Thom Yorke// Crystal Castles// Ryan Jarman

More seems to have happened today than I usually get through in a week but here are a few more things to see you through the weekend. First up there is a brand new radio rip of the new Crystal Castles single 'Celestica' which sees Alice's torn vocals honeyed up and kicking out some nice melodies.(via Scottish Friction)



Next up is Ryan Jarman covering girlfriend Kate Nash's new single 'Doo-Wah-Do'. This reminds me of the song The Cribs recorded for their second album on Scarborough beach where I am from so it's all right by me (also I'm a shameless hit whore and Cribs fans are obsessive/ legion)



Finally 'Atoms For Peace' or as everyone will actually call them 'Thom Yorke's band' covered Love Will Tear Us Apart in LA last night. It sounded like this:

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For The Record: September

September is over- here are the best albums of the month. Click the links for full reviews.

The Cribs- 'Ignore The Ignorant'
Jamie T- 'Kings and Queens' (Album of the month)
Japandroids- 'Post Nothing'
The Big Pink- 'A Brief History Of Love'
Dizzee Rascal- 'Tongue 'N' Cheek'
Brand New- 'Daisy'
Vivian Girls- 'Everything Goes Wrong'
Girls- 'Album'

Download these:

The Cribs- We Were Aborted
Jamie T- Castro Dies
Japandroids- Wet Hair
The Big Pink- Velvet
Dizzee Rascal- Dirtee Cash
Brand New- Vices
Vivian Girls- I Have No Fun
Girls- Lauren Marie.

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September- Blog Highlights

The best links from the previous 30 days.

Introducing The Drums, The Antlers and The Morning Benders.

I met up with The Cribs (Inc. Johnny Marr)

Brand New discuss illegally downloading their own album.

Julian Casablancas debuted his solo material with '11th Dimension'

Editors have 'done a Horrors' on their third album. Track by track guide here.

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Words with: The Cribs

The effect Johnny Marr has on people is as noticeable as it is amusing. Everyone gathered at the offices of Wichita - home to Marr’s new band The Cribs - is speaking about his arrival and when a white transit van pulls up and the man who wrote ‘The Queen Is Dead’ when he was 18 jumps out, eyes dart in his direction over menus, newspapers and friends' shoulders. It’s no surprise he garners attention what is surprising however is the humility he shows and the passion for music that still burns strong in his stomach.

With this state of agitation teamed with a love of pop music, it almost makes sense that he has now joined The Cribs. I say almost as it still takes a while to adjust to hearing a lone Manc voice in amongst the famous Wakefield drawl of the Jarman brothers, especially when that voice belongs to the ringing sound of one of the greatest British bands of all time.

Speaking to Johnny Marr is not to speak to an anachronistic, eighties throwback though; he is all about living for the future and his commitment to writing songs is how he bonded with the brothers Jarman in the first place. He explains: “We wrote some songs together that were really good and the band made me feel as if I was wanted.” Ryan then interjects, “It was all about the songs, once it started to go well and we knew we could continue to write songs we didn’t want to put a stop to it. it was never a case of ‘let’s get Johnny Marr in, this’ll be a good story’ it was just that it felt right and we wanted to see where it went.”

Plus as Johnny explains, “They didn’t need me in the band and I didn’t need to join a cool, happening band because I was already in one (Modest Mouse) but we were led by the music. I just want to be the second best guitarist in The Cribs and that’s more than enough to be getting on with”.

Perhaps in many ways the real story behind the now trans-Pennine band is that they have broken the family mould, how does an outsider come into such a tight knit group? Ryan pipes up, “We’ve always been inherently close through being brothers but things never felt strange with Johnny because we shared a lot of the same values about music and what it is to be in a band. Music can be so transient now because of how easy it is to get access to but we all enjoy the romance of making records and getting excited when someone’s album is released and waiting to go buy it.

Johnny then expands on the groups musical similarities: “When I met Gary we both seemed to understand exactly what punk is and more importantly what it isn’t. The word punk has become so many things nowadays but when it started it wasn’t aggressive, it wasn’t macho or exclusively male it was funny and about clever lyrics.”

For someone like Johnny, who has tasted success in the 1980’s and is now a member of a successful indie band in 2009, what are the noticeable changes in the music industry? “It’s mostly different because of the internet which is a double-edged sword really. Back in the 80’s though there were lots of little indie labels like Rough Trade and they’re still going to an extent but…”. As Johnny discusses indie labels the band as a whole agree on how important it is to them to call Wichita home. Johnny continues. “I never thought I’d be on an indie label in the UK ever again so it’s brilliant to meet cool people who are willing to out their necks on the line for good music.” Gary adds: “We wouldn’t be the and we are today if we weren’t on this label so subconsciously it must have been one of the reasons Johnny liked us as it’s responsible for how we carry ourselves.”

The problem with being a fiercely independent band like The Cribs is that success brings a myriad of problems with it. The cries of “Sell out!” are a cliché and not as rife as people make out, after all success is merely large amounts of people loving your music and that is what all bands want for their music. The issue that bugs The Cribs, as is audible when asked, is that despite building their band slowly and in an old fashioned manner they regularly get mentioned alongside the likes of careerist major label ‘indie’ bands. The lack of attention to the fact The Cribs operate in a very different fashion to many of their contemporaries is something they feel strongly about as Gary makes clear: “We have a reputation for being pretty outspoken from things we’ve said in the past but we feel that as a band we were being badly misconstrued. It was galling to be held up alongside certain bands when we were going about things radically different because it wasn’t a level playing field”.

