Biography
Ivan Pavlov operates under the performing alias CoH, a Russian term denoting sleep and pronounced identically to the English word son. Since the closing years of the 1990s this project has stood among the most distinctive laptop-based creators operating in the experimental electronica underground. Compositions built largely from digital glitches and clicks nevertheless accommodate both humor and a lyrical dimension. Albums have appeared on Raster-Noton, Mego, and SouRce Research Recordings.
Details surrounding Pavlov remain scarce; he maintains a low profile. Born in Russia, he relocated to Sweden in 1996 and works as an acoustic engineer. Initial visibility on the experimental electronica circuit arrived via successive Rastermusic releases and live appearances alongside Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, and other artists on that roster. The 1997 sessions that became Mask of Birth surfaced only three years afterward; the resolutely post-techno album evoked both disco culture and 1980s underground dance music. Enter Tinnitus, the first proper full-length, emerged on Raster-Noton in 1998 and was followed by a contribution to the label’s 20’ to 2000 series, which also featured members of Coil. That association continued with 2001’s Love Uncut on Coil’s Eskaton imprint, a release paying tribute to alternative 1980s sounds and representing CoH’s most dance-oriented work since Mask of Birth. Between those EPs, Iron appeared on Raster-Noton as a playful album aimed at heavy-metal listeners. The year 2002 saw the arrival of Netmörk on SouRce Research, CoH’s most austere statement to that point, together with a contribution to the Mort Aux Vaches series. A spare, minimal EP titled Electric Electric followed on Mego in 2003.
Pavlov participated in Coil’s three-CD/DVD box set ANS in 2004, recorded on the sole existing ANS Synthesizer at Moscow State University. That same year Mutek issued the debut Chessmachine recording, documenting Pavlov’s collaboration with Richard Chartier. The self-titled album assembled solo pieces the two artists created between 2001 and 2003 and exchanged as digital files. They performed together in Los Angeles in early 2005; Line later documented the concert. CoH resurfaced in 2005 with the double-CD 0397 Post-Pop on Mego, pairing recent material with the project’s earliest 1997 recording, previously shared only with a handful of acquaintances. Above Air, CoH’s final Eskaton release, appeared in 2006 and was dedicated to Coil’s John Balance, who died in 2004.
CoH rejoined Raster-Noton in 2006 for the rhythmic Patherns EP and followed it in 2007 with the abstract electro-acoustic double-CD Strings. A limited CD-R titled Super Suprematism also surfaced that year. Pavlov and Coil’s Peter Christopherson launched the project Soisong in 2007, issuing a handful of extremely limited CDs through their website and performing a small number of concerts across Asia and Europe. In 2008 CoH collaborated with Christopherson’s former Throbbing Gristle bandmate Cosey Fanni Tutti on the Raster-Noton album CoH Plays Cosey. Dzerzhinsk-9, a 12" EP drawn from a 1996 session with Dao, appeared on Tourette Records in 2009.
Rotorelief issued Z-Rated in 2010, an album of rare and previously unreleased CoH tracks from the 1990s. Further 2010 releases included the album 3 Girls Mixed Up with Hidenobu Ito on Elegant Disc and the 7" Yellow with Little Annie on Tourette Records. The first CoH outing on Editions Mego, successor to the original Mego label, arrived in 2011 as Iiron, a sequel to the 2000 metal-oriented Iron album. A limited shaped CD titled Soisong appeared in 2012, containing piano-driven ambient pieces originally planned as a split EP with Christopherson, who died in 2010. The abstract yet upbeat Retro-2038 surfaced on Editions Mego in 2013; To Beat followed in 2014, with the vinyl-only edition To Beat or Not to Beat adding a second disc of remixes by Matmos, Ryuichi Sakamoto, J.G. Thirlwell, and others. CoH appeared on a split 7" with Dada 999 in 2015 on Nouvelle Nicotine. The year 2016 marked CoH’s first United States tour and brought the Ge-Stell EP Return to Mechanics together with another Editions Mego album, Music Vol.
