Nine Inch Nails releases

10

7

5

But my favorite is the Downward Spiral.

What he said!

Ew, put that away.

(You mean aside from that whole debut at number 2 thing, right?)

MAAAAAAAAAYBE, maybe JUST ONCE, I'll GET what's COMING to MEEEEEEEEEE.

well that includes me, so here we are.

1. Perfect Drug single / Lost Highway soundtrack (probably in my top 5 songs ever)
2. Broken
3. Fixed
4. Pretty Hate Machine
5. The Downward Spiral

I do not rate The Fragile; it is okay, but I do not own it and would not ever like to hear it again. And Things Falling Apart should be DESTROYED DESTROYED DESTROYED! omg soooo bad.

I agree that the Perfect Drug is definitely one of their best tunes (damn, Trent would have become a jungle producer...).

D'oh! I paid way too much for that disc back in high school & upon listening even as a massive fan was like.. WTF???? However I did make a profit reselling it several years later to some random NIN obsessive in Japan.

I think "March of the Pigs" is my favorite moment of theirs. The video's pretty funny..

B-but what about the double time, 4 on the floor gospel bit?

That performance is a hidden track on the DVD. Good stuff.

While I liked it quite a bit when it first came out, The Fragile has really grown on me in the last few years, mostly for the subtlety of the instrumental tracks. Also, the older I get, the less I'm able to stomach Trent's sometimes gratuitous use of the F-word. The Fragile isn't as marred as the previous stuff, save for the obvious exception.

Ah. I was wondering why it wasn't included on the live album (I've never seen the DVD). Figured it was a natural to turn up someplace.

Yeah, that was neat for like 2 seconds. I don't really like that live r&b vibe of totally ditching song structure for gospel clap alongs. I would so love for Trent to turn nin into a Golden Palominos type thing where he does everything but the vocals. That the rumored Aaliyah collaboration never happened is a shame.

today is Nine Inch Nails day

currently playing: "The Wretched"

Isn't that the one with the hilarious line about god himself reaching his FUCKING hand through the sky just to hold poor old Trent down?

yup!

just a reflection
just a glimpse
just a little reminder
of all the what abouts
and all the might have
could have beens
another day
some other way
but not another reason to continue
and now you're one of us
the wretched

the hopes and prays
the better days
the far aways
forget it

it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, did it?
it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, did it?

now you know
this is what it feels like
now you know
this is what it feels like

the clouds will part and the sky cracks open
and god himself will reach his fucking arm through
just to push you down
just to hold you down
stuck in this hole with the shit and the piss
and it's hard to believe it could come down to thisback at the beginning
sinking
spinning

and in the end
we still pretend
the time we spend
not knowing when
you're finally free
and you could be

but it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
it didn't turn out quite the way that you wanted it

now you know
this is what it feels like
now you know
this is what it feels like

you can try to stop it but it keeps on coming
you can try to stop it but

Fuck it, I'm going to poll The Fragile. Search says it ain't been done.

I think the only song on (Right) that I ever play is "Into The Void", but I love (Left) to bits

I'm Looking Forward to Joining You and The Big Comedown are hidden gems on (Right)

tbh "Starfuckers" turned me off so much, particularly since there is sustained awesome from "The Day the World Went Away" through "Even Deeper", that I just never felt the desire to play (Right)

What are your thoughts on Reznor as a singer? The older I get, the more grating I find his vocals, but, conversely, the more I admire his composition and particularly arrangement skills.

I think his biggest issue as a singer is his infatuation with screaming. Like, it's often very effective, but not so effective that it doesn't start getting really, really old. Also, he does have a decent voice and it's kind of a shame that he likes to go ugly with it so often because it can be even more effective when he just sings some of this stuff, like for example "The Day the World Went Away".

It's not on this album but "The Great Destroyer" on Year Zero is IMO him really hitting a vocal stride, enhancing the power of the song in the process; I wish he did more tracks like that.

Yeah his screaming has never been particularly convincing. In general, he's often too nasal and sneery.

http://nineinchnails.tumblr.com/post/51585462200/ive-been-less-than-honest-about-what-ive-really

not that much of a surprise really.
all those side project releases etc with the same crew kinda indicated he was still active in the studio ..
after all, this was not bowie/mbv/daft punk period of disconnection was it.

I've a hunch it will be really good though.

On Columbia? I thought he was going to be releasing without a label?

he clearly lies.
he admits it.

the How To Destroy Angels album was through Columbia, it'd be pretty goofy if the new NIN was indie after that

Oh, I guess I haven't been paying that much attention.

I don't know, I used to be a big fan but I haven't even checked out that HTDA album or that facebook movie thing yet. The instrumental numbers release, Ghosts, was like the perfect end to my fandom I guess?

i can see that stuff not appealing to everyone as much as the proper NIN stuff. i feel like the new stuff will be suitably aggro and probably worth hearing, though.

