AMG EXPERT REVIEW: First in a series of releases meant to, indeed, cover the band’s many compilation appearances, this collection of material also serves as an overview of VanPortfleet and company’s recording history. Subtitled "The Arizona Years," Compilation Appearances consists of material composed and recorded from 1990 to 1994, when the group was based out of Phoenix. While more fractured than Lycia’s full-length releases, given that the almost severe uniformity of mood the albums demand from a listener, the individual joys of VanPortfleet’s darkly appealing music more than make up for it. Arranged chronologically, the collection begins with cuts from an early Projekt label sampler, done when Fair still worked with VanPortfleet. The aggressive drumming on "Down" alone marks out the song as distinct from the shadowy howl of Lycia’s other early material, while VanPortfleet’s vocal rasp is astonishingly clear, much different from his usual echoing shroud. From there the tracks include both outtakes and alternate versions from regular albums like Ionia and A Day in the Stark Corner and selections from aborted sessions and side projects. Perhaps the most fascinating material comes courtesy of a stillborn effort entitled "Dust." While consisting of the usual performers -- Galas mixed its five tracks, while Fair rejoined VanPortfleet to handle drum programming -- here Lycia aim for an in-your-face approach that’s reminiscent of Bleak, but even more amped up and out for blood. Two intriguing covers come from the Of These Reminders release on Projekt, consisting of that label’s acts reworking songs by its flagship group, Black Tape for a Blue Girl. The fusion of Lycia’s performing style with Black Tape’s emotional extremes makes for a thrilling combination. In light of Lycia’s uncertain existence in the 21st century, this album makes for a must-have for fans and a reasonable start for newcomers alike.
-- Ned Raggett

Since Mike Van Portfleet decided to call an end to Lycia, he's been in the archival spirit, and has gathered together a dozen mostly out-of-print compilation tracks plus the much sought-after Dust sessions.

Lycia's sound has never really changed over the years; scathingly atmospheric and isolationistic, Van Portfleet has driven his project through the reaches of utter nihilism and distraught solitude. Walls of clawed and crawling sound, voids of echoes and reverberations and nightmarishly processed guitars characterise Lycia's desolate sound.

"Excade Decade Decada" is probably one of the greatest Lycia songs ever recorded, with it's bleakly howling background and ominous towering walls of darkness and isolation, and Van Portfleet's rough emotive voice simply droning in the chaos. "Byzantine" is likewise great, though built on a more songlike structure, it was re-released also on Projekt's 100th release compilation. "The Deception" is a plodding and trancelike instrumental based on a dense drum-beat underpinned by screeching guitar trailing behind in the dust. Songs like "Down" and "Nine Hours Later" and "Sleepless" invoke the smoky past of early 80's gothic music, particularly Faith and Seventeen Seconds-era Cure; driven by slowly screaming and overly processed guitars and simple bass lines. "The Facade Fades" returns to the dense isolationistic desolation of "Excade" and "Byzantine," propelled by a machine-like drum-machine beat and multi-layered rhythms and sound structures. One live track, "Wake," is not as layered and dense as the others, but maintains a sleepy groove and overcast sea-side atmosphere. "Across A Thousand Blades" has an urgency the other songs do not possess and a slightly malign quality, and alongside "This Lush Garden Within" marks Lycia's incorporation into the Projekt family, since the last two are covers of Black Tape For A Blue Girl (Projekt label head Sam Rosenthal's band).

The Dust songs are the products of a side project with John Fair. Dust sound exactly like Lycia, though with an underlying pop-song structure; the five tracks here are have more energy to them and while totally instrumental, are in a standard song format and not the linear Lycia style.

