Album Review: Grinderman – Grinderman 2
I’m sure you know by now that Grinderman is the side project of Nick Cave and three of the Bad Seeds, Warren Ellis, Jim Sclavunos and Martyn P. Casey. Totally unconcerned with commercial success Grinderman man seems to be the conduit through which the four players can release their inner beasts without alienating their considerable Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds fanbase.
The second album from Cave and his not so merry men, Grinderman 2 takes us back into the familiar junkyard blues territory of its predecessor, still as uncompromising but with a harder and rawer edge. Featuring the unmistakable combination of Cave’s voice and Ellis’ violin, the whole album has the feel of being played live rather than the laying down of tracks, like a band experimenting and jamming but within a tight framework. Consisting of nine tracks, the album’s strongest is the oddly titled ‘Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Men’. Starting slowly with some string bending guitar before Sclavunos’ drums pound and Cave sings the immortal blues opening of ‘I woke up this morning….’ to the backing of Casey’s bass riff, the song finishes in an acid blues orgy of violins, drums and guitars. Elsewhere tracks like ‘Heathen Child’ (the first to be released as a single), ‘Worm Tamer’ and ‘Evil’ keep the adrenalin pumping while ‘When my Baby Comes, She Comes’ slows things down and ‘What I Know’ is positively tender with Cave’s soft vocals against acoustic guitar and rhythmic drums.
Occasionally intimidating and unpredictable but always satisfying, Grinderman 2 is an album that pulses with dirty blues and sexual undertones, both in the lyrics and the music. Fantastic! 4/5
Mark Cousens
Out 13th September on Mute Records
No related posts.
