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One of THE panel show moments of all time. Happy birthday, Simon Amstell! Born on this day, the 29th of November, 1979 ♔

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The Cribs - ‘A Point Too Hard To Make’

English indie rockers The Cribs have a new single out called ‘A Point Too Hard To Make’. It's shouty, anthemic and sounds very Interpol-like in some ways. Different as the UK music scene was to it's counterparts in America, NYC in particular, the Cribs were in some ways part of the same broader 2000s indie music phenomenon as Interpol, now retrospectively being called the ‘indie sleaze’ scene by some outlets, ‘garage rock revival’ to those who know. And there's something in Ryan Jarman's singing on this new song which is giving me a bit of that classic Paul Banks warble, if not as baritone and keeping up that energy that is much more the realm of The Cribs than Interpol.

It'll be on the band's upcoming ninth studio album Selling A Vibe, which seems to lean into the band's connection to a period in music that has seen a (redemption?) comeback in recent years, with hindsight being branded as the last decade of hedonistic abandon in music, when the money was still coming in, the parties were raging, housing was cheap for the last time and the democratic, wild west of the Old Internet was changing the ways in which music was heard, distributed, promoted and formed communities forever. It's music may have been underground or on MySpace, but its influence clearly still lives on.

The intent comes through in the fact that The Cribs recorded tracks with Gordon Raphael for this album, whose production credits include two albums with a firm spot in the 00s indie canon of music, Is This It? and Room On Fire, the first two albums by The Strokes, amongst others.

The band hage been keen to expand their sound and push into the arena of pop music and have tapped the creative talents of Patrick Wimberly, formerly of Chairlift, who has produced genuine popstars like Beyoncé and Ellie Goulding, and crossover soft rock rapper Lil Yachty.

The resulting record was first introduced to us with their lead single, ‘Summer Seizures’, bright guitar pop music distilled through the Cribs lens with hazy, distorted bass riffs and wistful but raw vocal singalongs. It was their first release since 2020's acclaimed Night Network, and the Cribs seem to be onto something good again with their latest effort.

Of ‘A Point Too Hard To Make’, bassist Gary Jarman says it's quite a song of the period too: “2000s damage” he calls it.

Describing “years of longing for connection, escape, excitement”, Jarman says the Wakefield, Yorkshire brothers were small-town romantics given years of excess. What do you do when the party's over?

It is a bit of a hypothetical for the Cribs though. They're still flying high, still partying, however more matured by time (no Crib has had their kidneys punctured since the infamous NME Awards in 2006), and will be playing large outdoor homecoming shows in nearby Leeds, along with other dates across the UK.