Nick Cave and Grinderman…you can put your fingers in Vancouver’s biscuit jar anytime you like.

After seeing the Bad Seeds at a festival a couple of years ago I had extremely high expectations for last night’s Grinderman show at the Commodore. Unsurprisingly, Grinderman delivered. The intensity that Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, and Jim Sclavunos brought to the stage was incredible and puts most bands to shame (and this from men in their 40s and 50s).

The set featured the entirety of Grinderman 2 in addition to most of the first Grinderman album so I don’t think anyone could have possibly left disappointed last night considering how powerfully both records translate live. The stripped down nature of Grinderman (in comparison to the Bad Seeds) lets the band get incredibly aggressive; the distortion on some of Warren Ellis’s guitar and violin playing, for instance, was almost violent. Even on songs that open in a state of relative calmness (like When My Baby Comes) end in intense sonic eruptions.

The bulk of the main set leaned heavily on Grinderman 2 and with good reason: its variety and genius are enough to carry a show on its own. But the inclusions of Get It On, No Pussy Blues, and Honey Bee, all some of hardest hitting stuff in the Grinderman repertoire, ensured there was never a dull moment. The only respite of the main set came in the form of What I Know which saw Nick Cave don an acoustic guitar.

One of my favourite moments of the gig came during Evil as it featured Warren Ellis sprawled on the floor with the mic angled down toward him. Between his screams of “evil!” into the mic he’d roll over to his effects pedal to unleash some destructive noise upon the audience.

The lengthy encore included four songs of the debut record but only after the performance of Palaces of Montezuma, one of my favourite songs of the year. The song had a bit more edge live and was less stately but it still managed to deliver in all its name-dropping glory. By the time the closing couplet of Love Bomb and Grinderman ended I was spent.

Just talking about the songs, however, gives you no idea what really happens on stage with Grinderman. Nick Cave is simply one of the finest and most engaging frontmen around and when he wasn’t saddled with a guitar he spent his time prowling the edge of the stage, directly engaging the audience. He even spent a lot of time on two mini-platforms along the rail surrounded by the hands of adoring fans. The man connects.

And special mention must also be made of Warren Ellis. The man is a musical genius who looks like an impeccably dressed hobo and spends most of the night fighting whatever instrument he happens to have in his hand at the moment. You know you’re doing something pretty incredible when you are just as engaging as Nick Cave.

So to sum up: AMAZING SHOW. Thank you, Grindermen.

Setlist
Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man
Worm Tamer
Get It On
Heathen Child
Evil
When My Baby Comes
What I Know
Honey Bee (Let’s Fly To Mars)
Kitchenette
No Pussy Blues
Bellringer Blues
———
Palaces Of Montezuma
When My Love Comes Down
Man In The Moon
Love Bomb
Grinderman

Photos of the gig here.

3am Revelations also loved the gig.

Deerhunter are currently in a musical state where everything they do I pretty much love. Halcyon Digest may not be a huge artistic leap from Microcastle and Weird Era Cont. but it still has a unique feel amongst Deerhunter’s body of work. It’s a focused and, at times, shimmery record that deceptively sneaks up on me. By the time the closing quartet of Helicopter, Fountain Stairs, Coronado, and He Would Have Laughed have ended I immediately want to play the entire record again. Certainly one of my favourite records of the year.

Download
Deerhunter – Revival
Deerhunter – Helicopter (Diplo & Lunice Remix)

And in case you haven’t been keeping up, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox has been recording and releasing music faster than I can listen to it this week. Four “albums” of Atlas Sound material is a pretty impressive haul. And sure, a lot of it isn’t amazing, but there are some gems to be found if you’re ready to head into Bradford’s bedroom world. I just love the fact that he records for an entire day and then shares it online as soon as it’s completed. Pretty generous, I’d say. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vol. 5 is out later on tonight. Tracklistings/recording information available on the Deerhunter blog.

Download
Atlas Sound – Bedroom Databank Vol. 1
Atlas Sound – Bedroom Databank Vol. 2
Atlas Sound – Bedroom Databank Vol. 3
Atlas Sound – Bedroom Databank Vol. 4

Vancouver, are you going to see Grinderman Friday night? If you’re not, you should be. Nick Cave is one of the most electric live performers I’ve ever seen and I cannot wait for these four Bad Seeds to roll into town this weekend.

The tour is in support of the stellar Grinderman 2 which is out now on Anti. It’s one of my favourite records of the year: full of fury, bile, and a song called Palaces Of Montezuma which is so good it hurts. The first single Heathen Child ain’t bad either…and the video is totally insane.

Download
Grinderman – Heathen Child (via)

Ryan Adams is known for being a prolific songwriter/releaser of records but he’s been pretty quiet since The Cardinals played their final show together in March of last year. In his time away from the stage he’s married Mandy Moore and recorded a couple solo records (which will hopefully see some sort of release next year). But Ryan’s also been busy going through his archives and putting the finishing touches on albums he recorded years ago but have yet to be released.

