The art-rockers in Liverpool, England's Clinic are known for hiding their faces behind surgeon's masks onstage, but the band's influences have always been pretty clear. Psych-rock, punk, dub, Krautrock, girl group pop and, well, virtually every other worthwhile subgenre have shown up in the group's aesthetic, which relies on thrift store instruments and singer Ade Blackburn's high, inscrutable vocals. Fifth album Do It! finds Clinic lowering the masks somewhat and letting a few pop hooks creep out of the ramshackle grooves. "Free Not Free" has the bongos, flanged-out guitars and mellow bass of Tommy James and the Shondells' summer of '69 hit "Crystal Blue Persuasion," while "The Witch (Made to Measure)" follows a clanging, minimalist guitar riff into a rollicking garage-psych number reminiscent of the Nuggets box set. For much of the album, Clinic slows things down, veering off into whimsical Syd Barrett territory on "Mary and Eddy" and folksy drones on "Corpus Christi." If tours supporting Radiohead, the Flaming Lips and Arcade Fire couldn't break Clinic through to a larger audience, Do It! won't "do it" either. But fans of the band's 2000 debut, Internal Wrangler, will find plenty of reasons to let these blokes put them under the knife again.

-- Marc Hogan