The Cribs

The first time I heard the Cribs I didn't know what to expect. I only knew anything about them because the band I was going to see, Kaiser Chiefs (fake shock), had been singing their praises for more than a few weeks. I assumed they'd be similar in style to Kaiser Chiefs and I wasn't exactly wrong. Then again, I wasn't exactly right. Actually, I was pretty much wrong. They weren't at all the same. They just happen to be from the same area of Yorkshire, England.
The Cribs, as compared to say, Kaiser Chiefs, are incredibly cynical. This can be better heard in their second and third albums, but it's not entirely absent from the first one. Much of that cynicism may come from the fact that they only built up an underground fan base in their home country, while less-talented bands won Brit awards. While many of their songs deal with the usual rock and roll topics (love, loss, and booze) more of their songs deal with the indie/hipster world and it's repercussions. Musically, they're rather unique in this day and age and trying to equate them to bands from previous decades would be rather confusing (because they combine a lot of different influences) and possibly very difficult.
Maybe the best way to describe the band is to look at their albums. The band which formed early in the 00's released their first self-titled album in 2003 with no definitive hit, though probably the best known track is "Another Number" (or that may just be my personal favourite and I assume everyone else knows it.) The Cribs can be more experimental, particularly in instrumentation and song structure, than their later albums, but the bands distinctive style can still be heard in the thin harmonies, both vocally and within the instruments, as well as in the switching between vocalists (the twins, Ryan and Garry.) While at times the songs seem to drag, despite the short run times, that may be because of the bands early propensity for long-ish guitar solos and complete abandonment of the melody (case in point, "Learning How to Fight" changes melody mid-way through). (The longest song is 5 minutes is probably the most experimental of the bunch.)
The next album, The New Fellas released in 2005, is more tightly composed with fewer melodic changes and slightly more cynical lyrics, indicating the direction the band was heading in. Lyrically the band almost completely abandons the usually lyrical topics of love, loss and booze in favour of commentary on the indie scene how very hypocritical it can be. The four tracks on The New Fellas is typical of this line of thought, highlighting the overall cynicism of the band as well as the combination of this cynicism with break-up songs ("I'm Alright Me" in particular.) The New Fellas also emphasizes the percussive side of the bands sound, something that would carry into their third album. The switching of the vocals between the twins is also continued in this album, though the difference in the two isn't always as noticeable as it will be in they're third album. Overall The New Fellas is more indicative of what was to come than anything else.
The latest album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever, released in 2007, is the most coherent of the albums both in terms of style as well as in ability to understand the singers. (Just listen to "Mirror Kisses" from their second album and tell me you can understand every word coming out of Gary's mouth.) The album, produced by Franz Ferdinand lead singer Alex Kapranos, is the most warmly received out of all the albums and is probably the one best known both in the UK and the States. Compositionally Men's Needs... is the tightest of the three, though much of this may have come from Kapranos' production, which also lends a cleaner tone as compared to the first two albums (less fuzz and the like.) Lyrically the band has gone back to the more typical topics found in rock songs with a stronger emphasis on the loss part. While the lyrics remain cynical overall the venom found in the second has been toned down drastically with only a few tracks hinting at the bands dissatisfaction with the indie music scene. (An example of this is "Our Bovine Public" which explains exactly what the band thinks of much of the music scene.) The twins' vocal styles have (finally) become distinguishable with Gary tending to sing the higher parts in songs while Ryan sings the lower parts in songs (eg: Ryan sings vocals for the chorus in "Men's Needs" while Gary sings the chorus.) Much of the noticeable stylistic differences (cleaner sound, more cohesive song structure) between Men's Needs... and the band's earlier albums may come from the producer but ultimately the album is very much a Cribs album.
Must listen to tracks: "Another Number," "Hey Scenesters!", "Martell," "Mirror Kisses," "Things Aren't Gonna Change," "Our Bovine Public," "Men's Needs," "Moving Pictures," "I'm A Realist"