Coley was a contributing writer and the Underground Editor at Spin in the 1980s and '90s, and currently writes for Wire and Arthur with Thurston Moore.
He has also run Ecstatic Yod, a record label and shop based in Florence, Massachusetts.
[2] Coley has contributed liner notes to albums by the Flesh Eaters, Borbetomagus, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., The Dream Syndicate, Big Boys, Yo La Tengo, John Fahey, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Flaherty/Corsano duo, Urinals, and numerous others.
He has also appeared in documentaries about musical artists Half Japanese, Minutemen, Jandek, The Holy Modal Rounders and Borbetomagus, in each extolling the genius of the subject matter.
For the 2007 Deluxe Edition of Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, he contributed to the liner notes with a reflective essay on the album.