Coil

Coil was "like a snake shedding its skin," transforming into something "completely different" every six months; in preparing for 2004’s Even an Evil Fatigue live series, Coil began work on their next period-defining masterpiece Black Antlers. Black Antlers showcases late-period Coil: stripped down, tighter, and leaner. The music became more rhythmic, with a greater emphasis on beats: "the songs we did tend to be more... not rock in any sense of a word, but you know, more conventional in terms of structure, but now what we're doing is sort of within an 'electronic' genre."

Black Antlers's sound is an intoxicating energy, combining Thighpaulsandra's advanced synthesis, Balance's poetic lyricism, and Christopherson's flirtations with jazz and Ableton-aided PowerBook maximalism. Rounding out the trio were renowned hurdy-gurdy player Cliff Stapleton on a "specifically commissioned" electric variant, to merge into the band’s "strange and other-worldly music"; Royal Academy of Music trained percussionist Tom Edwards (who also appeared with Thighpaulsandra in Spiritualized’s live band); and European and Near East winds specialist Mike York on pipes, bombarde, duduk, and balalaika.