by Kyle (VOID) Legate - (legatek@fhs.csu.McMaster.CA)

First Dark Ride builds slowly into an ELpH-style techno excursion, but takes a long time to get there, with various side trips through ambiance and vastly varied percussive sections. When the clean beats hit it's like getting thumped in the back of the head with a tube of soft cheese. My head was already bobbing to the previous section and when it paused for a moment, coiling and building up to a sonic orgasm, goose bumps ripped up the back of my head.
Babyfood wasn't at all like what I expected from the name, yet was the first to get airplay on my radio show (a dedication to a friend who just gave birth). Layer upon layer of keyboard beeps and whoops which, after listening, you swear there was a beat in there somewhere but further listening reveals no drums in sight. Where did the imaginary beat come from? The song lurks at a particular energy level where one might expect another instrument to join the frey, so my head must have invented the extra instrument. This song hides around dark corners, and you know of its presence, you expect it to jump out and scream "Boo" at some point, but it enjoys the mystery of the unknown, and never shows itself. Music For Commercials took me the longest time to get into, though I have them on the Hellraiser 10". I thought they were the weakest tracks on the CD, but one day they hit me just the right way. Being limited by the length of a commercial, Coil finds themself having to come up with something in a very short period of time, and they manage to create a number of fine atmospheres, opting to forgo a catchy commercial ditty for a theme which fits the image. Though I've never seen one of these commercials, I can recreate them in my head and know that Coil can bring the piece together in a timely manner. If this CD is an art exhibit, these pictures are the tiny ones clustered together, with frames larger than the viewing surface. Just as interesting, but not as long. Panic is manic. A chaotic deconstruction of an 80's style dance track, still danceable at points, but picture a high school dance with a couple hundred sweaty teenagers bopping to JB's screams, grunts and the repeated phrase, "The only thing to fear is fear itself". Though the students might find themselves dancing more to the cymbals whipping side to side through their heads than the inconsistant drum beat. Ahh...maybe if I was DJ.
Neither His Nor Yours is the shortest single piece, clocking in at 2:48. There is a distinct eastern feel to this track, as a result of the opening plucked string instrument, which is soon overtaken by feedbacking guitar and a small brass section, woven beneath a tapestry of drums tying it all together. By the end of the track, the string instrument re-enters the scene, casting aside the interlopers and reasserting itself as the instrument which gave us this track to begin with. Insert a quick rewinding of the last few seconds a la record spin and it finishes. Feeder immediately establishes an ominous atmosphere with a piano and bass viola and something else, much like what you would find on a dark wet night in an abandoned downtown block. Collaboration with Chris and Cosey brings us a rumbling bass track, reminiscent of a fast moving train, followed by what sounds like African chanting for a few seconds, heralding the arrival of a wall of seething noise. Through this sonic cornucopia, carried by the fast moving train-drum, arises the vocals, heavily processed with low-fi distortion and preverb. The vocals degenerate into moans and heaves, which caused my headphone-enslaved body to arch and stiffen. At the climax of the barrage, it fades, leaving the original piano and bass viola to carry us through the dark, wet city streets.
Wrong Eye is a quirky, yet driven piece with wordless female vocals. Sampled from humans but sang by machine. Almost-traditional drum tracks carry the listener through a landscape of peeking bloops along the back of the female vocal. Up the side of one bloop and down the sweeping back of a twiddled tone, this song directs you safely through a sonic mountain range, if sounds were manifested as rock.
Meaning What Exactly was recorded during the Love's Secret Domain era, this much is obvious. Using much of the sounds discovered in that particular recording playground, it sounds like a dump of all the sounds used during Things Happen. This song worms its way under your skin and coils itself around your peneal gland, squeezing and massaging it, allowing you to enjoy the feeling without reaching for a cigarette to hand to Annie Anxiety.
Scope sounds like it was made from three tracks: one played forwards, one played backwards and another played forward at 1/4 speed. And the drums all line up. The vocals are all played on the slow track, over a rumbling bass guitar and drums going crazy. Kind of reminded me a bit of Butthole Surfers...I heard a song sounding much like this one at a concert of theirs years ago. Definitely something playable live.
Lost Rivers Of London is a slow, echoing track with a vocal melody I find myself humming and whistling while I'm working. Not the version most people here are familiar with, but I haven't heard any other but this one so I can't compare. Excellent control of guitar feedback to provide a canvas for the deep, resonating lyrics. The perfect finish to this gallery of material, when the song ended I just lay where I was and whispered, "wow" into the new silence.

Now I have to exchange my copy with Middle Pillar, cause they accidentally sent the 1 in 1000 limited edition with a small scratch which renders the first minute of Lost Rivers of London unplayable, and makes my player jump all over the place. They're being very good about it, but I don't know if I can stand 2 weeks without this disc anymore :D