Thighpaulsandra

As audacious as the sleeve it comes housed in, the UK’s most eccentric audio malefactor returns with his eighth studio album, Practical Electronics with Thighpaulsandra. Unique in the Thighpaulsandra oeuvre, this one eschews the usual group based recordings, consisting of electronics and vocals only. Hovering between haunted narratives and extended instrumental sequences Practical Electronics is an eccentric excursion into playful pop and fearless electronic experimentation. Simultaneously intimidating and accessible, the energy of this untamed mind unleashes an artefact where high art unfolds as an oblique electronic cabaret. Having cut is teeth amongst such legendary outfits such as Coil and Spiritualized Thighpaulsandra has constantly catapulted himself further and further into a musical landscape utterly of his own devising. Practical Electronics is the latest exemplary installment of a voice that is uncompromising as it is outlandish.

In September 2000 Coil returned to the Royal Festival Hall for their second gig there in the space of a year. They co-headlined with their old pal Jim Foetus, premiering material from their current release, "Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil". The set also featured older fan favourites like Horse Rotorvator's "Blood from the Air" and Love's Secret Domain's "Titan Arch", a song they played only one more time after this show, as well as an all new spectacular stage design and brand-new reflective stage costumes for the band. Truly a mind-altering experience available here in pristine sound quality for the first time.

On this limited-edition CD, packaged in a pink C-shell with no other inserts, Coil is stripped down to just John Balance and Thighpaulsandra, with the addition of Dorothy Lewis, a retired opera singer and Thighpaulsandra's mother who adds some spoken word material written by Balance. Released on Mother's Day and dedicated to mothers everywhere, Queens of the Circulating Library represents a lighter, softer version of Coil. The single 50-minute track starts off with Lewis' voice speaking about the wonders of libraries, books, knowledge, and trees over some warm, ambient drones. Loops of her voice become electronically manipulated to add some weird textures to the drones, but even these fade out about a quarter of the way in, and the remainder of the disc drifts off in the shifting drones until it finally fades into silence at the end…

Primarily consisting of vocalist/musician John Balance and programmer/visual artist Peter Christopherson, along with various other members and contributors, Coil were one of the most beloved, mythologized groups to emerge from the British post-industrial scene. Initially established as an offshoot of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV in 1982, the band spent more than two decades making uncompromising, often unspeakably beautiful music that explored themes related to alchemy, dreams, the occult, drugs, and sexuality. They have remained a longstanding influence on genres such as goth rock, dark ambient, neofolk, techno, and experimental music in general.
In 2000, Coil shocked their fans by announcing a live concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This was to be, essentially, their first live performance, having had some abortive live shows in the very early 1980s…

Hawkwind have announced a brand-new studio album.‘The Future Never Waits’ follows their critically acclaimed 2021 album ‘Somnia’ and 2022 double live album ‘We Are Looking In On You’.The band’s 35th studio album is an outstanding progression to their varied and celebrated catalogue.

Originally released around the turn of the millennium, Musick to Play in the Dark featured a restarted Coil at bay, with original members John (later Jhonn) Balance (R.I.P.) and Peter Christopherson joined by synthesist/bassist Thighpaulsandra, and Drew McDowall (replaced by Rose McDowall on the second volume). These are long-form works, collections of mood pieces in several modes, and what’s interesting (and somewhat predictable) is that the patience displayed while shifting in between these modes creates a tension and space that feels… almost removed from music by a step, as if the performance decided to slowly back away from Coil at a respectful, totality-fearing distance (or maybe it was the psychic force of their music that pushed it all back)…