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

"New Rides Of The Furious Swampriders" compilation CD

A curious compilation here, arranged by German label Sireena Records, and the 4th in a series. Based on the inspiration of "swamp rock" and the Gun Club, the artists here pay homage to this influence, and it's pretty well a fun listen through and through.

Notables included here are Deborah Harry (with Chris Stein and Jeffrey Lee Pierce), Sixteen Horsepower, Lydia Lunch (with Dave Alvin and Kid Congo Powers), the Raymen, the Walkabouts, and a weird folky cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" by German group M.Walking On The Water. A handful of mostly German groups round out the 14-track set, and, surprisingly, it's a pretty well cohesive set of darkly soulful swamp blues rockers. Jeffrey Lee Pierce would be proud of his "children" and friends here. (Sireena Records)

Grinderman 2 on the horizon!

Ah, here's a tempting nugget of mean-spirited promotion. Nick Cave and company's second Grinderman LP, "Grinderman 2", is to be unleashed on the world on September 13th. Here's my favorite of the 3 brief video trailers released, this 'wolf' clip directed by John Hillcoat ('The Proposition', 'The Road'). Yeah!


Grinderman site

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

It's a Blixa celebration!

Yesterday (January 12th) marked the 50th birthday of Blixa Bargeld (aka Christian Emmerich), enigmatic and influential frontman of Einsturzende Neubauten, and former guitarist for the Bad Seeds. After over 25 years of Neubauten (and still counting), Blixa is also an accomplished speaker, composer, author, and actor, as well as musician.
In celebration of Blixa's day, this is a rare radio interview done way back on February 07, 1989, for WQHS Radio in Philly. The interviewer's name I don't have, sorry. In this 27-minute interview, Blixa speaks about his role in the Bad Seeds, his friendship with Skinny Puppy, pop music, Pink Floyd and Carl Orff, vegetarianism, and other matters. It's a good interview, definitely worthy of a listen.
For more info and sound samples of Neubauten's ground (and object) breaking music and artworks, visit the official site here.

Teenage Jesus And The Jerks - "Beirut Slump / Shut Up And Bleed" CD

This new collection of early (1978-79) work from a young Lydia Lunch and friends is a welcome summation of this post-punk chanteuse's classic (and timeless) no-wave proto-noise rock, including just about everything from the band's rare 7" singles, 12 inches, and compilations. This 29-song compendium also generously provides some unreleased bits from Beirut Slump sessions (with vocalist Bobby Berkowitz, who sounded a little bit like Marc Almond if he were really strung out).

Heralding the soon-to-be-vital NYC scene that spawned peers like Sonic Youth and Swans, Teenage Jesus and Beirut Slump's live shows were fiery and intense exercises in endurance and exorcism, eviscerating audiences with their shards of broken-glass guitars, rudimentary drums, and Lunch's atonal shrieks and agonized wails. You could probably consider this 'punk', in a loose way, but Lunch's marriage of visceral aggression to a looser, more experimental and even almost jazz/improv vibe places them firmly into more avante-garde territory. Cuts like the feral 'Less Of Me' showcase Lunch's spunky back-alley attitude, and the haunting whirlwind of the aptly-titled 'Tornado Warnings' show the force that TJ&TJ were capable of. Of note as well is drummer Jim Sclavunos, who has since gone on to join Nick Cave's Bad Seeds and Grinderman.

Lydia has since grown up, and has gone on to refine her primal anger and biting cynicism at our troubled culture through other mediums, but never has her attitude been so brutal and primal. Essential works here. (Atavistic)

Lydia's website