COIL - Musick to Play in the Dark (1999-2000)

Coil

was an English cross-genre, industrial experimental music group

formed in 1982

by John Balance and his partner

Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy".

The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil,

which he claimed to be inspired by the omnipresence of the coil's shape in nature.

Today, Coil remains one of the most influential and best known industrial music groups.

Although Coil expressed interest in many musical groups,

they rarely, if ever, claimed to be influenced by them.

Coil explicitly stated the influence of such non-musical sources as

William Burroughs, Aleister Crowley, Bryon Gysin and Austin Spare.

Furthermore, the group were friends with Burroughs and owned some of Spare's original artwork.

Coil's worked in such genres as

industrial,

noise, ambient

dark ambient, neo-folk,

spoken word, drone music,

and minimalism,

creating what Balance explicitly referred to as

"magickal music".

Balance described the early Coil work as "solar"

and the later work as "moon musick".

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Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1

is one of two albums attributed purely to a style called "moon musick",

which signified their change from a "solar" to a "moon" group.

Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2 is the sequel album.

Hear Vol 1

Hear Vol 2