I've never really been let down by this dude yet, so I've got nothing but high hopes.

what are they up to now, like halo twenty eight?

what do people think of the downward spiral singles? i saw a bunch used last week.

GRAB THEM THEY ARE GREAT

After this round of remixes things mostly go, er, downward remix wise

picked up closer and march of pigs

https://store.nin.com/products/not-the-actual-events-ep

https://store.nin.com/products/the-fragile-deviations-1-2017

Cool, welcome back.

Ordered the EP; don't care about the vinyl stuff.

Ugh just take my money, Trent. The original Fragile LP is one of my prized pieces of wax and still gets a lot of play, Deviations will be a nice addition. Always loved the instrumentals from that and sooo many songs could do without the vocals.

Listening to the EP now. Not appreciably noisier than Hesitation Marks; kinda minimalist, in fact.

Only just heard about this!

Sounding more interesting than the accomplished but regressive Hesitation Marks.

New track. Very, very old-school NIN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDV-dOvqKzQ

that song rules, wow

Trent's been listening to synthwave. Can't wait to pre-order another bag of dirt.

This is great! Also, I do not hear old-school NIN in this at all, unless we're calling With Teeth old-school now.

Bag of dirt pre-ordered. (I hope that's not what it is, but I'm certainly not expecting a CD or anything.)

xp I'll defer to you on that -- since I'm not well-versed in the genre I tend to judge on more superficial resemblances, and this reminds me of what I was hearing from NIN in the late 80s. It's probably just me. Anyway, this is the best new song I've heard from anyone in months.

ime it's sort of like if a with teeth song were playing behind a synth line from a yaz record

Yeah, it's very "what if we mashed up Only You with The Hand That Feeds"

Not bad.

Trent's been listening to synthwave.

not just listening, but watching the videos as well.
the bit at the start is very synthwave before it all kicks off.
i like it.
a lot.

isn't there an OPN video just like this

I haven't listened to a new NIN song since WITHA TEETHA but I gotta say, this is pretty good

With you on that. This is p good. Seems like he found his drum sound preset again, after years of having lost it (and this is a good thing)

I love it, very "The Hand That Feeds."

wait a second. there are nin fans who don't like the fragile?.

I like about three or four songs from it, but the rest is a slog.

This is great!

I definitely felt that way about The Fragile when it first came out (I was 13 and just wanted some freakin NOISE!!!) but after nearly 2 decades and a few dozen listens I think it's really great

Fragile Left is often my favorite NIN album.

Conversely, Fragile Right is my least-favorite.

serious question, I got off after With Teeth, are any of the other albums worth hearing

YES

Year Zero especially is the perfect soundtrack to American life in 2017.

year zero and hesitation marks are both v good records that i think only suffer from being a little too long

Fragile Left is often my favorite NIN album.

Conversely, Fragile Right is my least-favorite.

― this iphone speaks many languages (DJP), Friday, July 14, 2017 6:53 AM (thirty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

damn, otm

tbh this guy is pretty consistent in what he does. I wouldn't say any of his albums is significantly better or worse than the others

Downward Spiral still pretty easily his best work though IMO.

This new one has an excellent beat, but my tolerance for his breathy/nassal vocal style and dumb rhymes continues to want with time. Having said that, that harmonising part in the second pre-chorus is really cool.

New song/video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g8nAqDu3gI

Very good.

oh I like this

This is great.

always love to hear trent's higher register

I love the goopy bass sound on this, whatever's making that. I think it's a synth.

been chilling in the studio with alessandro cortini

Definitely a treat. Two for two here!

yea I like this one too, well done

is there a new LP coming after this er what?

He's doing 3 EPs, of which this is the second.

Another good one! Very promising, though I'd much rather see these songs paired on a 12 track album instead of ep's of varying quality.

The final track on this ep is 11 mins long.

Just got my download of the EP.

1. Less Than - 3:30
2. The Lovers - 4:10
3. This Isn't the Place - 4:44
4. Not Anymore - 3:07
5. The Background World - 11:44

Listening now.

OK, first impressions: All the songs are good, if minimal. No sonic or compositional surprises; he's playing to his base. No really cringeworthy couplets, though, which is a big plus. The last song is 11:44, but seven minutes of that are a loop of the main riff gradually devolving into crunchy noise. Definitely worth it if you're a fan, but not likely to make anyone into a fan.

is there more good eurorack content?

No really cringeworthy couplets

Silence/violence is pretty cringeworthy.

overused != cringeworthy

There is a significant overlap.

A long and very interesting interview.

He's got kind of a point about LP versus EP -- if I go to listen to a full album, I'm more likely to skip through to the songs I want to hear, but an EP, especially the way the NIN releases have been assembled, is pretty cohesive and I'll let the whole thing play out.

