Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds often play strange, but when they transform into Grinderman, the alter-ego of a band that hardly needs an alter-ego at all, they play raw and dirty, too. The scuzzy lounge rock of Grinderman is a decadent mess that only Nick Cave could orchestrate, a penthouse orgy of electric blues and feral poetry, and 2′s subtle psychedelic nibbles erase any misgivings about the band’s ability to love you after they fuck you. To that end, 2 is slower and sexier than the band’s 2007 self-titled debut at times, slinking its way through songs like “When My Baby Comes” “What I Know,” and “Palaces of Montezuma,” but still has the rock n’ roll machismo to lash out with unadulterated passion on songs like “Worm Tamer,” “Heathen Child,” and “Evil”. Grinderman is just further proof that Nick Cave really gets it, a beast white hot and brutally cool all at once.
Check out the video for “Heathen Child” from Grinderman 2!
Quest for Fire teased us earlier this year by releasing a split with Nebula, but have returned with a proper full-length, Lights From Paradise, a dose of dazed and confused feedback frenzy, each one of the songs out on their feet, sleepwalkers of red light drone and fuzz n’ roll. The best thing about Quest for Fire is that their electric haze, which includes the use of strings and acoustic guitars this time around, exudes a real mess of cool. The Toronto band injects enough garage rock into their psychedelic vibes for a little extra hip-shake at the black light party, which is to say it manages to make stoner rock sound a bit sexy and somewhat dangerous. Musically speaking, this album puts ‘em somewhere between country contemporaries Black Mountain and Burning Love, making them equally freaky and hectic, but they can at any moment also remind you of The Kills, The Black Angels, The Stooges, Witch, and Pink Floyd. Stepping into the void has never been this bad-ass, man.
Year Long Disaster
Black Magic; All Mysteries Revealed
Volcom Entertainment
It’s always a real pain in the ass when someone tries introducing me to a band by saying, “they’re the best band you’ve never heard of” and that’s mostly because I have heard of them, and merely suggesting I haven’t heard of them insinuates that I, unlike the much cooler, more maligned you, have my bearded head buried deep inside the business end of a pregnant alpaca.
That being said, Year Long Disaster is the best band you’ve never heard of.
I know. I’m such a dick. But forget about that right now and just pay attention.
Grinderman
Quest for Fire
Year Long Disaster