Grinderman - Dark Publications

Location: Home » music » Garage Rock » Grinderman

Similar Items:

•	Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
•	Icky Thump
•	Third
•	White Chalk

Editorial Reviews:

From Amazon.co.uk
Grinderman is the sound of indie rock legends growing old disgracefully, and that is by no means a criticism. From the opening rant of "Get It On," this is an album with all the menace of an angry drunk, dripping with anger and testosterone (as the surfeit of facial hair in the band's interior photo will attest). It could even be the sound of Nick Cave's midlife crisis, but it doesn't matter, because Grinderman rocks. It's the sound of four musicians having a grand time, turning the volume up to 11 and really cutting loose. For that reason, it's the more upbeat tracks here that are probably the best: "Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)" with its driving electric organ, the primal urgency of "Depth Charge Ethel," and the strutting album closer "Love Bomb." After all the po-faced seriousness he's displayed in recent years, it's good to know that Cave has rediscovered his sense of humour: "I cleaned the sheets on my bed, I combed the hairs across my head, I sucked in my gut and still she said, 'I don't want to,'" he sings on "No Pussy Blues," with his tongue firmly in cheek (amongst other places). Simply put, Grinderman is a hoot. --Ted Kord

Album Description
The story of Grinderman begins within the working processes of another band: Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds. At the start of 2004, when Nick Cave took a small team of Bad Seeds members -- violinist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn Casey and drummer Jim Sclavunos -- off to the tiny Misere studio in Paris for a songwriting session, they effectively established a new band. The small combo configuration of Nick, Warren, Marty and Jim had its public debut in a showcase performance to promote the Bad Seeds Nocturama album; the foursome continued working in this streamlined format, getting together frequently for Nick Cave "solo" tours. Born of babbling lyrics hatched from Bosch eggshells in the Hyde-bound apocalyptic margins of the Cave brain, the Grinderman sound is an instinctual yawlp that also resurrects the demons of each musician's past: the trashcan proselytising of Birthday Party -era Nick; Sclavunos' late 70s New York no-wave noise wisdom; Martyn Casey's ominous Triffids bass reverb; plus Ellis' avant-garde soundtrack work and his teenage love of Black Sabbath. Destination: Out! Grinderman sound different from everyone, including themselves. As Memphis Slim put it back in 1941, "While everything is quiet and easy/ Mr. Grinder can have his way." It's a new day. God help you all.

Album Description
Grinderman is Nick Cave with a small team of Bad Seeds members -- violinist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn Casey and drummer Jim Sclavunos. In February 2006, the four musicians booked themselves into London's Metropolis Studios for a five-day marathon of non-stop demo sessions, resulting in several hours of raw material. The following month, Grinderman called in the producer behind the last two Bad Seeds album, Nick Launay. Together they recorded thirteen songs at RAK Studios in London, and then returned to Metropolis in October to mix their self-titled album, Grinderman. Mute. 2007.

Album Details
Grinderman is Nick Cave with a Small Team of Bad Seeds Members, Violinist Warren Ellis, Bassist Martyn Casey and Drummer Jim Sclavunos. In February 2006, the Four Musicians Booked Themselves Into London's Metropolis Studios for a Five-day Marathon of Non-stop Demo Sessions, Resulting in Several Hours of Raw Material. The Following Month, Grinderman Called in the Producer Behind the Last Two Bad Seeds Album, Nick Launay. Together They Recorded Thirteen Songs at Rak Studios in London, and Then Returned to Metropolis in October to Mix their Self-titled Album, "Grinderman".

Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Liberate your invisibility April 15, 2007
23 out of 26 found this review helpful

It's fascinating to hear a band address themes of aging and sexual longing in a youth-obsessed culture, in terms of the withering knowledge that sexual desire does not decrease as one reaches mid-life and beyond. The ability to fulfill that desire, at will, is another thing entirely.

The resulting, bewildered frustration is brilliantly captured in the Grinderman sound: it's the noise of longing, of sorrow, of powerlessness, of an animal shrieking for release from a cage with no gate. It's also about finding humor, passion, and self-effacing acceptance of all that life has to offer - of refusing to be crushed under the gravity of encroaching age and jaded experience. That would be too predictable.

