clinic

A regular visitor to my playlist is the 4-piece band, Clinic. Hailing from Liverpool, they're been delivering dark indie melodies since 1997 and recently released their 4th full-length album, Do It! I discovered them in 2002 when their album Walking with Thee came out. This, incidentally, was the same year that Interpol released Turn on the Bright Lights, and together these 2 albums dominated much of my musical consciousness for a period of time.

People call these bands post-punk, and I guess I've never really known what that means. But then again, I also never really paid much attention to Joy Division, who is the theoretical progenitor of this movement. But I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, Control, so maybe I'll learn something about the historical tradition here.

Song-list

01 Harmony
02 The Equaliser
03 Welcome
04 Walking with Thee
05 Pet Eunuch
06 Mr. Moonlight
07 Come Into Our Room
08 The Vulture
09 The Bridge
10 Sunlight Bathes Our Home
11 For the Wars

I hate to use hackneyed words like "brooding", "haunting", ""hypnotic", etc. but that's the sound and feel of Clinic. It's like they're recording in a giant cavern beneath the earth. I almost never understand what their lyrics are... and no wonder. Here are some, from one of my favorite tracks, Cement Mixer:

petey was the fetid son of pauline up on milk
commie ma the 2nd czar would do do for the filth
oh we know you come and go but see see sickened us
we need scores shit teeny bores that bark bark bark in crufts

be bark i know noone nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn no (x3)

joely saw the pinky core of neutered hippy homes
binky watched the babble pox and slithered off to moan
oh we know you come and go but see see what's become
peter's cold has taken hold and he bark bark bark in crufts
(repeat chorus)

so sue the shoe is slipping you don't dither from behind
may the moke our 7th bloke is peeking out the blinds
oh we know you come and go but see see what's become
peter's gone and left your mum to bark bark bark in crufts
(repeat chorus x2)

Seriously. Here's a video of them singing this one. I haven't personally seen them live, but apparently they're into wearing surgical masks while they perform (Clinic, get it?). Whatever floats your boat.



Give them a try if you like whiny along the lines of Velvet Underground, Interpol, Radiohead, and Arcade Fire.