One of the best things about Lycia is Mike VanPortfleet's honesty in his music; he is not caught up in the stylistic pretentiousness of goth, and his music seems to come straight from the imagination and heart. The release of Compilation Appearances should introduce Lycia to a new audience, unfamiliar with Van Portfleet's work, and show what an essential and innovative project Lycia was, and how valuable the back catalogue really is.
- Phosphor

Lycia's A Day in the Stark Corner (1993) was the first Projekt CD I bought, and is still one of my favorites. Its chill gothic ambience captured perfectly a certain sense of morbid isolation blossoming into the corpse-flower of bitterness that turns even the brightest day into blackest night. I remember being surprised then that Lycia's frigid synths and shards of icy guitar had emanated from Mike VanPortfleet's home in Arizona rather than some Antarctic realm closer to Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness, and that fact still amazes me eight years later as I listen to this CD of Lycia's compilation appearances "recorded between 1990 and 1994--the Arizona years" (according to the CD's subtitle).

Probably the biggest surprise for me on this mostly excellent 70-minute-plus collection was how much of Lycia's early material falls pretty comfortably into the gothic rock realm, even though I'd always thought of the group as being more ambient in tone. Partly this results from a trick of fate, as VanPortfleet explained in the liner notes to Projekt 100 (on which two of the tracks on this CD first appeared); he had recorded almost a full album's worth of harsher material under the working title Byzantine, but shelved it "when the initial mixing sessions produced nothing more than uncontrolled mud." The album that eventually resulted was 1991's Ionia, which was much more ambient-sounding. Both the tracks here from the Byzantine sessions combine deep, Andrew Eldritch or Carl McCoy-like intoned vocals with heavy beats and noisy, fuzzed-out guitars; "Excade Decade Decada" suffocates you with incredibly dark synth atmospheres and a voice from the crypt begging you to "take this away," while the hypnotic voice on "Byzantine" intones its almost-subliminal messages in an echoing whisper buried under layer upon layer of distortion.

Given how much I loved A Day in the Stark Corner, it should come as no surprise that I also really enjoyed "Everything Is Cold," originally recorded during the sessions for that album. A heavy, cold, hammering beat in back mixes with pretty but disturbingly off-key acoustic guitar and VanPortfleet's characteristically enigmatic lyrics to create a feeling of madness settling softly around your hunched shoulders like a gray, isolating shroud. "The Facade Fades" (from the 1993 compilation Love and Hate) takes a more straight-ahead goth/industrial approach, with slightly cliched but still cool lyrics and a really fine bass line.

All in all, this CD is an excellent collection of Lycia's early work, essential for their fans, and a great introduction to the group for everyone else.
- Dave Aftandilian

When Mike VanPortfleet began making music, his idea was to create compositions that resonated with an internal muse, often diametrically opposed to what the whims of the major music labels may have been at any given time. This expounded notion to play from the heart, whether performing in a studio or before a live audience of 5 or 500, has been Lycia's trademark. In essence, VanPortfleet and the Lycia members have utilized the belief of creativity as an expressive force, gladly making it available to anyone who wanted to hear it. Those fortunate to have seen them play live always reported the almost ecstatic passion with the band's delivery on stage.

This uncomplicated approach with making music as art has intrigued and delighted fans worldwide, securing the band's continuously growing underground phenomenon. Lycia has since disbanded, largely due to VanPortfleet's continuous battle with diabetes, however their 10-year reign as one of the top goth/ambient artists is thus far unparalleled. All of the members continue to create music, however the grind of live tours is now behind them. The Compilation Appearances CD includes a wide range of styles, from post-punk to electronic ambient. These are 17 rare tracks from the early Lycia years as well as the entire Dust sessions, a Lycia instrumental side project. It is a great introduction for new fans as well as a delightful gem for the die-hard fans who thought they had all of Lycia's work in their collection. This is also Lycia before Tara VanFlower added her vocal talents to the work, which didn't arise until October 1994.

The music delves into the darkest corners beyond the recesses of one's imagination as well as soars through optimistic heights. No one can ever accuse Lycia of being pigeonholed to one style, though there have been many imitators along the way. The work simply shimmers and glistens no matter what type of light or lack thereof that it is exposed to. The work, then as well as now, breaks new ground which often defies description. The graphic works on the CD sleeve are culled from Mike VanPortfleet's own personal photographic collection, treating us to another facet of his artistic ability. We are further exposed to his propensity to see the world with a keen eye for detail and precision. One can't help but hear music jumping out from the photographs, as their line and structure are as sleek as any note Lycia ever recorded.

