The Cribs - The New Fellas

As I listened to this album recently, I began writing the review in my head. “A catchy, energetic sound that reminds me of the likes of Maximo Park and The Futureheads. However, while they make some great music, they lack the diversity to make them special”. But as I continued to listen through I discovered this initial analysis to be horribly wrong. I suppose I should note that this was on my 4th time through, after not listening to it for a while. The problem was that the opening track (which I love and in fact got me onto them) had locked me into a false impression. As it turns out, The Cribs, who actually consist of three brothers, have ample variety. In fact, they even match it with their fellow Englishmen in this department. This is important, because as the aforementioned bands, along with others such as The Vines have shown, your upbeat, exciting tracks can only take you so far. Only when you back this up with quality slower tracks will you have an album worthy of praise. This is exactly why The Cribs do not disappoint. When the tempo slows, the vocals remain unwavering and they prove they’ve got nothing to hide behind the noise. While this record may not be groundbreaking, it is well rounded and highly enjoyable because of how they’ve managed to succeed on so many levels.

Hey Scenesters! – You guessed it, this is ‘the first song’, both in terms of track listing and me hearing them. To its credit it’s one of the few times I’ve gotten an album purely on the merit of one song. But well, it’s just a great song

Martel – I couldn’t give that speech and then not include a slower song. Admittedly, none of their songs are exactly ‘slow’, perhaps ‘restrained’ is a better description. Either way, this is the song that led me to change my tune (see above) and is again a great song.