Clan of Xymox - Medusa (1986) MP3 & FLAC -For Mace Hane-

"A life blue on gloomy waves, I feel I am diving deeper into the darkest caves."

Arguably one of the finest albums released by 4AD during its mid-eighties heyday, Medusa by Clan of Xymox, is a masterfully constructed mix of wistful melancholia and orchestral Goth-Rock that is both darkly atmospheric and intermittently danceable. From the opening instrumental, "Theme I," it is clear that Clan of Xymox is striking out into new sonic territory. The song begins familiarly enough with a minor key arpeggio backed by gloomy keyboard washes, something straight out of the Dead Can Dance tool chest, but things take an uncharted turn at the midway point when a Greek flute is introduced into the mix. This effectively sets the tone for the rest of the album, which moves from beautiful pop songs such as the title track to proto-Trance numbers such as "Michelle." While many tout the band's next album, Twist of Shadows, as a more fully conceived project, Medusa claims the distinction of being Clan of Xymox's greatest creative achievement.

Michael Brook & Pieter Nooten- Sleeps with the Fishes (1987) MP3 & FLAC

This one-off collaboration between Michael Brook of Infinite Guitar fame and Clan of Xymox's Pieter Nooten is an absolute stunner, a largely forgotten gem in the expansive 4AD catalog that ranks with the best of the label's eighties-era releases. Similar in tone to This Mortal Coil but far more focused and sumptuous, Brooks' always impressive guitar work weaves and melts into meticulously constructed soundscapes, which are further fleshed out by cellos and ambient keyboard washes. While much of the album is instrumental, Pieter Nooten provides hushed vocals on several tracks, all of which rank among his finest performances on record. Released in 1987, Sleeps with the Fishes sounds like a logical (and quite beautiful) progression of both the dream-pop and dark ambient genres that bloomed during the eighties, and, in some ways, presages the direction Dead Can Dance would take on their final albums. Not to be missed.

Kendra Smith- Five Ways of Disappearing (1995) MP3 & FLAC

"Down to the sea in a drunken boat, no one can get to her tearing up the words she wrote."

Kendra Smith was a key figure in the "Paisley Underground" scene that flourished in and around Los Angeles during the 1980s, first as a founding member of The Dream Syndicate, and later teaming with ex-Rain Parade guitarist David Roback in a little-known but quite brilliant psych-rock venture, Opal, which would eventually permutate (after Smith's acrimonious exit) into Mazzy Star. By the time Smith recorded the appropriately titled Five Ways of Disappearing, she had retreated to the woods in Northern California, taking up the life of a recluse that she continues to this day. Her final album is an engaging mixture of the kind of psychedelic drone-rock that was her stock and trade in the eighties and some subtle World Beat elements that make Five Ways of Disappearing a much more varied album in terms of mood than her previous work allowed for. On "Valley of the Morning Sun," the album's lone single, Smith's trademark laconic vocals sound almost upbeat, though this is only relative to her earlier work. Much more in line with Smith's penchant for the darkside is her cover of Mimi and Richard Farina's "Bold Marauder," which sounds like an ominous sea shanty wrapped in a psychedelic drone. A lost gem by a lost artist, both being worthy of rediscovery.

Scott Walker Series, #8: Scott Walker- And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball? (2007) MP3 & FLAC

Ever wondered what a Modernist ballet score composed by Scott Walker might sound like? And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball?  was commissioned by London's South Bank Center in the hope of receiving a contemporary dance score, but could they have been prepared for the oblique descent into space-obliterating industrial hums and stark, atonal minimalism that Walker serves up here?  For those brave enough to have plumbed the unfathomable depths of Walker's recent (relatively speaking) Avant-garde work, this will sound like a even more "shaved down" (Walker's words) exercise in deconstructing listener expectations. For the rest, it could be rough-going, but then again, this could be said, to some extent, about all of Walker's best work since  Scott 3. Ultimately, there's just something deliciously ironic about a sparse atonal instrumental piece being penned by the owner of the most impossibly beautiful baritone imaginable.

