Coil were an English experimental music group formed in 1982 in London and dissolved in 2005. Initially envisioned as a solo project by musician John Balance, Coil evolved into a full-time project with the addition of his partner and Psychic TV bandmate Peter Christopherson. Coil's work explored themes related to the occult, sexuality, alchemy, and drugs while influencing genres such as gothic rock, neofolk and dark ambient. AllMusic called the group "one of the most beloved, mythologized groups to emerge from the British post-industrial scene."
Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak. The band's work has explored genres such as industrial, noise, dark ambient, and drone.
Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorted, excoriating vocals. In the mid-'80s, Current 93's sound shifted to a style Tibet has called "apocalyptic folk", combining folk music with industrial elements. Tibet has been the only constant member of Current 93, with a wide variety of collaborators joining in over the years. They have released over twenty full-length albums, as well as many other recordings.
Timothy Lewis – best known by the stage name Thighpaulsandra – is a Welsh experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist, known mostly for performing on synthesizers and keyboards. He began his career working with Julian Cope in the late 1980s, becoming a member of Cope's touring band. A collaboration with Cope in 1993 followed, forming the experimental duo Queen Elizabeth. In 1997, former Cope guitarist Mike Mooney invited Thighpaulsandra to fill in for the departing Kate Radley on a Spiritualized tour, and he remained with the band until early 2008. In 1998, Lewis also became a member of the experimental band Coil. He has subsequently released several solo albums under the Thighpaulsandra moniker.
Scatology is the debut studio album by English experimental music group Coil. It was recorded at various studios in London during 1984 and produced by the band along with JG Thirlwell; the album features a prominent appearance of Stephen Thrower, who subsequently became an official member of Coil starting with the group's following album, Horse Rotorvator. Despite its title, the album focuses on alchemy, mainly an idea of turning base matter into gold. The record contains a wide array of cultural references, including to people such as Marquis de Sade, Alfred Jarry, Salvador Dalí, Charles Manson, and others.
Steven Peter Stapleton is an English musician who is best known as the only constant member of experimental improv outfit Nurse with Wound. He is often seen as one of the pioneers of the British industrial music scene, alongside bands such as Throbbing Gristle, Monte Cazazza and Cabaret Voltaire, although in his music he has explored a wide range of styles, including free-form improvisation, folk, and even Latin American dance rhythms.
Stephen Thrower is an English musician and author.
Thunder Perfect Mind is an album by the English group Nurse with Wound. It is a "sister" album to Current 93's album Thunder Perfect Mind, released around the same time; some basic sounds and lyrics are shared but the overall sound of each record is very different. In David Keenan's England's Hidden Reverse, Nurse with Wound mastermind Steven Stapleton explains that he had a dream in which he was handing David Tibet of Current 93 a copy of a new NWW album and that the record was called Thunder Perfect Mind, the title already chosen by Tibet for his imminent new release. Upon hearing of this dream, Tibet immediately agreed to share the title.
The Threshold HouseBoys Choir was a musical guise for Peter Christopherson, announced in 2005 as a follow-up endeavor to his former group Coil. Despite the name, it was a solo project which relied heavily on computer-generated vocals, of which he was formally credited as the "director". The name was derived from a play on words, combining the terms houseboy, house of boys, boys' choir and Threshold House. THBC was stationed in Bangkok, Thailand.
How to Destroy Angels is a remix album by Coil. All of the songs are remixes from the 12" single of the same name, and features cover artwork by filmmaker Derek Jarman. The remixes were produced by John Balance, Peter Christopherson, and Steven Stapleton of Nurse with Wound. The song "Absolute Elsewhere" is blank and silent, as it was originally released. It is portrayed in this release as a single second of silence.
The Ape of Naples is the final studio album by English experimental group Coil. It was released on 2 December 2005 in the UK and Thailand by Threshold House, and has subsequently been reissued by multiple labels. Produced by Peter Christopherson following the death of bandmate John Balance in 2004, it contains reworked and remixed material from 1993 to 2004. The album was dedicated to Balance's memory.
The Angelic Conversation is a CD soundtrack released by Coil for the Derek Jarman film bearing the same name. This album was recorded by John Balance, Peter Christopherson, and Stephen Thrower. Judi Dench provides the vocals, which are recitations of Shakespeare's sonnets.
Megalithomania! is a live album by Coil recorded at their performance at the Megalithomania festival at Conway Hall in London, England. It is limited to a pressing of 230 copies, 123 of which were available in their box set The Key to Joy Is Disobedience.
Live Four was a compilation CD of live Coil songs. This CD was the first of four releases in a series. Its counterparts are Live Three, Live Two and Live One. This album was later released as part of Coil's box set The Key to Joy Is Disobedience.
Nightmare Culture is a 12" split vinyl EP by Current 93 and Sickness of Snakes, which was John Balance and Peter Christopherson from Coil and Boyd Rice.
Ossian Brown is an English musician and artist, most notable for being a member of the groups Coil and Cyclobe.
The Nodding Folk was the name of an industrial music supergroup with members David Tibet, James Mannox, John Balance, Peter Christopherson, Sam Mannox-Wood, Simon Norris, and Steven Stapleton from the groups Current 93, Spasm, Nurse with Wound, Cyclobe and Coil. The group got together specifically to record a single album, The Apocalyptic Folk in The Nodding God Unveiled, a CD which was coupled with a comic book and released in 1993.
Double Vulgar is the second album by Thighpaulsandra. The album is notable for its packaging: the artwork consists of sexually explicit, homoerotic imagery featuring bondage and edgeplay, and was initially refused by several printers. The lyrical content was also controversial: "His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales Breaches Reality" was written as a dedication to Charles, Prince of Wales, if he were to ever have sexual relations with one of his sons, while most of the other lyrics describe several equally explicit situations. "The Bush Administration Project" notably contains the line "And I am splashed with semen", sung by Thighpaulsandra's mother, contralto Dorothy Lewis.
The Angelic Conversation is a 1985 arthouse drama film directed by Derek Jarman. Its tone is set by the juxtaposition of slow-moving photographic images and Shakespeare's sonnets read by Judi Dench. The film consists primarily of homoerotic images and opaque landscapes through which two men take a journey into their desires. The film is shot on Super-8, then transferred into 35mm film.
Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain is a studio album by the British experimental band Current 93, released in May 2009 on Coptic Cat Records. After collaborating with Om on a split EP, there is a notably heavy sound on this record, citing doom metal and stoner rock as influences. There was also a limited edition of the recording for subscribers who paid in advance including a second CD with a rough mix of the tracks and also a monophonic version that was released for the band's concert at German Wave Gotik Treffen 2009 with all of the tracks titled differently, though the music remains the same.
