Re-launching the Dream Weapon: Considering COIL

Coil is a project I have always had a good deal of respect for - a group that succeeded in making a musical equivalent to the a-musical work of their mentors (Brion Gysin, Austin Osman Spare), while defying categorization and commercialization throughout their career.  Having never really deviated from the declaration on their first album’s liner notes - i.e. that they embraced “unreasoning fear” as a spur to creation - they defined themselves by an ability to venture into uncharted territory (psychic, geographic, aesthetic, etc.) and to report on their findings there in a voice that was noticeably their own. While scene peers like Genesis P. Orridge were gradually sliding into undistinguished rock ‘n roll and subordinating their actual musical content to the conceptual apparatus, Coil was wise enough to understand that concepts, no matter how profound, would be ignored without a sufficiently seductive means (musical, graphic, or otherwise) of bringing audiences to the threshold of understanding. And once audiences had reached that threshold, the group was content to leave them there without further instruction or promises of ultimate illumination. This hermetic refusal to dutifully explain every aspect of their work may have cut them off from a much wider public, but also made them one of the most unique electronic acts of the last few decades, with each of their unanticipated stylistic shifts testifying to the regenerative force of chaos.

I had planned to make this chapter freely available to the public shortly after the death of Peter Christopherson in 2010.  I eventually decided against this for two reasons: firstly because it seemed like too much of an attempt to draw attention to my own work rather than to Peter’s, and also because of my being under contract with a publisher that didn’t want any “competing versions” of my work available for people to read for free. Enough time has passed now that I feel like this is more of a proper tribute to Coil’s work, and not a rushed attempt to exploit the tragedy of their final dissolution. And with my publisher having breached my contract (and those of some fifteen other authors) multiple times, they do not have a legal “leg to stand on,” so to speak. 

This last item is of added importance for anyone curious about my work, since it means a 2nd edition of ‘MicroBionic’ will be ready very soon. This will be available both as a digital text sold on a “pay what you want” basis, and as a “proper” paperback book. In both cases, the end product will be a dramatic improvement on the original, featuring dozens of extra notes, a full index and bibliography, and a new concluding chapter.

Re-launching the Dream Weapon: Considering COIL.pdf (download)