Live and Cold and Black and Infinite - Four Nights of NIN in NYC

Highlights

I bitch...so...hard...about Nine Inch Nails. I believe I've explained before that the reason I bitch so hard is because I know what Trent Reznor is capable of and, when he doesn't live up to the standards that he himself has set, I get disappointed. It doesn't come from a place of anger, it comes from a place of confusion. "Trent...you did such great things here, why aren't you doing great things here?"
That is why, when I saw NIN back in 2014 back-to-back and they performed the same set on both nights, I bitched. Hard.
Three years and two EPs later, they played Panorama and then a secret show at Webster Hall, again, back-to-back. Although the sets were different from one another, I still recall one of my favorite moments being that, on that second night, they didn't play "The Hand That Feeds". Again: one of my favorite moments of seeing Nine Inch Nails live...was the absence of a song. That is not right.
A year and one more EP* after that, NIN set out on their Cold and Black and Infinite tour. Right before that though, they did a small run of festival shows with a pretty standard set, except for three tracks off the new EP to spice things up.
Based on that festival run, the fact that they were playing for festival crowds and not "real" Nine Inch Nails fans, the fact that it wasn't a named tour, and the "Physical World" pre-sale event, I knew there would be something special about CBI. I did not know what and that's how I liked it.
At the aforementioned pre-sale event, Chris and I bought tickets to both shows at Radio City Music Hall. When the band announced two more back-to-back nights at Brooklyn's Kings Theatre, I decided to go for the second night and easily scored GA tickets. After that second Radio City Music Hall show, we debated and then bought tickets to the third show, thus setting ourselves up for four Nine Inch Nails shows in five days.
As I've already reviewed each night individually (see below), I'll just list some things I'll never forget.

• I saw "The Perfect Drug", my hands-down favorite Nine Inch Nails song, live, twice, played exactly as it should be, with a drummer who can hit every single beat and somehow find a way to instill the track with even more energy.

• I was lucky enough to see "Now I'm Nothing" transition into "Terrible Lie"**

• I heard all of Broken, a formative album for me, played front to back, including the cheeky hidden tracks.

• Additional highlights included: "Mr. Self Destruct", "This Isn't The Place", two thirds of Bad Witch, "Gave Up" (not that unique, but they fucking brought it this time around), "All The Love In The World", TDTWWA, "Burn", "La Mer", "The Becoming", "Burning Bright (Field On Fire)", "Happiness In Slavery", "Find My Way", "I Do Not Want This". "Parasite", "The Background World"

I'm sure the next thing from Reznor will let me down in some way, because that's who I am, but I'm going to keep this experience with me. I walked out of each night completely satisfied and genuinely excited at what was coming next. Did I leave at the start of "Hurt" on those final two nights? Yes. Because a. I've seen it at every Nine Inch Nails show but one, and b. Kings Theatre is fucking MILES from my home and getting a car when there's 5000 people out front as opposed to 20 is a lot harder.*** Aside from that, yeah, these shows were something special. Even if everything is lazy and boring and triple H from here on out, these shows happened and I was there.

Here are reviews from the specific nights of the tour, along with links to photo and video galleries.

Radio City Music Hall [Night 1]
Radio City Music Hall [Night 2]
Kings Theatre [Night 1]
Kings Theatre [Night 2]


* Bad Witch is an EP. Stop. Shut up. It is.

** The only downside being that I can never hear TL again without that intro.

*** Although I did feel like a parent sneaking out of his kid's school play for some really odd reason...

Cold and Black and Infinite North America 2018 - Nine Inch Nails @ Kings Theatre [Night 2]

Well, I just saw Nine Inch Nails play all of Broken in sequence. If that weren’t enough, they whipped out their cover of How To Destroy Angels’ “Parasite”, “Me, I’m Not” from Year Zero, and “The Background World”, the phenomenal closer from last year’s Add Violence. Somehow, after three unique and surprising sets, Trent motherfucking Reznor keeps things interesting. In four nights, I witnessed Nine Inch Nails play 53 unique songs, including over a dozen I’d never seen performed live, one of which, “The Perfect Drug”, has been my favorite song of theirs since its release over twenty years ago.

