The Cribs rolled into town last night to perform a thoroughly noisy set at the Black Cat last night. Personally, I was a bit on the fence about going, but I eventually I found myself free shortly before they went on, so I joined the somewhat small crowd that turned out to catch them.
I was compelled to check them out as Johnny Marr of The Smiths had been working with the three gents from West Yorkshire lately, going so far as to tour with them in the United Kingdom and record some as yet unreleased material with them. I was left wondering what Marr brings to their sound, which basically consists of fairly straightforward if sometimes catchy guitar riffs repeated unceremoniously in a string that is then declared a song.
The band also has a habit of shouting its lyrics in a kind of start-stop manner that appears to result from a lack of any real vocal talent among them. The resulting concert is a sort of herky-jerky procession of dance tunes for the punk set.
I picked up their latest album–Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever–at the show and gave it a listen. I found it to be fairly uneven with some decent dance numbers such as the title track “Men’s Needs,” which holds up fairly well through multiple listens. Other tracks fall pretty short of the mark, though, such as the latest single, “I’m A Realist,” which seems like it was hastily conceived and executed just to capitalize on the cute idea of being contrary.
I know these guys are generating some excitement in England, but I do understand why they aren’t a little bigger here in the States with three albums under their belt after seeing the show.
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