In an underground world where bands are trying to imitate the latest synth-pop craze to make some musical headway, Lycia managed to remain the Rumplestiltskin of the music world, weaving melodies that gleam like gold in the moonlit night. Even today, VanPortfleet et al have been continuously crafting music, cranking out so many side projects that even the most ardent fan would have a tough time keeping up. All of the work from this disc represents an unpretentious parameter of artists whose work is fully approachable without being commercial. It is a great overview of some of Lycia's work, some previously available while others were never available to the public before now. The best way to really sum up Lycia is to equate the music with a museum masterpiece. The music, as well as the painted canvas, requires time to absorb, reflect and cogitate from various angles. Sadly, we have too many people today looking for the latest fad with a quarter beat who rarely stop to notice great art, painted or otherwise. Those who manage to go within themselves to understand where an artist's focus is coming from are more richly rewarded for the experience. Projekt Records promises that this is only a first in a series of many more archived Lycia releases. If you haven't purchased a Lycia CD yet, you may want to start with this one since it is the latest as well as a flashback to the beginning of what became the benchmark for the gothic ethereal world.
-Mike Ventarola

HAUNTING AMBIENCE, MELODIC DIRGES, AND GOTHIC ROCK: |3 out of 5 | The vast, imposing sound of Lycia's early music always reminds me of the blinding desolation of the Arizona desert that inspired them. For the first few years from 1988 to 1994, Mike VanPortfleet struggled with his fledgling project, conjuring tracks like the dark industrial of "Excade Decade Decada" and the Bauhaus inspired "Down" with drummer John Fair. The first in a pair of Lycia archival releases, this compilation offers these exquisite tracks as well as other rare songs from the project's early years in Tempe, Arizona before vocalist Tara VanFlower joined the band. Arranged in chronological order, the collection lurches through seventeen tracks without the smoth transition expected from a regular full-length album. But the delight in discovering tracks like "The Deception" more than makes up for that. Previously unreleased, this haunting ambient piece was recorded in 1991 during the Ionia sessions. Many of the other songs are reworked releases from albums like Ionia and A Day in the Stark Corner , and a live version of "Wake" also appears here. The compilation ends with five tracks from VanPortfleet's instrumental side-project Dust. The visceral energy of the more guitar oriented gothic rock project shows the different directions VanPortfleet explored during Lycia's formative days. Compilation Appearances Vol. 1 is a must have for fans of this seminal band. - David Slatton

Lycia's latest release is a CD full of compilation appearances during 1990-1994. You may say "oh I have already heard these," but most of these songs are really hard to find now, so it is nice to have them all on one CD. This CD also includes the Dust Recordings that are very aggresive sounding, and has explosive atmospheric sounds. "Fields" was heavy sounding, and had a nice mix within the swirling synths and percussion, but very repetitive. "Approach" also remained aggressive and upbeat, but seems to have more of a darker element within the keyboards. "Dusk" sounds like a cross between "Approach" and "Fields" and was sometimes hard to see it as it own song. "Dementia" has a nice guitar mix within the pounding percussion and the drones of powerful synths. The Dust Recordings really show us another side of Lycia that flases out like a firecracker. Besides the Dust Recordings, we also found some of our stunning favorites from Lycia like, "Byzantine", "Everything is Cold," "The Facade Fades," and "Across the Thousand Blades", a Black Tape for a Blue Girl cover. This is a collection of songs that all Lycia fans should have, and is definitely dark. It should be considered one of the most powerful collections of Lycia songs from start to finish.

I really missed the sound of older Lycia. Hearing this compilation reminded me of how powerful and emotionally devastating this project was. It’s a seduction by nostalgia, as throughout the CD, at certain moments, a fleeting feeling overcomes you, a flash of what it was like when dark music fans were first exposed to the sounds of Ionia and the unsurpassable beauty of A Day in the Stark Corner almost ten years ago.

