As I stirred from sleep this morning some 15 hours ago, for no logical reason I had a television theme tune in my head, dreamy, almost leaning into lazy hip-hop near electronic vocals. It took me a cup of tea, then coffee with 2 Weetabix in-between, then I realised it was the theme tune to Are You Being Served.
I looked the theme tune up, which lead me here. I had no idea Coil used this as a sample in the early 90’s - the result, some life affirming track, like ascension, just so powerful. Need to check out more from them. Gather from reading about them all of Coil (main members) are no longer with us.
Who is actually singing on Going Up? Ridiculous power, it’s not from the live clips actually the main two guys? What stumble across something I know like nothing about. Mesmeric.
Going Up is on The Ape of Naples, which Pete Christopherson put together after Jhonn Balance died, it’s available on Bandcamp (€15 download, so still not cheap, but it is the remaster with bonus tracks and all that).
This is what kept me getting much into Coil in the mid 90s when I was listening to a ton of industrial. One specific shop always had their CDs but they were imports and over $20 a piece at the time. I never wanted to commit without having heard enough via friends. Can’t remember what I eventually heard first, might have been Love’s Secret Domain. Kinda jumped around from there over the years, took my time. Really do like Horse Rotorvator.
I saw Coil with Sigur Ros at the Festival Hall - it was a festival called Mind Your Head and I think the principle was to pair artists who would have very little crossover in fanbases to introduce each to very different sounds. I went with my dad and I was utterly confused by Coil’s performance - started with two entirely shaved and naked dudes standing at the front of the stage, an ear-splitting sine wave and one of the vocalists shouting ‘WE ARE FERAL’ and ‘CUT THE HEAD OFF THE HORSE’
I was definitely too young and too early in my musical journey to get it. I looked at my dad at one point and he had his fingers in his ears and he was lying on his chair in the foetal position so we went outside til Sigur Ros came on.
What I’ve heard of Coil more recently I’ve really liked, so I think it’s time for me to invest more time in getting to know them. Might not tell my dad though.
The two Musick To Play In The Dark albums are absolutely essential Coil; star-lit, mysterious, strangely sexy, deeply disturbing. Dark Ambient at the cross-roads of Industrial and Downtempo. Balance, Christopherson and Thighpaulsandra working at their most weirdly accessible imo.
Horse Rotorvator and Ape of Naples are my two favourites, along with Time Machines. If you like longform drone, the latter is essential - one of the best releases of that genre.
For those wanting to do a deeper dive, I can recommend The Remote Viewer (instrumental), Black Antlers (if you like Ape of Naples) and Astral Disaster and Moon’s Milk in Four Phases (if you like MTPITD).