To put this all in context --

In a recent interview with Salon.com (April 12, 2007), Nick Cave said that, as one gets older, one becomes more invisible, and therefore, more powerless, to impact the world. On some level, he was observing that the inevitability of social and physical death are demons we must confront as we turn the corner on our 40s and smack into the hard brick wall of 50. On the other side of that wall is liberation, i.e., the freedom to re-invent onself and to remake the rules of the game. To please oneself.

That's the lesson to be learned from Nick Cave and the Grinderman songs.

Give this record a serious listen. Please don't try and compare it to The Birthday Party sound. This music is immediate and unique. It is Nick Cave, as he is, now. It is meant for all of us, still-rocking, still-lusting, still wildly alive, `invisibles' -- as we are, now.

5 out of 5 stars

A seething masterwork... April 30, 2007
22 out of 30 found this review helpful

This record is one triumphant release. Grinderman transports the listener to a sparse landscape, dust blowing in the street, sand in your teeth, and a drunkenness bubbling over and out of your corrupted and decaying soul. Anger and rage. You can smell the smoke as this monster burns you up and melts your face. Nick Cave plays the guitar with so much intensity that my nose began to bleed. Punched drunk in the kisser, lurching and boiling at the seams. The bass and drums entangle you, dragging you to the depths of this torrid, boozy affair. Grinderman is a night out on the town, that moment you stare deep into your own soul and face the demons within. A bender from hell with friends in the night, only to wake and have to face that maddening reality - life is pain. Grinderman is here to remind us that we all grow old, and in the end our mispent youth, hallowed and raw is a fleeting moment. To linger is to live in the hell of vanity forever.

5 out of 5 stars

Don't buy the import March 20, 2007
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

This import contains no extras for the additional cost, but DO BUY THE ALBUM!
Do you remember when Jesus and Mary Chain released their first album? When NIN released Downward Spiral? When you first heard From Her to Eternity?
This album is better than that.
Being a Nick Cave fan for years, I'm totally in shock and awe over how GREAT this album is. Sometimes musically reminiscent of Velvet Underground and original Stooges, with post industrial noise, and Nick Cave's dramatic poetic vocals, Grinderman creates a sound here that is intensely original and just mercilessly rocks.
Grinderman is the best album I'm going to hear this year.
It's just incredible that after all these years; Nick Cave had this album in him. It just rocks. If you can listen to Love Bomb without getting goose bumps, you're just not human.
If I have one criticism it's that I miss Blixa.
I never thought I'd hear music as cool as this created in 2007.
Play it loud.

5 out of 5 stars

Tadej March 16, 2007
8 out of 11 found this review helpful

It is such a pleasant surprise to hear a record so powerful, so fresh...so energetic and after such a long time...
Thank you Mr. Cave, thank you Warren, Martyn, Jim. Just can't get enough. :)

4 out of 5 stars

An Entertaining Departure June 14, 2007
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

Knowing well the music of Nick Cave, when I saw the lewdly postured monkey on the cover of Grinderman, I knew I was in for an entertaining departure from his recent musical path. I had heard all the hype that preceded its release, but when I first heard it, it sounded very different from what I was led to expect.

I agree with the reviewer who said that one must listen many times to any album by Nick Cave before making a decision on its quality. His talent is so deep, and his writing often so complex, that his work rarely reveals itself fully on first listen. Much of the music press ballyhooed Grinderman as a return to the days of the Birthday Party. The song No Pussy Blues was widely touted as one of Cave's greatest. I think the press was wrong on both counts.

First of all, while Grinderman is raw and primal, it is hardly a return to the unstructured sound of the Birthday Party. Grinderman may be rough, but it is definitely not the sound of a bunch of musicians trying to establish their niche. Its the sound of a bunch of seasoned musicians having a blast! As for No Pussy Blues, I think it is one of the weaker songs on the CD even though the title may have been a draw for some. Cave seemed to be really stretching to make the lyrics fit, but in the end it sounds so desperate and unromantic that there's no wonder that he's got the "no pussy blues".

There are some great songs here as well. I like Electric Alice; Depth Charge Ethel with its sound sometimes evocative of Deep Purple's Machine Head days; (I Don't Need You To) Set Me Free; When My Love Comes Down; and what I think is the album's best song, the hard-driving Love Bomb.

Because Cave has made so many albums superior to this, I can't possibly tag Grinderman with five stars. But it still is worth owning if you are a fan of Nick Cave on any level or you just like your music raw and rowdy. I'll certainly be playing it whenever the mood so demands.

Powered by Associate-O-Matic