Nick Cave - “Maximum Nick Cave” CD

Shady audio biography, not music...

This unauthorized “CD-Audio-Biog” is basically a rather dated 55-minute narrated history of Cave’s career up until 2005 or so. There are several interview audio clips, with Cave himself here, but overall, this CD is a rather thin and unnecessary document that seems aimed at fooling Cave fans into unwitting/unwilling purchase.

The rather basic biography of Cave’s history is spoken by Sian Jones, whose voice recalls a British newscaster, and incidental music by Amanda Thompson are only slightly interesting. Jones’ gross mispronunciation of Einsturzende Neubauten is pretty awful, and this package’s lasting impact and replayability are quite limited.

Serious Nick Cave fans — pick this up only at a drastic discount, as there’s very little here to learn about the legendary songwriter and frontman.

Chrome Dreams

Rowland S. Howard "Autoluminescent" trailer

Back in December, the world lost one of it's visionary guitarists and a true rock legend. Rowland S. Howard, best known as primary screech-noise guitarist for the Birthday Party, died, but not before this documentary was filmed. I don't have details on release dates or anything (just did a bit of a search), but this extended trailer shows what looks to be something worth looking into...



Rowlandspace

Rowland S. Howard 1959-2009

Legendary Boys Next Door & Birthday Party guitarist Rowland S. Howard, also widely-known for his work with These Immortal Souls, Crime & The City Solution, Lydia Lunch, and solo, has passed away today at the age of 50 from liver cancer.

Howard's unusual swampy-blues-noise guitar work defined the Birthday Party as much as Nick Cave's histrionic wails did, and his loose, cutthroat style and trademark junkie-chic swagger was influential on a burgeoning generation of post-punk bands, yesterday and today.

He had recently released a well-received solo album, "Pop Crimes", on Australia's Liberation label, which featured the participation of former Birthday Party bandmate Mick Harvey.

Rowland was a one-of-a-kind guitarist who made a tremendous contribution to the world of original rock music, and his presence will be missed but never forgotten.

Rowland's space