Grinderman 2 follows in the same fierce, masculine footsteps of its predecessor. Like their self-titled release, Nick Cave and company have pulled together a group of songs that, while not being out of the realm of possibility of being on a Bad Seeds release, are firmly entrenched within the Birthday Party-era fuzzed out trash-rock of Cave’s earliest albums. Cave is now pushing past his 50’s, along with most of his band members, and this album, as was the same with the last one, he sparks a invigorating masculine take on indie rock. I’ve heard some say that Grinderman is an outlet for his more misogynistic tendencies and while I’ll not deny that songs like “No Pussy Blues” did little to curb that particular debate, I think Grinderman is more about accepting these stereotypes, and by working within them, Cave is allowed to play devil’s advocate for what he considers the ultimate male frustration, or possibly, at his age, he just wants to get laid a few more times. Grinderman 2 picks up this idea of aging frustration and perceived disuse and applies them to the band’s own individual psyches. The idea of sexual frustration and dilapidation run rampant across these tracks, as does Cave’s characters, and how they deal with it. “Heathen Child” finds Cave calling out to his young lover, and we sense in the mood of the song that this infatuation, as it clearly is, is not fully returned, and thus is borne more frustration. The only brief respites, such as they are, come in the form of “Palaces of Montezuma” and "All I Know", two gentle, beautiful songs that make the case for Cave’s acknowledgement of what his personal failings are but indicate a solid denial of surrender and thus the charge is begun anew toward some undefinable end. When I get as old as Nick Cave, I should be so lucky.
Tracklisting:
01. Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man
02. Worm Tamer
03. Heathen Child (listen to the mp3 below)
04. When My Baby Comes
05. What I Know
06. Evil
07. Kitchenette
08. Palaces Of Montezuma
09. Bellringer Blues
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