Like a sunnier version of the throbbing pulse of the Velvet Underground before it, the sound of the Clean, from Dunedin, New Zealand, refuses to go away. With a permanent cast that has remained the same for almost 30 years, brothers David and Hamish Kilgour and Robert Scott have survived the occasional band breakup, Hamish moving to New York, David releasing solo albums and Robert starting his own band, the Bats. With its most recent records (including the new Mister Pop on Merge), the Clean proves, once again, there is rock ‘n’ roll life after 40. The band members make music whenever they can assemble all the parts and remain a permanent fixture in the rock landscape. The Clean is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with them.
Robert Scott: Nic Jones‘ 1977 album The Noah‘s Ark Trap is one of those impossible-to-get records. A friend bootlegged it for me on minidisc while in London. It blew my mind when I first heard it. How could someone sing and play like that at the same time? “The Indian Lass,” “Ten Thousand Miles”—ahh. He did one album after this, then was badly injured in a car crash and has not played in public since. Video after the jump.