Back in 2009, NIN opened for Jane’s Addiction on the NIN|JA tour, then, deciding things were a bit too restricted between shortened set times and the daylight sapping the drama from their performances, they embarked on their Wave Goodbye tour. As far as production and spectacle, this was their most attic set of shows. There were no elaborate lighting rigs or interactive LED panels…not even a scrim on which to project abstract colors and shapes: just the band and an insane rotation of songs. Catching them four times in three months, I saw most of The Slip, a good chunk of The Fragile, and almost all of The Downward Spiral, but the four nights of the Cold and Black and Infinite tour blew those away. The depth of the deep cuts, the breadth of the material covered was literally astonishing at times. The only sure thing every night was “Head Like A Hole” denoting the end of the first set and “Hurt” closing things out*.

The only complaint any true fan of Nine Inch Nails could have about this tour is that they didn’t see enough of it. As I said when Bad Witch came out earlier this year, if Reznor did decide to call it quits after that album and after this tour, I could not be more satisfied with what he’s done and with what I’ve seen.

Photo/video gallery

* Or intimating it was safe to leave if anyone wanted to beat the traffic.

Cold and Black and Infinite North America 2018 - Nine Inch Nails @ Kings Theatre [Night 1]

There’s something to be said for collecting. I’m not a collector in the sense that I obtain things, keep them in their wrapping, and never touch them again. I don’t go to conventions to trade my unwrapped things for other people’s unwrapped things, but there is a part of me that yearns for completion. In that sense, I enjoy the idea of “collecting” an album's live performance, in other words, hearing all of the songs on an album played live; not all in one night or in order, but over the years. That was one of my reasons for seeing Nine Inch Nails at all four of their New York shows. There’s also the fact that, while Trent Reznor recently said he’s not planning on quitting music any time soon, life’s too fucking short and why would I not see Nine Inch Nails four nights in a five day period?
Plus…I needed to see “The Perfect Drug” again. I was not ready the first time.

Even though this was the first of their two Brooklyn shows, Reznor treated it as the third in a series of four, playing eight songs not heard at the two previous shows, including two tour debuts (“I Do Not Want This”* and “Something I Can Never Have” from 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine). Over the course of this third performance, the band played half of their debut album (if you count the little “The Only Time” interpolation in “Closer”), a Gary Numan cover (“Metal”), and opened with a rare gem, “Now I’m Nothing”, which was composed and performed for their 1993 Lollapalooza stint. This particular show opener, “Now I’m Nothing” into “Terrible Lie”, has only been performed live on two other tours, 2009’s Wave Goodbye and this current tour. It might be the most powerful opening number in their repertoire and I actually consider it a sort of honor to have witnessed it live.

After this, there was to be one, final New York show. I was convinced there was nothing left to shock me, but Trent Reznor has fooled me before.

Photo/video gallery

* The introduction of this into the tour’s rotation along with nine other tracks from the album indicates that another full performance of The Downward Spiral is imminent, perhaps during the band’s six night run at the Palladium in Los Angeles at the end of the year.

Cold and Black and Infinite North America 2018 - Nine Inch Nails @ Radio City Music Hall [Night 2]

Back in May, when tickets for Nine Inch Nails’ Cold And Black And Infinite tour went on sale only at the box offices of the venues where the handful of shows were being held, there was a poster for sale listing the locations of this so-called “Physical World” pre-sale event. Last month, once the tour had started, there was a different poster available at the shows. When the two posters were laid next to one another, it completed a larger image; it turned out each poster was only half of the full picture. The second night of Nine Inch Nails at Radio City Music Hall was that second half. Between the two shows, only three songs were repeated, all the rest were unique to that evening’s performance. And, like the first night, Trent Reznor did not seem to give the slightest of fucks about the more radio friendly audience members.

