24-7 Rock Star Shit

Recorded in five days but years in the making, 24-7 Rock Star Shit is the Cribs' raw response to 2015's poppy, Ric Ocasek-produced For All My Sisters. To make the album, the band reunited with Steve Albini in November 2016 to revisit a batch of songs they recorded during the sessions for 2012's In the Belly of the Brazen Bull. Albini was a good choice for the kind of album the Cribs wanted to make; if Ocasek helped them channel their inner Weezer, then there's more than a hint of Nirvana to their reunion with the Electrical Audio engineer, particularly in the way the big choruses and guitars kick in on songs like "Broken Arrow" and "Rainbow Ridge" (and when it comes to ironic titles, 24-7 Rock Star Shit rivals "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter"). Like Weezer and Nirvana, the Cribs' blend of melody and aggression is more interesting than either part on its own, and 24-7 Rock Star Shit pairs the energy of their early days with the discipline that comes from years of being in a band. Nevertheless, emotion triumphs over craft, from the sound of squalling songs like "Give Good Time" and "Year of Hate" -- which borders on emo -- to the direct lyrics of "Partisan," where a wailed "Goddamn!" is a more eloquent chorus than something wordier would've been. The album's bashed-out sound gives extra appeal to raggedly bittersweet moments such as "In Your Palace," "Dendrophobia," and "What Have You Done for Me?," while a pair of ballads, "Sticks Not Twigs" and "Dead at the Wheel," serve as reminders that Albini's engineering style sounds as good (if not better) on quiet songs as it does on loud ones. While it doesn't feel quite as honed as some of the Cribs' other albums, 24-7 Rock Star Shit is a lot of fun, as well as more proof that the band's eternal tug of war between grit and polish still generates excitement. ~ Heather Phares