Clinic “Tusk”

Back in the ought-deuce, Clinic’s “Walking With Thee” was the first song I heard by the band, and it held enormous potential for my musical future. Sure Clinic had their gimmick–surgery masks as indie rock’s Santo, adding a creepy malpractice overtone to their tunes, which is their other gimmick (I didn’t mention that there were two gimmicks). Clinic’s music was an amped-up midnight Halloween movie of a ? and the Mysterians update with snarling British vocals and the occasional melodica–the kind of thing Rosemary’s Teenager listens to.

But “Walking” turned out to be an interestingly dicey hop from their first record, which I quickly located and ingested. But that first record, Internal Wrangler, was even more stripped down, approaching Pink Flag, Jr. territory for its negative structural value.

Then, following the path of so many bands that trap themselves in a style alley, they attempted to break free on album three by becoming Big and Fabulous.  2004’s Winchester Cathedral was a leap forward in aural fidelity, but any creative momentum was apparently done with the assistance of flypaper–witness the overly dorky EKG thing that starts the album–seriously, it took them 3 tries to find a way to work that in?

Now, a year and change later, we have Tusk. I’m not ready to re-proclaim them as anything great–I’ve basically given up on that–but they have regressed, once again, perhaps to a spot a little before album one.  Apparently, regression is what Clinic does best, and “Tusk” (mp3), part of an upcoming web promotion heralding the new record, is a chomper stomper that runs out of breath in under two minutes. And there’s no EKG meter blips, ambulance siren whines or Medic Alert beeps to signal they’re coming. But I can’t make any promises that the new record won’t come with limited edition promotional surgical tongs.

This review post contained 0% of the daily recommended allowance of ironic reference to Fleetwood Mac’s album of the same name. This post-script contains 100% of same.

Filed under: Clinic