Customer Reviews

Musick To Play In The Dark 2

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first MtPitD was an audio hallucinogen, relying more on spacial effects and careful panning to create an environment inside your headphones. The place it took you to was reminiscient of the moonlit forest on the cover. The sequel revisits this place briefly, but is much more focused on a depressive, melodic, song-based approach, still intensely colorful and visual but not really an 'environment', per se. The only truly three-dimensional, ambient track on it is the instrumental "Tiny Golden Books", which is remiscient of "Red Birds Will Fly Out of the East" with its arpeggiated synth tones and build of energy, but in my opinion even more effective. It's one of the best tracks Coil has ever produced.

The instrumentation is generally the same as the first time around. Nocturnal and watery washes of sound, clicking and popping arranged into subtle rhythms. Square waves are generally avoided.

Unlike the first volume, Volume 2 can be enjoyed at any time of day and doesn't need to be played in absolute silence to work. Lyrics and spoken poetry are less of a focus. The piano ballad "Ether" is beautiful, structured more traditionally but still maintaining that loose, improvisational nature that permeates much of Coil's work through the use of spontaneous, unstructured soloing. Several tracks (as opposed to only one on Volume 1) feature the melodic vocals of John Balance as well as occasionally Rose McDowall (not present on Volume 1) such as the sparse, beat-driven "Paranoid Inlay" and "Batwings". "Batwings" uses a lot of pleasant, muffled synth tones. The minute long, dream-like "In Emergency" manages to be a highlight. Rose's voice is really gorgeous.

The differences between Volume 1 and Volume 2 are in the end a good thing, as each is of equal quality. Both are highly recommended and worth hunting down, and I believe them to be among the best ambient musick ever made. Threshold House has recently started repressing them. Get them before they're gone!

The tracks listed above are for the Musik to Play in the Dark vol. 1 CD! I thought it was important that people should know that.

I've been listening to Coil since about 1985, and can happily claim to have a more-or-less complete collection of all their stuff now.
What can I say about this album though. It is astonishingly good, and I'm wondering what's stopping me from saying that it's their best of all, because it pretty much is.

I read somewhere that this album was also an experiment by Messers Balance and Christopherson in sleep-deprivation. After several days of not sleeping, they piled into the studio and began the process of recording this. Perhaps that's what shines through and makes this memorable. Perhaps it's their change from sun-music to moon-music.

I'm not a huge fan of anything with vocals/lyrics, but I'm more than happy to make an exception for this and even sometimes find myself wailing along in my own off-key way.

Deep, dark, haunting, melodic, hypnotic. Throw as many euphamisms and adjectives at it as you want, the proof is in the listening.

...on this one. Really liked on first listen, and the last three pieces are absolutely mesmerizing and haunting. Batwings is one of the most beautiful Coil pieces ever, the kind of song that makes one feel expansive and melancholy, sort of like a beautiful view of the Appalacians with fog lying in the valleys...and I disagree with Gracchus2 that it takes repeated listening to appreciate. The second half of the song is unmistakably lovely. The are several pieces on this album that render me contemplative and appreciative. I haven't heard Songs to Play in the Dark 1, so cannot compare. I have heard lots of Coil and must say this album is a nice blend of the melodic and the "sound" sides of Coil. One of my favorites. I would give certain pieces 5 stars on this work.

At first listen, this more subdued, darker-eyed cousin to Vol. 1 is a rather underwhelming experience -the vast majority of the pieces seem somewhat one-dimensional and over-repetitive. However, a certain hypnotic beauty does reveal itself on "Ether" and, in particular, the stately "Batwings" after repeat plays. While there is nothing here to match the chilling dynamics of "Are you shivering?" from Vol. 1, "Tiny Golden Books", which almost threatens to transmutate into bubbling techno, "An Emergency", a short, frosty, Rose Mcdowall-sung piece, and "Paranoid Inlay" are just interesting enough to redeem the exercise. As with most of Coil's work, it grows more interesting and nuanced with each play...

