Reznor slips us another album

Leading up to the release of With Teeth in 2005 (a whole six years after the release of The Fragile), Trent Reznor made indications that he intended to release material more frequently. In the last thirteen months he’s made good on that promise, having released 3 Nine Inch Nails records (plus one remix album), and produced and orchestrated the release of Saul Williams’s Niggy Tardust….

He has chosen to make the latest release, The Slip, available for free in a range of digital formats, perhaps, believing he did a little bit too well out if the release of Ghosts I-IV in March. After the worrying indie rock drum intro of first song, The Slip turns out to be a solid album with a clear and strong emotional arch, and a worthy addition to the NIN catalogue (which also answers any questions you might have about what Ghosts… was all about). However, the rate at which Reznor is releasing albums, along with his minimalistic approach to album promotion, may leave a few nagging doubts in the minds of fans:

Can music created at this rate be ready for public consumption? Fans might suspect that they are being spoon-fed lesser material to maintain an income stream from their loyalty. Indeed, despite the positive review I’ve given The Slip in this post, some tracks like “single” Discipline seem overly radio friendly and have a bite-size feel to them, particularly so close to the musical, emotional, and political challenge of Year Zero.

There may also be concerns that without the typical promotional activities leading up to a release, appreciation of the material will suffer from a lack of anticipation. Additionally without any feel for the context of the creation of the music it may be more difficult to engage with it.

Like I said, these are just nagging doubts; the last year has been an exciting time for Nine Inch Nails fans, and I look forward to Reznor’s next move.

Reznor deals major labels another blow

In a recent interview Trent Reznor has expanded on his eariler comments about the behaviour of record labels and gone as far as to indicate an intention to leave Interscope as soon as possible. He says that he is contractually obligated to deliver one more album to Interscope, but if he could he would cut out the labels altogether and sell the next Nine Inch Nails record online for a meagre $4. (He went as far as to note that consumers would be able to download the record at “as high a bit-rate as you want”, a detail I greatly appreciate.)

Since MySpace and Snocap teamed up to allow artists to sell DRM free music direct to consumers I’ve been disappointed with the uptake. I was looking forward to being able to buy tracks from all those great unsigned bands I’ve come across on MySpace, but months later, it’s still a rarity to see the Snocap player on a band’s profile. Hopefully Reznor’s stand will encourage more artists to go down the direct to consumers route.

Reznor lashes out against record labels

A few days ago Trent Reznor lashed out against record labels he believes are ripping off fans. (The statement was originally post on the official NIN website, but has since been removed, so I’ve appended it to this post.)

I entirely agree with him, particularly on the “Maxi Single” point. I’m a sucker that bit of extra content they tack onto releases to get you to buy the same thing twice, and to discourage you from buying cheap imports. In the vast majority of cases this exciting extra content is under produced filler bollocks that you’ll watch once and forget about.

It’s this kind of attention that makes Reznor such a worthy rock star. Here’s the origional post from Reznor:

Posted on [05_13_2007]

As the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more. A couple of examples that quickly come to mind:

* The ABSURD retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia. Shame on you, UMG. Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne’s record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US).
By the way, when I asked a label rep about this his response was: “It’s because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out – you know, true fans. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.”
So… I guess as a reward for being a “true fan” you get ripped off.

* The dreaded EURO Maxi-single. Nothing but a consumer rip-off that I’ve been talked into my whole career. No more.

The point is, I am trying my best to make sure the music and items NIN puts in the marketplace have value, substance and are worth you considering purchasing. I am not allowing Capital G to be repackaged into several configurations that result in you getting ripped off.

We are planning a full-length remix collection of substance that will be announced soon.

Party like it’s Year Zero

What better way to start my new blog than with Year Zero?!

Nine Inch Nails latest effort Year Zero has dropped through my letterbox and I love it, immediately and without effort. This is indicative not just of the fact that I’m a huge NIN fan, but of just how accessible Mr. Reznor’s output is of late. You may remember a few years ago when Reznor said that he deliberately made With Teeth’s first single, The Hand That Feeds as accessible as possible so that its political message would reach the widest possible audience. Given the highly political nature of Year Zero, it’s reasonable to assume the accessibility of the album has similar motivations behind it.

The result of this is a slick, mid paced, industrial listening experience with dancability to match any cheezy disco tripe.