ZOS KIA / COIL - 'Transparent'



CSR230TS (9 January 2017)
Black shirt featuring album cover art. Fruit Of The Loom Heavy Cotton



ZOS KIA was formed by John Gosling (MEKON), John Balance (COIL) and Min - with guest Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson (THROBBING GRISTLE). Their one and only album, Transparent, was released August 23rd 1983 in a cassette only edition on the now defunct Nekrophile label, Austria. They were the first released recordings of both COIL and ZOS KIA. It was reissued years later by COIL (Threshold House / Eskaton) in an edited edition. The entire recordings are now released on CD/vinyl for the first time and are completely remastered from the unedited tapes. Includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks by AKE (pre-ZOS KIA).

The music on Transparent is genuinely unsettling and disturbing, with a more primal Industrial feel than the Coil album which followed; 'Scatology'. An essential insight into the very early work of these extraordinary artists and an undeniable link between Coil and Throbbing Gristle.

Booklet contains unseen images.

Track listing:

1. ZOS KIA 'Sicktone'
2. ZOS KIA 'Baptism Of Fire'
3. ZOS KIA 'Violations'
4. ZOS KIA 'Poisons'
5. ZOS KIA 'Truth'
6. COIL / ZOS KIA 'Sewn Open'
7. COIL / ZOS KIA 'Sicktone'
8. COIL / ZOS KIA 'Silence And Sorcery (Section)'
9. COIL / ZOS KIA 'Truth (Version)'
10. COIL / ZOS KIA 'Stealing The Words'
11. COIL / ZOS KIA 'On Balance'
12. AKE 'No Mas'
13. AKE 'Rape Live @ Equinox'

Reviews:

"Transparent serves as a wonderful archival piece and snapshot of a moment in time for both Coil and Zos Kia as well as the wider early industrial scene as a whole, and as such is more than a worthy addition to any collection of both bands and the genre." (Heathen Harvest)

"this music represents the first attempts to remove shock tactics from industrial music moving towards more complex musical settlement. History." (5/5, Chain DLK)

The music found on Transparent is primal, brutal revealing the interests that surrounded Coil, Zos Kia and the early years of Thee Temple ov Psychic Youth (TOPY) / Psychic TV... Transparent represents a time that was fertile but also a futile explosion of juvenile energy fusing drugs, drink, music, art and action that helped shape an entire generation of outsider musicians, most of whom continue to this day." (Compulsion)

"Cold Spring desentierra una de las obras más oscuras y radicales de la banda post industrial más laureada del último cuarto del siglo pasado: Coil. Transparent es un documento único grabado en directo que rescata los primeros pasos de John Balance... Uno de los álbumes más enigmáticos de la desaparecida banda británica que sirve de testimonio para ilustrar sus orígenes." (Nomelody Magazine)

"Si tratta, tirando le somme, di un’ottima operazione di recupero, che ha rimasterizzato il tutto dai nastri originali dell’epoca. La Cold Spring ci riconsegna un lavoro che, pur nella sua frammentarietà, fornisce uno squarcio veritiero sull’industrial primigenio da cui sono emersi anche i Coil. Da qui si riparte: molti artisti di oggi sembrano sempre più interessati a recuperare e rielaborare un certo sound e certe forme espressive che viaggiano attraverso i tempi, pur mutandosi e riadattandosi al “no future” che ci aspetta." (OndaRock)

"In definitiva Transparent si rivela un tassello imprescindibile per chi voglia approfondire la genesi e le radici del post-industriale esoterico e di un gruppo che ha lasciato un grande vuoto come i Coil... Cold Spring compie un’altra operazione di recupero dell’archivio Coil, disseppellendo dall’oblio delle registrazioni ancora grezze ma in ogni caso importanti". (Ver Sacrum)