Search - Clinical :: Internal Wrangler

The best indie album of 2000

08/15/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first came across Clinic when they supported Radiohead on their three gigs in the summer of 2000. Clinic didn't really manage to "steal the show", but they incontrovertibly appeared like a band that's worth checking out. The utilization of so many instruments & sounds, the rawness of their songs, & mostly their brevity- Something pretty exceptional within the neoalternative British scene (I for instance cannot bear Bent or Elbow- After the first thirty seconds of a song by any of them I always feel like falling asleep, & it's not merely a simile). So, based on the good impression that gig gave me & on "The Second Line", the most wellknown single off of this album (Proportionately of course) I decided to purchase Internal Wrangler. On my first listen I was bewildered by the deliberately archaic artwork (The entire thing looks more like a record than a compactdisc), Ade Blackburn's peculiar vocals & the harkingback instrumentations, which customarily on this album consist on light guitarriffs & what appears to be synths & drummachines from the late 1970's (Could they be jeering the electronic influences virtually every artist/act includes in their songs nowadays? I don't think so, but it sure works well here). The album sorta creeped me out & nearly made me not wanna touch it ever again. However on repeated listens the album opens up, kinda like vintage wine- The tracks, no matter how eccentric & purposefully dated they appear, are all in point of fact compelling, enchanting & on occasion ("Earth Angel", "Distortions", "Goodnight Georgie") inebriating. The eeriness & intermittent abrasiveness of Clinic's hallmark sound manages to spice up what otherwise would've been considered as merely another indie album influenced by 1960's prepunk bands & early twentieth century New Orleans jazz (As the album's artwork also alludes). & let's not forget that splendid brevity again- This album takes merely 31:06 minutes to listen to, so you have nothing to fear about ending up with Grandaddyesque selfindulgence (I seriously can't believe that Clinic will ever record a fifteenminute song with the same line over & over again, merely arranged differently each time it comes). "The Return Of Evil Bill", "Internal Wrangler", "The Second Line", "C.Q.", "T.K.", "Hippy Death Suite" & "2/4" could all be superior demonstrative singles in the British indie scene, kinda like telling the critics "Hey, we can do it much better". & Clinic CAN do it much better so you'll better give them a chance. Who knows, they just might be the next representatives of the genre."

Finally to be released in the US

Mikey | Portland, OR United States | 08/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I picked up all of Clinic's releases on a trip to the UK in 2000, after hearing them on the John Peel show. Their first full album, "Internal Wrangler", is one of the freshest rock releases of the last couple of years. While their influences aren't anything out of the ordinary (you will hear bits of the Velvets, 13th Floor Elevators and Suicide among others), what they do with them certainly is. This is a very dense, beautiful and hypnotic record. Clinic has a fine ear for sound and melody, and makes every second of this record count. I'm sure many listeners will not make it past the off kilter vocal style, which at times has a Peter Lorre quality to it, and that's really a shame, because groups like this don't show up very often. Listen to this one on headphones if you really want to lose yourself."