Go on, admit it: Yorkshire’s punk as fuck. It doesn’t like talking about its feelings. And it’s instantly suspicious of poseurs with ideas above their station: ‘Appen tha’s a bit too pleased wi’ tha’sen, cocker.
The Cribs are gloriously both; purveyors of a stunted romanticism and bullish, anti-fashionista zeal that should put them firmly in the hearts of every misguided teen across the nation. Where other bands ponce about with fiddly arrangements or jarring time signatures, The Cribs cut to the quick with a killer three-note riff and a cussing line about the mirror kissers and self-servers of the world.
Their onstage transformation from incorrigible musical illiterates into a live proposition of genuine power and intensity is by now the stuff of legend, but up until now much of their energy has been lost in translation en route to pressing factory, with a patchy recorded output characterised by indifferent recording and production values.
So when news surfaced that Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos was to produce the new album, it seemed a window of opportunity had arisen for Wakefield’s finest sons to finally make good on their promise, and hopefully sell a truckload of records into the bargain.
Happily, first single ‘A Man’s Needs’ seems tailor-made to do just that. Opening with a crisp snare and peaking with a dazzling flurry of guitar stabs that can’t quite admit to itself that it’s a solo, it succeeds in putting the shine on the band’s scuffed melodicism while retaining much of its bite. Let’s just hope an inexplicably bad video doesn’t put the skids under its momentum.
It’s also a reliable indication of what follows – there’ll be no broadening of musical horizons here, thanks very much, only the exhilarating sound of a band raising its game for a shot at the big time. Ultimately, Men’s Needs… is brighter, sharper and just plain better than anything The Cribs have produced to date.
Hence, Lee Ranaldo collaboration ‘Be Safe’ sounds less like an inspired meeting of minds and more like a Cribs song with some guy ranting about blowjobs and self-hate over the top, but still shakes you with its immensity. 'Our Bovine Public' is wiry and splenetic, the fluid guitar lines of 'My Life Flashed Before My Eyes' sound like a spastic echo of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'Y Control', and the torrid riffing of 'Major's Titling Victory' harks back to the scuzzy lo-fi thrash of previous offerings.
Tellingly, the scenester bashing proves to be an enduring past-time, almost as if the band is trying to pre-empt sell-out accusations with a succession of gleeful put-downs: “You’d never exist if you wasn’t generic / You’re out to impress our bovine public”, “I'll level accusations like the press / Until you realise that you've dressed yourself in tatters”.
Kapranos’ success as a first-time producer has been to resist temptation to turn the band into a pale imitation; rather, he has shown them for what they’ve always been, a supremely poppy distillation of punk and art rock influences whose unaffected honesty is impossible not to warm to.
No-one likes a meddling critic dictating what the kids should be listening to nowadays, but, sod that: please, please let it be The Cribs.
holy shit
im so excited its unbearable. i always get excited by albums coming out but this is different! the 2 or 3 tracks ive heard so far have been up there with their best!
woah
I was fully expecting The Cribs to get a shit review from DiS. Good work!
I maintain that their debut album is one of the best lo-fi(ish) pop albums that you'll hear
My hatred for this is band is huge
What a bunch of knobheads!
Wow, look at me, I can get drunk and act rock and roll ALL the time!
Try writing some tunes that actually have some semblance of originality and not sound like cast offs from a bad strokes album
Overrated beyond belief
What
You have Fightstar down as your favourite band? In the same sentence as Bell X1?
Shit, i will never bother reading anything you write again
Where are your music ratings then?
Too gutless to put them on so we can judge you on what you listen to?
Cribs = shit. In MY opinion, you are entitled to yours abut them, as am I
Moron
just sticking up for Bell X1
not shit at all.
you're an idiot
they are everything the strokes are not they dont believe in looking your most perfect and following the rules. its all about enjoying the music you play and having a good time. the cribs write about things that everyone can relate to and you not always listen to one reviewer who may have once proclaimed them "similar to the strokes"
I THINK they sound like the strokes
i have never heard or read any reviewer compare the two. So its MY opinion
They don't follow the rules? WOO, so rock and roll to act like drunken twats in every single public appearance I have ever seen them in. If thats not fulfilling a stereotype, i don't know what is
yes
they sound a bit like the strokes. and this is a bad thing how, exactly?
It's called having a good time...
They're not doing anything to be rock and roll. They're the most down to earth guys you'll meet and everything they do, they do because they're having the time of their lives doing it!
