The Cribs – Ignore the Ignorant

The brothers are back, this time plus Johnny Marr, and crikey, is it album number four already for The Cribs? Looking back, Wichita's second finest have been pretty reliable since their self-titled debut in 2004. Clumsily titled though it may be, Ignore the Ignorant is a far from an ambitious record, but it makes for a very satisfying listen. I've always felt that there's something to be said, and nothing to be ashamed of, about straight-forward, earnest and exciting rock albums largely because straight-forwardness, earnestness and excitement are - to me at least - three of rock's core principles, as I've jabbered on about at least once before.Here, the Cribs embody all of those principles, if not neccesarily all of them at the same time. This is an determinedly guitar-driven album, driven by meaty and powerful riffs in its more upbeat tracks. Crucially though, The Cribs are able to make this a consistent record, which stubbornly fails to fall flat on its arse during more instrospective moments. Whilst the album is still stronger in its first half - especially the first three songs - the slower pieces display the band's dynamism and increased willingness to experiment, as on the lengthy "City of Bugs".A large part of the success is the constantly appealing tone of this album. It's mostly the lovely guitar tones on songs like "Last Year's Snow" which give the album a warm, fuzzy and thoroughly hard-to-describe sound, allowing the songs to walk a fine line - they're able to sound aggressive without ever sacrificing melodicism. In that sense, and also partly in a production one, this album is vaguely reminiscent of the recent ninth Manic Street Preachers album, which had a combination of bile and barely-restrained glee at times - which is reflected in an odd way by songs like the opener here, "We Were Aborted". As for the production - this record is, interestingly, produced by Nick Launay, who is something of an analog purist who echoes Albini's "the band as they sounded at this moment in time" mantra.One of the curious things about this album, and one which will represent a criticism to some, is that it's not very emphatic. Personally I don't see it as an inherently bad thing. There's arguably too much bombast in this world, which is not added to by Gary Jarman's frequently restrained and calm vocals, even when the guitars are at their most raging, as they are on "Nothing". When a few lines are suddenly semi-screamed Grohl-style, it comes as quite a surprise.As a whole, Ignore the Ignorant is a well-judged, fairly varied and yet consistent rock record, which almost approaches the upper echelons of its sort this year. By adding a bit of an edge onto what came before, The Cribs have avoided wholly retreading themselves and display the intelligence to pull off exuberance and resignation which each is appropriate, with equal sincerity and maturity. This is further, though desperately needed, evidence that guitar music can cover a wide variety of bases successfully. A strong and enjoyable effort.The Cribs on MySpace