Clor - Clor

Clor are not a band you'd readily associate with the world of pop. To look at they resemble a group of maths teachers on dress down day, they have a neat line in dad dancing and their stage show amounts to something knocked up on a lazy Sunday afternoon with too much time in B&Q. However the sound of Clor is reassuringly pop, even if it does swing more than a little to the left of centre.

"Good Stuff" starts off with a cheap nasty synth-bass line that recalls a straight to TV remake of Fame, before vocalist Barry Dobbin nervously sings the opening bar like a traumatic Wayne Coyle. Waves of guitar chop in and 3 minutes later if you haven't started already you're dancing like a nutter.

"Stuck In A Tight Spot" bizarrely enough starts off with the synth overload of Emerson, Lake And Palmer played at wrong speed before turning into a twee Belle & Sebastian do Bis love in and then throw us all by rocking out like Fugazi. It's a three headed beast of a song, a lo-fi "Paranoid Android" with epic pretensions played out on Casio keyboards and Argos guitars.

"Magic Touch" has a beat every bit as phat as Dizzee Rascal's "Fix up Look Sharp" before Dobbin sleazes all over the track inspiring women to chuck away their rabbits the world over. The jazzy drum & bass of "Making You All Mine" is a revelation that stops, starts and tries to take off Gary Numan on a Stars In Your Eyes bastard special. "Garden Of Love" is hilarious if only for the fact it's as mind numbingly irritating and catch as the Crazy Frog tune. "Goodbye" ends with the harmonies of the Beach Boys and the beats of Future Sound Of London.

Like the Super Furry Animals, The Beta Band and Dawn Of The Replicants, Clor manage to make experimental leftfield pop that mocks the zeitgeist. If you're tired of the obvious reference points of media friendly bands, you could do worse than check out these musical alchemists.

Alex McCann

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