Clinic are creepy. Way, way creepy. I hadn't heard them for years until the other day, when "Walking With Thee" crept (fittingly) into my head. What a song! What a paranoid, offputting song. Their first album, Internal Wrangler, is probably their best, though I loved Walking With Thee also (and, admittedly, I haven't heard their more recent work since then)--so really what I'm saying is that Internal Wrangler was my favorite.
In any case, it's weird, interesting stuff, and genuinely unique. Making their way to me in my junior year of high school, they were certainly the odd men out among my general rotation of Radiohead, the Strokes, the White Stripes, and the Vines*. But looking back now, they were probably the first in my continuing obsession with music that creeps me the fuck out: Ade Blackburn's strained, sneering voice; their obsession with surgical masks and odd costumes; the heavy, churning guitars; the eerie melodica lines that float over almost every track.
It's pretty easy to draw the line from Clinic to other bands I love that possess this same creeping dread: Joy Division (a clear influence on Clinic), The Knife/Fever Ray, Xiu Xiu, Liars, and even, to a lesser extent, bands like TV On The Radio or Sunset Rubdown. It's a difficult thing to express, but one that is instantly recognizable.
I hauled out Internal Wrangler and uploaded it to my elder statesman of a computer; it's currently in heavy rotation. Highly recommended.
*Hey, give me a break, it was 2002. Also, I later saw the Vines play the Bluebird Theatre in Denver, CO, and it was legitimately awesome. What's-his-name, Craig something, the lead singer, freaked out at the end of their set, took his shirt off, and proceeded to break every piece of equipment they owned.
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