Trent Reznor NPR's Fresh Air Interview With Trent Reznor

[oscillik]

lol

 

as a side note, you know you can download instrumental versions of tracks from The Downward Spiral officially from nin.com right?

[Cryptowen]

I thought Year Zero was the danciest NIN album since Pretty Hate Machine (which to me isn't a bad thing), but it doesn't seem substantial enough to really translate to a tv show like Reznor still wants it to (though if he does the soundtrack I'd probably give it a look).

[Guest RadarJammer]

lol

 

as a side note, you know you can download instrumental versions of tracks from The Downward Spiral officially from nin.com right?

 

thanks for the tip

[autopilot]

lol

 

as a side note, you know you can download instrumental versions of tracks from The Downward Spiral officially from nin.com right?

 

WHAAAAAATT???????

 

*shits pants on way to nin.com*

[autopilot]

I thought Year Zero was the danciest NIN album since Pretty Hate Machine (which to me isn't a bad thing), but it doesn't seem substantial enough to really translate to a tv show like Reznor still wants it to (though if he does the soundtrack I'd probably give it a look).

 

I listened to it probably a dozen times when it came out, and at the moment the only track from it I can remember is "The Great Destroyer". Def a standout track.

 

I was never a big fan of rock operas or musicals or anything like that, so trying to tell any kind of serious story through this particular format comes across as very silly to me. It's like the sharks & the jets, who're supposed to be vicious street thugs in NYC, walking down the street dancing, snapping their fingers & clicking their heels.

[Guest RadarJammer]

I thought Year Zero was the danciest NIN album since Pretty Hate Machine (which to me isn't a bad thing), but it doesn't seem substantial enough to really translate to a tv show like Reznor still wants it to (though if he does the soundtrack I'd probably give it a look).

 

I listened to it probably a dozen times when it came out, and at the moment the only track from it I can remember is "The Great Destroyer". Def a standout track.

 

I was never a big fan of rock operas or musicals or anything like that, so trying to tell any kind of serious story through this particular format comes across as very silly to me. It's like the sharks & the jets, who're supposed to be vicious street thugs in NYC, walking down the street dancing, snapping their fingers & clicking their heels.

 

That's what put me off too. Concept/story albums seem like the kind of thing some High School kids would think up on a sleepover meth/coke binge get-together, write everything out in spectacular detail and then forget it ever happened on Monday. Those albums tend to have a bit of a constipated vibe to them.

[Cryptowen]

^Yeah, pretty much - the main reason I think 00s era NIN lyrics are more bearable is because he seems less inclined to try turning his depression into a tragic epic for the ages.

 

Also for those who don't know most NIN material from Year Zero on is available in multi-track format if you want instrumental versions or if you want to do a basswob version of Ghosts.

[awepittance]

i still can't even come close to comprehending how With Teeth has lyrics that don't sound teenage angsty or equally as cringe worthy as anything he released in his entire career. It's hard to rank them exactly but With Teeth is his most forgettable album. The titular song's chorus alone is enough to make one laugh involuntarily. At least Year Zero was an improvement musically speaking

[Guest Lucy Faringold]

With Teeth is so much sexier though. It doesn't have that depressing air of defeat or hopelessness about it. The vibe is totally different. It's more like, 'yeah, I'm a self-sabotaging asshole but I can still lay down some fuccin jams.'

 

Year Zero tries way too hard. Plus it has 'I wrote this in my hotel room using Ableton' written all over it. You can just hear when each new loop drops in. Sounds weak. At least The Slip had a bit more of a live feel but most of the songs were poor.

[awepittance]

i guess i just can't unburn my brain from the auditory damage of hearing trend ride out the th on 'teeth' on the titular song. upon first hearing it, Bill Paxton's quote from Aliens 'game over man, game over' played in my mind

[Guest Lucy Faringold]

That's just a nice nod to Mark E Smith. Should have gone the whole hog and had MES do a guest vocal.

[autopilot]

With Teeth is so much sexier though. It doesn't have that depressing air of defeat or hopelessness about it. The vibe is totally different. It's more like, 'yeah, I'm a self-sabotaging asshole but I can still lay down some fuccin jams.'

 

Yeah, this. The vibe just feels...funky.

 

Awitha teetha rocks.

[awepittance]

Broken will always be the most satisfying NIN release to me, with Further Down the Spiral and Fixed as close 2nd

[Guest]

I wish I could purchase instrumental versions of TDS and The Fragile because the tracks are just so well composed

 

http://remix.nin.com/member/trent_reznor

 

Here it's free from the man himself.

[Guest RadarJammer]

Broken will always be the most satisfying NIN release to me, with Further Down the Spiral and Fixed as close 2nd

 

Totally agree. His interviews about the production of Broken are fun to read, he really pushed early 90's hard disk recording and sample mangling into the twilight zone of what was fathomable.

[oscillik]

just noticed that the nin site doesn't have The Ruiner as an instrumental :(

[kaini]

I have noticed though that all of his recent output (from around 2008 onwards) has the same 'sound' to it all. Something that I'm not used to hearing from Reznor, whose work usually tends to sound sonically different from release to release. This is the main thing I'm disappointed in.

 

i want more like this

 

[Rubin Farr]

to me its undeniable that Trent Reznor took key elements from a genre which up until NIN had chosen to remain underground. Probably the most commercial sounding 'industrial' band previous to NIN was KMFDM, and pre NIN they didn't have much interest in being big. I think it was with the success of NIN that a lot of the underground industrial bands realized how far they could climb if they retooled their sound a bit. Unfortunately this is that Martin Atkins forces on the last 'real' skinny puppy album The Process. While they turned it into something kinda magical, you can't help but hear them trying to grab a piece of that NIN MTV pie.

The way I see it is that some bands just get tired of releasing album after album of abrasive stuff. Sure, it could have something to do with popularity but I've experienced it myself in my own music, I've got to the point where I just want to write catchy/supermelodic songs rather than experimental chin-stroking IDM (not that there's anything wrong with that).

 

Just have a think about it—would you really prefer it if say, Skinny Puppy kept to the same sound for 30 years?

yeah i think they did. LOL

[oscillik]

I have noticed though that all of his recent output (from around 2008 onwards) has the same 'sound' to it all. Something that I'm not used to hearing from Reznor, whose work usually tends to sound sonically different from release to release. This is the main thing I'm disappointed in.

 

i want more like this

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu9bm-RJMWM

 

YES

 

this is the most recent thing he's done that actually sounds like NIN. fucking love this track.

[marf]

he's really lucky. how many guys in the last 2 decades have made music like him? A lot Id wager

[awepittance]

that song is really nice, did he do the soundtrack for a new Tetsuo movie?

[Cryptowen]

^Just the one track for the credits, I'm pretty sure.

[oscillik]

that song is really nice, did he do the soundtrack for a new Tetsuo movie?

 

it's something that both Reznor and Tsukamoto have wanted to do for a while, according to stuff I've read on the innernette. While Reznor apparently wasn't available to do the entire soundtrack, he was able to at least contribute something. Definitely the best thing he's done musically for the past 10 years, in my mind.

 

Dunno if you ever saw this, but this was something cool too

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK5XgMjORHc

[kaini]

the annoying thing is that i think it'd be really easy for him to fire up the modulars and make an album of stuff like the tetsuo track.

[Cryptowen]

I get that he's not depressed any more & doesn't want to write songs about being a sad & lonely man. I don't want him to either. But I think he needs a big project similar to Tetsuo to give him a reason to pull out some of that instrumental Reznor Rage