(there are about a hundred things I've wanted to comment on but that one was a quick thought and I don't want to bomb the thread before anyone else reads the interview!)

that was pretty good - but this interviewer is a bit confrontational, no?

lol @ this

Just this morning, me and my two older boys were sitting in the hotel restaurant. Their mom has played the new EP for them a couple times. They’re like, “My favorite song is ‘Less Than’.” That’s sweet, but then I’m thinking, Don’t I say ‘fuck’ in that one? Same thing when they were at sound check: What song don’t I say ‘fuck’ in?

it's condensed from a couple conversations, so I'd imagine asking some questions and seeing that Reznor's not really a defensive guy and could take prodding led to more interesting questions

The digression into dealing with the parents of your kids' schoolmates when everyone knows you as the dude who sang "I want to fuck you like an animal" was great.

that was pretty good - but this interviewer is a bit confrontational, no?

Confrontational in this "hey, you wanna expand on that a little?"/"I don't really get where you're going with this" sense is vastly preferable to confrontational in the German-interviewer "Why is your new album so much worse than the one before?" sense.

fucking german interviewers, man

Thought this was an even better interview.

Correction: not 'even better', but good yet quite different etc

well yeah - the questions were definitely way more interesting than your standard NIN interview fare. though I did get the sense he was trying to bait him into saying something headline-worthy.

ehh it definitely has the feeling of a narrative that explains who the interview is with but the pull quotes and summary are less interesting than Reznor's actual words in the Vulture interview. it also relies on the myths propagated by writers that the former one debunks

that was re: LBI's link

i closed the tab when the piece described la croix as "fancy seltzer"

lol

otmfm

The phenomenon of La Croix suddenly being a nationwide thing sill baffles and amazes me.

Mh, you are right.

'The Chili Peppers slot' is one for the ages though :D

it usurped clearly canadian's cultural niche in the 90s revival movement

Yeah, that was a good quote

I have actually been at festivals where the last act was indeed that band, and I have the impression that every festival in california for years was that way

also we did leave to get on the road lol

the footnotes in this Vulture interview are bananas. what percentage of people reading a long-ass interview with Trent Reznor need an explanation of who Pink Floyd is?

This is very scattered on my part but the talk in the interview re money at various points prompted some quick notes; click through for it all.

So, amid all the more obviously important idiocies of the day, something interesting I've noticed re that Reznor/Marchese interview...

— Ned Raggett (@NedRaggett) July 26, 2017

It's definitely interesting. He brought up private torrent sites again, which he seems to have been a member of if you connect the dots between comments. I don't think he's even said it explicitly but the pay-to-stream model, with premium physical releases (vinyl with extra art and bonus junk) seems to be his preferred way of putting music in the market. But accessibility and artist control as opposed to label control is the running theme.

There was at least one thing, although I'm not remembering what it was -- maybe it was the full set of Coil NIN remixed material -- made it way to torrent sites and it was implied he dumped it himself.

Interestingly, his touring bandmates have definitely released via bandcamp and similar platforms, and purchase stuff there regularly.

found cortini's public profile when I was searching out of curiosity -- looks like someone is a kevin drumm subscriber :)
https://bandcamp.com/alessandrocortini

I think there's been at least one other more dismissive comment of Bandcamp he made a couple of years back, but I sure do wonder about him really not wanting to grant the idea that people can be directly paid for their work. Which may be an exaggeration but I almost think nearly all of this is him wanting a middleman. At the least, he was direct about not wanting to be his own marketer.

Yeah, it's pretty clear he's still feeling burned by the Saul Williams album numbers and how many people opted in to pay

I think the elephant in the room here is that the audience willing to associate their credit card info with the purchase of an album titled The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! is, by definition, self-limiting.

BUT THE ART

It's kinda weird, it does seem to be the moment of his life more than anything -- even more than The Fragile tours, as he talked about in the Marchese interview -- where he had to deal with the fact that just because he's popular doesn't mean he could snap his fingers and make something happen.

I'm just saying, I can imagine more than one NIN fan going "Oh Trent is involved in this Saul Williams album? Awesome, let me check it out... 'The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of WHAT NUH-UH NOPE SORRY DUDE"

Retitle it A Journey To Liberation and see what happens to the numbers; I bet they'd go up

they'd probably go up in 2017 just due to people being more used to paying for things online than they were a decade ago

I'd imagine a not-trivial number of people who downloaded it for free would probably have paid if they could've just stuck $5 into the CD drive

also Trent Reznor producing some unknown's rap album is exactly the sort of thing you'd think NiN fans would be curious about but not necessarily want to pay money for. he should try it with one of his own albums.

"Hi I'm Trent Reznor and here is my unknown rap album."

his previous album was produced by rick rubin!

but yeah, not a household name

The phenomenon of La Croix suddenly being a nationwide thing sill baffles and amazes me.

Topo Chico or go home.

home is where you keep your la croix stash

Props for trying out a different vocal style I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeJ_DzRJUI4

Nice beat, mind.

6 tracks on the new album strikes me as a little stingy.