Rather than just releasing a ‘best of’ album, fans are treated with this instead: a collection of outtakes, rarities and a few alternate versions of older songs. I am thrilled about this, as it will hopefully direct new fans back to the older releases. (Which need to be heard as a whole – there are no singles on early Lycia CD’s, my friends) The alternate versions of songs like “Everything Is Cold” “Nine Hours Later” or “The Facade Fades” are not as impressive as the original versions, however its kind of nice to hear them in a demo or more stripped down form. But the unreleased material is absolutely superb! “Excade Decade Decada” is by far the most unnerving, depressive, stark, and eerie song Lycia has ever produced. Hell, it might even be the scariest song on Projekt records! It RULES. The track takes some cues from the grating sludge of Godflesh and early Swans, but crowned with the hypnotizing guitars and chilling whispers that only Mike Van Portfleet is capable of delivering. The shuffling rhythms of “Down” and the groove oriented swirl of “Byzantine” share the melancholic guitar tones and riffs of Ionia and the Wake releases. The closing five tracks of the album also sport the same cavernous and bleak sound that helped Lycia rise to the top of the darkwave genre. These tracks in particular make up the entire Dust sessions, a short-lived off shoot of Lycia that never really got off the ground I suppose. Regardless, it would have been a punishable crime if these songs just remained in Projekt’s vaults! The covers of “Across A Thousand Blades” and “This Lush Garden Within” are amazing and very well done, especially the former. Some abrasive drum programming and sinister guitar flanges add a unique and cast an even darker shadow on the already intense and stark Black Tape For A Blue Girl originals.

I can’t stress enough how important of a release this CD is to older fans of Lycia as well to fans just discovering the band or the Projekt label. This is not some filler compilation; it’s as if it’s 1994 and there is a brand new Lycia album out on the shelves fans the world over will be more than pleased to hear this. Can’t wait for volume two!
- Matthew

I love Lycia. I really do. I don't know what it is, but I have a deep love and admiration for Mike VanPortfleet's work (I admire Tara Vanflower's work as well, but this compilation collects songs prior to her joining the group). I'm not sure if it's the treated vocals, the effect laden guitars, the sense of space, the intimacy of the lyrics, whatever. I just know that as a combined whole it works for me. It works really really well.

The songs on this disc represent work from 1990-1994, some of the songs having seen limited release, others being made available here for the first time. For a fan it's a true wonder, spanning through some of the my favorite periods of Lycia's past. There are tracks here recorded around the times of Ionia and A Day in the Stark Corner which serve as wonderful reminders of the strength and power of those discs. "The Deception," an unreleased song recorded in the Spring of 1991 stands out as a brilliant companion to the songs from Ionia, capturing the same majesty and dark beauty found on that classic album.

In addition there are a number of songs from other sessions and projects that took place during the five years covered by this comp. The entire Dust recordings are presented here, as well as a pair of songs from the Byzantium sessions. Brilliant works all of them, each track a true treasure.

I've always felt that there are two types of compilations. The first features a collection of songs that remind you how much you like a band. Singles, hits, fan favorites are all included and as a disc it becomes a convenient substitute for your favorite mixed tape of songs. The second type of compilation, the type in which Compilation Appearances falls into, is the compilation that reminds you not only of how much you like a band, but how much their songs affect you, how much they mean to you. What's more, rather than making you discard all your old albums in favor of a convenient collection, the second type of compilation sends you back to those old albums to rediscover how great they are, how many treasures you can hear again, and what new treasures you'll find with a fresh listen. For me, Compilation Appearances is an inspiration to reacquaint myself with some old friends. Don't bother calling me, I'll be listening to my Lycia discs...

According to the official Lycia site, this is the first half of a pair of compilation discs set for release this year. The second is planned to be out for summer 2001, and if this first collection is any indication of what we can expect from the second, I can hardly wait to hear it.
- rik