Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Sweeping The Nation Albums Of 2010: Number 48



After five albums Clinic's tinnitus garage-psych may still have no direct competitors and presumably plenty of residual energy but you could tell from release announcement exactly what every album would sound like. Until now, as Bubblegum saw them largely but not entirely dial down the paranoid Velvets buzz and embrace acoustic led, airy lounge pop meditations. A sense of maturity, maybe, but Ade Blackburn's vocal style is still uptight and odd lyrical sentiments half-shrouded amid the swirling organ, wah-wah guitars and deeper pastel hues, even vibes on a couple of tracks. They can still groove at times, they still break out the fuzz a couple of times, but they've settled into Stereolab's space age bachelor pad and put on their collection of French pop from which to learn and sup deeply at a mildly disturbing collection of pastorality with psychedelic backing. They've forged new textures from meandering where they used to career.

[Spotify]

I'm Aware


The full list

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