Though only £2.99 on iTunes so I'll shut up.

oh i thought this was going to be another ep but apparently it's 30 minutes long?

this song sounds p cool and different for him while also feeling kinda related to "the perfect drug"

Musically I'd link it to "A Copy of a"

At first I thought one of the synths was a saxophone and was shocked at the new direction. It's not bad. I bought the last two EPs, and would buy this one, but a) I don't have a turntable and the presence of a totally useless audio format in my house annoys me on principle, plus the shipping is like $10 on a $20 item, and b) the NIN webstore doesn't take Paypal.

feels influenced by Blackstar? I think there's both sax + synths that sound very close to sax. reminiscent of The Perfect Drug too yeah which is interesting considering how much he's said he hates that song (don't understand why since it's one of his best)

apparently this is indeed a proper album and what the third EP from the planned trilogy turned into

At first I thought one of the synths was a saxophone and was shocked at the new direction

it's almost certainly a distorted sax? i think?

Maybe two saxes, to my ears, or a sax and trumpet. Does sound like Bowie. Also sounds very '90s. Like, 1997.

lol totally. this could've come off the Lost Highway soundtrack.

Bit of a Dead Can Dance feel to the vocals.

http://www.nin.com/tickets2018/

COLD AND BLACK AND INFINITE – NORTH AMERICA 2018
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN

TICKETS FOR COLD AND BLACK AND INFINITE NORTH AMERICA 2018 WILL GO ON SALE MAY 19 EXCLUSIVELY AT THE PHYSICAL WORLD PRESALE
*DENVER MAY 20

WHAT? WHY? PHYSICAL WORLD PRESALE?
THE PROMISE OF A WORLD MADE BETTER BY COMPUTERS AND ONLINE CONNECTIVITY HAS FAILED US IN MANY WAYS, PARTICULARLY WHEN IT COMES TO TICKETING. EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PROCESS SUCKS AND EVERYONE LOSES EXCEPT THE RESELLER. WE’VE DECIDED TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAT WILL ALSO LIKELY SUCK, BUT IN A DIFFERENT WAY. WE’RE HOPING MANY OF YOU WILL BE HAPPY WITH THE RESULTS, WHILE SOME MAY DO WHAT THEY ALWAYS DO AND BITCH ABOUT IT.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:
YOU (AN ACTUAL HUMAN BEING) SHOW UP AT THE BOX OFFICE, INTERACT WITH THE TICKET SELLER (ANOTHER ACTUAL HUMAN BEING) AND PURCHASE UP TO FOUR TICKETS THAT WILL ACTUALLY BE HANDED TO YOU ON THE SPOT. THE TICKETS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE ONLINE OR ANYWHERE ELSE BEFORE OR DURING THAT DAY. ALL SEATS (INCLUDING THE BEST SEATS) WILL BE AVAILABLE FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE. YOU MAY ACTUALLY ENCOUNTER OTHER ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS WITH SIMILAR INTERESTS LIKELY WEARING BLACK CLOTHING DURING THE PROCESS AND POTENTIALLY INTERACT WITH THEM. THE EXPERIENCE HAS THE POTENTIAL* TO BE ENJOYABLE. NINE INCH NAILS HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER, LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST AND GOOD TIMES.**

ANY REMAINING TICKETS WILL BE SOLD AT A LATER DATE.

*NOT GUARANTEED
**NOT ENTIRELY TRUE

(dunno why Denver is up there, that's just one of many cities)

nin at radio city? i may actually buy a ticket tomorrow

Cold and Black and Infinite kind of a self parodying tour name.

NINE INCH NAILS HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER, LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST AND GOOD TIMES

if u say so buddy

did you just reiterate the ** joke

New EP is very good. Varied. Some real noisy punky shit, some moody instrumentals, including another track with horns called "Play the Goddamned Part." I'm amusing myself imagining that the title was just Trent's grumpy advice to the musicians in the studio.

Tragic I couldn't get tix to their London shows this weekend. Just tragic.

this is prob the best thing they've put out since year zero imo

Quite enjoying this

it's very good, super cohesive and beautifully paced

All 3 EPs would fit comfortably onto a single CD. I'm just saying.

Have you ever had an acquaintance you knew back in school, a decent bloke but ultimately not someone you wanted to hang with? Then you ran into them years later and found they had done cool things with their life. That's this new EP to me. I haven't even heard NiN since "The Downward Spiral" and, while I always thought they were ok, I was never into their work.

I'm with Brad - "Bad Witch" is easily the most interesting thing Trent has ever done. Definitely inspired by Bowie's "Blackstar" - which is great in my book.

If Trent keeps going in this direction, he'll wind up like Scott Walker. Bring it on.

It's my favourite release by them since Downward Spiral and I've heard everything in between, for whatever that's worth.

