57 minutes, 30 seconds

Clan of Xymox
Clan of Xymox

"Like New Order, only more morose." I dimly remember some critic or other describing Clan of Xymox this way, and for all its flippancy, it's not too far off the mark. I'm not a synth-pop fan, but there's something I hear in the first two albums by this band that strikes me as different. Maybe it's the association with the 4AD label and label head Ivo Watts-Russell's artful production work. But more likely it's the moody instrumental presence of Pieter Nooten, who would leave the band sometime in the late '80s. (Where is he now?)

At any rate, good stuff on a Sunday.

Also today:

57:30 Stereotaxic Device, Stereotaxic Device
57:29 Skinny Puppy, Back and Forth Six
57:29 Tzolk'in, Tzolk'in
57:28 Brian Eno, The Shutov Assembly