Clinic's "Porno"

Link2Listen[1997]

Contrary to popular belief, Liverpool's no1 musical export is not The Beatles nor anyone else for whom anyone else would care to make an argument save CLINIC. The drums are resolute and then for a second maybe not but with the bass now the drums are resolute, and the melodica is a gauzy yearn riding the tide, and the whole way through we're treated to this shifting rhythmic backbone, slinky and oddly sexy like The Cooler's Bernie Lootz -- more commonly known in real life as the usually unsexy-William H Macy.

That "Porno" can pull it off is not a testament to the unsettling moans that may horrify or enrapture--
is not a testament to the sibilant drum machine clicks keeping time while the snare and bass thrust forward in an uneven groove--
is not a testament to the delayed gratification (waiting nearly half the song) of lyrics emerging from the deflated vocals--
is not a testament to the decline in vocals to drop the music before building back up into an echoed moan rippling across time to a sudden jerk of fuzz overwhelming like the TV picture rolling vertically on the screen--
is not a testament to the sort-of climax of syllables of bored and boys slurred together before a final moan is blurred together with a high ripple of sonic pleasure while skittering noise surrounds.
That "Porno" can pull it off is a testament to the "in-between": static-filled keys press urgently between moaning (:50, 1:18), keeping it on to pull if off.
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