Good new interview here:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/trent-reznor-nine-inch-nails-atticus-ross-bad-witch-vegas-698419/

Finally did catch up with all the recent EPs the other week. Bad Witch really is quite remarkable.

can I just say I've always dug the way this dude's done that funk hiccupping vocal style on tracks that absolutely do not call for it

Mmmmm...can't STOP! ahhh...me, UH, I'm not

http://thequietus.com/articles/25050-nine-inch-nails-trent-reznor-interview-bad-witch

Doran - that was a great interview. My favorite line is when he said "the Spotify front end feels “more like a shopping mall record shop than a Rough Trade or an Amoeba. It’s not a place where people who love music are encouraging the deep dive into origins and history”."

In another interview, he had this gem which sums of my feelings exactly:
Rolling Stone: I did an interview once with a famous rapper before his record came out, and I asked him what he wanted it to be. He kept saying, “I want it to be what the fans want.”

TR: There’s probably nothing wrong with that if that’s what you want to do. But to me it feels like the difference between an entertainer and an artist, and I really quantify those things in my head. There are pop stars I don’t feel angry about. I don’t like what they do, but I feel like they’re an entertainer. But don’t confuse that with – and I’m saying this to sound pretentious – the artist that is actually trying to make art that may or may not intersect with commerce. Having a roster of songs that songwriters have written for you and showing up for a vocal session a couple of times and a photo session for your album that someone else designed. That, to me, feels like an entertainer.

this whole EP trilogy has been his best work in a long long time, since at least Year Zero as Brad said or maybe even The Fragile

great interviews too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnvf861FG8U

they finally did The Perfect Drug live!

!!!

Ending sequence down to a tee. (shame abt the 'without you' screaming audience member)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQBmALfSFEU

I'm really digging this not just because it's great, or because I like both NIN and Watchmen, but also because I feel it strongly shares some vibes with PWEI's Defcon one.

Ok, that's aces. Bring on the triple LP soundtrack!

I honestly can't remember the last time I listened to "The Downward Spiral," but putting it on yesterday I was reminded of just how aggressive and abrasive and weird (and ott/stupid, but so what) much of it is. I seem to recall thinking that at the time, too, even though my listening habits had more than prepared me for music like that. But listening in 2019, I was trying to put myself in the shoes (ears?) of someone who came to it in the wake of the alt-rock revolution. Nirvana is one thing, but that's easy listening compared to some of this (expertly engineered) in-the-red digital noise. Even some metal fans I imagine might have been take aback, right? This album is just much more confrontational than any other mainstream music of its period, imo.

It really started with Broken/Fixed for me, PHM was a lot of fun, almost disco in places then hearing Broken made me realise how far past the PHM sound he had pushed things.

Oh, for sure. I bought Broken the day it came out, with the little bonus 3" CD. It's super aggressive as well, but I don't know how many people actually bought/heard that before "Downward Spiral" was released.

I kind of knew something was up, I caught them in a little club in Glasgow on the latter stages of the PHM tour and it was super aggro, I don't think they played anything from Broken but they were telegraphing the songs in such a way that when Broken came out it made a lot of sense.

My bad, they played Wish, Physical and Suck

I was at a bar and someone played "Reptile" on the internet jukebox thing and I was just floored by it. never heard it through big powerful speakers like that. in fact I'm pretty sure I only heard TDS through headphones

Even some metal fans I imagine might have been take aback, right?

As a very young metal fan I certainly found it very challenging, but also fascinating, on my first few listens... Then I thought it was indisputably the greatest piece of music ever made for a good three years.

Nowadays the often daft and occasionally misogynist lyrics impinge on my enjoyment.

This album is just much more confrontational than any other mainstream music of its period, imo.

It's also less mainstream than grunge or alternative rock or whatever else we're calling "mainstream music of its period". "Closer" was the only thing that got play on MTV & radio, and there wasn't a bunch of similar or copycat artists getting popular in NIN's wake.
FWIW I wasn't at all taken aback by TDS nor found it challenging, as I'd already heard Ministry and Thrill Kill Kult and other industrial shit I've forgotten about.

I don't like Broken! I mean, I like it fine but it kind of "went too far" into messworld and Spiral reined it back amazingly, it feels so much more focused and controlled in its production

Fixed was good, it sounded like music they’d play at a super gothy nightclub where vampires would lure in hapless normies.

Wish, Last and Happiness in Slavery are all pretty banging.

I like Broken, he was really mad at his label.

xpost The album has sold almost 4 million copies, that's pretty popular even if "Closer" was the only "hit." Also, this is far more abrasive and confrontational than Ministry. I was a big fan of Milk and Honey and Mind, and while yeah, they set the template (among other aggro neo industrial acts, if not Big Black), this album pushes the sonics much further. And come on, there were plenty of imitators!

The production is amazing on TDS and I wish subsequent NIN releases were as abrasive, although I like a fair amount of the post-TDS stuff I don't they were ever as good again

I listen to The Fragile more than anything else by them tbh.

Also, this is far more abrasive and confrontational than Ministry.

