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- Portal - Hold
- Yellow6 - The Sinking Sun
- Sinfield/Attwood - #2
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Back before the Internet and World Wide Web allowed music junkies to connect with others and trade secrets, fans of bands in areas of the world far outside the band's nucleus had to rely on sources like magazines and books for the best information they could get on a group. Despite being a project from former Wire members, the experimental music contained didn't make it a title which warranted an in-print status and copies worldwide were rather scarce. As a young Wire fan, it had been on my personal wish list for years. When I finally discovered it in 1998 as a used record for $30 my heart jumped. I finally found it!
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In addition to some suitably odd printed art cards and scrying mirrors,every live box set also includes a black plastic clamshell containingthis, a tour-only CD available at some of Coil's most recent shows. ANScontains three long tracks of about 20 minutes each, consisting solelyof tones made with the Russian ANS synthesizer. Invented by EugenyMurzin in 1938, only one ANS synthesizer has ever actually been built,and it sits neglected and obscure, collecting dust in the basement ofMoscow State University since 1958. Coil were given access toexperiment and record with the strange machine, and their experimentsare chronicled on this disc. ANS is a "photoelectric" instrument thatproduces music via a completely unique process. The user must inscribea series of line drawings that represent visible sound waves onto aseries of glass discs. The shape, location and nature of the drawingsdetermines the sound that the synthesizer produces, which encompassesthe entire range of audible sound, 720 pure tones. Unfortunately, thefascinating history and musical theory behind the ANS instrument isultimately far more interesting than the music Coil has managed to makewith it. While there are many dramatic points of convergence buriedwithin these abstract, long-form compositions, the overall effect is ofdilettantes noodling around with an unfamiliar piece of equipment thatreportedly takes years to properly master. Though there are some partsof ANS that are reminiscent of Time Machines, none of thesepieces has the trance-inducing intensity of that album's minimalistdrones. Reportedly, Coil are remixing and expanding ANS into anofficial double album release scheduled for later this year. Perhapswith a bit of the signature Coil touch added to these naked tones, thismaterial will come alive. As it stands, ANS is a fascinating but musically non-compelling tangent into the avant-garde realm of theoretical music.
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With each box set, Coil includes a CD-R of their performance at theMegalithomania! Festival. This disc cannot be purchased separately, andis available only as part of the limited edition box. It's a very nicebonus indeed, as this performance is unique among Coil's live history,and marks a sort of turning point for the group. Megalithomania!was a celebration of sacred sites and standing stones as expressedthrough history, folklore, art and sound. Basically, everything thatJulian Cope was on about in his mammoth tome "The Modern Antiquarian."For this special event, Coil performed a long, drawn-out permutation on"The Universe is a Haunted House," turning the piece into a slowlyevolving ambient sound sculpture involving the ghostly sound of waterdroplets, quietly droning synths, and a particularly spectral vocalimprovisation from Balance. As reported by many people who attended theevent, there seemed to be a strange rift between Balance and Sleazy,evidenced by John's agitated screaming: "Why are you here? Why are youhere?" Balance's statement that "we are the alien" could be read as atribute to the extra-terrestrial builders of Stonehenge, or as afurther statement of his growing alienation from his long-time partner.A few days after this performance, Peter and John announced that whileCoil would continue, they would no longer describe themselves as acouple. Sad, indeed, but these personal matters cannot overshadow avery unique and powerful performance. As the tension and mutationcompounds over the 40-minute length, Balance's alien incantations fightfor prominence with Thighpaulsandra's thick slabs of stoned-Druidsynthesizer. The recording is spotless, highlighting all of the ghostlyminutiae of this one-of-a-kind Coil show.
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