Due in no small part to Gregger’s posting of Girls Like Mystery on last week’s Monday Mix Tape, I treated myself to The Cribs’ new CD Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever, which dropped May 21st. I went through a really big Cribs phase when I discovered them off of a co-worker’s iTunes playlist a couple years ago, but after rockin’ their first two CDs and catching them live when they opened for Death Cab For Cutie, I allowed them to slip off the playlist and out of my realm of consciousness. Big mistake. This latest CD has reinforced all of the reasons that I loved this band so wholeheartedly back in the day.

For those who are still unfamiliar with who The Cribs are, the band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross. Their first two CDs, The Cribs and The New Fellas consisted of some songs with intoxicating hooks and guitar riffs (notable jams include What About Me, Another Number, Mirror Kissers, Martell etc.), and some other songs that sounded more like fillers and eventually caused me to lose interest. This newest effort is studded with gems like the aforementioned Girls Like Mystery and the first single off the CD, Men’s Needs. Not much has changed between the first two CDs and this one, except for the fact that the Jarmans recorded this one in British Columbia with Alex Kapronos (Franz Ferdinand) as their producer. The characteristic squealing guitar riffs are still there (I have no idea how anyone can play that high up on the fretboard), but they sound much cleaner under Kapronos’s sophisticated touch.

I’m not ashamed to tell you that this is my favorite CD of the year so far. The Cribs tend to get left aside when discussing the top indie bands out there (Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs calls them “one of the most under-rated bands around”), but not here at Rockouts. Cribsies rejoice in some toe-tapping wonderfulness henceforth.

Girls Like Mystery – Cribs (mp3)

Buy the CD here