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Wheeltappers and Shunters
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79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The eighth full-length studio release for the British post-punk experimental band is "a satirical take on British culture" and its first studio album in seven years.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. The Guardian
    May 13, 2019
    80
    It’s music that manages to be both taut and immersive. The latter sensation is heightened by the enigmatic weirdness of the album’s lyrics, which conjure up a fragmented vision of Britain’s past, at odds with the cover image of a delightful thatched cottage.
  2. Dusted Magazine
    Aug 19, 2019
    80
    With Wheeltappers and Shunters Clinic are back, sounding like Clinic, and it’s a very welcome return. ... Clinic don’t so much sound reinvigorated from their break as they have issued a bracing reminder of just how distinctively compelling they’ve always been.
  3. AllMusic
    May 13, 2019
    80
    For all its thematic focus and political commentary, Wheeltappers and Shunters is quintessentially Clinic; at once pointed and oblique, its bad trips and cheap thrills are a subversive rebuke to a sanitized notion of the past, present, or future.
  4. The Quietus
    May 17, 2019
    80
    Any fears that the band is skimping after such a delay between releases are soon allayed once the music starts, for what we have here is a high concentration of ideas that punch well above their supposed weight.
  5. Under The Radar
    May 21, 2019
    80
    As with all of its predecessors, Wheeltappers and Shunters doesn't outstay its welcome, clocking in at just over two minutes short of half an hour. For a band who've been all but impossible to pigeonhole from the outset, this represents another genre transcending excursion into territories many of their peers would never consider.
  6. The 405
    May 16, 2019
    70
    And, on the whole, Clinic’s paean to the 70s is a satisfying reinforcement of the current, clichéd view of that decade. It is lovingly put together. It yearns to experience an age that is tantalisingly close, but entirely out of reach.
  7. Pitchfork
    May 13, 2019
    69
    These are novel variations on the familiar Clinic sound. Some, like the queasy synth refrain in “Rubber Bullets,” work less well than others. And some of the melodies seem rather thin, considering the band had six years to generate them (looking at you, “Mirage” and “Rejoice!”). That’s an ancient weakness of the group, and Wheeltappers and Shunters is nothing if not steeped in the past.

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Score distribution:
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  1. charliequaker
    Oct 5, 2019
    8
    This English band returns with their 8th album—a gathering of short, rhythmic songs with hauntingly addictive melodies in a dark psychedelicThis English band returns with their 8th album—a gathering of short, rhythmic songs with hauntingly addictive melodies in a dark psychedelic pop stew. The music mixes electronics and unexpected sounds with quirky, British-sounding pop melodies. Clinic is a band that entertains you with an itch—you can’t and don’t want to stop listening, but you know it’s a brain-scratcher. Members have played in Pure Morning, Higher Authorities. RIYL: The Legendary Pink Dots, Television Personalities, ½ Man ½ Biscuit, Syd Barrett, The Soft Boys. “Wheeltappers and Shunters” is a very strange album. It will make you smile and make you think, all while tripping through your mind. This one is a keeper! Recommended.… Expand