I'm sure you'd have a much better time at the NME awards sat at a table sober clapping the arctic monkeys 10 times...you'd need to get pissed to get through it!!
you know nothing
have you ever even seen the cribs in a public appearance other than the NME awards??!?! it was an awards ceremony, EVERYONE WAS DRUNK. Every other interview or appearance they have made they have never been drunk or tried to be rock and roll! they are very nice people who even seem quite shy at times and you should make sure you do your research before you try to make a point.
HELL YES.
HELL YES.
I'm of the opinion that
these guys are pulling the wool over many, many eyes.
I can't see the attraction with this utter tripe.
With you on that^
Really can't see how people get worked up about these. The scenesters song is quite good but you can keep the rest. Not particularly auful, just nothing songs.
When I heard Kapranos was producing
I was a little worried that he was going to turn The Cribs into a sort of Franz mk. II; all riffs, and no real substance.
Fortunately, it seems like they're as ace as ever.
Hopefully this album will propel them to the hugeness they deserve.
It's only take 3 albums...
Awful band.
I'll never like shoddy indie rock.
but this IS what the kids are listening to
they also annoy me with their immense sceneness. despite trying so hard to be anti-scene.
apart from that i think theyre average.
not heard the new stuff though.
I never expected a 9/10
I'll be buying this methinks.
i like "men's needs"
like, i can tell it's a good song. but the production sounds too un-cribs or something. it sounds too slick and glossy and over-produced, which totally isn't like the cribs. i hope the mark of kapranos isn't too omnipresent over the rest of the songs.
men's needs is alright
a bit boring after a while but it'll get them on the radio, though it doesnt really get the toes tapping like 'Hey Scenesters'
are they any better live these days than they were, 2/3 years ago?
Admittedly, I last saw them around 18 months ago
but they were top drawer. Really good fun.
the cribs
were fantastic at the water rats in march, one of the best gigs ive ever been to.
albums bound to leak anytime soon too!
yawn
yawn.
Never been much of a Cribs fan
But from the review this sounds promising.
Ace album cover as well.
yes
looking forward to this!!!
what am I doing? I have 5000 words to write!
x
nice use of the word 'spastic' there.
only in a DIS review...
But yeah, this should be a treat!
9 / 10
Really?
I'll go check out my copy again. Okay fair enough...
Hang on a sec, 9 / 10???
Dull as dishwater
Sorry, I just don't get it with this band. When I met them they were moody and arrogant, and on record, well, I've heard ot all before.
The Cribs
This album is fucking amazing!
And I haven't even heard it yet!
i like
the fact that your opinions are based on fact.
Agreed
Some people think facts are nerdy. But I think they're pretty cool.
can't wait :D
good god
this album is good.
almost perfect...
...I've always liked The Cribs but the first two albums never really did much for me, but THIS is brilliant, from start to finish. I'd give it 9/10, only losing a point for Major's Titling Victory which is the only weak point on it for me. Brilliant, Mr Kapranos has done a fine job.
finally got it
and brilliant. just brilliant!
Most underrated band in Britain
Without a doubt...
Hey Scenesters!
Going to see the The Cribs in weeks time in Leeds and this album is absolute class. This is definately going to be one of my top 10 albums of the year without a shadow of a doubt. Early stand-out tracks are 'Our Bovine Public', 'Man's Needs' and 'I'm A Realist'
People who slag off the Cribs, either don't get it... or else are Scenesters!
Yeah, yeah so what if they sound a bit like the Strokes... at least they've got a better sense of humour! They've even got a bassline that sounds a bit like the Stone Roses, is someone going to slag them off for that as well?
Boring!!!
i saw them at oxegen and they were terrible, noone was even paying attention to them!!! i hate the fact that they are so image conscious, it dosnt matter what you do as long as you create good music, fuck all this "that band are shit now because they signed to a major label"! they only go on about being "real indie" to cover up the fact that they have no proper tunes!!!
Sorry but...
The Cribs are the most relevant band in the country at the minute and one of the few who make consistantly great albums, give 100% in every performance coz they obviously love what they do and dont take it for granted by getting above themselves. Theyve always made music they love and never pursued the masses which is a testament to their credability as artists. If only more bands had theyr passion for music and ability to write so many catchy and inspiring songs.
no way!
9 out of 10 for this absolutely boring piece of music???