Coil‘s batch from 1998 onward heralds a rich seam of material. For me, they‘re always at their best when they ditch the hyperbole and let their instruments sing. Their mythos occults the craft within their sound design and the short overlap with Thighpaulsandra and Ossian Brown provides many a moment to indulge your ears

There’s a thread here which goes into every nook and cranny of their art and discography. The only production that didn’t register was ANS. So much else is gold and if I had to save specific tracks from a virtual fire they’d be

Moon’s Milk or Under a Quiet Skull part 1. A monument in music



The Avatars (off Astral Disaster). Going down a k-hole? Press play. Shrieking, sculpted,



Musick to Play in the Dark, cut it off when you get to Broccoli. For the effin intro alone - sharp operatic driving - into babes in the wood melodies. Sounds like dogging!



From the Live era, untold sequinned glory. Only saw them once in Barca, other ticket attempts failed and life got in the way of specific tours on the continent. White furries, fuckin mirrors reflecting light in multiple directions and a tempest of an ending. Old Wash, too blitzed to tell you a track sequence until CSO came out. Madness and goosebumps



Queens of the Circulating Library/Circulating (one of the Live series), @craner Thighpaulsandra’s Mum was a lady with an art background from Pontypridd (I think) and it’s her wonderful voice which crests the boiling, electrical, spell work underpinning her vocals



Time Machines already tacked. Magnetic North. Steady on, I’m having a HmmGuv moment

 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Conclusions, masterpieces and we can bail. There’s 300+, 600+ more tracks out there - experimental, Gang St and hip hop, mixtapes, Zoviet France, Colin Potter, Rapoon, the house and drone threads - r.a.m. fails/headshot forgotten, not noted as digital or MP3’s on drives out of reach due to work formats. Maybe another time, a heroin 25

Before forgetting, Coil - Remote Viewer Part 1, a megalith from their acoustic-electronic hurdy-gurdy fusion phase, plus White Rainbow and Going Up from the last live show.





Andrew Liles - Aural Anagram. Puts a lot of idm nonsense to shame. The sound of bedlam as asylum. Hideously consistent production talent, he warrants more inclusions



Nurse With Wound - Golden Age of Telekinesis (either mix). For Stapleton freaks




Lastly, 3 behemoths of grace, power and a bit of tenderness. Henry Flynt - You Are My Ever Lovin, Xenakis - Persepolis and My Sisters and Brothers. Cleansed joy, a seething underworld of a trip and a triumphant salute. You may ask yourself after this slogfest what you want from music/sound/noise, what purpose does it resolve emotionally, psychically, sound as embodied experience? Action at a distance, will, transcendence, dancing, running, walking, standing, cooking, sitting, driving, working. Where would we be without it




Thanks to @version for the invite to get on a tune mission during a global healthcare meltdown and all its inherent dissonance, plus my hernia for forcing me into sitting down and wrapping up dementia-ridden, beardy ramblings

 
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