Blogs
  • Go! 3/7-3/9
    06:00PM 03/07/08
  • R.E.M. Accelerate: An Advance Review and Song-by-Song Analysis of the Band's New Album
    04:06AM 03/08/08
  • Your Weekly St. Louis Food Blog Digest
    03:45PM 03/07/08
  • This Is Hawkwind -- Do Not Panic
    06:08PM 11/09/07
Recent Articles

Recent Articles By Michael Roberts

National Features

  • Houston Press
    "It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"

    For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.

    By Chris Vogel
  • SF Weekly
    The Candidate

    Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.

    By Matt Smith
  • The Pitch
    How Not To Be a Rap Star

    First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.

    By Nadia Pflaum
  • Village Voice
    Project Runaway

    What becomes a gossip columnist most?

    By Michael Musto

On the surface, Grinderman — which teams Nick Cave with three current Bad Seeds — seems merely an excuse for Cave to release another new album; after all, The Abattoir Blues Tour, an elaborate (and absorbing) double-CD/double-DVD live set, just hit stores. Nevertheless, the quartet more than earns its altered moniker. The music is sparer and sharper than anything Cave has made of late — and the nastier it gets, the better it sounds. The hottest moment here is "No Pussy Blues," a hilariously foul rejection tale sparked by memorable couplets ("I patted her revolting little Chihuahua/But still she just didn't want to") and a Warren Ellis guitar solo that sounds like an electrical storm. Cave and company don't keep the needle in the red for every subsequent track, and pace-changers such as "Go Tell the Women" suffer in comparison. Fortunately, "Depth Charge Ethel" and "Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)" offset the quieter moments with bracing brutality, and the concluding "Love Bomb" is an explosion of righteous racket.

Riverfront Times Insiders

  • Local food, music and news blasts
  • Free Stuff

Personal of the Day


More Personals >>
NOW CLICK THIS