Review of The Cribs's CD "Another Number / Baby Don't Sweat"

The Cribs: Another Number / Baby Don't Sweat

The A-side is "Another Number", a gloriously lackadaisical amble down lo-fi lane. This one just prods and teases and you think that any minute it will kick off, guitars a blazing, yet after a couple of minutes it just finishes. Annoying really, because for all its tinny recording glory it doesn't seem to have amounted to very much. What's strange is that the rocking song in my head - based upon this tantalising 7" - isn't The Cribs' yet I'm bugged purely because my version of the song isn't the one playing on record. Strange. As for "Baby Don't Sweat" (the AA-side, originally released on Leeds' Squirrel Records), this is Pavement and Dinosaur Jr indie mixed with The Strokes' chugging guitar cool. Again the recording sounds like a first-take-we're-out job, but I do rather like this one. A wondrous debut single on the Wichita label, and well worth a listen...

• www.thecribs.com

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