I beg to differ. Once Ministry went full on industrial (post Twitch), there's nothing they did that was as MTV/radio-friendly as "Closer".
I can't think of any other industrial artists who went mainstream after "Closer" but could be forgetting. Filter? They toned down the industrial aspects for their 1 hit single. Who else was there?

Once Ministry went full on industrial (post Twitch), there's nothing they did that was as MTV/radio-friendly as "Closer".

Agree with this. Ministry's evolution was pretty fascinating: guitar-driven "industrial" halfway between Big Black and Slayer thrash (Land of Rape and Honey), a hodgepodge of sample-collage metal and postpunk dub-noise (The Mind...), full-on metal with samples (Psalm 69), grinding post-Unsane/Helmet noise rock (Filth Pig)... I never listened to Filth Pig until a year or so ago and it's surprisingly good, but there's no way I'd have predicted it as the next step after Psalm 69.

NIN, meanwhile, were occasionally noisy but always tended more toward minor-key melody; Reznor's a morose piano balladeer at heart, he just gets shouty sometimes.

NIN just released a "definitive" vinyl edition of With Teeth, btw. I can't really tell the difference (it was never one of my favorite NIN albums - it sounded like he'd been listening to a lot of DFA stuff), except there's one additional track that was apparently a B-side to one of the singles.

Comparing NiN to Ministry - in terms of who was more abrasive - is moot; or at least, I don't think that was what Josh' revive was about. NiN found their way into the mainstream (a miracle in itself) - surfing on the Grunge and post-industrial waves; became MTV stars, sold millions of records and got played on the radio world wide with a sound so abrasive and aggressive there was hardly a precedent.

I still think TDS is very powerful; it has lost some of it's impact, of course, but not nearly as much as a twenty years older me would expect it to have lost. And this is foolishly preaching from my generation to ThE kIdS of today, but I'd wager this record would, and does, still make an impact on young ears today.

Yeah, I didn't want to get into a comparison between the bands. I just meant that imo even if (like me) you were familiar with Ministry and Wax Trax and Pretty Hate Machine and lots of stuff short of maybe Einstürzende Neubauten, TDS is one super-abrasive, confrontational album, seemingly (at least on paper) one of the least commercial albums made. Even "Closer" is, for obvious reasons, super not commercial! The fact that the album (and songs) were hits and made superstars of NIN is really something. Usually the big major label commercial breakthrough goes the other direction.

Bands I'd say were influenced by NIN included Filter, Stabbing Westward, Marilyn Manson (obv) ... but more overtly I think a lot of bands were clearly *influenced* by NIN even if they didn't sound like them, and that included such veterans and Reznor influences themselves as Bowie and Depeche Mode.

His recent instrumental release of The Fragile is pretty incredible. Also the remastered versions of TDS and The Fragile are pretty top notch, as is the aforementioned Deviations 1.

Very sad at the loss of production depth to NIN tracks after The Fragile. Those two 90's albums had just next level layering and atmosphere he'd never quite touch again. Must've been the drugs?

drugs and/,budget.

I had no idea there was an instrumental version of the fragile available!

Bands I'd say were influenced by NIN included Filter, Stabbing Westward, Marilyn Manson (obv) ... but more overtly I think a lot of bands were clearly *influenced* by NIN even if they didn't sound like them, and that included such veterans and Reznor influences themselves as Bowie and Depeche Mode.

Agree with this 100%, and I feel like a lot of artists (especially Bowie) were standing there thinking, "Holy shit, you can get away with sounding like *that* and still have hit songs?"

Just looked to confirm, but after The Fragile Trent Reznor starts to producing everything himself. Well, him, with Atticus Ross and Alan Mulder. It becomes much more in house.

xpost and of course the 1995 tour etc. And it's pretty clear that "Rush" by Depeche on SOFAD was their response song as such to NIN.

Thanks to this revive I listened to NIN for the first time in 20+ years. God I love Broken.

I've been getting into My Chemical Romance for the past month or so and have had NIN on the brain because Planetary (Go!) sounds like a sped-up version of the chord progression from Something I Can Never Have.

I had a housemate that had some connections to MTV in London at the time and I recall her coming home one day with some promo VHS with the uncut (lol) version of the Happiness in Slavery video, it was such a big deal but ugh...

i listened to with teeth today. wildly underrated imo

the dfa flirtations are limited to when “all the love in the world” transforms into a stomping house track (which is maybe the most amazing thing that happens in any nin song) and “only”’s groove, which is a cowbell away from the juan maclean. the rest of the record feels like the most band-focused nin record (outside of the slip which i haven’t heard since it came out so i might be remembering it wrong). grohl’s drumming sounds amazing throughout

Does he play on the whole thing?

Regardless, I don't remember when, but I recall Reznor going to Albini just to track big drums. That's ultimately probably the best use of Albini's time.

Does he play on the whole thing?

