Album Review: Coil - Time Machines

Time Machines by Coil
Release Date: January 1998
Length: 73:32
Tracks: 4
Label: Eskaton
Rating: 4.5/5









This will be one of the occasional album reviews on this blog and I should state a few things before I continue with the review. The point of many of these albums is to try and review albums that could serve as background music while reading a novel, or, justified as 'dystopic' by my twisted logic. I would make the argument that probably a large majority of people will not like the music, as it is often soundscape, drone, or otherwise (arguably) repetitive or questionable as music as its traditionally understood. I like drone as it serves as white noise in a way for me, to keep that part of my mind easily distracted by other things ...well... distracted and I can focus on reading or, as is most often the case, writing.

Time Machines is a electronic drone album by Coil, a leading band in industrial drone and experimental music. The album consists primarily of differing levels of synthesizer drones that oscillate at differing rates. Supposedly the concept behind this album is to facilitate time travel, should the process ever come about. Regardless of all that, the tracks do seem to provide the soundtrack to what one would witness should they time travel as seen in the time machine films.

Other than I suppose the general categorization as electronic drone music to build a layered wall of sound, I can't think of much else to describe it. The electronic music is not the harsh tones seen in a lot of techno music, rather a unrelenting thrumming tones that last for minutes upon minutes.

Definitely I would categorize this as background music and it definitely isn't for everyone. My personal favorite is track four. The CD is OOP but I will put links up to the tracks on you tube for those interested.

Track 1: 7-Methoxy-ß-Carboline: (Telepathine)
Track 2: 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Ethyl-Amphetamine: (DOET/Hecate)
Track 3: 5-Methoxy-N, N-Dimethyltryptamine: (5-MeO-DMT)
Track 4: 4-Indolol, 3-[2-(Dimethylamino)Ethyl], Phosphate Ester: (Psilocybin)