This CD is absolutely beautiful. You truly must play it in the dark, alone (it is a rare treat). It starts out with soft whispering that you might not even pick up for the first few minutes, maybe you're doing something or you're just laying there in bed and all of a sudden you're like, "Whoa!" and it's kind of creepy. It borders on cheesy at times, but I truly think that Coil does a pretty good job of not quite going there ("Something"). Track 2 ("Tiny Golden Books") reminds me of the Hobbit ... it's very theme-song esque, very "opening credits." There's all of these beautiful trees and then there's the village and it zooms in on the village and all of the hobbitfolk going about doing their daily chores, it's early morning. And there's some nice theremin action in this track, too. It kind of doesn't really go with the other songs on this CD, though, because it seems more like early morning than nighttime, whereas the rest of the songs seem like nighttime. But then the song almost feels like a whole day, and not because it's just over twelve minutes long. You can hear it become dusk on this track and hear what shooting stars would sound like ... so I guess it has its place. It's just the beginning that's disconcerting. Track 3 ("Ether") is slow and lumbering, really nice to listen to when you're half-asleep! Pretty pianowork, valse simplise? "I'm going upstairs to turn my mind off." Eerie. I really like track 4 ("Paranoid Inlay"). I like the ratchety sounds and the dripping water and the high-pitched nocturnal sounds. It just feels really precise and mathematical to me. I really like Rose McDowall, and her vocal contribution to track 5 ("An Emergency") is a haunting, ethereal lead-in to track 6 ("Where are You?"). I was reading <<In the Lake of the Woods>> by Tim O'Brien when I first got this CD, so "Where are You?" really spooked me, as it was the perfect soundtrack. Track 7 ("Batwings (A Limnal Hymn)") is the last song on this album, and it cools things down. It is very soothing and sad, nice simple organ, more wind noises and theremins and other stuff. I never want this song to end and wish I could better describe it, because it is one of the most amazing songs I have ever heard. If you like
music(k), and want something beautiful to both comfort you and creep you out, I would definitely reccommend this CD to you. Oh yeah, it also has a really cool jacket and the CD has a really pretty purple moon on it.

P.S. Get v. 1, too!

The perfect counterpart to Musick, Volume 1... albeit darker, and less "cosmic" than its predecessor. Unfortunately, none of the songs on here are as strong as the inhumanly brilliant epic "Red Birds With Fly Out Of The East And Destroy Paris In a Night" found on Volume 1, but this is still a must-have for anyone into Coil, or dark ambient/electronic music in general. This brilliant duo of discs represents the best work of Coil's long career, IMO. Oh, and if you can't find Volume 1, just get this one for now - there isn't any real sense of continuity between discs, listening to them in any order won't hamper the experience.

As if the first volume of this set weren't hauntingly delicate enough, MTPITD vol2 is at least as breathtaking as its predecessor. Brilliant is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Coil, and this album is an affirmation of my respect. Droning, playful, almost child-like melodies scratch the back of your mind to lead you effortlessly from laughter to tears, and aptly back again.Vivid imagery flickers behind your eyes, inspired by Balance's sonorous ramblings. This album is a true continuation from the previous one, but taken to another level in the typical, atypical Coil fashion.

This is one of the best releases of coil. This is also a good start for people that doesn't know the band, some other titles requiere more attention.If you don't have it buy it before it's too late.

I have always had a love for Coil, but never felt they could do better than "Love's Secret Domain"...that is till now! This disc is chuck full of that Coil creativity that we all know and love! Electronics, distortions, space synths, manipulations, left to right speaker play. They must have used every trick in their bag for this one! This disc never gets stale! I feel it's far better than Vol. 1 I can't pick out a favorite as they all work well as a whole. There are a couple long pieces, that by the time they're finnished, you feel as if you had been transported through time, and space! Headphones are highly recommended! Get it while you can!