Nine Inch Nails - Bad Witch

[usagi]

James Addiction

to the shit names thread with this.

[Polytrix]

Yeah The Fragile is amazing. I was very close to buying the vinyl remaster package but it was like £50 or something.

[oscillik]

Yeah The Fragile is amazing. I was very close to buying the vinyl remaster package but it was like £50 or something.

Still cheaper than a legit original pressing. Gotta say, the remaster is quality

[koolkeyZ865]

Somebody's listened to Blackstar

 

[olo]

lol

[olo]

^ 

 

 

 

[usagi]

a witha teetha

[Avarik]

hey god why are you doing this to me

[modey]

wow that's bowie as fuck

[Extralife]

Good witch

[Zephyr_Nova]

Somebody's listened to Blackstar

 

Haha wow yes.  This reminds me of the time he listened to Chrystal Japan and wrote A Warm Place.  Bowie was cool with that though, so he'd probably approve of this too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm2ciX0_UP8

 

Style thieving aside, it is cool to hear him do something unexpected.  This is the first time in a long time I've been legit surprised by a new NIN track.  Curious to hear the rest now.

[Polytrix]

Oh this is great! Thanks for link uploader.

[auxien]

Style thieving aside, it is cool to hear him do something unexpected.  This is the first time in a long time I've been legit surprised by a new NIN track.  Curious to hear the rest now.

[Ivan Ooze]

i would welcome this new NIN single but gotta agree, dramatic bowie was the first thing that popped in mind

still interested in hearing the whole thing

[Kavinsky]

soo goooooood especially 3:10 onwards !

[eclipsis]

Sounds pretty good tho which is a rare thing when it comes to NIN in recent years.

[jaderpansen]

nin_acid... yeah suprisingly listenable.

[auxien]

^forgot this was coming out. Just listened to it after reading your post, I'd mostly agree I think...I'm not sure how much I'm actually grasping what they're going for...

 

First listen impressions: I'm actually still interested in this after hearing it once, which says a lot in relation to NIN these days (for me). Nothing there is bad in the least. That's difficult for any album to me 'cause I'm a picky asshole. Which I'm not going to be: most of the tracks feel like they're half done in one way or another...first couple seemed like they were literally the first half of a NIN-style prog tracks, but then they cut off the rest of the songs. Also they're definitely trying too hard on the weird production-quality tricks. It's not a bad thing exactly but it's just too much imo. Play The Goddamned Part needed some vocals or something? I dunno. Not bad though, wondering if all the sax/brass on the album will be the tipping point for some old school NIN fans. lol God Break Down The Door is a good track, I'm not from this world is too...these two are the only ones that feel 'complete' on first listen. Last track was also good and a bit different (as this whole album seems to be) from what's expected, but also seemed to be maybe lacking a little extra something? Just first impressions though. 

 

edit: clarification

[Cryptowen]

i feel like i grow to appreciate later-period NIN more as I get older (probably in part because all the weird dense sound environments on the 90s stuff isn't as exciting to me now as when I was when I was a teenager, and because I dig oldman trent's "hey life is rough but i'm trying to make it better" attitude even if the lyrics themselves aren't mindblowing). like when the slip came out i listened once & then forgot it for many years. been returning to random tracks off it the last few days & really appreciating how it sounds like a cross between a garage rock band & a conveyor belt on the verge of falling apart violently

 

anyways all that to say will maybe check this new one out tonight, because NIN fuckin around makin sketches in the studio sounds like something i'd be into

[usagi]

I feel like Trent is submitting sketches as albums these days.

Actress made a career out of this

[gnarlybog]

So this was one of the first bands that I became obsessed with as a moody teen. Everything after the Fragile has been diminishing returns. Some of those late-era albums I find incredibly boring and formulaic. It really could be done by an algorithm. 

 

With that said, this is one of the most interesting things he has done in years, aside from the soundtracks. I appreciate the desire to push boundaries (even though him trying to sing like Bowie makes me cringe a bit). Also, bonus points for that killer album art/art direction.

[flim]

I haven't listened to the record yet, but if God Break Down the Door and all the reviews I'm seeing are any indication, I'm sure I'll love the album.

 

I'm a little pissed that it looks like I won't be able to see him live once again simply because the tickets are so expensive and I'm so poor. This makes at least the 4th time in recent years that he's played Atlanta and I'm unable to go. This would have been a great show to go to because the venue isn't an arena or outdoor amphitheater. Maybe I'll put myself into some more debt for tickets :\

[beerwolf]

Went to see them live last night and they were incredible. Over the years I've heard negative reports about them on stage, but the two occasions I've seen them, they've been nothing less than firing on full cylinders. It was something special to behold. The performance, playing, light show and the wall of sound of synths, drum machines, live drums and guitar....just immense.

 

And the new tracks off Bad Witch went down a storm. They sounded spot on.

[Cryptowen]

dang that synth that comes in around the two minute mark on the last track is one of the lushest textures i can recall hearing in a NIN song (especially when it builds up at the very end). That + the last minute of the fifth track makes me want to hear them do something super minimal & electronic at this stage of their career...picturing kinda like the more percussive tracks off SAWII but with tons of distortion & sound degradation.

 

Also the vocals on the last track are kinda strikingly sad, bcuz instead of attempting to turn vague existential worries into grand operatic tragedies, it's just a very plain & straightforward acknowledgement of slow oncoming death & the feeling that one is in fact more likely to fade away than to burn out

[Zephyr_Nova]

Oh man I love this.  FIrst time I've heard that magic in a NIN release since The Fragile.  There were glimpses of it in Add Violence, but this EP is channeling something special start to finish.  He's finally returning back to the creative experimentalism that made his music so compelling in the first place.  Fuck yes.  I really hope he continues going down this rabbit hole.  

 

PS is he drinking/doing drugs again?