one of 2023\u2019s best records<\/a>, The Tubs are back with an equally enthralling follow-up in Cotton Crown<\/i> (Trouble in Mind Records). Like its predecessor, the record hints at latter-day H\u00fcsker D\u00fc while also displaying a penchant for guitar jangle worthy of the Flying Nun label. As such, on songs like leadoff track \u201cThe Thing Is,\u201d there\u2019s a certain ferocity that belies its folksy strumming. That aggressive undercurrent seems apt, though, as singer and principle songwriter Owen Williams relates, \u201cYou said you\u2019ve never met someone you hate like me\u2026 But the thing is, baby, I know I\u2019ll get away with it.\u201d<\/p>\nThroughout the album, Williams explores the duplicitous, neurotic nature of his romances. On \u201cFreak Mode,\u201d he sings in his oh so Richard Thompson\u2013like voice, \u201cCuz I\u2019m not myself. I\u2019m somebody else, someone who loves you.\u201d Meanwhile, on \u201cNarcissist,\u201d he goes searching for self-destruction, repeatedly pleading to the subject of the song, \u201cYou should do it to me.\u201d With honeyed backing vocals from Lan McArdle, who was in Joanna Gruesome with three fourths of The Tubs and is Williams\u2019 bandmate in Ex-V\u00f6id, as well as a beautifully lilting guitar line, it\u2019s hard to resist the song\u2019s inherent sweetness, even after realizing its sentiments are being directed at someone who may be a sociopath. However, that\u2019s the album\u2019s greatest strength: never being what you might make it out to be at first glance. Indeed, it\u2019s so, so much more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Almost exactly two years after emerging with their debut, Dead Meat, one of 2023\u2019s best records, The Tubs are back with an equally enthralling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,2585],"class_list":["post-8478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-the-tubs"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Tubs Cotton Crown - The Agit Reader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Album Review: Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind Records), the second album by London quartet The Tubs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Tubs Cotton Crown - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Album Review: Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind Records), the second album by London quartet The Tubs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-07T13:50:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-01T12:21:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Slaybaugh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Slaybaugh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephen Slaybaugh\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/4c0a2e33892559e5e2d68fa9de669d89\"},\"headline\":\"The Tubs Cotton Crown\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-07T13:50:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-01T12:21:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/\"},\"wordCount\":265,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Album Review\",\"The Tubs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Album Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/\",\"name\":\"The Tubs Cotton Crown - The Agit Reader\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-07T13:50:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-01T12:21:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"Album Review: Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind Records), the second album by London quartet The Tubs.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Tubs Cotton Crown\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/\",\"name\":\"The Agit Reader\",\"description\":\"a music webzine\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Agit Reader\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/agitcom.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/agitcom.jpg\",\"width\":339,\"height\":149,\"caption\":\"The Agit Reader\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/agitreader\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/4c0a2e33892559e5e2d68fa9de669d89\",\"name\":\"Stephen Slaybaugh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5baa5d2f0bfecad8048ca1b8989016c4f217fe9576ef2397c74a2674fb56b558?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5baa5d2f0bfecad8048ca1b8989016c4f217fe9576ef2397c74a2674fb56b558?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Stephen Slaybaugh\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/author\/sdslaybaugh\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Tubs Cotton Crown - The Agit Reader","description":"Album Review: Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind Records), the second album by London quartet The Tubs.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Tubs Cotton Crown - The Agit Reader","og_description":"Album Review: Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind Records), the second album by London quartet The Tubs.","og_url":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/","og_site_name":"The Agit Reader","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader","article_published_time":"2025-03-07T13:50:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-01T12:21:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Stephen Slaybaugh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@agitreader","twitter_site":"@agitreader","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stephen Slaybaugh","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/"},"author":{"name":"Stephen Slaybaugh","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/4c0a2e33892559e5e2d68fa9de669d89"},"headline":"The Tubs Cotton Crown","datePublished":"2025-03-07T13:50:21+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-01T12:21:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/"},"wordCount":265,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg","keywords":["Album Review","The Tubs"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/","url":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/","name":"The Tubs Cotton Crown - The Agit Reader","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-07T13:50:21+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-01T12:21:51+00:00","description":"Album Review: Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind Records), the second album by London quartet The Tubs.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/the-tubs-cotton-crown\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Tubs Cotton Crown"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#website","url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/","name":"The Agit Reader","description":"a music webzine","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization","name":"The Agit Reader","url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/agitcom.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/agitcom.jpg","width":339,"height":149,"caption":"The Agit Reader"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader","https:\/\/x.com\/agitreader"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/4c0a2e33892559e5e2d68fa9de669d89","name":"Stephen Slaybaugh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5baa5d2f0bfecad8048ca1b8989016c4f217fe9576ef2397c74a2674fb56b558?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5baa5d2f0bfecad8048ca1b8989016c4f217fe9576ef2397c74a2674fb56b558?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Stephen Slaybaugh"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/agitreader.com"],"url":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/author\/sdslaybaugh\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Up74-2cK","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8478"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8580,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8478\/revisions\/8580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cottoncrown.jpg\")
<\/a>Almost exactly two years after emerging with their debut, Dead Meat<\/i>, one of 2023\u2019s best records<\/a>, The Tubs are back with an equally enthralling follow-up in Cotton Crown<\/i> (Trouble in Mind Records). Like its predecessor, the record hints at latter-day H\u00fcsker D\u00fc while also displaying a penchant for guitar jangle worthy of the Flying Nun label. As such, on songs like leadoff track \u201cThe Thing Is,\u201d there\u2019s a certain ferocity that belies its folksy strumming. That aggressive undercurrent seems apt, though, as singer and principle songwriter Owen Williams relates, \u201cYou said you\u2019ve never met someone you hate like me\u2026 But the thing is, baby, I know I\u2019ll get away with it.\u201d<\/p>\n