Grinderman is the new project from that fine purveyor of dirty rock and roll, Nick Cave and this eponymous debut album is one of his dirtiest yet.
Teaming up with fellow Bad Seeds regulars, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavounos, Cave explores his current favourite neuroses: sex, or more accurately, lack of it. Full of lyrical madness and filthy, grimy guitars, ‘Grinderman’ quite literally grinds its way through tales of sexual frustration and exasperation. Opener, ‘Get It On’ asks the listener to “kick those baboons and other mother fuckers out” and simply “get it on” whilst ‘No Pussy Blues’ comically explores the state of mind that is the (I can’t get no Pussy) Blues. (Best line is surely “I thought I’d have another go, I called her my little ho, but she never wanted to”, although there is a host of lyrical witticisms to choose from). The theme continues throughout the album with lines such as “all we wanted was a little consensual rape in the morning” from ‘Go Tell The Woman’ and “I used to love you all night long but you’ve got so thin and sick” from the final track, ‘Love Bomb’. All of this is set to a backdrop of frequently heavy, often thrashed up guitars, which regularly take in sounds reminiscent of The Doors, The Velvet Underground and The Rolling Stones at their most debauched. It is quite simply a fun-tastic journey through the sexual depravity of one of Australia’s greatest exports. Of course it’s not particularly catchy and I doubt you will ever catch yourself humming one of its choruses but it is charming in its own depraved way. If you like Nick Cave you will most probably love this album. And if you don’t like Nick Cave you probably should. But not if you’re a prick-tease. He won’t like you.
