Favorite Albums: 2000-200450. Clinic, Internal WranglerOriginal position on my Stylus ballot: #26 I can’t think of a band less afraid of all the songs sounding the same. With groups like the Ramones there are coherent lyrics to help distinguish each track, but you’re a far more dedicated fan than I if you remember which title connects to each mewled poem, surf guitar run and melodica hook from this most esoteric of house party bands (if the Kingsmen were from Iceland, I’d expect them to sound like Clinic). The insularity made them seem negligible by the third album, but by the fourth I’d warmed to their aesthetic commitment. I haven’t gotten around to hearing their latest, though, which was hailed as a bold departure by its press release and few others. Part of the problem might be that their first album remains the most engaging. No later ballads has topped “Distortions,” no groove has shimmy-baited like the one on “The Second Line,” and their most memorable melodica hook remains the one on “Return Of Evil Bill.” They’ve held up better than most college rock smashes who got slower and more psychedelic instead of commercial - probably because they weren’t that commercial in the first place - but if Jonsi & The Raiders here ever released a best-of, much of the weight would undoubtedly come from the start.

Favorite Albums: 2000-2004
50. Clinic, Internal Wrangler
Original position on my Stylus ballot: #26

I can’t think of a band less afraid of all the songs sounding the same. With groups like the Ramones there are coherent lyrics to help distinguish each track, but you’re a far more dedicated fan than I if you remember which title connects to each mewled poem, surf guitar run and melodica hook from this most esoteric of house party bands (if the Kingsmen were from Iceland, I’d expect them to sound like Clinic). The insularity made them seem negligible by the third album, but by the fourth I’d warmed to their aesthetic commitment. I haven’t gotten around to hearing their latest, though, which was hailed as a bold departure by its press release and few others.

Part of the problem might be that their first album remains the most engaging. No later ballads has topped “Distortions,” no groove has shimmy-baited like the one on “The Second Line,” and their most memorable melodica hook remains the one on “Return Of Evil Bill.” They’ve held up better than most college rock smashes who got slower and more psychedelic instead of commercial - probably because they weren’t that commercial in the first place - but if Jonsi & The Raiders here ever released a best-of, much of the weight would undoubtedly come from the start.