Grinderman – Self Titled

To be honest, I feel kind of bad for having to review this album. To the uninitiated, Grinderman is a side project of the legendary Nick Cave, along side three of his Bad Seeds compadres, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos. Nick Cave, the song master himself has 13 albums under his belt, each of which are revered for their beauty and experimentation. However, this is where my conundrum makes its grand appearance: I’ve never listened to Nick Cave before.

Shocking, I know.

However, all is not lost. Like the good little reviewer I am, I did some research on Mr. Cave and came to the realization that, despite him being the figurehead, Grinderman is different then any other Nick Cave project, meaning my fresh ears need not be penalized.

Now, different how, you ask? For starters, this is the first time Nick has picked up a guitar, making it an interesting foray into the land of distortion. And ho damn, does he ever love distortion. However there’ll be more on that later. The other notable aspect of this album is what I’ve come to declare as Nick Cave’s “dirty old man side”.

Due to an amateurish Cave on guitar, the entire album comes off as an excuse to jam around and make as many cool sounds as possible. However it’s clear that Cave refuses to create something without coherence. The album opens up with a few plucks of a guitar string, getting ready while Cave proclaims “I’ve gotta get up to get down to start all over again. Head on down to the basement and shout: kick those white mice and black dogs out! Kick those white mice and baboons out! Kick those baboons and all the other motherfuckers out, and then get it on! Get it on! Get it on! On the day that, you were born!” Then the distortion kicks in and Cave struts his voice with confidence about a man with “words of wisdom” who has “fucked the girls you’re probably married to”.

As it progresses, the album tends to wane, as more of the rollicking tracks are placed at the beginning and doesn’t begin to pick up again until Love Bomb. However there is beauty in the slower songs like Man On The Moon shouldn’t be ignored. It’s slightly out of place, yet it still manages to help the album flow.

The track No Pussy Blues is my single of 2007. Peep that shit, yo. Peep it.

In its entirety, Grinderman is an interesting outing into the kind of music that singer/songwriters don’t usually progress into. It’s got rock, and it’s got some fucking roll. Besides, the lyrics are more poetic then anything Jesse Hughes and the Eagles Of Death Metal Company could every pen down. I suggest checking this out if you like you’re your mind melted with walls of distortion and good old fashion badass bravado.