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bedsitter23In the 90s, like others, I discovered Nick Cave. I quickly learned that while Cave wasn't the only person doing his blues/gospel/country/rock thing, those who did it best were groups that hung in the same circles.
Thus, I went through the Birthday Party family tree, and looked up many of the bands that branched off, and in the 90s were directly related or tangentially related to the Bad Seeds and Einsturzende Neubaten. Bands like Crime & the City Solution, These Immortal Souls, Lydia Lunch, Nikki Sudden & Swell Maps, and many more.
C&tCS were a less manic version of the Bad Seeds, fronted by vocalist Simon Bonney and featuring the late Rowland S Howard (Cave's co-conspirator in the Birthday Party) long-time Bad Seed Mick Harvey, Swell Map member Epic Soundtracks and (in a later incarnation) Neubaten's Alex Hacke.
The band also appeared in one of my favorite films Wings of Desire. Like Nick Cave, appearing in the film to perform and helping to give that movie a particular Berlin vibe.
This also coincided with a time where I was picking up a lot of cheap music and frequenting the CD section of local pawn shops. Meanwhile, the mall record stores were a real treasure trove of obscure music. There was the death of the cassette (of course), but additionally, stores like Best Buy and Target, as well as Amazon. were beginning to destroy the $19-for-ten-song-disc stores and FYE and their brethren were culling their massive selection ,throwing dozens of discs into the cutout bin. I even picked up a Simon Bonney solo disc this way.
C&CS have now reunited, which might not seem like a big deal. There are plenty of bands that get back together, and their legacy pales in comparison to many groups. That said, C&tCS in the 21st Century is a bit of a goth blues supergroup. Besides Bonney and Hacke, the group also features David Eugene edwards of the always under-appreciated 16 Horsepower, The Dirty Three's Jim White, and Troy Gregory (whose CV includes the Dirtbombs, Swans, and Spirtitualized).
The band's sound of course is updated too (louder, harsher), and although it's obviously still routed in the same influences, if anything, it recalls Cave's work in Grinderman. In any case, don't skip over this one. American Twilight is the name of the new album (on Mute records), and a Best-Of arrived last year.
Thus, I went through the Birthday Party family tree, and looked up many of the bands that branched off, and in the 90s were directly related or tangentially related to the Bad Seeds and Einsturzende Neubaten. Bands like Crime & the City Solution, These Immortal Souls, Lydia Lunch, Nikki Sudden & Swell Maps, and many more.
C&tCS were a less manic version of the Bad Seeds, fronted by vocalist Simon Bonney and featuring the late Rowland S Howard (Cave's co-conspirator in the Birthday Party) long-time Bad Seed Mick Harvey, Swell Map member Epic Soundtracks and (in a later incarnation) Neubaten's Alex Hacke.
The band also appeared in one of my favorite films Wings of Desire. Like Nick Cave, appearing in the film to perform and helping to give that movie a particular Berlin vibe.
This also coincided with a time where I was picking up a lot of cheap music and frequenting the CD section of local pawn shops. Meanwhile, the mall record stores were a real treasure trove of obscure music. There was the death of the cassette (of course), but additionally, stores like Best Buy and Target, as well as Amazon. were beginning to destroy the $19-for-ten-song-disc stores and FYE and their brethren were culling their massive selection ,throwing dozens of discs into the cutout bin. I even picked up a Simon Bonney solo disc this way.
C&CS have now reunited, which might not seem like a big deal. There are plenty of bands that get back together, and their legacy pales in comparison to many groups. That said, C&tCS in the 21st Century is a bit of a goth blues supergroup. Besides Bonney and Hacke, the group also features David Eugene edwards of the always under-appreciated 16 Horsepower, The Dirty Three's Jim White, and Troy Gregory (whose CV includes the Dirtbombs, Swans, and Spirtitualized).
The band's sound of course is updated too (louder, harsher), and although it's obviously still routed in the same influences, if anything, it recalls Cave's work in Grinderman. In any case, don't skip over this one. American Twilight is the name of the new album (on Mute records), and a Best-Of arrived last year.
