Nick Cave

Push The Sky Away, the fifteenth studio album from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, was released on February 18th 2013 and represented a pivotal moment in the band's long and illustrious career. Cave's remarkable band were in their 30th year when Push The Sky Away was released but they were still as creative and artistic as ever, albeit in a different guise to that which many would have associated them with at the time. 

The nine songs on Push The Sky Away are full of understated restraint and reserve, both instrumentally and vocally. Cave's penchant for violence and anger was long gone, replaced here with a tenderness that had often been sign posted but never entirely embraced so whole heartedly. The love songs of The Boatman's Call and the spectacular arrangements on the simultaneous releases of Abattoir Blues and The Lyre Of Orpheus signaled Cave's next phase but only in it's infancy. 

Continue reading: Album Of The Week: The Ninth Anniversary Of 'Push The Sky Away' By Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

The break-up of The Birthday Party may have been an acrimonious and messy affair but it wasn't long before Nick Cave was back in the studio with a new group and a new vision for the future. When the infamous Birthday Party, Cave's previous group, played their last gig on June 9th 1983 in Melbourne, Australia, they unwittingly gave rise to one of the most influential and inspirational groups of the last 40 years. From the ashes and the anger of The Birthday Party rose Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and their first full length record, From Her To Eternity. 

Recorded in the fall of 1983 and the spring of 1984, From Her To Eternity was the platform from which Cave, and his steadily changing set of band mates, would build on. To date Nick, and various members of The Bad Seeds, have delivered 17 more albums, forming a back catalogue like no other. From Her To Eternity was the opening chapter to a great body of work that has a consistency of quality, and a depth character, beyond comparison to all but a few artists, dead or alive. 

Continue reading: Album Of The Week: The 37th Anniversary Of 'From Her To Eternity' By Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

If you're struggling to express your feelings, finding it difficult to choose a gesture, a gift or even a card for the object of your desire then music always has the answer. Whilst Steve Wright's 'Sunday Love Songs' may have you running to dial up on God's white telephone, and Radcliffe and Maconie's 'Sunday Glove Songs' might be just an amusing stretch too far for the apple of your eye or the target of your affections, there's many other routes to explore. Whilst the schmaltzy, saccharine sweet, Hallmark moments can be pink and fluffy and work if you're wooing your primary school sweetheart they don't necessarily have the same effect as you get older. Now, you can try flowers and you can try chocolates (or both) but I guarantee you that a special song will live longer in the memory than either Interflora's best bouquet or Fortnum & Mason's best selection box. You don't want to be too obvious and you want it to be memorable but most importantly you want it to convey your feelings, so here's just a few alternative tracks for your consideration. 

Nick Cave, Berlin. Photo credit - Britta Pedersen PA Images. 

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Babe You Turn Me On.

Continue reading: Valentine's Day 2021: Music To Soundtrack Your Day, In An Altogether Less Obvious Way!

Thanksgiving is upon us once more. In fact in many countries, including Canada, The Netherlands and St Lucia it has already been celebrated. The forth Thursday in November though is arguably the biggest, best known Thanksgiving around the world as it's when The United States Of America, and Brazil, recognise the national holiday. Abraham Lincoln set, or proclaimed, the date for all states back in 1863 and ever since then that's when people have taken time out, not only to bless the harvest, but to say thank you. One reluctant out going President Trump pardoned Corn the turkey, although who was the bigger turkey was still up for debate, in the traditional White House ceremony just the other day setting in motion the start of the U.S celebrations. This inspired us here at Contact Music to put together a topical playlist themed around Thanksgiving. 

President Trump is joined by First Lady Melania Trump to pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey 2020 / Photo Credit: Sipa USA/PA Images

Dido - Thank you. 

Continue reading: Thanksgiving: The Best Musically Inspired Thank Yous And Songs Of Appreciation We Could Find

Poetry and music have always gone hand in hand, and some of the greatest musicians in the world can also be called fantastic poets. But time and time again artists are inspired by iconic poems; either in fleeting lines, entire verses or the subject matter itself. Here are just a few of our favourite songs which have been influenced by universally adored poetry. 

1. The Man Who Sold the World - David Bowie

While the title track from his 1970 album reflects Bowie's struggle with self-identity, the opening verse of the track is based on the opening verse of the 1899 poem Antigonish by Hugh Mearns, from his play The Psycho-ed. The poem is about a ghost that wanders a haunted house, which makes for a startlingly profound thematic comparison between the poem and Bowie's song.

Continue reading: Our Favourite Songs Inspired By The Words Of Poets [Playlist]

We're ready to say goodbye to 2019 now that Christmas is over, but not without reflecting on what has been a wonderful year for the world of music. Whether your a pop lover or you prefer the rock world, whether rap is your life or dance is in your blood, this was a transformative year for sound. Here are the top 10 greatest albums of the last twelve months. 

1. Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Best song: Bad Guy

Without doubt the most sonically extraordinary album of this year, 18-year-old Billie Eilish's debut album 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' has united both pop lovers and alternative listeners thanks to its experimental yet infectious ethos. It's naive yet poignant, fun yet deeply unsettling with themes of bravado, drugs, love, climate change and heartbreak woven throughout the poetic lyrics. There's no-one quite like Billie.

Continue reading: Top 10 Albums Of 2019: The Music That Formed The Soundtrack For A Historic End To A Decade

As it's almost Valentine's Day, you'll be looking for that perfect romantic playlist to set a dinner date to, right? Well, instead of all the corny classics, why not opt for some of the most lyrically confusing yet beautiful love songs ever written? We've got you covered....

Supernova - Liz Phair
Weirdest lyric: "Your eyelashes sparkle like gilded grass / And your lips are sweet and slippery like a cherub's bare wet ass"

Continue reading: 10 Weirdly Romantic Songs For Valentine's Day [Playlist]

Dave Grohl PERFORMS NIRVANA’S ‘IN BLOOM’

Since finding colossal fame on his own terms with Foo Fighters all those years ago, Dave Grohl very rarely breaks into his former band Nirvana’s catalogue.

However, this week he made an exception, taking to the drums for a guest spot alongside Trombone Shorty at Los Angeles’ Voodoo Threauxdown Festival for a rendition of ‘In Bloom’, the classic fourth single from Nirvana’s Nevermind album.

Continue reading: Music News Round-Up: Dave Grohl Covers Nirvana, Huge 2019 Ed Sheeran Gigs, Noel Gallagher's First Book

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are in the studio recording a new album.

Coming off the back of a period of heavy touring, which continued right into this summer, Cave and his backing band have headed straight into the studio in Los Angeles to commence work on a new album, which would be the band’s 17th.

Cave’s wife, Susie Bick, confirmed the development in her blog The Vampire’s Wife this week, and said that the collection could be described as “fever songs”, as they were written as the songwriter was battling a bout of flu recently.

Continue reading: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Recording New Album

Long standing rumours that a statue of rock icon Nick Cave will be erected in his Australian hometown look like they might be realised, according to latest reports.

Cave, the chief songwriter and leader of his long-running band The Bad Seeds and who has released 16 studio albums with them, was born in the small town of Warracknabeal, in the Australian state of Victoria, in September 1957, where he lived as a young child before moving to the slightly bigger town of Wangaratta.

As such, he’s by the far the most famous person to come from Warracknabeal, which has a population of under 3,000. Locals are now hopeful that a long-standing project to honour Cave by building a “larger than life” statue will at last come to fruition, after more than two decades in the planning.

Continue reading: Plans For Nick Cave Statue In Australian Hometown Edging Closer