End of the Month Music Bitchfest - June 2013

Nine Inch Nails

Time for some overanalysis!
BITE.

• The album title

Hesitation Marks is a weird one. Then again, so were With Teeth, The Slip and Pretty Hate Machine. However, none of those other album titles refer to noises that an orator makes when they are thinking of what to say next. Yeah. That's what "hesitation marks" are. "Uh", "um", "like", stuttering, long pauses, etc. all those are hesitation marks. So, I'm kinda looking forward to / not looking forward to a song on the album that features Reznor making a lot of those noises. Kinda.

• The album artwork

Russell motherfucking Mills. The sick, beautiful bastard responsible for the legendary Downward Spiral artwork is back to put more feathers in paint on canvases. The return of both Mills and the same font used on The Downward Spiral plus the fact that we're about nine months out from the 20th anniversary of The Downward Spiral makes me think...something...is going to happen...yes.
Honestly, I have no idea what I'm talking about, I just think it's a very interesting choice to return to the artist and font from Nine Inch Nails' seminal album which just so happened to come out almost twenty years before this new album.
Take note...of something.

• The first single

Very first thought was that it sounded like Nine Inch Nails' "Discipline", Garbage's "Hammering In My Head" and Manson's "Burning Flag". While my initial listen left me a bit unimpressed, "Came Back Hunted" grew on my right quick...like, within the next three or four listens. Am I out of my mind in love with it? No. I think it walks a very, very thin line between fill-in-the-blank Nine Inch Nails lyrics and a sense of an encounter with some huge, horrible thing, almost Lovecraftian in nature, which the narrator is now struggling to deal with. Although this is waaaay too early to tell, I'd like to think that there's going to be some theme to Hesitation Marks, rather than just a collection of songs, and, if it happens to mention the Elder Gods...well, I'm probably okay with that as well. I also dig those classic NIN jagged, sloppy synths towards the end.

• The pre-order offerings

Three new shirts, plus four versions of the album: digital (in every format you might want), CD (14 tracks, in my opinion the perfect number of tracks...unless the first track is only a minute and consists mostly of ambient noises that swell into track two...and yes, "999,999" I'm looking at you...), deluxe CD (second disc with a paltry three remixes and a 28-page hardcover book...most likely containing pictures of canvases with paint and feathers on them) and a 180 gram 2-LP set. Although I did enjoy the crazy, $75 version of Ghosts I-IV with the Blu-Ray disc and multi-tracks and coffee table book, I'm very happy with these offerings.
And, yes, I bought two shirts along with the deluxe CD and the vinyl.
Because if I don't, this whole Nine Inch Nails thing might not take off and Trent'll have to go back to being a janitor at the Right Track! And we can't let that happen, you guys!!!

• The new logo

When I first saw David Carson's treatment of the classic ('89 to '99) Nine Inch Nails logo...I was actually stunned.

Just the idea that a logo that I had known and grown attached to could be altered in any way was...seriously, unthinkable. I fucking loved it. Fast forward to today, as in this morning*, when, after returning to the core logo for almost a decade, they've gone ahead and drastically altered the logo once again. I think, just like before, that I'm loving it, but I'll need some time.

Hm.
I just realized how...I don't know...weird...that sounds, but, think of it this way: you've known someone for ten years. Every time you've seen them, they have the same beard. Sometimes it's a little longer or shorter, but they always have it. And then, one day? They don't.
Boom.
There's your perspective, you fucking dick.

• The name of the tour

I think it's very silly. And, yes, I've already spent $200 on tickets.

• David Lynch's "Came Back Haunted" music video

I've been a fan of David Lynch for decades, and I was extremely excited.
But.
There is also this to consider.
I'd made an off handed comment about how this was either going to be the weirdest shit in the universe or one, static shot of Trent reciting the lyrics. Pretty bummed that I was almost right about the latter.
Yes, there is a ballerina tick and a wiggly Trent, but, at this point (I've only watched it a few times) my favorite part is the epilepsy warming.
This is NOT the Nine Inch Nails / David Lynch collaboration I have been waiting for since 1997.
Nine Inch Nails' "Came Back Haunted" music video, directed by David Lynch.

• Song titles

As much as I hate to be a guy who judges a book by its cover (...or, I guess, in this case, judges a book by its chapter titles?**), I am that guy. At least with music. Not, actually, so much with books. But, whatever the case, I have, indeed formulated opinions about these song titles and what I imagine / hope / fear the corresponding songs to sound like.
To word the above sentiment differently:
LET'S PLAY IMAGINATION FUN TIME WITH THE NEW NINE INCH NAILS ALBUM!!!!

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT TRENT REZNOR GIVING AWAY HINTS TO MY OWN ALBUM. I ALSO MAKE NO PROMISES THAT ANYTHING I SAY HERE WILL HAVE ANY BEARING ON THE ACTUAL CONTNT OF THESE SONGS; BASED ON THEIR TITLES, I THOUGHT BOTH "WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER" AND "DEEP" WERE GOING TO BE SLOW AND QUIET AND REFLECTIVE.

1) “The Eater of Dreams” - You can't tell, but I'm throwing up metal horns and chanting in Cthuvian. Remember a moment ago when I said there was some Lovercraft feelings in "Came Back Haunted"? Boom. Nyarlathotep. I only hope this isn't a 90 second intro-mental. Oh, and, for anyone who thinks this sounds like a silly name for a song, "Mr. Self Destruct" is a pretty silly name too until you hear it and your jaw falls off. What.

2) “Copy of A” - I like the cold, binary sound of this (song title). It makes me think of ProTools. For some reason, I'm picturing something that sounds like "Me, I'm Not"...but more...copy-y.

