The Cribs
Ignore the Ignorant
Warner Brothers
By Al Kaufman
Britpop is fun, isn't it? Lots and guitars, tight melodies, and lyrics that balance cleverness, strangeness, and all out passion. If The Cribs are anything, they are good Britpop.
Ignore the Ignorant is The Cribs fourth CD, but the first in which they try to make a splash on this side of the Atlantic. To help them, the Jarman brothers (Ryan, Ross, and Gary) have added a little name recognition to the band; Smiths (and, more recently, Modest Mouse) guitarist Johnny Marr. While Marr is old enough to be the Jarmans' dad, his inclusion adds some depth to songs such as "City of Bugs."
But The Cribs specialty is hook-laden melodies led by crisp guitars. Their first three songs, "We Were Aborted," "Cheat On Me" and "We Share the Same Skies," are textbook examples of how damn catchy this stuff can be. Throw in lines like, "I could be someone else if you'd rather/Trying to win you over like a new stepfather," and it borders on pop brilliance. This is the kind of stuff that Franz Ferdinand does so well when they're on. And it should come as no surprise that Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos produced The Crib's 2007 Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever.
The whole thing gets a bit muddled in the middle, when many of the songs lose their rock edge in favor attempts at weak, top 40 hits. And "Nothing" has enough fabricated angst in it that it sounds like the Jarmans were trying to work all the anguish from the Seattle grunge scene into one song. But they follow it up with "Victim of Mass Production," a tuneful tirade against followers of fashion, and order is restored.
The Cribs will be playing The EARL January 20 with Adam Green and The Dead Trees. Tickets are on sale at Ticket Alternative.
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