Clan of Xymox’s ‘Notes From The Underground’ turns 25 on 21 September
Clan of Xymox, the Dutch darkwave and gothic rock project led by Ronny Moorings, released “Notes From The Underground” on 21 September 2001 through Pandaimonium Records in Europe. The album turns 25 this year. Metropolis Records issued it in North America nine days later, on 30 September 2001. Moorings wrote, recorded and mixed all twelve tracks, and produced the record with Mojca Zugna.
It was the third studio album of the reformed Clan of Xymox era, after “Hidden Faces” from 1997 and “Creatures” from 1999. Three of its songs were already in circulation by the time it appeared. The “Liberty” CD single, issued by Pandaimonium on 20 October 2000 alongside the band’s double live album, carried “Liberty” together with “Number One” and “At Your Mercy”.
Clan of Xymox’s ‘Notes From The Underground’ tracklist and credits
The CD runs twelve tracks: “Innocent”, “I Want You Now”, “Internal Darkness”, “At Your Mercy”, “Anguish”, “Number One”, “Into Her Web”, “The Bitter Sweet”, “Liberty”, “Something Wrong”, “Mysterium” and “The Same Dream”. Dierk Budde mastered the album and Mojca Zugna made the sleeve artwork.
The band’s official biography states the record reached number 2 on the German DAC chart and topped the US Musicfolio poll for 2001. The same page quotes a Side-Line review of the album as reading “This album is to be seen as a milestone in the band’s discography towards which their previous efforts all converge, or emerge from.”
Pandaimonium returned to the material in May 2002 with “Remixes From The Underground”, a two-disc set that reworked every song on the album. Its contributors included Front 242, Assemblage 23, In Strict Confidence, Iris, Angels & Agony and Beborn Beton, and the limited edition added the band’s first video disc.
About Clan of Xymox
Ronny Moorings formed the band in 1981 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Its first release, the mini-album “Subsequent Pleasures”, appeared in 1983 in a run of 500 copies recorded on a four-track home setup. Demo material sent with it led to a deal with 4AD, and the self-titled album followed in 1985, cut at Palladium Studios in Edinburgh and co-produced with label head Ivo Watts-Russell. “Medusa” came next on the same label, and the band contributed “Muscoviet Musquito” to the 4AD compilation “Lonely Is An Eyesore” in 1987.
The group parted with 4AD in October 1988, signed to Wing, a PolyGram subsidiary, and shortened its name to Xymox. “Twist of Shadows” arrived in 1989 with the singles “Obsession”, “Imagination” and “Blind Hearts”; the band’s official biography puts its sales above 300,000 copies. “Phoenix” followed in 1991 and closed the Wing chapter when PolyGram wound the label down. “Metamorphosis” and “Headclouds” then came out on the UK independent Zok Records. Moorings also wrote music for two CD-ROM games in the same period, “Total Mayhem” in 1996 and “Revenant” a year later.
In 1997 Moorings ended the Xymox era, restarted the band as Clan of Xymox and signed to Tess Records. “Hidden Faces” appeared that year, produced by Dave M. Allen and John A. Rivers. “Creatures” followed in 1999, mixed by Rivers and Moorings, and moved the band to Metropolis Records in North America and Pandaimonium Records in Europe, the pairing that would also handle “Notes From The Underground”. The double live album “LIVE”, drawn from the band’s South and Central American shows, came out in October 2000.
“Farewell” arrived in 2003, and “The Best Of Clan Of Xymox”, with its running order chosen by a fan poll, in September 2004. The “Weak In My Knees” EP opened 2006 ahead of the album “Breaking Point”. In early 2009 the band moved to Trisol Records in Europe while staying with Metropolis in the United States, and “In Love We Trust” came out on 18 August 2009, covered in Clan of Xymox’s ‘In Love We Trust’ turns 17 on 18 August. The thirteenth studio album “Darkest Hour” followed on 20 May 2011, the covers set “Kindred Spirits” in October 2012 and “Matters Of Mind, Body And Soul” on 14 February 2014. “Days Of Black” arrived on 7 April 2017, reported in Clan Of Xymox return with new album: ‘Days Of Black’.
“Spider On The Wall” followed in 2020, announced in New Clan Of Xymox album ‘Spider On The Wall’ and video for ‘All I Ever Know’, and Moorings talked through his writing that September in Interview with Clan Of Xymox: ‘For Me A Lot Of These Memories Are Finished Stories Without A Soundtrack’. “Limbo”, written during the pandemic lockdowns, arrived in July 2021 and was previewed in Clan Of Xymox returns with all new album ‘Limbo’ in July. The eighteenth album “Exodus” followed in June 2024, reported in Clan Of Xymox announce new album for June: ‘Exodus’, with the “Blood of Christ” EP later that year and a 3CD edition of “Exodus” in February 2025. Moorings looked back across the full run in Ronny Moorings (Clan Of Xymox), an exclusive retrospective interview.
Moorings has been the only constant member and still writes, records and produces the band’s music. The live line-up is Moorings on vocals, guitar and melodica, Mojca Zugna on bass, Mario Usai on guitar and bass, and Sean Winzer on keyboards, synth drums and backing vocals. Twenty-five years on, “Notes From The Underground” sits between “Creatures” and “Farewell” in that sequence.
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Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
