Clinic

indie

One of the most distinctive and mysterious indie acts of the 21st century, Liverpool's art-punk quartet Clinic combine decades' worth of familiar sounds in surprising ways. At any given moment, it's possible to hear shades of the Seeds' churning garage rock, the Velvet Underground's chugging cool, Suicide's icy pulse, Ennio Morricone's spaghetti Western drama, or Augustus Pablo's moody dub within their music. Coupled with Ade Blackburn's acidic vocals and their fondness for wearing surgical masks in concert, Clinic created an unmistakable image and sound that nevertheless shifted subtly on each album. On 2000's Internal Wrangler, they led with the raw strangeness of their music, then emphasized its sophistication on 2002's chilly Walking with Thee. Later, when the band explored folk (on 2006's Visitations), '60s pop (on 2010's Bubblegum), and experimental electronics (on 2012's Free Reign), the results were equally unexpected and effortless. Despite their accomplishments over the years -- touring with Radiohead, a Grammy nomination -- and the timely political commentary of 2019's Wheeltappers and Shunters, Clinic remained firmly, and proudly, outside of the mainstream. Clinic formed in 1997, when longtime friends Ade Blackburn (vocals/guitars/keyboards) and Jonathan Hartley (guitars/keyboards) left their previous band, Pure Morning. To complete their new project's lineup, they recruited Brian Campbell (bass/flute/vocals) and Carl Turney (drums/piano/vocals). The band embelli...