The New Fellas

Album review

The Cribs' self-titled debut album was a bracing blast of post-Britpop alternative rock that turned the young trio into the toast of the scene; The New Fellas is both more of the same and a little extra. It has all the noisy, almost manic energy of that record, but with the help of producer Edwyn Collins, they focus some of the excess and deliver an album that slices their contemporaries to tatters, both with the angularity of the guitars, the power of the rhythm section, and the biting nature of the lyrics. Both "Hey Scenesters!," "Martel," and "Mirror Kissers" are an amazingly unsparing trio of takedowns of the scene and the bands in it, played and sung with malevolent, gimlet-eyed glee. All three are also hooky enough to be hits, something that makes them just that much sweeter. Here, and on the rest of the album, Collins' no-frills production captures the band in all their energetic glory, the album coming across like a particularly heated live show minus any spilled beer or unruly shoving. Almost every song is lodged firmly in the red, with the brothers pushing their vocals to the limits while they hit the strings and skins like they were taking out some long overdue revenge. The title track and the spoken word-heavy "The Wrong Way to Be" and the jaunty Strokes-in-Blighty "Things Aren't Gonna Change" are fine examples of how the trio and Collins come up with a thrilling update of melodic punk, scathing indie rock, and good old rock & roll that sounds instantly familiar and impossible not to love. The band aren't a one trick pony though as on a handful of tracks they take it a little easier and focus more on melody instead of the punch. "We No Longer Can Cheat" sneaks merrily over to the funkier side of the tracks (near where Franz Ferdinand live,) "Haunted" forgoes electricity in full as it captures some nice campfire vibes, and "It Was Only Love" rambles along unsteadily like a classic Ronnie Lane song, but dressed in leather instead of scarves. These interludes are a fine balance to the powerful racket the rest of the album unleashes. It's a fine follow up to their impressive debut, and if it loses a little bit of the wandering weirdness that album provided, it makes up for it in hooks, sweat and energy.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo