"I want you to dig!"

Watch and learn.

Mesmorizing and a bit creepy. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Does anyone know what label his new album will be on?

At the end of the video it says Mute Records Limited 2008.

As far as Nick goes, I wish he'd lose that mustache. The video is cool but Nick looks like a thin Ron Jeremy.

-s.

I'm pretty sure it's ANTI- in the US.

Stupid ANTI-. Not on emusic anymore. This means I'll actually have to go out and buy the darn thing.

I'm going to have, um, a lot to say about this album. For now: It's not quite like anything else in Nick Cave's canon. And: These are some of the strangest lyrics I think I've ever heard.

tinymixtapes has posted a review.

Can I just say how excited I am for this record? Ever since watching the deliciously creepy and wonderful "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!", I've had the line "I want you to dig" running intermitently through my head.

If Nick comes back to America I will have more credit card debt.

um... how much do we love him? uh-huh.

Does anybody have a release date in the US? It's been released in the UK, but neither his site nor Amazon has a US release date.

The advance that I got says March 28th on it.

That is far too soon, I am still in shock over the the spine-tingling Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus.

And I am still "praising Him til I forgotten what I was praising Him for."

Thanks for the info Josh. I'm looking foward to it already.

At this point, I'm liking the title track of Lazarus as much as I liked the one-two punch of "Get Ready for Love" and "There She Goes My Beautiful World". High praise indeed.

I'm still mulling over the album and trying to figure out exactly how well I think it holds up, but for now let me say this: If I have a complaint about it, it's that all of these songs are dense with imagery and allusions and wordplay and absurdist storytelling and bawdy humor and everything we've come to expect from Cave-- indeed, it's the wordiest album he's ever written-- but part of me feels like he's using an awful lot of words without actually SAYING anything. And I think the title track is a good example-- yeah, it's a ton of fun, but is there really anything TO it?

I've had plenty of time to listen to this, to mull it over, to digest it, and I think I've reached a verdict.

In terms of performance, both Cave's vocals and the Seeds themselves... this is the best thing they've ever done.

In terms of production... this is the best thing they've ever done.

In terms of a dizzying, dazzling, wildly entertaining array of words and ideas... this is the best thing they've ever done.

And in terms of songwriting... well, it's in the top two or three, anyway. Only time will tell for sure.

Here's my full review.

PopMatters agrees with your assessment Josh. They give it a 9/10 and suggest it might be his best album ever.

Nick Cave on Fresh Air.

I haven't listened to all Nick Cave's albums, but I sure did like From Her to Eternity better than a few of his other records.

And why did AMG forget Tender Prey in his discography?

Well, on the first spin, I'd say the sound of this new record is pretty harmless (save some riffs here and there, on track 8 for example). It may not keep the music of Cave & band from being venomous, but the memorable immediacy of the sound, less hot here than the letters on the album cover may suggest, will stick to stuff like From Her to Eternity.

My fave track so far: "Night of the Lotus Eaters".

I'm systematically listening to Nick Cave's discography from The Birthday Party to Dig Lazarus Dig!, and it's quite a trip. Right now I'm finishing up Your Funeral...My Trial, and I have to say, I really could not get into his really early stuff (Birthday Party through From Her To Eternity). There were some good tracks here and there, but hearing atonal vamping over loose blues structure does not interest me one bit. I feel like the big shift came with Kicking Against the Pricks; sure, the songs on that album are all covers, but they do an awesome job with lots of the tracks. (Like, I prefer their take on "All Tomorrow's Parties" over the VU's. Really.)