After the Bad Seeds’ sophisticated 2004 double opus Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, Nick Cave formed Grinderman as a means to regress. On their eponymous debut, the quartet favor an abrasive sound reminiscent of the Birthday Party, albeit without the unwieldy goth concerns, and create some truly weird sounds from a fairly traditional guitar-bass-drums line-up. “No Pussy Blues” and “Depth Charge Ethel” turn sexual frustration into a comical condition, while “Go Tell the Women” and “When My Love Comes Down” provide a perfect setting for Cave’s over-the-top imagery (example: “Your tongue is like a Kalashnikov”). Grinderman celebrates the vulgar and the puerile as rarified pursuits, or, as Cave sings on the opener, “I’ve got some words of wisdom: Get it on!” (“No Pussy Blues,” “(I Don’t Need You To) Set Me Free”)
Grade: A-