Cocteau Twins- Victorialand (1986) MP3 & FLAC

Because bassist Simon Raymonde was busy at the time fulfilling his 4AD "house band" duties on the second This Mortal Coil album, Filigree & Shadow, the Cocteau Twins' fourth album, Victorialand, features, as strange as it is to say, a more "stripped-down" sound in comparison to their earlier work. This doesn't mean that the songs have lost any of their trademark reverb-drenched ethereal quality, but there is a bright spaciousness to Victorialand that makes it sound, if anything, more intimate. Employing very little percussion and without Raymonde's bass, Robin Guthrie's spidery arpeggios and Elizabeth Fraser's vocal peregrinations are even more evocative and engulfing, and the more pronounced use of acoustic guitar gives the album a brittle warmth in places that is unprecedented in their earlier work. There is, perhaps, no better point of entry to the Cocteau Twins' unique sound than Victorialand.

Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd- The Moon and the Melodies (1986) MP3 & FLAC -For Issi-

The Moon and the Melodies occupies an odd place in the Cocteau Twins' discography: while it contains a few of the band's better songs (e.g. "She Will Destroy You"), it was completely overlooked by Robin Guthrie when he remastered the Cocteau Twins catalog several years back. This slight reiterates its undeserved reputation as an inessential "ambient" album. While The Moon and the Melodies is not necessarily successful as a collaborative effort, in that it seems quite tentative in integrating the Cocteau Twins' unique vocal and guitar arrangements into Harold Budd's Eno-esque ambient soundscapes and vice versa, it does contain some memorable work by everyone involved. The final track, "Ooze Out and Away, Onehow" is, in particular, not to be missed.

Cocteau Twins- Garlands (1982) MP3 & FLAC

"At the bosom or the breast, of the forehead or the fist."

Easily the darkest and most straightforwardly Post-Punk album Cocteau Twins ever recorded, Garlands has a spare, desolate, insistently minor-key sound that owes a clear debt to Joy Division; however, what keeps the proceedings from sounding derivative are Robin Guthrie's spiraling guitar textures (far more primal than on future albums) and Elizabeth Fraser's vocals, which somehow manage to evoke beauty and dread simultaneously. While the album suffers a bit from the use of a drum machine and several songs that are overly repetitious (something rarely found on their later albums), Garlands manages to create a sound that, while not indicative of where Cocteau Twins were heading next, still played an important role in defining the 4AD sound of the early 80s.

Tarnation- Live (1996) (French Promo) MP3 & FLAC -For Chris-

"There is a restless weight upon me, in the shape of things to come."

Here's a rare Tarnation EP that was released in France as a promo in 1996 by 4AD. It is comprised of seven tracks recorded live in 1995 at Festival Fnac/Inrockuptibles, which makes this pretty desirable given that live recordings of this band (especially of 1995 vintage) are few and far between.

Tarnation- Mirador (1997) MP3 & FLAC

"What secrets lie behind an awful shade of blue?"

Yes, some of the dusty haze of Gentle Creatures has been lost to Mirador's more polished production; however, this only serves to bring Paula Frazer's breathtaking vocals into clearer focus, which, coupled with a more pronounced Country (as in Carter Family) influence in the songwriting, brings new vistas of dark desolation to Tarnation's sound. While the songwriting on Mirador is consistently excellent, special mention must be made of the cover of The Nightcrawlers' classic, "Little Black Egg." Great music for driving a barren desert at night.

Dif Juz- Extractions (1985) MP3 & FLAC

Mining sonic territory located somewhere between The Durutti Column and This Mortal Coil, Extractions, the only full-length Dif Juz ever recorded, offers a glimpse of what Post-Rock might have sounded like 4AD-style. This strange jem, now resigned to a forgotten corner of the 4AD back catalog, was produced by Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins fame and, not coincidentally, also features a vocal turn on "Love Insane" by the other Cocteau Twin, Elisabeth Fraser. Subtle and at times haunting, Extractions deserves a listen if only for the disorienting experience of hearing Richard Thomas' fine sax work weaving in and out of 4AD's trademark gloom like a seal swimming in a sea of black satin pillows.

