1998 began with the release of Anakin (TAD 8001), which was a limited edition sampler compiled and sequenced by Ivo, and intended to provide a preview of the year's releases. As things turned out, it included several otherwise unavailable demos, as well as tracks from albums that never saw the light of day.
The first era of Gus Gus concluded with a new two-part single of "Polyesterday" (BAD 8002 and BADD 8002), which came with a host of remixes from the likes of Carl Craig, Amon Tobin and DJ Vadim. By the time the single was released, the group were back in the studio working on their second album, destined for release in 1999.
Strange Angels (CAD 8003) was Kristin Hersh's second solo release. A largely acoustic collection of songs which carried on where Hips And Makers left off, the album was co-produced by acclaimed singer/songwriter Joe Henry. A limited-edition tour single, "Like You" (TAD 8005), featured a pair of live recordings as well as the title track. Later in 1998, Kristin issued 4AD's first-ever mail-order-only release, an album of doom-laden traditional folksongs entitled Murder, Misery and then Goodnight (4ADM1). In a break from v23 tradition, the record's artwork was designed by former bandmate David Narcizo.
1998 also saw a little tidying up of the Throwing Muses' early releases : the 2CD anthology In A Doghouse (DAD 607) collected together the first Throwing Muses album, the long-unavailable Chains Changed EP, the group's previously unreleased 1985 demo tape, and five songs written in 1983 that had finally been committed to tape thirteen years later.
Lisa Gerrard stepped outside the confines of Dead Can Dance for a second time on Duality (CAD 8004), recorded with Pieter Bourke, who'd toured and recorded with Dead Can Dance for several years. Possibly more accessible than The Mirror Pool, Duality placed a firmer emphasis upon Lisa's uncanny singing abilities, while "Human Game" featured one of her rare English-language vocal performances. The album was later mined by the director Michael Mann, who used several of its tracks (memorably, "Sacrifice") in the soundtrack to the Russell Crowe movie The Insider.
Rich Holtzman of 4AD's Los Angeles office was the first person at the label to discover the music of Washington DC's Eric Hilton and Rob Garza, better known as Thievery Corporation. One of the most musically developed exponents of the late 90s worldwide electronica explosion, the pair's music was an open-minded fusion of dub reggae, lounge jazz and Latin music, as depicted on their debut album Sounds From The Thievery Hi-Fi (CAD 8006). "38:45" (BAD 8007) was a 12-inch vinyl single featuring extended versions of a track from the album, while a the non-album single, "Lebanese Blonde" (BAD 8017) was issued later in the year.
Seven years after the release of the final This Mortal Coil album, Ivo unveiled his much-anticipated new project, The Hope Blister. ...smile's ok (CAD 8008) was a haunting album composed entirely of cover versions, including songs by Brian Eno, John Cale, Neil Halstead of Mojave 3, David Sylvian and Heidi Berry. Unlike This Mortal Coil, The Hope Blister was the work of a closely-knit group of contributors; the spectral vocals of Louise Rutkowski (who appeared on the second and third TMC albums) were backed only by bassist Laurence O'Keefe (Dark Star, Levitation), a string quartet led by Audrey Riley, and, on two tracks, Dif Juz's Ritchie Thomas. The less-is-more approach yielded an album whose emotional power lay in its sparseness.