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, November 26, 2019 6:03 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

little less than half of it

“all the love in the world” transforms into a stomping house track (which is maybe the most amazing thing that happens in any nin song)

YES. I never really got into the rest of WT though.

i listened to with teeth today. wildly underrated imo

in-fucking-deed. But all their noughties and post output has been adding up to a very compelling body of work.

Bands I'd say were influenced by NIN included Filter, Stabbing Westward, Marilyn Manson (obv) ... but more overtly I think a lot of bands were clearly *influenced* by NIN even if they didn't sound like them, and that included such veterans and Reznor influences themselves as Bowie and Depeche Mode

This is true, and I'd also add the Dos Dedos PWEI to that list. I've always loved how all these bands/artists had already influenced Reznor in the first place. So there was a degree of feedback between them.

One of my favorite things about Reznor is how he literally listed his influences in the "Pretty Hate Machine" sleeve.

To be honest, I don't think Reznor has ever really released a dud. If anything, his body of work has been very consistent, very good overall but perhaps a bit too samey.

Ghosts was pretty boring.

I've said this before but I strongly prefer 21st century NIN over 20th century NIN. I don't love all of it (I'm lukewarm on With Teeth and actively dislike Year Zero) but The Slip and Hesitation Marks are great albums, and the three recent EPs are all great and show him really stretching in (somewhat) surprising ways. He's still a terrible try-hard as a lyricist - you can predict his rhymes with 95% accuracy - but the music itself keeps getting better IMO.

I never heard the side project with his wife.

it's really good, you should! i like it more than the slip or with teeth, certainly.

Yeah, those records are pretty good. A little weirder/more abstract than NIN, less focus on big singalong choruses and more strange distorted noises.

bad witch is such an awesome little record

Yeah, it's not a rehash of anything he's ever done, either. I hope he continues in that direction.

i listened to not the actual events, add violence, and bad witch in order tonight, and wow, that might be reznor’s best work

jesus christ hesitation marks is really fuckin good

im working on a very funky remix of 'all the love in the world' rn

hell yeah

i liked hesitation marks at the time but i don't think i realized the second half of it is all back-to-back amazing songs? "various methods of escape" and "i would for you" especially

i've even seen "find a way" *twice* in concert and i'm kicking my own ass for not realizing how BEAUTIFUL it is

Satellite is my jam on that one

Yeah Satellite is the highlight.

Ghosts was pretty boring.

― chap, Wednesday, November 27, 2019 6:33 AM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

i disagree! it's not what i wanted from a nin instrumental record (that's still still) but if you treat it as a series of briefly gorgeous sketches spliced with even briefer instances of more industrial/perverse stuff and also listen to it while partially-distracted at work it really comes into its own imo

challopsy nin ranking ahoy including remix albums, i like all of them though, even things falling apart:

fixed
not the actual events / add violence / bad witch
pretty hate machine
hesitation marks
further down the spiral
the fragile / still
with teeth
the downward spiral
closer to god
ghosts i-iv / the slip
year zero
things falling apart

lmao i forgot broken. put it above year zero, it's a great record but i prefer listening to fixed by a lot (and generally prefer listening to a mentally healthier trent reznor than the guy that appears on broken)

what of Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D?!

oh whoops, some of the versions on that i like better than their year zero counterparts (ladytron) but it would also be hanging out at the bottom of the list

The Fennesz remix of In This Twilight is all time and I wish they'd collaborate on an album.

Should've ranked releases using their Halo numbers to make sure nothing's missed. I like the Soft Cell cover on Halo 9.

The “Get Down, Make Love” cover on the Sin single and attached to the re-release of Pretty Hate Machine fucking rips.

I like the Soft Cell cover on Halo 9.

― Vernon Locke, Wednesday, December 4, 2019 4:35 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

on the strength of "memorabilia" and "metal" trent should've put out a covers record already

You could almost make your own, adding Get Down Make Love, Physical, Lost Souls, Crystal Japan, the stuff he did with Peter Murphy and TV on the Radio...

https://soundcloud.com/808mixtapes/all-the-love-in-the-world-daveys-remix/s-NQTty
disco trent

It's kinda annoying that there is no way to get hold of the Fragile Deviations 1 digitally without buying a $80 vinyl version.

on the other hand, trent reznor is very aware of torrents, etc. and priced the only release at $80

what would trent do?

you have my blessing

yo davey i love that remix, could i get a mp3 of it

thanks. i'll share a d/l link after i finish just a little more work on it, sometime next week. glad u like it :)

omg yay

Nine Inch Nails (unofficial) releases

https://soundcloud.com/808mixtapes/all-the-love-in-the-world-daveys-remix

gone already !?

https://soundcloud.com/808mixtapes/all-the-love-in-the-world-daveys-remix/s-NQTty

sorry about that. i guess only i could see the link that doesn’t have all the gibberish at the end of it. hopefully this one works

(same link as before, just replaced the file)

god this is still so great

I need a whole album of disco trent please!!

i only have one other a capella to work with unfortunately: the beginning of the end. that’s work in progress but it’s in more of an ebm/industrial vein

wonder if the instrumental release of the fragile is close enough to the one with vocals to extract out the vocal track

I might be able to get the vocal stems from Year Zero, I think I have that disc floating around somewhere

i will check out the fragile. some instrumental releases are subtly timestretched to make center channel cancellation fail.