This is clearly something Ryan agrees with, “We were never slagging specific bands off we were just making sure that people knew that we weren’t aspiring to what other bands seem to be aspiring to. It’s not just being on a major label either. A lot of these bands are embraced by commercial media and that is something we’ve never had and have shunned any opportunity to get involved in, yet you see some bands on things all the time and you can’t just lump us all in together because we’re not like them.”

With a new member and a brilliant fourth album under their belts The Cribs prove that if you have the passion, drive and dedication to get somewhere fans will recognise that in you and become devoted. As anyone who has seen The Cribs live will tell you these devoted fans are legion and it’s no wonder why. ‘Ignore The Ignorant’ is the bands new album and sounds as fresh and vitriolic as their lo-fi debut released at the turn of the decade - you can ignore the ignorant but you mustn’t Ignore The Cribs.

For Gigwise.com

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The Cribs- Ignore The Ignorant

After months of rumour and various live appearances Johnny Marr finally makes his debut as a fully fledged Crib on the bands fourth album. His introduction into the Wakefield trio’s inner circle sees the band adopt a more fleshed out sound whilst still retaining their jagged edge. Fans of Marr’s jangly guitars will be happy to hear the trademark sounds ring out at various intervals such as ‘We Share The Same Skies’ however ‘Ignore The Ignorant’ is not an album hijacked by a legend. Such is the Jarman brothers power and style that even amongst the company of an indie icon they still assert their scruffy anthems accordingly. ‘Hari Kari’ and ‘We Were Aborted’ are as good as the material on ‘The New Fellas’, still the finest Cribs record to date.

Any criticism of ‘Ignore The Ignorant would come from the audible strain on bassist Gary Jarman’s voice and the way in which the album slopes in quality towards the end, unsurprisingly these two issues are often linked. It's not that his voice is shot but the bass wielding Jarman is clearly suffering from years of touring and recording and as a result the likes of 'Last Years Snow' and 'Emasculate Me' make for a grating listen. What this does however is project brother Ryan as the star of the band, his vocal interjections are the highlights of 'Ignore The Ignorant' whilst his guitar playing more than holds up against the ominously talented Marr.

The Cribs are progressing at a steady if unspectacular rate and 'Ignore The Ignorant' is another stepping stone towards the domination they have always hinted at. The biggest compliment you could pay the band and this record is that despite bringing in a world famous figure to play guitar the results are still 100% Wakefield.

7/10

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Singles Club

Muse- United States Of Urasia
Hmm, first they steal the idea of seperating song parts and allowing fans to find them across the world from Nine Inch Nails (the below is 4/6th's of the song until the last 2 parts are found) and then when you hear the song it sounds like Freddie Mercury rising from the dead and promptly dying again. Have Muse jumped the shark? The two and a half minutes reveleaed so far are possibly the worst thing heard in 2009 after The Enemy and I never thought I'd say that about Muse. *EDIT- the full version is now online (9:10pm 20/07/09)



Jamie T- Chaka Demus
"Two world wars and one world cup, everyone drinks in the corner." Jamie T is in patriotic form landing somewhere between deprication and pride whilst AK-47'ing lyrics unrivalled by his peers. This is going to be the album of the year isn't it? 3 stunning tracks down and the full LP still to come, Jamie T owns 2009.



Friendly Fires- Kiss Of Life
Klaxons go samba? This new FF track is in aid of the 'repackaged' debut album (ie, all you slow pokes are finally catching up and the label want to flog you a more expensive version of what's been out for nearly a year). Nevermind though as Friendly Fires are going from strength to strength and whilst this offers nothing especially new it is still a fantastic, toe-tapping Summer anthem that should secure the St. Albans trio that next rung on the ladder.



The Cribs- Cheat On Me
After the pretty brilliant free download 'We Were Aborted' this feels like a bit of a let down, or a B-Side at most. It's good enough but nothing special and you can't help feeling The Cribs can do better than this. Johnny Marr's echoing guitars ring out nicely but Gary Jarman's strained vocals sound painful and there is a distinct whiff of 'Will this do?' about the song. Probably a minor blip but worrying that this has been selected as 'Ignore The Ignorant's lead single.



Mariachi El Bronx- Cell Mates
Note to Jack White: This is how you do side projects. Taking time out from shredding faces as The Bronx the So-Cal band have reinvented themselves as a Mariachi band. The results are somewhere between an advert for fajitas and a really beautiful little song. Plus going back to The Bronx makes them sound so much more ferocious. A wonderful surprise.

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The Cribs- 'We Were Aborted'

As a sneak preview of their upcoming fourth album The Cribs are giving away 'We Were Aborted' for the very reasonable price of totally free. With new full-time member Johnny Marr the band are set to release 'Ignore The Ignorant' in September but until then grab your MP3 at TheCribs.com and listen to the typically anthemic choruses ringing out. The track is available until 10am tomorrow morning.

Go here for The Cribs- 'We Were Aborted'

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