Dead Can Dance- 1981-1998 (2001) Box Set (3 Discs) MP3 & FLAC

"The great mass play a waiting game, embalmed, crippled, dying in fear of pain."

The career trajectory and creative evolution of Dead Can Dance is quite amazing given the band's humble beginnings: an Australian Punk band called The Marching Girls who couldn't land a recording contract. Brendan Perry eventually quit this band to pursue a more experimental musical muse, which ultimately resulted in the formation of Dead Can Dance with Lisa Gerrard in 1981. Early on, they were a four piece Goth-Industrial outfit with a slightly more exotic sound than most of their peers. However, over the course of the next 20 years, Dead Can Dance would prove to be one of the most singular and timeless bands of the Post-Punk era, integrating Gregorian chant, African percussion, Eastern Folk idioms, and Classical influences such as Arvo Part into their musical palette. The box set 1981-1998 attempts the impossible task of summarizing Dead Can Dance's discography, and while each of their original eight albums is represented by several songs, these, without exception, are better heard in their original contexts. What makes this box set worthwhile for those already familiar with the band's work are the rarities, which, though not plentiful, are quite desirable. Chief among these is a complete John Peel session recorded in 1983, a year before releasing their first LP for 4AD. Even at this early stage in the band's development, Lisa Gerrard's peerless alto and Brendan Perry's strangely Sinatra-esque baritone sound transcendent and creatively restless. Needless to say, this is absolutely essential listening.

This Mortal Coil- Filigree & Shadow (1986) MP3 & FLAC -For Douxee-

"Notes that roll on winds with swirling wings, bring me words that are not the strength of strings."

If This Mortal Coil's first album, It'll End in Tears, felt, at times, a little too much like a 4AD talent sampler, albeit a more original approach to such a thing than the standard record label "comp" (see Lonely Is an Eyesore), the follow up album, Filigree & Shadow, avoids this by being far more ambitious musically and doing so with what had evolved into something resembling a 4AD "in-house" band. While This Mortal Coil's second album is noticeably lacking in 4AD star power (Liz Fraser, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry had all participated on the first album but are absent on the follow-up), vocalists such as Dominic Appleton, Alison Limerick and Deirdre & Louise Rutkowski more than ably lend the cover songs a distinctive feel, often succeeding in liberating them from their original contexts. However, tying these songs together by way of moody, atmospheric interludes are 13 instrumentals that, while listenable, are more forgettable than not. The overall effect of this is both the main strength and primary weakness of the album: sonically, it comes across as remarkably cohesive (a rare feat for a double album), but you also might find yourself skipping over the instrumentals in search of the gems, such as the cover of Pearl Before Swine's "The Jeweller," which alone is worth the price of admission.

Various Artists- Lonley Is an Eyesore: 4AD Compilation (1987) MP3 & FLAC

"Have a fish nailed to a cross on my apartment wall. It sings to me with glassy eyes and quotes from Kafka."

In a certain sense, Lonley Is an Eyesore functions as a time-capsule, a snapshot of Post-Punk circa the mid-Eighties, albeit a snapshot saturated with the particular shades and tinctures of the Goth-informed Dream-Pop of the 4AD stable. As a result, there is an aesthetic cohesiveness to this album that is unusual for a compilation, which stems from that fact that, to some extent, 4AD was pushing a particular (Ivo Watts-Russell produced) sound rather than the bands themselves. This approach was taken a step further with the This Mortal Coil releases, in which various 4AD artists were thrown together in the studio (under the control of Watts-Russell) to record cover songs dressed up in 4AD-style gloom. Despite this overriding emphasis on style over substance, Lonely Is an Eyesore holds up quite well 25 years later because it contains an intriguing mix of the influential (Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, Throwing Muses) and the obscure (Dif Juz, The Wolfgang Press, Clan of Xymox), all at the height of their powers. With the exception of the badly dated Colourbox contribution, this album still sounds fresh, dark, and revelatory, even if it is not quite the manifesto it was clearly conceived to be.

