The Cribs

Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand produced this U.K. trio's third album. True to form, Kapranos keeps things tight and spiky, capturing a guitar sound the Buzzcocks would drool over. The Cribs, three brothers (two of which are twins), have a knack for writing unfairly catchy post-punk/pop-punk gems, so the upfront drums, punchy bass lines and totally awesome accents all add up to considerable amounts of pogo-inducing charm. The album title and "Our Bovine Public" say it all: These kids are smart.

The Cribs specialize in songs about staying out too late, embarrassing your friends and
losing your heart to girls who are even drunker than you are but deserve better than you
anyway. It's a theme that never gets old, and their third album is a holler-along Brit-punk
gem. Three brothers from the mining town of Wakefield, the Cribs didn't make an
impression at first, but despite abysmal sound quality, their melodies unfolded o... More >