New Nick Cave video struts hard

photo by Steve Gullick

Stop the presses on the Art House Powerhouse issue! Nick Cave might have just strolled his way to a little honorable mention in our pages for the awesome performance in his new Bad Seeds-backed video, "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!"

It was no easy task, but this clip manages to earn every exclamation point of the song (and album) title. Cave endlessly struts and mugs at the camera as he tells his rejiggered story of the biblical zombie Lazarus (here rechristened "Larry"). Meanwhile, the Bad Seeds vamp on a crunchy, Nuggets-style organ riff, drenching the monologue in a healthy coat of filth and sleaze. Extra thespian points for the Daniel Day-Lewis 'stache.

Mr. Cave's developed a bit of a Radiohead complex, given how wantonly he's dominated our news section as of late. But just in case you didn't hear, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! launches in the U.K. on March 3 and then slinks over to North America for an April 8 street date.