NICK CAVE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Seven Psalms finds Australia's most imperious musical misfit Nick Cave leaving his Bad Seeds at home and teaming up with frequent collaborator Warren Ellis for a limited 10". The spoken word pieces on this record are the result of a daily song writing practice over a week during lockdown - Cave himself describes them as "small, sacred songs," set to appropriately subtle musical accompaniment. Recorded during the sessions for Cave and Ellis' 2021 album Carnage, it's a rich work in its own right that offers a different perspective on Cave's considerable gifts as a soothsayer.

Review: Cave's recent streamed live performance at an empty Alexandra Palace was an audacious move, but one that definitely worked. It's captured here in its 22-song entirety, as the former Bad Seed works through various career highlights accompanied only by a piano and the weird atmosphere of one of London's most iconic concert venues devoid of its audience. Highlights include a burningly intense version of 'The Mercy Seat', the battered spirituality of 'Into My Arms' and the open hearted emotion of 'The Ship Song', but the whole thing not only works in its own right, but also as a marker in sonic form of these strange times.

Review: Nick Cave and Warren Ellis's soundtrack for the National Geographic documentary about an imagined 2033 manned mission to Mars feels like a sketch for the atmospheric soundscapes of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' 2016 album Skeleton Tree. Both works inhabit the same dark-hued, super-charged sonic atmosphere. Cave's cinematic music, enriched by Ellis's imaginative contributions, explores a wide range of sounds: distorted guitars in 'Space X,' sibylline keyboard arpeggios in 'Space Station,' and vast synthesized swathes evoking space's void. 'Planetarium' features soulful drones and synthesized strings, creating anticipation and stillness. With few vocals, this ambient soundtrack is perfect for chilling out and daydreaming. It's a departure from the intense emotions of the Bad Seeds, reflecting Cave's inward focus after personal tragedy. Unlike many soundtracks, this one stands apart, integral to Cave and Ellis's collaboration, and can be savored without thinking about Mars. Now available on vinyl for the first time!

Review: Nick Cave and Warren Ellis returned to Australia for sixteen shows last year, taking their 2021 album Carnage on the road, along with songs from the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds catalogue. Three performances at the Sydney Opera House on December 16-18 were the climactic shows of an emotional trip, captured for a new live album, Australian Carnage - Live At The Sydney Opera House. Cave himself said of the project: "Every show was moving and unforgettable, from the intimacy of playing in theatres and arts centres, to the vast and uplifting nights at Hanging Rock, through to our final three nights at the inimitable Sydney Opera House."

Review: It only seems like yesterday when Nick Cave delivered his wonderfully captivating joint piece with fellow-Australian Bad Seed Warren Ellis. In fact it was early March, and since then we've all likely been through the kinds of highs and lows this record reflects so accurately. There's a lot of space to Carnage, but it's also an album of intensity, in a refined and sophisticated way.

Packed with incredibly cinematic, theatrical and dramatic moments, at its loudest 'White Elephant' is bordering on a genuinely euphoric religious experience, one rousing and hugely emotional crescendo of chorus and big stage notes after another. At its quietest, 'Shattered Ground' sounds like one man alone with a piano and eternal sadness. Meanwhile, the title track is classic troubadour business. In summary, a grand, mesmerising and personal voyage.

Review: German post-punks Die Haut collaborated with Nick Cave when he was towards the end of his time in the Birthday Party. Together they made a vastly stylish album of darkly atmospheric music that you can dance to and it's now being reissued, which will hopefully bring about renewed appreciation because it's up there with the very best alternative records. Everyone has Unknown Pleasures, but why don't they have this? It's absolute fire. 'Stow-A-Way' sounds like a band having the time of their life in the most reckless way possible, which will ultimately encourage more people to pick up a guitar. Meanwhile, 'The Victory' is like a cooler version of Talking Heads and ought to have you digging out a sleeveless denim jacket in no time.