A Central Image

Clinic “Emotions” – For a while there, it was difficult to tell whether Clinic were in a creative holding pattern or a downward spiral. This is mainly because they stubbornly refuse to budge from a weirdly specific subset of song styles, and so it took a little while to figure out that they are more interested in embracing self-imposed limitations than in reinventing their wheel. Do It! carries on from the experimentation with psychedelic elements that characterized their previous record, but this time around, the integration of hard psyche riffs and quasi-folk acoustic guitar is less forced, and the melodies and rhythms are more inviting and inspired. “Emotions” is another variation of their particular brand of romantic late night balladry — see also “Mr. Moonlight,” “Kimberley,” and “Falstaff” — but like “Free Not Free,” its twin sibling on the new record, it is spiked with a sharp, compressed guitar refrain that casts the more swoon-inducing chord changes into sharp relief. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Judi Chicago “Chick Feel A” – Judi Chicago are exceptionally great at two things, and lucky for them, it’s pretty much all they do: The music is all thick, sleazy synth grooves and tight beats, and the vocals and lyrics play up a distorted, absurd version of male sexuality that is simultaneously silly and menacing. “Chick Feel A” sounds especially humid and sweaty with its ample negative space and slower tempo, and at times it comes across like the LCD Soundsystem of an alternate world where James Murphy is less interested in singing about his record collection and getting older, and more willing to shout stuff like “I’ve got a hat made of mirrors — SUCK ON THAT!,” “I’m a prick, prick teaser!,” and “Do they know it’s Crisco time?” (Click here to buy it from Aljera.)