The first album to come out of this seemingly ongoing project is called III/IV and was recorded with the Cardinals in the time leading up to Easy Tiger. Cards drummer Brad Pemberton has this to say about III/IV:

Change. That always seemed to be a theme throughout the Cardinals…be it musical styles, band members, bad habits, etc. And III/IV is proof of that. Coming off Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights, I wasn’t expecting this. A flurry of rock songs… written by a man who had made some big changes in his life and was owning up to some mistakes. There is a hopefulness and renewed lust for life in these lyrics, and that inspired what I think is some of the best songs we ever recorded.

There’s more information about the record here on Ryan Adams’ newly redesigned label site, Pax Am Records.

III/IV will be released on December 14 but you can stream thirty second clips of every track on the album now on iTunes. Based on the clips the record sounds like a more serious version of Rock ‘n’ Roll and very little like any previous Cardinals album.

You can check out a couple live versions of tracks off III/IV below. Both were recorded during the 2006 tour.

Download
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Breakdown Into The Resolve
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Typecast

And you can stream a couple of leaked studio versions that have been kicking around for a few years.

Stream
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Lovely And Blue
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Gracie

Lovely And Blue has been one of my favourite Ryan songs since it was streaming on his website way back when and I’m pretty excited it’s finally getting released.

I figure if it’s good enough for me to yell about on Twitter I should put it here as well. I’ve written frequently about Jens Lekman before and I’ve probably posted this song before but Black Cab is just so, so good. Even six years later I still find myself endlessly enthralled with this little pop gem.

Download
Jens Lekman – Black Cab

With 2010 winding down, I’ve begun looking ahead to what I have to look forward to musically in 2011. First up on my list is Sydney’s Ghoul who look set for a pretty big 2011. In January they are releasing a mini-album called Dunks on Speak ‘n’ Spell with a full-length record to follow later on in the year.

3Mark is taken from Dunks and it sound like the band have been working hard since I last wrote about them nearly two years ago. While the dark atmosphere remains (think a dubstep Liars), Ghoul have really stepped it up with 3Mark and I cannot wait to hear Dunks.

Download
Ghoul – 3Mark

I SAW PAUL SIMONON PLAY BASS. I SAW MICK JONES PLAY GUITAR. TOGETHER. AT THE SAME TIME ON THE SAME STAGE.

I’ve enjoyed each Gorillaz release to varying degrees. Never LOVED an entire record but I seem to find enough on each album to justify spending some time with them. This year’s Plastic Beach is a pretty strong record but I’m not sure I would have actually ventured out to a Gorillaz show if not for the aforementioned members of The Clash being in the Gorillaz touring band. I’m also a massive Blur fan and think Damon Albarn is an under-appreciated genius.

So there I was in Rogers Arena (reminds me a lot of the old GM Place), stifling laughter as twenty-something white dudes broke out their finest hip-hop moves they’d perfected over years at Surrey house parties as N.E.R.D. worked their way through an uninspiring opening set. As we waited for Gorillaz to come on I realized I actually had pretty high expectations for the show. Having heard their Damascus concert from over the summer and having watched an extended Letterman performance I knew we were in for quite a show. And Damon delivered.

Seriously, how awesome must the contact list be in Damon Albarn’s phone? De La Soul, 50% of The Clash, Bobby Womack…all were in attendance and all were stellar. Paul Simonon was particularly fun to watch on bass…even from way back. In addition to an incredible band, the visuals were used well (even kept in sync with the music pretty well) as they filled in the holes left by Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, and Shaun Ryder who were all (understandably) not a part of the band. But with those few exceptions, almost everything else was done live on stage…sometimes with 20+ musicians including strings, horns, an Arabic orchestra, backing vocalists, two drummers, and enough guest vocalists to keep you on your toes.

And to top it off, the band played for just under two hours and pulled from all three Gorillaz records. I’m honestly not sure you could justifiably find a weak spot in the song selection. Even the short Punk was played and allowed Mick Jones to really let loose and Damon to jump around like it he was in the Song 2 video all over again. I really enjoyed the show on two levels:

1. It was just so much better than I ever expected Gorillaz to be live.
2. OMG THE CLASH

In both cases, a completely memorable evening. Hell, Damon even dragged Jamie Hewlett on stage as it was the last show of the North American tour. You really could not ask for more.

Setlist
Orchestral Intro
Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach
Last Living Souls
19-2000
Stylo
On Melancholy Hill
Rhinestone Eyes
Superfast Jellyfish
Tomorrow Comes Today
Empire Ants
Broken
Dirty Harry
El Mañana
White Flag (with intro)
To Binge
DARE
Glitter Freeze
Punk
Plastic Beach
———
Cloud Of Unknowing
Feel Good Inc.
Clint Eastwood
Don’t Get Lost In Heaven
Demon Days

That awesome photo about is courtesy of The Vancouver Sun because mine aren’t nearly as good.