Originally released nearly 20 years ago to commemorate Coil’s debut performance in Russia, and out-of-print for nearly as long, A Guide For Beginners is simply the ultimate introduction to one of the strangest bands of all time. Coil were ostensibly part of the nebulous, artsy postindustrial scene of the early 80s, but nothing John Balance and Peter Christopherson did ever sounded remotely like anything else that was happening, either at the time, before or since. Relentlessly unsettling but always unpredictable, the duo’s music glitched and shimmered at some alien midpoint between electronica, noise, experimental rock and the wildest corners of the avant-garde. A carefully compiled retrospective, this two-volume set encapsulates the deranged fearlessness of Coil’s first two decades quite perfectly.