At some point in the middle of “Tupelo” on the second night of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ two-nights-only stint in London for their Wild God Europe and UK tour, I thought Elvis Presley would rise from the dead, jumpsuit and all, to appear onstage at the cavernous O2 arena. Quite a feat given … Continue reading
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ new album Wild God opens like a kick to the head. Not exactly like Nick’s pointy-toed Chelsea boot punt to an audience member’s face as captured in The Birthday Party’s 1982 live performance of “Release the Bats” but not as far from it as one might expect for a … Continue reading
“Once upon a time, a wild god zoomed…” Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ new song “Wild God” may be one of the more confounding in their forty-year run. Of course, there is no shortage of perplexing songs in the band’s extensive catalogue from the backbreaking labor of “Well of Misery” to the soupy stringed … Continue reading
“Lord help me, Jesus. I’ve wasted it so help me, Jesus. I know what I am but now that I know that I’ve needed you so…help me, Jesus.” Bellowing from an adjacent restaurant, Kris Kristofferson’s plea to Christ, “Why Me” swept me away while waiting for the elevator at my Nashville hotel. No, it wasn’t … Continue reading
I am the KING! Slicing through a grotesque staccato sludge of clashing drums, atonal piercing guitars, and obscene throbbing bass, that’s the howl that kicked off one of the most berserk televised performances, at least that I’ve ever witnessed. Clashing against a Bauhaus (the design not the band)-inspired stage set for more respectable New Wave … Continue reading
Can the biggest stinkers from your favorite artist actually be much closer to your heart than the universally praised classics? I certainly think so. Last week, Nick Cave received a flurry of inquiries submitted to his Red Hand Files newsletter from new converts who, upon listening to his stint on the Louis Theroux podcast, turned … Continue reading
Well, hello there, dearest Filthy Dreams readers! What’s that? Are you struggling to put in your air conditioning unit? Well, just drop it on someone’s head and get it done with, so you can join us for our major announcement on Twitter Spaces! Just kidding–we may not have changed our website in a decade, but … Continue reading
“In heaven’s name, why are you walking away? Hang on! To your love!” Soaked in the neon pink and blue lighting of a gay bar, a very drunk Jeffrey Dahmer jerkily dances to Sade, holding his whiskey and Coke high, the light reflecting off his glasses (the most famous killer glasses, rivaled only perhaps by … Continue reading
“Please come. Don’t abandon me. Please.” Ana de Armas as Norma Jeane Baker as becoming-Marilyn Monroe prays to a mirror; her hands clasped together in desperate supplication. She’s begging for, as Joyce Carol Oates describes in her novel Blonde, “her Friend-in-the-Mirror.” Tears stream down her face as she pleads to the bulb-ringed three-way mirror. Her … Continue reading
Does an artist need to believe—or at the very least consider—the existence of God (or the divine, a higher power, or whatever it is you want to call it) in order to create transcendent work? That’s the question I’ve been wrestling with ever since listening to an advanced copy of the audiobook for Nick Cave … Continue reading