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The Cribs
Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever
By Cam Lindsay
In their bid to become a rather decent indie band, Leeds, England’s the Cribs have accidentally become one of the UK’s best to emerge in the post-Britpop era. Of course, they’re destined to be forever overlooked — the best often are — but with a dependable surplus of tireless pop hooks in their system, at least their fans will always find a reason to love them unconditionally. Purveyors of raucously melodic, often sloppy and somewhat brash guitar pop, it seemed like the Cribs would eschew their grimy lo-fi-isms when Franz Ferdinand front-man Alex Kapranos was hired to put his neatly manicured hands on this, their third album. However, Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever is far from polished; the Jarman brothers still spit their dissatisfaction with sex, scenesters and elitists while cooking up a beefy stew of their best and noisiest sonic splendour. “Men’s Needs” is their blasé attitude in a nutshell, covered in honey-roasted riffs that taste divine. On the flipside, “Women’s Needs” covers the opposite sex with self-degrading consideration. Rotating singers, bassist Gary and guitarist Ryan swap their subversive vocals harmoniously, even over top of hero Lee Ranaldo, who poetically graces the Sonic Youth homage “Be Safe.” The Cribs are here for the taking with another fortifying album and Whatever says much more with its music than its apathetic title suggests.
How did Alex Kapranos end up producing the album?
Ryan: We spent a lot of time together [on tour] and we got on really well. We had started writing new songs and when we got back he said he was interested in producing us. I suppose at first it seemed kind of like a wildcard option, maybe we were a little wary because he’d never really produced before but in a lot of ways, that worked out really well. He was very enthusiastic about it and genuinely cared about the record.
It was interesting hearing “Martell” featured in a Telus ad over here. Was that something you chose to do?
We didn’t even know about it until we came to Canada. That was the first we heard about it. We felt a bit stupid, really, when people were asking about it. I mean, it was kind of weird because in the UK we hadn’t licensed any of our music to anything, know what I mean? We didn’t really have a problem with it but we’d rather people find out about us in a more organic way. But as long as they like the songs, I suppose it’s okay.
(Wichita)
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1990s - Cookies
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27 - Holding On For Brighter Days
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Adam Franklin - Bolts of Melody
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Arthur and Yu - Camera
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Ash - Twilights of the Innocent
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Ash - Twilights of the Innocent
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Au - Au
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Bishop Allen - Bishop Allen & The Broken String
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Black Strobe - Burn Your Own Church
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Boat - Let’s Drag Our Feet
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Boggs - Forts
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Boys Night Out - Boys Night Out
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Concentrick - Aluminum Lake
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Crowded House - Time On Earth
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David Karsten Daniels - Sharp Teeth
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Deleted Scenes - Deleted Scenes
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Dora Flood - We Live Now
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Editors - An End Has A Start
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Ez3kiel - Naphtaline
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The For Carnation - Promised Works
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For the Mathematics - We Impend
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Gore Gore Girls - Get The Gore
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Grampall Jookabox - Scientific Cricket
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Harrisons - No Fighting In The War Room
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Hot Little Rocket - How To Lose Everything
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Hot Panda - Whale Headed Girl EP
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Infighter - Infighter
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J. Zumpano - Living Room Recordings
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Jackob Olauson - Moonlight Farm
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Kelly Clarkson - My December
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Kelly Jones - Only The Names Have Been Changed
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Kids On TV - Mixing Business With Pleasure
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Les Petits - The Mighty Antlers of Song
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Les Petits - The Mighty Antlers of Song
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The Lonely H - Hair
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Mark Ronson - Version
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Mick Harvey - Two of Diamonds
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Mick Turner / Tren Brothers - Blue Trees
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Minus Story - My Ion Truss
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Misha - Teardrop Sweetheart
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My Morning Jacket - At Dawn/Tennessee Fire Demos
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The New Rags - Take Jennie To Brooklyn
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The Original Mark Edwards - The Doom Loop
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Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
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Pumice - Pebbles
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Rocky Votolato - The Brag & Cuss
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Rooney - Calling the World
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Rooney - Calling the World
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Russian Futurists - Me, Myself and Rye
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Schooner - Hold On Too Tight
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Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
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They Might Be Giants - The Else
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They Might Be Giants - The Else
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Two Hours Traffic - Little Jabs
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Various Artists - Healing the Divide: A Concert for Peace and Reconciliation
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The Voyces - Kissing Like It’s Love
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William Tell - You Can Hold Me Down
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is
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The first Uncharted was unheralded, an out-of-nowhere blast of awesome that finally let PS3 owners brag about the console's software, not just its hardware. Sure, its Indiana Jones-aping approach had previously been pixelated by Tomb Raider but Uncharted's art direction, ...
Full Review
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