Pitchfork

Photo by Richard Sharman

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! is what they're calling the 14th studio LP from Australian sneer-rock vets Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Produced jointly by the band and Nick Launay (whose previous credits include the Bad Seeds' Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus), the disc was recorded at Richmond, England's State of the Ark studios over the summer. Though there's no tracklist info just yet, the album's artwork is provided by British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster. The disc will drop March 3 in the UK on Anti- (a U.S. release is due in the spring, though a date isn't set yet), and news of a first single and a Bad Seeds tour can be expected shortly.

Cave's had plenty on his plate of late, what with the success of Grinderman both at home and abroad, and his recent induction to the Australian Record Industry Association's Hall of Fame. Accepting the award at a ceremony last month, Cave wondered aloud why his longtime musical companions in the Bad Seeds weren't also brought into the ARIA fold, and-- in a move only a dude as cool as Nick Cave could pull off-- went ahead and inducted them himself, adding Birthday Party members Rowland S. Howard and the late Tracy Pew for good measure. (Watch his acceptance speech here.)

Cave is also the subject of an upcoming exhibition at Melbourne's Victorian Arts Centre. The show-- part of a series "showcasing great Australian performers"-- runs November 10 to April 6. And along with Dirty Three violinist Warren Ellis, Cave crafted the soundtrack to the new Brad Pitt film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The soundtrack album hits UK stores November 5 from Mute but is available for download now in the U.S. as well.