Why the new Nick Cave album is awesome

I've realized something about Nick Cave: as he puts out new albums, i keep getting more interested in his new ones, and less interested in his old ones. I don't know if that says more about me or him, but it's pretty great. After all, can you imagine saying the same thing of a band like The Pixies? This became especially true when he released No More Shall We Part a few years ago. It seemed like a big stride past his preceding albums; he started replacing gloomy love ballads with gloomy doom-laden stories and incorporating the feel of rock 'n roll in place of post-punk gothy-ness.

That's what his new one Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! is all about. Most songs are built on taut beats that might remind you a little of krautrock and The Stooges at the same time. Drawing from his other recent project, Grinderman, there's plenty of rawkus guitars and spacey loops on top of the drums, but the focus remains the vocals. The best things going here is Nick's gift for ambiguous, creepy, even weird little stories that nevertheless are compelling.

If you're a lapsed Nick Cave fan, this might be one to check out. The songs are strong, the sounds are cool, and his band, as ever plays with impressive control and plenty of snarl.