NIN/JA 2009

Nine Inch Nails are off on tour and then having a big old break for a while (I'm pretty sure I heard that anyway...) So it's nice to see Trent wacking up some more free music in the form of a tour sampler, featuring unreleased tracks from: Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction and Street Sweeper. It's a nice listen as well if your in need of some scuzzycock swingin' rock acction.

Info // Download: http://www.ninja2009.com/

On top of that I stumbled apon a nice dubstep remix of one of the Ghost tracks, '19 Ghosts III' over at dubstepforum by Zardonic. It's a nice minimal clatering half stepper Grab it here.

Saul Williams – The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!

This is the Sual/Reznor colab from last year but I didn’t have a blog then and its now getting a release in physical form as appose to the pay if you like download method Reznor has been doing so much recently. As you would expect from these two we get some hefty rocking beats with a funky digital edge. And then Saul flows on top with some style often going from sing styling to full on rap flows. The heavy drums fit so well with the more traditional hip-hop sounds like horns and loops, its pretty intense in places too. The Public Enemy sample from Welcome to the Terrordome is used on Tr(n)igger to great effect.

Reznor makes for an ace rap producer here the soundscapes are ace and at times Saul even sounds a little like Reznor in his delivery. Saul’s lyrics are tight and apparently adapted poetry from a book of his called The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings Of Hip Hop. I think the lyrics are about all sorts of subjects ranging from war to hurt and all that good stuff.

Its real smooth and soulful in parts with some wicked humour like the chant, ‘when I say Niggy, you say nothing’ followed by a silence or if there is a reply it’s shot down with a shut up. Fat synths and fat beats are all over this record from retro sounding sounds to full on future jams its all here. Vocal treatments made to spooky effect are done with excellent style on DNA. WTF! Is a bit of a lull in the album to be honest it’s a bit wishy washy for my liking, only a little filler will do though hey.

The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust! Takes obvious influence from Ziggy Star Dust the Bowie album in title and maybe even in aesthetical style, as he takes on a kind of persona of a future renegade or something here. Kind of like Parliament Funkadelic mixed with Bowie in a hiphop style, what more could you want.

Raw is a sexy low-slung pounding electro number with future soul vocals about sex and lovin’ it’s a minimal hiphop beauty. The beat manipulation carries on a treat with Skin Of A Drum that has some ace slow beats and freaked out sounds. It’s the flow that rips up this song though, Saul gets more intense and it’s a joy to behold.

You can hear Reznor’s production shining through on here if your familuar with Nine Inch Nails sound you can hear it in bucket loads with Niggy. As I have said sometimes you could mistake Saul as Reznor by the way he sings. This album doesn’t rock out as much as Nine Inch Nail does mind, he has embraced the hiphop beats and flavours with ease.

Trent Reznor and Saul Williams make a brilliant team and if you are a fan of either then there is plenty for you on The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust! Grimy tunes with dirt and grit, mixed with wonderful wordplay with plenty of soul bombast and passion.

Nine Inch Nails – The Slip

Now I have listened to this record a few times I can give an opinion on it. The Slip is a wonderful album, yet again. Its pretty much split into two half’s the first being an up-tempo almost party style record. The last half is a more mellow and brooding affair. Each section is brilliant, enjoyable and works as a whole. This is the sound of Trent Reznor having fun in the studio then having a bit of a relaxing come down session. The two, I guess what you could call singles, Discipline and Echoplex are just brilliant tunes and follow on from each other to good effect on The Slip. For free this album is an absolute bargin and is a great place for NIN beginners to start listening. It sums up Reznors sound damn well, as appose to the Ghosts project, which was a bit of a fan only affair. This could be a ace move for Nine Inch Nails as it promotes their up and coming tour really well and creatively. Reznor gets to pick up new fans and thank all the old ones all at once I don’t think he can lose out really. The art work on the PDF included on the download is pretty nice and reflects the album well. I have herd people mention that this album echoes his most recent work, of Year Zero, I haven’t herd that album though. I will finish as the album does with the mellow half. Lights In The Sky start this off, with a beautiful piano lead ballad NIN style. Trent’s voice is so good when he slows it down to a melancholy breathy brood. Corona Radiata, has a long atmospheric intro like your floating in your own dreams. This same vain runs into the next track, it sounds like the more epic side of Ghosts. The final tune Demon Seed brings some more beat driven beastly synth stuff to the table, just to send you off gagging for a rewind and the higher tempo stuff. Good word Reznor and the NIN band. Maybe I will get chance to talk about other things when you stop releasing surprise albums.

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip (Free album give away)

Here we go again Reznor has been dishing out the treats again and this time completly for free. I have my copy on download, I will report back later when its sunk in. Nine Inch Nails have given us some vocals this time, and recently leaked tunes Discipline and Echoplex feature on The Slip, good stuff. Find your self a copy at http://theslip.nin.com/

Nine Inch Nails - Echoplex

Reznor yet again pops up on my blog, he has stuck up another new song this time on a facebook aplication called ilike. The tune is called Echoplex and is a more mellow and electro sounding affair than the recently released Discipline. I have a feeing Nine Inch Nails are goingto drop an album soon, and the word is to check out their website on the 5th of May. Check it out for your self.


Nine Inch Nails - Echoplex

Nine Inch Nails - Discipline

This yet agan came out of the blue today from Trent Reznor, it sounds like he is having fun. Its a new single and its free from http://www.nin.com/ how ace is that. I was just musing today over my newley aquired Ghosts CD that I wanted some vocal stuff then this pops up. Its a fun dancey number with disco rock drums with open high hats. The title is typical NIN and so is the music and lyrics. pretty much about not being able to stop your self, I persume from dancing as Reznor asks us to take our shirts off and dance on his blog. There is a big dirty bass and guitar line that brings the funk and rides the drums. All in all enjoyable and a nice extra after the instrumental pecies on Ghosts. Well done again Reznor.

Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I-IV

I got my CD copy today through the post. I've had chance to listen to this quite a bit already and its damn good. Its perfect music for playing computer games to or as a sound track to a dark, grimey si-fi film. There are some really interesting sounds on here, many of which are twisted and out of tune. They make for good listening. Part of me wants some lyrics on this record, but this will do. It reminds me in places of soundtracks to games of my youth like F-Zero and that one I can't remember the name of that was like a new version of F-Zero with lots of Chemical Brothers on it. Its pretty sad and melloncholy sounding, but pretty with it in its own way. Spread over two CD's this can get a bit much and blurs into one some times. I do however, really like to use some of the tracks in mixes. The art work is really quite nice indeed, some of the pictures are beautiful, and if my memory is correct on this, visual insperation is what spured this project on. Reznor as produced a unique package here and fair play to him for releasing it how and when he wanted.

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I - IV

When I get this to finally download from here http://ghosts.nin.com/main/home I will give it some spins and a mini reveiw. Reznor has only gone and done a instrumental album that he is self releasing while he doesn't have a record deal. It all looks kinda good to me.

Update: I will reveiw the CD when I get my copy.