POPSCENCE-CLINIC
Clinic-Internal Wrangler (Domino)
The first Brit group I’ve reviewed in Popscene, Clinic has
proven to be a pleasant surprise.
Eschewing the usual Anglo trademarks in favor of American garage rock
angst, Internal Wrangler sounds as if it draws its inspiration from the
uprising of tough sound emerging in the U.S.
"The Return of Evil Bill”, with wonderful
pounding drums and a cool distorted harmonica, sounds like boys from Detroit
discovering the My Generation era Who.
But the catch that makes them different from other garage revival acts
is they splice the sounds of gleeful thuggery with avant weirdness of the last
couple Radiohead records. The title
track could be the best tribute to the powers of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators
since Spaceman 3’s ultra intense cover of “Roller Coaster” and the Texas psych
inserted into the legendary “Take Me to the Other Side”.
And then they blow the roof off. I thought the Japanese held the patent to the type of deranged
guitar noise found in “C.Q.” (maybe a tribute to the rage of The
Outsiders?) No screwing around here at
all. Just some guys going at it like
they just brought home their instruments from the music shop yesterday. The sales clerk threw in the fuzz pedal to
sweeten the deal.
I guess my final conclusion on this disc is I love it for
its sense of import. Internal
Wrangler is the kind of misinterpretation of American and British rock you
find coming from non-English speaking countries. The spirit of Guitar Wolf, The Mops, The Red Squares, and maybe
Tahiti 80 ooze from the grooves of this spirited production.
This is the best evidence of something original appearing
on the British scene I’ve heard in ten years or more. No Britpop. No
semi-serious pretentions of adulthood.
Just the kind of snot and sass that I love.
(for more on Clinic, go to www.dominorecordco.com)
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