Dead Can Dance- "Frontier" Video (1984)

I've got some vintage 4AD in the works you guys, so here's a taster, some early Dead Can Dance:

Bauhaus- In the Flat Field (1980) Omnibus Edition (Bonus Disc) MP3 & FLAC

"Let me catch the slit of light, for a maiden's sake and maiden flight. In the flat field I do get bored, replace with Piccadilly whores."

While In the Flat Field is certainly one of the most influential Post-Punk albums ever recorded, it also enjoys a far more rarified distinction: its release (arguably) constituted the birth of a new genre, Goth(ic)-Rock. Irregardless of what that term means today, at the dawn of the eighties, it was a particularly minimalist branch of Post-Punk, which, somewhat ironically, had roots in the Glam-Rock scene of the early seventies, particularly Bowie, Iggy Pop, and T-Rex. Without a doubt, these influences cast a long shadow on Bauhaus, but on In the Flat Field, the band consistently exploits these shadows in original and diverse ways. For example, lead vocalist Peter Murphy sounds something like Iggy Pop channeling a vampiric Ziggy Stardust, somehow possessing just the right type of deranged charisma to pull it off convincingly, and Daniel Ash's scratchy, noisy, minimalist guitar work ably ignites both the chaos and the spaciousness of these songs, often achieving these effects simultaneously. A truly stunning debut that they were destined to never top.

The Big Pink- "Too Young to Love" (Delorean Remix) (2009) MP3

Here's an extra relating to the previous post. This remixed version of "Too Young to Love" is actually better than the album version.

The Big Pink- A Brief History of Love (2009) MP3 & FLAC -Links Sadly Removed-

"Into the dark and out of this world. Blow a kiss and burn it down. Together we'll live then turn to dust. Through the smoke and into the sun."

Yes, I'll admit that this is a band whose sound is not shy about revealing its influences, but who can argue with a concoction of My Bloody Valentine, Catherine Wheel, and Ride with some early Verve mixed in for good measure?  Despite my invocation of "spot-the-influence" (which is rarely a compliment) this mash-up really does come together, bending and twisting into something new and pretty damned irresistible (apparently Jaguar found "Dominos" pretty irresistible too). Underneath all the swagger and romantic vitriol (there's that pesky Verve again), there are some great songs on A Brief History of Love, which, in the end, is what makes an album worth returning to. Nevertheless, I am left with a lingering question: where does The Big Pink go from here? Here's hoping they don't take up an interest in pop culture shamanism, or they may end up like Verve.

The Big Pink- "Too Young to Love" Video (2009) 4AD

It's hard for me not to like a band that helps itself to generous servings of My Bloody Valentine and Verve, but what's with the name? Is it a house with a famous basement in Woodstock or a Freudian nightmare? More Big Pink to come (pardon the pun)...

Tarnation- Gentle Creatures (1995) MP3 & FLAC

"Where the gentle creatures roam, that is the place I call my home. You know I'll miss you when I'm gone, but I must be moving on."

Back in the mid-90s, a time when Alt. Country was not yet considered an anachronism and Indie chanteuse Neko Case was playing drums in a Punk band while going to art school, there was a band called Tarnation fronted by another ex-Punk drummer with a big country voice: Paula Frazer. Even more so than Case, Frazer is a torch singer, saturating every syllable with as much darkness and yearning as she can muster. The obvious touchstone here is Patsy Cline, and while Cline's iconic status is well-deserved, Frazer has a voice even Cline might have envied. Gentle Creatures is not for those who like their Alt. Country reverential (meaning traditional); this album was released on 4AD after all. You'll find no gentle acoustic ballads and sentimental odes to simpler times here; rather, Frazer's Gothic imagery and smoldering vocals coupled with spaghetti-western guitars and atmospheric production all coalesce into something truly "Alt." A forgotten classic by any standards.

Bauhaus- "Telegram Sam" Video (1980)

Here's a blistering T-Rex cover by Bauhaus- one of the best tracks they ever recorded: