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nick cave

Nick Cave has responded to a recent complimentary tweet from Bob Dylan’s newly-active account, labelling the experience “a lovely pulse of joy”.
The initial tweet was shared via Dylan’s account on Tuesday (Nov. 19), and saw him reflecting on the recent performance by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in France just two days earlier, specifcally singling out the song “Joy”, from Cave’s Australian Music Prize-nominated album, Wild God.

“Saw Nick Cave in Paris recently at the Accor Arena and I was really struck by that song Joy where he sings ‘We’ve all had too much sorrow, now it the time for joy’,” Dylan wrote. “I was thinking to myself, yeah that’s about right.”

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The comment apparently made its way to Cave, who is himself a noted Dylan fan (having previously reflected on the musician’s work and having covered numerous tracks from his extensive back catalog). Taking to his sporadically-updated Red Hand Files website, Cave explained that he was unaware of Dylan’s presence, but called the tweet “a lovely pulse of joy that penetrated my exhausted, zombied state”.

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He continued; “I was happy to see Bob on X, just as many on the Left had performed a Twitterectomy and headed for Bluesky. It felt admirably perverse, in a Bob Dylan kind of way. I did indeed feel it was a time for joy rather than sorrow. There had been such an excess of despair and desperation around the election, and one couldn’t help but ask when it was that politics became everything.

“The world had grown thoroughly disenchanted, and its feverish obsession with politics and its leaders had thrown up so many palisades that had prevented us from experiencing the presence of anything remotely like the spirit, the sacred, or the transcendent – that holy place where joy resides. I felt proud to have been touring with The Bad Seeds and offering, in the form of a rock ‘n ’roll show, an antidote to this despair, one that transported people to a place beyond the dreadful drama of the political moment.”

Cave closed by lamenting his ability to express in-person gratitude to Dylan, instead opting to utilize his own site to do so: “I was elated to think Bob Dylan had been in the audience, and since I doubt I’ll get an opportunity to thank him personally, I’ll thank him here. Thank you, Bob!”

Dylan’s Twitter account has become a source of intrigue in recent weeks given its recent resurgence in activity and its apparent shift from promotional messages to actual comments from Dylan himself. Alongside recommendations for New Orleans cuisine and a delayed tribute to late comedian Bob Newheart, Dylan has aso ignited speculation into the identity of a mystery woman named Mary Jo.

Albums by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Amyl and The Sniffers, Dirty Three and Hiatus Kaiyote are among the finalists for the 20th annual Australian Music Prize, announced Thursday, Nov. 14.

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The 2024 shortlist features nine albums chosen from a pool of 600, and culled down from a total of 46 nominated records released across the past year by Australian musicians.

This year’s list sees veteran performers such as Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds making the list thanks to their 18th album Wild God. In the two-decade history of the prize, Cave has been nominated four times, including for 2016’s Skeleton Tree, 2019’s Ghosteen, and his 2021 collaboration with Warren Ellis, Carnage.

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Punk outfit Amyl and The Sniffers make another appearance on the shortlist, with third album Cartoon Darkness providing them their third nomination to date. Meanwhile, Melbourne neo-soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote are nominated for Love Heart Cheat Code, their second nomination after 2021’s Mood Valiant.

First-timers such as Grace Cummings and Rowena Wise also make the list thanks to their Ramona and Senseless Acts of Beauty records, respectively. Australia’s First Nations community are recognised by way of Walmatjarri Elder Kankawa Nagarra’s Wirlmarni and Dobby’s Warrangu; River Story.

Two of the shortlisted albums from this year’s list are also up for ARIA Awards later this month, including Dobby’s record, which is in contention for Best World Music Album, and Audrey Powne’s From the Fire, which is in the running for Best Jazz Album.

Spearheaded by founder and prize director Scott Murphy, previous AMP recipients include Sampa the Great (twice), the Avalanches, Courtney Barnett, the late Gurrumul, King Stingray, and most recent champions RVG.

“On behalf of The AMP, SoundMerch, our industry partners – and the Aussie music industry as a whole, I sincerely thank our judges for their donation of time, expertise – and passion!” said Murphy. “It’s no easy task reviewing over 600 albums and choosing to highlight just 9.”

The winning album will be announced at an event held at APRA AMCOS on Wednesday, Dec. 4. The winning artist will take home a A$50,000 ($32,000) cash prize, courtesy of headline sponsor SoundMerch.

“Thank you to everyone for their support. It means a great deal to us to be recognised by AMP,” Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds said in a statement.

“We are grateful to be shortlisted for this prize,” echoed Amyl and The Sniffers’ Dec Mehrtens. “Australian music is dear to our hearts, and we are incredibly proud to be able to create and perform the music we make.”

2024 AMP shortlist:

Audrey Powne – From the FireAmyl and The Sniffers – Cartoon DarknessDobby – Warrangu; River StoryGrace Cummings – RamonaHiatus Kaiyote – Love Heart Cheat CodeKankawa Nagarra – WirlmarniNick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Wild GodRowena Wise – Senseless Acts of BeautyDirty Three – Love Changes Everything