Simon, if u can find stems, i'd love to have them. just email me; my address is in my profile. thanks y'all!

It won’t be perfect, but I’ve had good results using this AI tool which creates stems from existing audio

https://moises.ai/

davey, you got mail!

wau! thank u simon. idk if i'm gonna be able to make more disco trent very soon—kinda want to work on some more original stuff—but receiving all these trent vocals puts a glimmer in my eye.

<3

disco trent returns

https://soundcloud.com/808mixtapes/nine-inch-nails-discipline-dshindig-remix/s-lmxkm

Very nice!

Ghosts V-VI now available as a free download:

https://www.nin.com

Listening now -- I am all about the extended sad ambience.

guessing the website is struggling with demand, as i get a 404 error when clicking on the link in the email

Listening to the supposedly noisier one now. I don't hear a vast difference between it and the quiet/pretty one.

If and when CD versions are made available, I will buy them, but mostly for completion's sake.

Locusts definitely more stressful and abrasive on a cursory listen. I turned it off after a few tracks, not in the headspace.

Listened to all of Together, on the other hand. Nice and moody, but I doubt I'll ever go back to it.

"letting go while holding on" is p incredible imo

download's still not working for me :(

likewise.

They just sent an email to their list, so the links are probably getting slammed.

Both albums are on Spotify now, as well as still being on YouTube. I plan on listening on Spotify a few times and downloading when the servers are seeing less traffic.

I just soulseeked it

I've actually paid for stuff on Bandcamp and then downloaded it via soulseek cuz I didn't wanna deal with WinRAR. I am a profoundly lazy person.

The email they just sent has a direct link to a new download location. Sounds like they gave up

winrar? why are you using that for zip files?

good question! the only zip files I ever download are from bandcamp and WinRAR is just what I have installed

wild

7-zip dude

Yep.

blimey - all these zip applications that i have not thought about in years now that W10 just deals with zips.
re NiN : grabbed it via a wetransfer link posted on another board.

windows 10's support works ok as long as it's not a zip with a ton of files or high compression -- so, good enough for 90% of cases

I've actually paid for stuff on Bandcamp and then downloaded it via soulseek cuz I didn't wanna deal with WinRAR. I am a profoundly lazy person.

― frogbs,

This reminds me how I pay for Prime but I torrent loads of stuff that's on Prime Video cos that's the only way I can figure out how to get it on my big telly.

my main feeling is that these records are incredible

"with faith" when that vangelis synth comes in...

the trumpet is the star of locusts

also locusts is one of the best things trent's ever done?

are these better than the first 4 volumes? I dug those but haven't exactly been clamoring to break em out again

i love the og ghosts but these volumes are far more fleshed out and their own thing

Together was kinda wallpaper-y to me but maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it. Haven't made it all the way through Locusts yet.

Locusts sounds a lot more soothing than Together to me (also agree it's one of the best things he's done). One of the tracks on Together has this really high frequency tone overlaid on top that's bad enough that I have to skip it.

I tend to play my music on album-shuffle, so I never quite know what I'm going to get. My wife was chilling on the sofa by the stereo speakers while I think something mellow like Can's "Soon Over Babaluma" was playing, but then things got a little quiet and I couldn't quite make out what had queued up next. I look at what's about to play on my phone and see it's "The Downward Spiral" about to blargh out, so I quickly hit skip. "That was a close one," I told her. "You almost got Nine Inch Nailed!"

Here's a question: is there anywhere that lists all the appearances of what one might call the "NIN motif"?

(Skip to 3:50 in this Ladytron remix for reference.)

https://youtu.be/Bzl348HCN0w

I think of that as the "Downward Spiral Theme".

Trent hasn't used it himself in anything outside the titular album, has he?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMiWe_s7HMY

Yeah that was a really lovely moment from last night. The version of "Fashion" with Mariqueen also excellent.

holy cow Trent sounds so good!!

mike garson is so cool

heartening—after watching him complain about his own voice in the nin song exploder episode, always wishing he sounded like bowie instead—to hear him hit that sustained note in "fantastic voyage"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJMowK3OkWc

F*ck, well it is footage recently surfaced of NIN at Woodstock before the performance, shit-talking the other acts and discussing where the best mud might be at.

"We're having trouble finding private mud..."

That could be a Spinal Tap line.

I'd rather listen to "vletrmx21" to "A Warm Place," thanks.

― Leee Majors (Leee), Monday, February 2, 2004

Wouldn't surprise me if that track was also a reference point. Trent was deep into the Warp stuff early