Customer Reviews

Worship the Glitch

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got this album when I was 14 years old, and I can remember putting it on while I was falling asleep. There's something jarring but relaxing about the album's hypnotic soundscapes, and it is still my favorite Coil album.

It would not be the album that I'd recommend for a first time listener though... That would probably be either Horse Rotovator or Love's Secret Domain, which are more accessible and structured.

The Elph vs Coil "Worship the Glitch" album was actually a collection of sound design sessions between Peter Christopherson and Jhon Balance. Elph is not a real group, but rather the name Coil gave themselves for the project. The tracks are atmospheric sound "auditions," rather than actual songs.

That being said, the music contained in this collection is entirely unique and haunting, and it digs right to the dark core of Coil's beautiful/tragic universe of sound. There's something simultaneously frail and foreboding about the "songs," and it may be offputting for the average listener, but to an electronic musician (or lover of sound design), it's an indespensible CD.

This is one of the records that influenced my decision to become an electronic musician, and still it remains a primary reference for inspiration. "Dark Start" is (for me) an almost immediate release from writers block.. it just plants you in an visual enviornment. There are many tracks on the album that accomplish this atmospheric and visually suggestive nature; namely "The Halliwell Hammers" and "Caged Birds," which (like the title suggests) is mostly composed of echoey birdsong and chirping... although it somehow possesses an element of lonliness and peace that I cannot pinpoint. The elusiveness of the evocative power of Coil's music is one of their most signature and vital elements, and I can think of no other album they've made where it is so beautifully presented and exposed.

For me personally, Worship the Glitch holds an additional nostalgic relevance, but I can be certain that if I were introduced to it today it would still be equally revelatory. As a child it was the music that colored my nightmares, and I can still think of no other group that produces music so chilling and eerily suggestive. There's a real and authentic mystery to Coil's music, and Worship the Glitch captures it in what in what could perhaps be considered its raw state.

For fans, it's absolutely required. For electronic musicians it should be considered required listening. It is a somewhat rare album now, but it's worth every penny. I hold Worship the Glitch up to a different standard, and to me it is much more than "just an album." It's something like a reference and a routine experience.

Alot of people did not like this album because they listened to it with alot of pre-concieved expectations. Coil normally has alot of tangeble and easily percieved sounds. They have quite a few dance floor tunes as well, but this album to me is simply an experiment into creating sounds that explore the worlds of audio that lie between the crevaces of "normal" sounds. Worship the Glitch. Paying tribute to the beautiful chaos that undulates and shows itself in pure form as rarely as a four leaf clover. Being somewhat of a connoisseur of bizzare audio I give this a 5.

A sort-of offshoot of Coil, this release finds them exploring barebones ambience. Not as drone oriented as the later Time Machines material, this release is based on the premise of false starts, mistakes, sounds that shouldn't have happened. The result is surprisingly fragile and stark. A bit more abstract and sterile than most of Coil's repertoire but worthwhile nonetheless. (This is a reissue of an album that was released in 1996.)

this album is simply beautiful in it's crisp simplicity. the tracks are all interesting and cohesive. the ideas just materialize into living, pulsing digital entities. at first i thought it was just going to be another abstract Coil-thing, but this record has a character all it's own. the artwork perfectly suggests and illustrates what you will hear: "digital" soundscapes that are wonderfully odd and colorful in their own darkly, glitched way. it has a subtle, creeping menace that lingers throughout...just listen!

This album is beautiful, subtle, amazing. It is different from a lot of Coil in its profound, secretive, nocturnal stillness. It is simple and sparse but as deep as space, colors both unfathomably dark and breathtakingly luminous. Drones and drones sliding and tunneling, faint shapes instead of beats, cool and cold textures. Listen to it and you will become completely still. Inside dark cold emptiness with the occasional shimmer of something that you can't identify, getting fainter and fainter until entirely disappearing. Listen to it if you want Coil for disappearing

It is obvious that the one individual who truly didn't like this release seems to favor the more song format focused albums. Which makes me wonder why he never listened to Horse Rotorvator. I adised him to. I evne categorized the releses, as best I could. While not my favorite coil related album, it has some of my favorite atmospheric elements. Formost probably the Halliwell Hammers tracks. This is not an effort to creat a formatted album. It is according to coil, not even them playing so much as them recording. They only record under the Elph name with certain equipment, when the moments are right. The consider these recordings almost transmissions of the psyche. If you view it as such, and are loking for some experimental electronic soundscapes, then you will no doubt truly enjoy this disc. Also I firmly believe this album benefits from multiple listens. It is absolutley perect for what it is.

On "Worship the Glitch", Coil proves their music can be brilliantly multifaceted and evocative even when stripped down to simple, 1-6 minute sound experiments, devoid of vocals and conceptualization.

This album has a sort of emotional maturity in its laid back reflection; it brings to mind images of ancient ruins, sitting partially intact in the sun for years and years, their spiritual energy never diminishing. There is no urgency here, and yet there is a not a dull moment. Every track has only a few ideas, but each lasts just long enough.

The sounds themselves are lovely, and beautifully mixed and produced... Synthetic, quietly buzzing, never harsh. Some almost resemble voices. To those who have heard "Black Light District: A Thousand Lights in a Darkened Room" (in my opinion their best album), the sound palette here is very similar, but much lighter. Where "Black Light District" was, like most Coil, night music, this is day music, or specifically morning music.

In conclusion, even though this is technically a 'minor' Coil release, and a very bad representation of their style in general, it is truly a gem. Anyone who is adventurous, into electronic synthesis or especially already a fan of "Black Light District" should really check it out.