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.

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.