3) “Came Back Haunted” - Old news, moving on.***

4) “Find My Way” - As this could also be a Maroon 5 or Mariah Carey song title...I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope.

5) “All Time Low” - Very first thoughts: "Low" by Cracker. Pretty sure this is not going to be that. Pretty sure.

6) “Disappointed” - Nothing coming to mind. Although it would be massively disappointing if this song were, actually, disappointing. In fact, knowing how insecure Reznor can be, I have a feeling that this is one of the better tracks on the album (or at least he thinks so); this may even end up being a single.

7) “Everything” - Such a huge title...this could end up being something small, intimate...sparse...just a piano and some scraps of programming maybe?

8) “Satellite” - Hopefully not a cover of the Dave Matthews song.

9) “Various Methods of Escape” - I sense that this is going to be hard. And an instrumental.

10) “Running” - A song for running. Maybe. Perhaps something in the vein of "Driver Down"?

11) “I Would for You” - Got a feeling this is going to be amazing; something akin to "Lights In The Sky", but fuller, richer.

12) “In Two” - Perhaps a continuation of "I Would for You" or an instrumental bridge between it and the next track.

13) “While I’m Still Here” - Aaaand also amazing. I think this and the two before it are going to be slow and epic and form a whole, sort of like TLBTB->BYIT->RWIB.

14) “Black Noise” - I'm thinking of a long, deep instrumental. And, although it seems like such an easy title (you know, the opposite of "white noise"?) I trust Reznor to do something great here.

O-kay! How's that for some in-depth, based-on-nothing-at-all psychobabble bullshit?
WOO!!!!
I feel like a weatherman / news anchor / palm reader / sportscaster!!!!!
WOOOOO!!!!

The new Nine Inch Nails album, Hesitation Marks, will be in stores and available for digital download on Tuesday, September 3th, and, in lower quality on a myriad of torrent sites about five days before that.


Beck

Holy fucking fuck fucking balls.
Okay, hold on, breathe, calm down...yes, this says that Beck is working on two new albums, but...release date? Album title(s)? Release year?! Anything other than "he's working on two new albums"?
No.
So, since this empty-eyed boygod of a songsmith has broken and shit into my heart before, I'm just going to lean back into the shadows on this one until I see something concrete. I mean, Beck has had an album (called Rococo) finished for, what, two years now, but he was afraid to put it out after Arcade Fire put out a song by the same name.
Let me see some numbers, Hansen, then you'll get my juice.

As for the new song, "Defriended"? I like it just fine, but, as it's not actually on any album, I'm not going to lose my shit, however, I ask myself: is Beck putting out a 12" record containing one song**** (and a 14:01 extended version of that same song) better than nothing?
Yes, yes it is.
A little better.


Cake

So, if Beck does decide to release one of his three finished albums this year, that will mean that four of my five favorite bands will have put something out in one calendar year, something that hasn't happened since...2005 (although I don't really like Here Come The ABC's). The only thing missing...will be Cake.
Cake, who are endlessly touring.
Cake, who seem to hate everything on this planet that isn't a tree.
Cake, who, after this year, are getting dropped from this list entirely.
I'm done with bands that don't create music.


Along with all the Nine Inch Nails excitement and postulation and rumor-mongering, I've been soaking in the not-quite-serious-but-not-really-sure-if-it's-not-really-quite-serious-or-not music of Matt Berry's Opium. I have also discovered that I do a really spot-on Matt Berry impersonation; so good, in fact, that my wife doesn't like me to do it, because she has a crush on this British badger-resembling fellow and it's "weird".

Touching back on Nine Inch Nails; toward the end of the month, a soundboard recording of NIN's 2009 performance at Germany's Hurricane Festival was sent in to the folks at Reflecting In The Chrome, a Nine Inch Nails live archiving site. Oh man, is this the hot, wet freshness. Soundboard recordings are ridiculously rare and super mucho sought after. Turns out some anonymous NIN crew member recorded and submitted this little gem and I'll happily shake his hand and buy him a sandwich.
Reznor's voice is in distress from the start of the show, but it adds to everything except for one or two squeaky instances. Great performance of "Somewhat Damaged",  the best version of "The Becoming" I've heard since Still, a totally clean and fucking mind-blowing copy of "The Downward Spiral", and that scream on "Burn"?
Yes.
Yes.
Not to mention that delicious crispness one gets with soundboard; that bass synth on "Burn", the distorted frenzy in "Gave Up" and that sloppy, spacey fuzz at the end of "I'm Afraid Of Americans"...and this was when there were only four guys on stage.
And, while I wish they had done "The Way Out Is Through", I also wish that I were listening to the new NIN album...no, not Hesitation Marks, the other new, secret NIN album...the one Reznor was working on while working on that one...the one not even Alan Moulder and Atticus Ross know about.
Here's a link to the whole thing in 320kbps mp3.
Enjoy.
Nine Inch Nails at Hurricane Festival, June 21st, 2009

Finally, there's the last batch of reviews of the music Chris and I picked up on our honeymoon in London and Totnes, specifically:

Melt by Young Magic
Shrines by Purity Ring
Water Park OST by Dirty Beaches
I Hear A New World by Joe Meek and the Blue Men
and
Life After Defo by Deptford Goth

Goodness what a flurry of excitement!
And it only looks to get more flurrisome!!!
ONWARD TO THE FLURRIES!!!!
FFFLLLLUUURRRRRRIIIEESSSS!!!!!





* 6.6.13

** Although that seems a little more fair...you can totally figure out the plot of the Harry Potter books that way.

*** Unless there is a lot more Lovecraft on this album and this is just a part of it...

**** Which is not indicative of any more forthcoming new music.