Grinderman – Worm Tamer (Mute)
4/5
By: Huw Oliver
In the first episode of the most recent series of Later…With Jools Holland, one group of abrasive standouts sonically smothered all the rest, Grinderman’s grit standing out against the comic camp of the subsequent performers. Their performance of ‘Worm Tamer’ exuded ingenuity, deftly mingling gaudy distortion and dark, lyrical wit. They sounded like an audacious collective of new, scroungy upstarts.
Fronted by epoch-defining Mr Nick Cave, the performance also saw Dirty Three man Warren Ellis spinning out of control, purveying his now trademark, unworldly guitar screeches whilst Cave sang ‘I guess I’ve loved you too long’ repeatedly, like a manic, gruff-voiced dictator. Their whole sound was deluged in thick slabs of distortion and reverb. Brandon Flowers looked about to cry.
This track is their fifth single release, across two fine albums. Although lacking the preening intricacy and charisma they displayed on the television, ‘Worm Tamer’ is still as psychologically chilling, grandiose and lyrically lewd - an amalgam of Cave’s strongest, most visceral tendencies. And, on closer listening, it reveals perhaps his greatest trait, his humour. He begins each verse with a squall of different names for his lover, and ends the song with one for himself: she’s a ‘worm tamer’ and a ‘serpent rrangler’, but he’s just an ‘abominable snowman’ or ‘Loch Ness monster’ (“two great big humps and then I’m gone...”)
And it’s this comic nature which confirms Cave’s place as rock n roll’s faultless saviour and godfather. A track most reminiscent of Cave’s Birthday Party days, it once and for all refutes Grinderman’s perceived status as merely a side-project. In truth, they are innovative, full-on punk practitioners.
Grinderman "Worm Tamer" by elmonofeliz
Artists in this article: Grinderman
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment