WRAPPING UP 2009 with Clinic

As part of the countdown to my Top Ten Albums of 2009 on Tuesday, here’s Clinic a band who didn’t release a record this year (but “Do It!” was fifth in last year’s Top Ten). However the band did tour to Italy, Belgium, Estonia, Slovakia, Austria and Mexico; and they (nearly) played an autopsy theatre in Liverpool, played the Offset Festival in Hainault Country Park, shared a bill with Shearwater in Leeds, supported Dinosaur Jr in London and headlined three nights of their own Mass Freakout festival in October.


Sadly I didn’t get to see any of these gigs. Must try harder in 2010.

However last month I put forward ‘Distortions’ as one of the key songs of the Noughties. Now I’ve been hard-pressed to finalise a Top Ten of the last twelve months let alone the last ten years, but if put on the spot I do think “Internal Wrangler” by Clinic would top that list of albums of the decade.

Pitchfork rated it 53rd in its Top 200 albums of the decade saying "this album is a precise procedure, opening an incision with a trio of sharp, jabbing songs, exploring with a jumble of fragments, and finally implanting itself permanently in a way few records so scattered and damaged can. Clinic never quite took another little piece of our hearts that way they did on their first album, but Internal Wrangler offers enough emotional surgery to last a lifetime".

Taking a break from recording studio album number six, Clinic gives these brief verdicts on this year.

What I will remember most about 2009 is...
Everything and probably nothing.

What should be forgotten about 2009...
March and April.

The best gig we played was...
Mexico City.

The best gig I saw was...
Pere Ubu, Berlin.

A record from 2009 that will be still be played in 10 years time?
Sun Araw “Heavy Deeds”.

Overlooked in 2009?
The Lotharios

And what can we look forward to in 2010 from Clinic?
New album: David Soul and a bit of Electric Eels influence.

The Lotharios?? Me neither. So overlooked in fact they are invisible on the internet. Unless they are this scratch band from Liverpool playing ‘Penguins in the Rigging’?? Or this refers to The Lothars, a three-thereminists-and-one-guitarist, improvisational drone quartet?? Typical Clinic misdirection methinks.

But more importantly, a new Clinic album in 2010 taking inspiration from David Soul AND the Electric Eels: now that’s something to be excited about! Sounds like a contender for album of next decade already.



INTERNAL WRANGLER [Spotify] [last.fm]
Clinic
Internal Wrangler [BUY]