Kevin Bronson on February 16th, 2012

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The Cribs are back to three. Gone is marquee-name guitarist Johnny Marr, who joined up for the U.K. band’s fourth album, 2009’s “Ignore the Ignorant” then departed last year. Ever present, however, is the Jarman brothers’ knack for writing brash, in-your-face guitar rock – at least, judging from the first single their fifth album, “In the Belly of the Brazen Bull.” The Jarmans – Gary, Ryan and Ross (now joined on tour by David Jones of Nine Black Alps as second guitarist) – recorded the album in three sessions, one at London’s Abbey Road, one in upstate New York with Dave Fridmann and one in Chicago with Steve Albini. It’s Albini at the controls for “Chi-Town,” a rocker sure to do little to diminish the Cribs’ live reputation as Band Mostly Like to Bloody Themselves. Hey scenesters, get a load.

||| Download: “Chi-Town”

||| Live: The Cribs tour the U.S. in April, but there are currently no L.A. dates.