After the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds summer tour in 2008, the band began recording the album in various studios throughout London.

Ellis also described the album as "like stoner rock meets Sly Stone via Amon Düül", "very diverse", and "psychedelic".

The album was released in September 2010, in a regular and a deluxe edition, the latter containing a 52-page booklet (illustrations by Ilinca Höpfner) and a poster (photography by Polly Borland).

[8] Thom Jurek of AllMusic said it was a "more polished and studied affair than its predecessor" and "more sonically adventurous" while still being a "white-hot rock and roll record".

"[19] Garry Mulholland of BBC Music said that Grinderman 2 had a sound, influenced as much by 60s garage punk and droning Krautrock as the blues.