Coil was one of those bands in my record collection I was almost ashamed to admit I liked. Probably because people would hear me listening to it and say, “you like this? Regardless, Coil had a pedigree to blaze trails, being founded by a founding member of Throbbing Gristle, and blaze Coil did. In fact, Coil produced some of the most routinely provoking and disturbing music in my collection—stuff that makes supposed “scary” music like Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson seem like, well, like Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson: totally not scary. Maybe it was the teenager in me, but Coil used to scare the living shit out of me and some of my friends. In fact, my friend Perry and I used to freak out to Coil’s aborted soundtrack to Clive Barker’s Hellraiser film despite the fact that we never figured out if it was supposed to be played on 33 or 45.

I haven’t followed their more recent work. But still, it was a bummer to learn of the death of John Balance in a tragic, drunken fall.

I decided I’d give Coil a listen today, considering the news and all, but then realized that every recording I own by them is on vinyl and, once again, my needle is broken (as an aside, I’d be willing to guess that, despite having something like 2000 albums, I’ve spent two-three years of my life with “broken” needles—maybe it’s time to sell the records). Therefore, I turned to digital. Play this one in the dark:

First the Dirt Dog, and now the Dirty Dog.