Details surrounding Pavlov remain scarce; he maintains a low profile. Born in Russia, he relocated to Sweden in 1996 and works as an acoustic engineer. Initial visibility on the experimental electronica circuit arrived via successive Rastermusic releases and live appearances alongside Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, and other artists on that roster. The 1997 sessions that became Mask of Birth surfaced only three years afterward; the resolutely post-techno album evoked both disco culture and 1980s underground dance music. Enter Tinnitus, the first proper full-length, emerged on Raster-Noton in 1998 and was followed by a contribution to the label’s 20’ to 2000 series, which also featured members of Coil. That association continued with 2001’s Love Uncut on Coil’s Eskaton imprint, a release paying tribute to alternative 1980s sounds and representing CoH’s most dance-oriented work since Mask of Birth. Between those EPs, Iron appeared on Raster-Noton as a playful album aimed at heavy-metal listeners. The year 2002 saw the arrival of Netmörk on SouRce Research, CoH’s most austere statement to that point, together with a contribution to the Mort Aux Vaches series. A spare, minimal EP titled Electric Electric followed on Mego in 2003.
Pavlov participated in Coil’s three-CD/DVD box set ANS in 2004, recorded on the sole existing ANS Synthesizer at Moscow State University. That same year Mutek issued the debut Chessmachine recording, documenting Pavlov’s collaboration with Richard Chartier. The self-titled album assembled solo pieces the two artists created between 2001 and 2003 and exchanged as digital files. They performed together in Los Angeles in early 2005; Line later documented the concert. CoH resurfaced in 2005 with the double-CD 0397 Post-Pop on Mego, pairing recent material with the project’s earliest 1997 recording, previously shared only with a handful of acquaintances. Above Air, CoH’s final Eskaton release, appeared in 2006 and was dedicated to Coil’s John Balance, who died in 2004.
CoH rejoined Raster-Noton in 2006 for the rhythmic Patherns EP and followed it in 2007 with the abstract electro-acoustic double-CD Strings. A limited CD-R titled Super Suprematism also surfaced that year. Pavlov and Coil’s Peter Christopherson launched the project Soisong in 2007, issuing a handful of extremely limited CDs through their website and performing a small number of concerts across Asia and Europe. In 2008 CoH collaborated with Christopherson’s former Throbbing Gristle bandmate Cosey Fanni Tutti on the Raster-Noton album CoH Plays Cosey. Dzerzhinsk-9, a 12" EP drawn from a 1996 session with Dao, appeared on Tourette Records in 2009.
Rotorelief issued Z-Rated in 2010, an album of rare and previously unreleased CoH tracks from the 1990s. Further 2010 releases included the album 3 Girls Mixed Up with Hidenobu Ito on Elegant Disc and the 7" Yellow with Little Annie on Tourette Records. The first CoH outing on Editions Mego, successor to the original Mego label, arrived in 2011 as Iiron, a sequel to the 2000 metal-oriented Iron album. A limited shaped CD titled Soisong appeared in 2012, containing piano-driven ambient pieces originally planned as a split EP with Christopherson, who died in 2010. The abstract yet upbeat Retro-2038 surfaced on Editions Mego in 2013; To Beat followed in 2014, with the vinyl-only edition To Beat or Not to Beat adding a second disc of remixes by Matmos, Ryuichi Sakamoto, J.G. Thirlwell, and others. CoH appeared on a split 7" with Dada 999 in 2015 on Nouvelle Nicotine. The year 2016 marked CoH’s first United States tour and brought the Ge-Stell EP Return to Mechanics together with another Editions Mego album, Music Vol.
Albums
Radiant Faults
2023
WYGG [While Your Guitar Gently]
2022
MUSIC VO
2020
COHGS
2017
MUSIC VOL.
2016
TO BEAT
2014
Retro-2038
2013
STRINGS
2008
PATHERNS E.P.
2006
0397POST-POP
2005
IIRON
2000
[o]acis tracks
2000
MASK OF BIRTH
2000
Mask of Birth
2000
ENTER TINNITUS
1998
Singles
