Grinderman - Heathen Child

by Jon Rogers

published: 13 / 9 / 2010

Label: Mute Records
Format: CDS

intro

Nihilistic, but forceful vinyl and download only first single from their second album for Nick Cave's project, Grinderman

The Nick Cave fronted Grinderman sort of sits in between the more melodic ballads of the latter day Bad Seeds but doesn’t match the barbaric scream of the Birthday Party or even the Boys Next Door for that matter. It seems that Cave sees the band not really as a side-project but more as something that can articulate something different to the more sedate Bad Seeds. ‘Heathen Child’, which acts as a taster for the second album may not have the immediate impact of ‘No Pussy Blues’ but is a delicious blend of swamp rock, all spidery, angular guitars – especially on ‘Super Heathen Child’ which features Robert Fripp – and a thunderous beat that John Bonham wouldn’t be ashamed of. I am not sure quite what Cave is rambling on about but ‘Heathen Child’ mentions bathtubs, a girl with poison and seems to like nihilism. And the video doesn’t give anything away either. But it just sounds all so convincing.

Track Listing:-

1 Heathen Child
2 Star Charmer
3 Super Heathen Child

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/grinderman/
http://www.grinderman.com/
https://twitter.com/grindermansite

Label Links:-

http://mute.com/
https://www.facebook.com/muterecords
https://twitter.com/MuteUK
https://www.youtube.com/user/themutechannel

Have a Listen:-

interviews

Interview (2007)

Anthony Dhanendran attends a press conference with Grinderman, the new band of Nick Cave and Dirty Three and Bads Seeds violinist Warren Ellis, at which they talk about their self-titled debut album and their first ever live performance at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival

live reviews

Forum, London, 20/6/2007

In an impressive double bill, Jon Rogers at the London Forum sees aging rockers Grinderman and Suicide which many younger bands could learn a lot from if they were less bothered about their career strategy

favourite album

Grinderman (2009)

In our 'Re:View' series,in which our writers look back on albums from the past, Jeff Thiessen re-examines the 2007 debut album of Nick Cave's raw-in-sound Grinderman project and finds that, much to his surprise, two years on it stands upo to prolonged listening

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