Nine Inch Nails – The Slip

the slip finds NIN in a much more confident place, as the record clocks in at 43 minutes, making it quite concise compared to the hour-long year zero or the sprawling hour and forty-five minutes that is the fragile. even the recent release ghosts i-iv was a bit self indulgent, consisting of 36 tracks and running almost two hours (although to be fair, it was technically divided into 4 EPs). regardless, it’s definitely refreshing to see a lean NIN album. the record recalls the clean production and highly confessional style of with teeth, while also drawing from year zero’s method of addressing personal questions through politics, although reznor is far less reliant this time on finger-pointing and preaching. NIN are as loud and noisy as ever, as they wreak a digital havoc throughout. unfortunately, reznor’s “art rock” tendencies eventually kick in and he erroneously relies solely on his piano to convey emotion on both “lights in the sky” and “corona radiata;” however it is interesting how the two songs overlap. while not without it’s flaws, the slip is still a surprisingly intense and focused release, especially considering the amount of time it took to record this album compared to NIN’s previous, more conceptual albums.

Filed under: Album Review , 2008, NIN, nine inch nails, the slip

First Impressions

nine inch nails – “discipline“

“discipline” was released just last week with another cryptic “two weeks” message on NIN.com. some of you may remember that the last time “two weeks” was posted on NIN.com, ghosts i-iv was released. could there be another album in the pipeline? already? we’ll find out on monday. if it is an album or even an EP of new material, i’d be shocked (some are saying that the cover art for “discipline” suggests at least four other songs). that would mean that it has only been a year and a half since trent’s last full length of original material (year zero) and a month since his last release period (ghosts). is this what we can expect from NIN in the future? no more 5-6 year waits for albums? now if only someone could introduce this novel method of album-making to tool…

as far as the song itself is concerned, it’s basically what one should come to expect from NIN at this point, but just a bit more poppy. there aren’t any guitars that i can hear… the instrumentation just consists of synth, piano, bass, live drums and vocals. it sounds more like the material from with teeth than it does the material from year zero, an album which trent approached with the idea that noise somehow equates novelty. the drum beat here is a little unimaginative– that hi-hat gets annoying pretty quickly. i suppose it’s better than stale drum machines though. i’m glad trent is embracing his poppiness, despite the bemoaning of all the other NINcompoops. i find he’s most honest with himself when he’s just straight-up pop, without the pretence of some high, overarching concept. his best songs have always been his most poppy, so i think he should stop trying to mask it with noise, strings, or other things that just weigh his songs down. this isn’t his best, but i’m interested in seeing where it leads.

coldplay – “violet hill“

this song gives me the impression that for their new record… whatever it’s called…coldplay have toned down the synth approach from x&y and have opted instead for more angular guitars. the guitars certainly do have a more significant presence on this song than they have had on a lot of other coldplay numbers, but like their past experimentations with synthesizers, this guitar approach seems rather tacked-on, and not a genuine or significant change, because eventually “all you’re hearing is chris and the piano.” i never thought i’d be accusing chris & co. of lacking in the earnestness dept, but here i am. despite all this, i’m intrigued by how short the song is, and the slow shuffle of the verses brought on by berryman and champion.

Filed under: First Impressions , 2008, coldplay, discipline, NIN, nine inch nails, singles, violet hill, viva la vida or death and all his friends, with teeth, x&y

Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV

comprised of snippets and rough sketches of songs that came about during the year zero recording process, ghosts is another interesting addition to the NIN catalogue. since with teeth, trent reznor has made countless attempts to rethink and shift the way in which his music is marketed, presented and interpreted. ghosts continues that tradition, as the record marks reznor’s first release since his departure from interscope, and is also his first album to be released completely under creative commons licencing, meaning that anyone, anywhere, can do what they wish with the songs and do it legally. on the actual release date, trent personally uploaded the torrent file that many fans would use to download the album for free.

although it represents a “fuck you” to the record industry, the music from ghosts does not really echo the same sentiment. while you might argue that a collection of 36 instrumental songs that each last from 1-2 minutes in length and are simply titled “(track number) ghosts,” defies the conventional understanding of what an album is, the collection is still marketed and sold as an album. it functions, however, more as a source for music that people can draw from freely, not something one would listen to in it’s entirety. listening to ghosts start to finish is a monotonous and boring experience that is occasionally highlighted by some interesting moments (like when trent uses a banjo!), but overall, it is really not much of a departure from other nine inch nails material. in short, i’m torn. yes, it makes a shitty album, and a shitty listening experience, but i’m not sure it is an album or is even meant to be listened to in such a way.

Filed under: Album Review , 2008, creative commons, ghosts i-iv, NIN, nine inch nails, trent reznor