Clan Of Xymox - Subsequent Pleasures

Fans of this seminal Art-Goth band will leap at the chance to add this rare and early material to their collections. The first five tracks were recorded in 1984 and released only in a limited run of 500 vinyl copies; the band later essentially suppressed distribution of the EP, and it's easy to understand why: As the band themselves admitted later, their skills were lacking at the time and the whole thing was mixed on a portable 4 track recorder. The tracks are the 1984 rerecorded versions after Pieter Nooten had joined Xymox. With "Muscoviet Mosquito" there are signs of better things to come, and "Abysmal Thoughts" actually features a fairly interesting (if repetitive) chord progression. The last six tracks are demos the band made for the 4AD label during the same period, and they already show a marked improvement: someone in the band figured out how to use the drum machine, the songs have more than two chords, and although the singing is still lacking at least it's now farther back in the mix.

Recommended primarily to diehard fans and to those who are mainly familiar with the band's later work and are interested in seeing how far they've come.

Xymox, also known as Clan of Xymox, were together for only a year or so by the time they released their EP Subsequent Pleasures.

Vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Ronny Moornings teamed up with bassist/vocalist Anka Wolbert, bought a bunch of 1983 state-of-the-art equipment and moved to Amsterdam before getting down to work. Their blend of the gothic and the romantic is one of those early ‘80s staples that has aged remarkably well. Subsequent Pleasures will certain satisfy many a vinyl collector. After all, the remastering job is just perfect. It could easily pass as something made today, considering the retro mood that everyone has been in lately.

The forms are cyclical and the mood is tense and brooding. The guitar is used as a textural instrument and the bass a rhythmic one and everything has a chorus-ey warble to it. The strange noises take a backseat in the mix to the clang and jangle of guitar and keys. At just 22 minutes, it neatly sums up the space that musicians were eager to fill up due to Joy Division’s absence.

The centrepiece of the EP is, debatably, a 4:31 Goth-pop nugget called “Moscovite Musquito”. Of the five original songs here, it’s the least affected one where the implied atmosphere does all of the talking. It’s got muttered verses, a Peter Hook-esque bassline and a conventional tonality. The four remaining songs play around with discord to varying degrees. “Strange 9 to 9” hangs in the air, waiting for a harmonic resolve. And when it does arrive, it’s greeted with a slippery guitar line and an Ian McCulloch yelp. “Abysmal Thoughts” sounds much like its title, if one could decipher what Moornings were saying. “Going Round” takes advantage of its title too, with a spinning polyphony reminiscent of “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” minus any pop inkling.

Subsequent Pleasures is for those times you felt that you missed out on the time when punk had melted into a confused, directionless industrial wasteland where scrap metal was king and prominent chart-toppers could kiss off.

Ripped from a dodgy CD re-release that’s now thankfully deleted to MP3

Clan Of Xymox; Subsequent Pleasures/Demos

1.      Going Round

2.      Muscovite Mosquito

3.      Strange 9 To 9

4.      Call It Weird

5.      Abysmal Thoughts

6.      A Day (Demo)

7.      Stumble And Fall (Demo)

8.      No Words (Demo)

9.      Stranger (Demo)

10.   Equal Ways (Demo)

11.   7th Time (Demo)