Tag Archive for 'Trent Reznor'
Even after all these years, still my fave video of all time. Brilliant visuals abound and continue to impress. The Joel Peter Witkin influence is rampant.
Please… enjoy!
NIN: The Making of the “Closer” Video from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.
Let’s not waste anyone’s time here, tonight’s Nine Inch Nails gig at Melbourne’s Festival Hall… was a bona fide classic performance! I have seen NIN live close to six times now in various line-ups and guises – none of these could hold a candle to the stripped back, lean-mean-fighting machine that is the 2009 (and probably final line-up for a while) consisting of main-man Trent Reznor, bassist Justin Meldel-Johnson, guitarist Robin Finck and drummer Ilan Rubin.
Drummer Rubin has had massive shoes to fill. Previous sticksman, Josh Freese is considered one of the best in the business (and he is) but this new kid is either a robot or he’s been born with 4 arms. His playing was phenomenal. Such an amazing back-beat that was rhythmic, concise, mechanical and faultless all round. I see via his Twitter updates, that he cut his hand early in the show and had a left-hand that was bleeding for most of the night, but (and pardon the pun) – he didn’t miss a freaking beat!
Simply put, the band were on fire tonight and for the first time since I have seen them, Reznor was in good spirits – interacting with the crowd on a more regular basis and even coming across as jovial.
And with a very welcome return to the fold, Robin Finck is just the perfect guitarist for NIN. It really never was the same without him to Reznor’s left. His stage presence and blistering guitars are the perfect foil for the dangerous Reznor.
NIN: Burn Live from on stage, Melbourne 2.25.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.
(View in HD here)
Highlights of the night for me was hearing tracks like ‘The Downward Spiral’ and the all-out insanity and intensity of ‘March of the Pigs’, ‘Wish’ and ‘Gave Up’. Seriously, I challenge any of today’s supposed ‘heavy’ bands to even try and outdo the sonic power of Nine Inch Nails. No contest whatsoever as this was a setlist that was both dynamic and overtly powerful at the same time and coulda blown any other band you care to mention – to hell and back.
The stage featured an amazing apocalyptic light-show. Not quite as impressive as what they had throughout the USA last year, but still brilliantly lit and reflective of the coming-of-the-apocalypse-soundtrack that was delivered. I was bitterly disappointed I couldn’t get a photo-pass for this show after trying so many avenues to score one ‘cos I think there could have been some classic shots captured tonight.
A classic gig. I’m taking this one to the grave and if this is to be the final NIN show I see for a while, so be it. I’m left with memories of an electrified performance of a band that has been such a huge part of my adult life.
Thanks Trent!
Continue reading ‘Nine Inch Nails Live @ Festival Hall, Melbourne’
Far be it for this humble blog to ever take a political bent, but I have been watching the current US election procedure closely over the past couple of years. Having said that, although I am in no position to, I’d really love to see Bush and his cronies removed from power. Sure its another face now in McCain and his douchebag sidekick Palin, but its the same old Christian-Right rhetoric which has to and must be eliminated from power and the world stage.
I found the following post by Trent Reznor to be really interesting. It is no secret where Reznor’s political ideals lie and as much as he doesn’t tell you who to vote for, he is certainly encouraging votes for the Democrats and Barack Obama. See below…
“…Oh, and it was quite a surprise to get back home, turn on the television and discover we’ve apparently won the war in Iraq! Yeah, some woman from Alaska said so – apparently that troop surge was all we needed! That’s good news, because I was starting to think all the shame and embarrassment I’ve felt as an American citizen traveling abroad the last few years wasn’t going to pay off in the end. Now I can rest easy knowing we’ve successfully spread FREEDOM – AND we’ve stopped evildoers in their tracks.
US citizens: Nobody wants anyone preaching their opinions at them – particularly a musician – but PLEASE get involved and pay attention to what’s happening during this election and try to see through the clutter to the substance of what is or isn’t being said.
Wouldn’t it be great to feel proud of this country for a change? Seems like it’s within reach.
OK – I got it out of my system. Thanks for reading…” – Trent Reznor
So for all you USA Dogmatic droogs, do take on board what Uncle Trent has to say. I certainly can’t vote or make up your mind for you, but as an outsider looking in, your country is in a world of shit. Its up to you to change that.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has been in talks in with HBO about making a two-season maxi-series out of “Year Zero,” the dark future tale that Reznor has chronicled in his music as well as in a celebrated Alternate Reality Game (ARG) with the same title that was created by 42 Entertainment.
“It’s the most exciting thing on the horizon, it’s the thing that when I wake up in the morning it makes me say, ‘God it would be cool if that happened,” Reznor told me this week while sitting backstage before a Nails concert in Toronto. “This is my grand ambition. Will it happen? I don’t know. It was fun sitting and telling [the HBO] guys and watching them shake their head and having writers on board and producers that are in to it. It’s been a fun thing.”
“Year Zero” began (as so many things do in the music of NIN) from a place of negative emotion and sonic experimentation. Reznor was increasingly outraged by the geopolitical situation during the Bush years and he wanted to channel that fury into music, but he was loath to drift into the limiting lexicon of protest lyrics.
“How could I express what I was feeling in a way that didn’t sound like bitching about George Bush? I mean, you know, I love Neil Young but I didn’t want to listen to that record, really,” he said, referring to the singer-songwriter’s “Living with War.” “My reaction to that kind of record is, ‘We know this. It’s obvious.’”
“So it started with me trying to write it as a piece of fiction. I was thinking, ‘It could be the worst idea ever in the world but, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t have to come out.’ I started by writing a kind of world bible about what life would be like around 15 or 20 years from now if things continue on the same path. I spent a few weeks filling it in with the events that could lead to this kind of time and place. Then as an experiment I started writing songs about people in this place and from different points of view.”
The problem was the music was compelling and powerful, but it was more about sensation than story.
“I had a record that would make sense to me but no one else would ever know what it was because there was no narrative. It’s modular, its a collection of snapshots. These were glimpses of a place. Maybe with liner notes I could communicate some of it, but how do you get liner notes in 2007?”
He considered a graphic novel. “That was the route we were going to go with initially. We talked to a different companies about releasing it. But it didn’t feel quite right. We thought about a film, but that has a different timetable and too many people need to say yes. That wouldn’t line up right. then I started thinking about how I could make it really interactive, something you experience rather than something you read.”
Reznor remembered reading about 42 Entertainment and their deeply layered ARG for the Steven Spielberg film “A.I.” He met with them and the result was a truly amazing through-the-looking-glass creation on-line, shaped by the 42 team working closely with the rock star and his art director, Rob Sheridan. “It’s ahrd to explain it,” Reznor said, and he’s right. But the best way to get your head around it is through the nifty (and entertaining) case-study presentation that you can find here.
Reznor was delighted with the result. “It was probably the most fun thing I’ve done.” Now he wants to finish the story he started and do it across a range of media.
“I just pitched it to HBO two weeks ago in L.A. It went great. Ideally, we’re trying to get them to do a two-year limited series. I prefer that over a film. We would have a second ARG tying into the second album and ties into the series and they all happen together with a budget needed to pull that all off. There would be a tour down the road. The record completes the story, the ending that no one knows. I know what happens. I knew when I started it. And it’s not what people think.”
(via)
There was a time where new music from Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails would only occur every 5 years. The wait was always agonizing and enough to try the patience of even the most ardent and devout fan. But with overwhelming anticipation, we waited. And waited. And waited. But that’s not to say that Reznor wasn’t busy. In between albums, there’s always been NIN goodness released in the form of videos, DVDs, soundtracks and the like.
But now that the man has been released from the shackles of the record company, he’s become one prolific mofo churning out and giving away music almost on a monthly basis!
A couple of weeks ago, the official Nine Inch Nails site featured a free download of the track ‘Discipline’. It was a decent enough track and featured in its ID tags a hint of more to come. May 5 was the date and the site also began hinting that something big was gonna land on this day.
And here we are. A new Nine Inch Nails album is there for the taking. No catches. No shitty quality files. Here it is. All yours. Download it. Enjoy it.
Wow!
So on first listen, I’ll wait a while before I review it proper, but it is great! At this point, I am still trying to get my head around it all as I still hadn’t fully digested the Ghosts album of several weeks ago.
Exciting times indeed to be a NIN fan.
Now, let’s see Radiohead try and top this one hey?
The music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. All options are free. All downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.
Tracklisting:
999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
Echoplex
Head Down
Lights In The Sky
Corona Radiata
The Four Of Us Are Dying
Demon Seed
Released under Creative Commons license.
Written by Trent Reznor.
Performed by Trent Reznor, Josh Freese, Robin Finck, and Allesandro Cortini.
Produced by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder.
“we encourage you to remix it share it with your friends, post it on your blog, play it on your podcast, give it to strangers, etc.”
According to RollingStone.com, Nine Inch Nails mainman Trent Reznor earlier today (Tuesday, April 22) released a brand new song, titled “Discipline”, to radio stations. Unlike the instrumental Ghosts I-IV album, which was web-released less than two months ago, the new track actually features vocals from Reznor. In addition, an April 21 post on NINE INCH NAILS’ official web site, www.nin.com, reads “2 weeks!” echoing a similarly mysterious message posted in mid-February that ultimately resulted in the release of Ghosts I-IV.
Nine Inch Nails recently launched an online film festival showcasing short films made by fans to accompany music from the new Nine Inch Nails album, Ghosts I-IV. According to a press release, the Nine Inch Nails channel on YouTube, which went live on March 13, is accepting submissions immediately through May 1. Music from Ghosts I-IV is available for filmmakers through YouTube’s AudioSwap channel. Submissions will be personally reviewed by Trent Reznor, who will host a festival featuring the best entries at a later date.
Reznor released Ghosts I-IV online on March 2. The two-hour collection of 36 untitled instrumental tracks was made available in various high-quality DRM-free formats at different price levels. According to a press statement, a total of 781,917 copies of the project were transacted at NIN.com in the first week of release, including paid and free downloads, plus pre-orders for physical editions of the set. The total gross earned was reported as $1,619,420.
The expensive “ultra-deluxe” limited edition of Ghosts I-IV sold out almost instantly despite a steep $300 price tag. (I actually ordered one of these!) A digital version is available for five dollars, along with a $75 limited edition “deluxe” package. A $10 double CD version and a $39 vinyl edition was made available at U.S. retail on April 8.
It is incredibly difficult to put into words a review of the latest Nine Inch Nails release… ‘Ghosts I-IV’. In its vastness and scope and the mere fact that this is a veritable slab of over two hours of music… where does one even begin to analyze individual tracks or key moments in this Reznor opus? Add to the fact that there are no track identifiable track names – it all adds up to a unique and fresh listening experience. I absolutely adore what Reznor has accomplished here as I have always preferred his more experimental work. There is so much on offer here. So much style, technique, haunting ambience and emotion. It is all so grand yet at the same time, there is an element of rawness permeating throughout each track. It is going to take a long, long time to fully digest just what has been unleashed here.
The entire ‘Ghosts’ experience was all incredibly rewarding. I can’t recall such a buzz over a new release and the digital methodology that was used to deliver this music to the masses. These are exciting times for genuine music fans and genuine artists such as Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails who are actively seeking out new ways of doing things. Everything from the initial overworked servers and the moment of finally downloading the music (legally and intact as the artist wished) – to even managing to score the $300 Deluxe Edition as yours truly did – just added to the entire experience that was/is ‘Ghosts’.
Trent Reznor has a habit of teasing the hell out of his fans. Most of us have grown accustomed to waiting half a decade for new music but things recently have been a helluva lot more productive for the Nine Inch Nails camp. A couple of months ago, the official Nine Inch Nails site began updating by featuring Trent and co. hard at work at… something. No one knew what it was and most speculated that he had begun work on the sequel to Year Zero.
Over the course of the past two weeks, more teasing eminated from the site with Trent posting cryptic messages like “Two weeks”, “Soon” etc. A new Nine Inch Nails in two weeks? Yeah right Trent.
And the two weeks came and went. And here it is… a new Nine Inch Nails album! A NEW NINE INCH NAILS ALBUM!!!!
The official site went live at 9PM ET with the several versions of the new instrumental album entitle ‘Ghosts I – IV’
You can get the first 9 songs from the 36 track project for free or you can purchase the entire album digitally for a mere $5.
Straight from Trent… “…This music arrived unexpectedly as the result of an experiment. The rules were as follows: 10 weeks, no clear agenda, no overthinking, everything driven by impulse. Whatever happens during that time gets released as… something.
The team: Atticus Ross, Alan Moulder and myself with some help from Alessandro Cortini, Adrian Belew and Brian Viglione. Rob Sheridan collaborated with Artist in Residence (A+R) to create the accompanying visual and physical aesthetic.
We began improvising and let the music decide the direction. Eyes were closed, hands played instruments and it began. Within a matter of days it became clear we were on to something, and a lot of material began appearing. What we thought could be a five song EP became much more. I invited some friends over to join in and we all enjoyed the process of collaborating on this.
The end result is a wildly varied body of music that we’re able to present to the world in ways the confines of a major record label would never have allowed – from a 100% DRM-free, high-quality download, to the most luxurious physical package we’ve ever created.
More volumes of Ghosts are likely to appear in the future…”
The initial clue was so subtle that for nearly two days nobody noticed it.
On February 10, 2007, the first night of Nine Inch Nails’ European tour, T-shirts went on sale at a 19th-century Lisbon concert hall with what looked to be a printing error: Random letters in the tour schedule on the back seemed slightly boldfaced. Then a 27-year-old Lisbon photographer named Nuno Foros realized that, strung together, the boldface letters spelled “i am trying to believe.” Foros posted a photo of his T-shirt on the Spiral, the Nine Inch Nails fan forum.
More at Wired.com here and the Trent Reznor interview here. Or better yet, download the interview in MP3 format right about here.
Totally fascinating stuff!
“I’m very pleased with the way it turned out,” says Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails’ Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (Interscope Records), to be released November 20, 2007. “Remix records can be disposable garbage (of which I myself have been guilty to some extent) but this collection feels good to me.”
Spun off from Year Zero, the #2-charting album issued in the spring, Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D features a stunning diversity of remixers, from Joy Division and New Order’s Stephen Morris to classical crossover pioneer Kronos Quartet and hip-hop poet Saul Williams; from avant-garde leader Bill Laswell, electronica’s Olof Dreijer from The Knife, Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino and post-punk revivalists The Faint to an unknown fan who submitted a remix via the Internet.
“I reached out to heroes, friends and strangers,” says Reznor. “I encouraged those I approached to do anything and insert themselves as much as possible into the track. Some of the stuff that was done earlier led me to choosing other people to balance things out. The Pirate Robot Midget mix is a fan’s work – I thought it was great, it filled a need and I asked permission to use it here. It’s always interesting for me to hear my work reinterpreted – I hope it is for you as well.”
In fact, purchasers can even reinterpret and remix Year Zero themselves. The CD package for Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D includes a DVD-ROM containing every track from Year Zero in multi-track format (Mac and PC). Perhaps for the first time, the master multi-tracks for every recording on a major album are being made available to the public. The tracks are pre-formatted for Apple GarageBand and Ableton Live (Mac or PC); the DVD-ROM also adds the demo version of Ableton Live (Mac or PC) and generic WAVE files at 16 bit 44K that can be loaded into any audio editor. The package is also available on 180 gram heavy vinyl in a deluxe six-panel gatefold jacket. A special Web site, remix.nin.com, will debut upon Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D’s release date.
Says Reznor,”Remixes and fun encouraged.”
There’s a great Q&A interview with Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails in Melbourne’s Herald-Sun newspaper.
TR: It’s a very odd time to be a musician on a major label, because there’s so much resentment towards the record industry that it’s hard to position yourself in a place with the fans where you don’t look like a greedy asshole. But at the same time, when our record came out I was disappointed at the number of people that actually bought it. If this had been 10 years ago
I would think “Well, not that many people are into it. OK, that kinda sucks. Yeah I could point fingers but the blame would be with me, maybe I’m not relevant”. But on this record, I know people have it and I know it’s on everybody’s iPods, but the climate is such that people don’t buy it because it’s easier to steal it.
You’re a bit of a computer geek. You must have been there, too?
TR: Oh, I understand that — I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t. But it’s tough not to resent people for doing it when you’re the guy making the music, that would like to reap a benefit from that. On the other hand, you got record labels that are doing everything they can to piss people off and rip them off. I created a little issue down here because the first thing I did when I got to Sydney is I walk into HMV, the week the record’s out, and I see it on the rack with a bunch of other releases. And every release I see: $21.99, $22.99, $24.99. And ours doesn’t have a sticker on it. I look close and ‘Oh, it’s $34.99′. So I walk over to see our live DVD Beside You in Time, and I see that it’s also priced six, seven, eight dollars more than every other disc on there. And I can’t figure out why that would be.
Read the entire article here.
Yes I have it. Yes it is mindfuckingly Reznor’s best work in years! Yes it is out there! Yes there will be a Dogmatic review very soon! Yes you should all rush out and buy it on April 17. Yes! Yes! Yes!!!
Head on over to the official Nine Inch Nails website to download the new single in Apple Garageband format for you to remix, deconstruct and create your own mix of the song. According to the band, the entire ‘Year Zero’ album will be released in this format! (Hell yeah!)
Vox Populi