SOUND BITES

Nick Cave has always excelled at expressing sorrow and grief. Until now, he's never had to channel his own so directly, as the characters in his songs grappling with their fates and minds have been there to take the brunt. Although Cave still prefers to wear the masks of his characters on Skeleton Tree , his deep and profound personal loss can't be concealed; the release of this album follows about a year after the tragic death of his teenage son and, while writing for Skeleton Tree started before that, the loss seems to inform the record's every groove and word. Backing band The Bad Seeds bathe the music in stark darkness, the songs sparse and gloomy. It does offer tempered hope, although getting there requires the listener to wallow with Cave as he expresses his darkest emotions. It's a very heavy record in the spiritual sense; it draws you into the horror of losing someone you love suddenly, and allows you to process all of his anger, sadness and loss. It could no...

We all know that expression is the most important ingredient in art. We also know that, sometimes, the way an artist expresses themselves isn't what some would call "appropriate". Ever since the first person took offence to an artistic statement, there have been artists that revel in offending. Recently, Wakrat (side project featuring Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford) released their new single Generation Fucked, a snappy little tune with a nice groove. Oh, and 36 F-bombs. That got me thinking about this week's column, and what might make the cut on a list of the most explicit songs ever released. As it turns out, there are a lot of explicit songs, so I had to pare the list down somehow. With that in mind, the boundaries I set are as follows: a) No hip-hop or extreme metal. Low hanging fruit. b) No joke/novelty bands. Sorry, Tenacious D and Steel Panther. c) No album tracks. For inclusion on this list, a song has to have been released as ...

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS Jubilee Street From: Push The Sky Away Released: February 19 As long and illustrious as Nick Cave's career had been up to 2013, not many could have predicted the quality of Push The Sky Away , his fifteenth studio album. It may not rock all that hard, but its lush orchestration and Cave's ever-endearing way with words give the album substantial emotional weight, especially on album highlight Jubilee Street and its sordid portrayal of the seedy side of town. If you enjoy the video, make sure to seek out his performance of the track at this past year's Glastonbury festival for full effect.

Stream Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Push The Sky Away here , courtesy The Guardian Music Blog. Following the dissolving of odd rock project Grinderman, Nick Cave's fifteenth album with The Bad Seeds is three years removed from the last Grinderman album and five years removed from the last Bad Seeds (2008's extraordinary Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! ). Push The Sky Away is a fair bit more subdued than anything we've heard from Cave over the better part of the last decade; but, then again, Cave's albums always seem to hit harder when his poetic crooning is at the forefront. See Waters Edge and Jubilee Street (NSFW video below) for a prime example of what makes the man an enduring treasure. Like all of his best work, to pass quick judgment on Push The Sky Away is a disservice; this album doesn't beat you over the head with its awesomeness. It slowly sinks in, its majesty so subtle that repeat listens aren't just recommended, they're demanded. Fortun...

Usually, this is the time of year when the reflections on the twelve months that were are complete and this place becomes a ghost town for at least a couple weeks because there's nothing interesting being released until April. In fact, if you noticed during my chronologically ordered nominees rollout, you'll find that only 7/50 came out in the first quarter of the year (with five of those being in March, and none in January). Maybe the labels are panicking to get their properties out there before no one cares about albums anymore, maybe my music addiction's spiraled too far out of control. Whatever the case, the first three months of 2013 are logjammed with potentially and guaranteed awesome albums alike. So, we took a look back, and will remember 2012 fondly; now let's dive into 2013 and start devouring more tasty riffs! After the jump are my 15 most anticipated releases coming in the early part of 2013: