clinic Blog and Journals

Clinic has made some of the most exciting and original indie rock since 2000's Internal Wrangler. Their music is arresting, tense, and jagged, yet the group hasn't broken any new ground since their debut. So what's the big deal? On the quartet's new album, Do it!, they come off like they're planning their next move instead of making it.

The 'big deal' with Do it! is how Clinic's brand of pathological rock feels less f---cked up. Sure, songs like "Memories" and "Shopping Bag" unleash a familiar swagger with dirty buzz saw guitars, but these are fleeting joys from a band that in the past sounded like they were fronted by a crazed sociopath with a penchant for static guitar playing.

A few tracks meander on Do it!, but there's absolutely nothing bad on this record. The gentle songwriting and passivity on "Free Not Free" doesn't necessarily make the track less likeable than say "The Witch"; it just sounds like the group tackling Santana's "Black Magic Woman." "Emotions" is an obvious nod to British Invasion-era rock, and that's nothing to be ashamed about. Both are excellent songs that reek of their respective influences, yet sound like good old Clinic.

Whether or not Clinic will ever make an album that changes our lives remains to be seen, and maybe that pattern will always be impossible to predict. At least the group possess a sound that no one can touch, and that's what makes Clinic a true original.


(Check out The Reaper's review of Chidren of Bodom's Blooddrunk, Panasonicyouth's review of Goldfinger's Hello Destiny), and Bree's review of Punk Goes Crunk.)

(Got an opinion about the band? Go speak your mind in our album reviews group.)