While the first night included two thirds of their latest release, Bad Witch, and half of the release before that, as well as some never-before-played* songs such as “All The Love In The World” from With Teeth and “The Perfect Drug” from 1997’s Lost Highway soundtrack, this second evening focused more on The Fragile (the beginning of the show was the first four tracks of that album in sequence), The Downward Spiral (including a blistering rendition of “The Becoming”), and Year Zero. The chaotic ending of “The Great Destroyer” has been retooled to include garbled bits of the current American president's already garbled voice, adding a real chill and sense of impending doom to the performance. As before, there was a handful of unique moments, namely the reappearance of “La Mer” which hasn’t been played in full, in almost a decade, a rare and heartfelt cover of Bowie’s “I Can’t Give Everything Away”, and a transition from “Help Me I Am In Hell” to the explosive and obliterating “Happiness In Slavery”, which hasn’t been played live in almost 25 years.

“This is a weird set, huh?” asked Reznor at one point. “Well, it just felt right”.
No complaints here, Trent. None.

Nine Inch Nails are playing two more nights in New York at Brooklyn's Kings Theater.
I will be there.

Photo/video gallery

* Never before this tour.

Cold and Black and Infinite North America 2018 - Nine Inch Nails @ Radio City Music Hall [Night 1]

The looks on the faces of every single person who was there expecting a typical Nine Inch Nails show…*

Oh goodness but the delight was just as creamy and sumptuous as a decadent creme brûlée...the puzzlement and consternation as the band drifted into “This Isn’t The Place”, one of the most fragile and gorgeous tracks to come from Nine Inch Nails in recent years, the shocked delight as the first pulsing guitars from “The Perfect Drug”** came skittering off the stage, the stunned silence that fell over the crowd as “Over and Out” began.
Yes, yes, they still played “Wish”. “March of the Pigs”, “The Hand That Feeds”, “Head Like A Hole”, and “Hurt”, but aside from those tracks, the night was replete with surprises for true fans of Nine Inch Nails. Reznor tossed a few scraps to the casual fan then turned his back on them for the rest of the evening, embracing his chosen, those that have been with him from the beginning, those that do not need to hear “Closer” again, those that have always supported his music and will continue to do so, especially after this outpouring of gratitude and love for his fans.

Sadly, a good portion of the energy was offset by the lackluster sound balance. Perhaps the World Famous Radio City Music Hall wasn’t meant for such punishing noise, but whatever the case was, fifteen seconds into the opener (“Mr. Self Destruct”) it was evident that the bass was in the wrong place and that the volume was pegged at a six when they should have been ten times that. Despite the less-than-perfect acoustics, Nine Inch Nails delivered a singular experience, one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.

Photo/video gallery

* Whatever that means.

** THEY FUCKING PLAYED THE PERFECT FUCKING DRUG!!!!!!!

A review of Nine Inch Nails' "Bad Witch"

Sometimes…it’s just fucking exhausting to be a Nine Inch Nails fan. Most bands…they say, hey, we have an album coming out. Then there’s a single or two, maybe a video, then the album. It’s good, you like it, you play it a lot, you attach thoughts and ideas to it, you continue listening to it, you see the band in concert, you post pictures on social media, you feel important, life goes on. Not with Nine Inch Nails. Oooooh no. Starting with the first time Trent fucking Reznor said the words “concept album”, everything has been a goddamn marathon. Anyone ever hear about the whole Year Zero ARG? No? Do you even know what an ARG is?! Well fuck you, because my favorite band is more calculating and deliberate than yours. My favorite band hides new music in European bathroom stalls. My favorite band puts as much time and planning into THE ALTERNATE REALITY ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR NEW ALBUM AS THE ALBUM ITSELF.

And, while I’m bragging, I’m also lamenting, because I can no longer just…fucking…LISTEN to a new release from Nine Inch Nails. I have to dissect it. I have to search for hidden lyrics in the lyrics tab on various streaming platforms. I have to play it backwards. I HAVE TO RUN THE FUCKING THING THROUGH A SPECTROGRAM TO LOOK FOR HIDDEN PICTURES IN THE WAVEFORMS.

FUCK!

All this to say: the trilogy of albums, which started in 2016 with Not The Actual Events and continued in 2017 with Add Violence has been completed. The mystery has been solved. Our entire world is just a computer simulation. Or not. Whatever. I can’t feel anything anymore.

But how about those saxophones?!

Leaning more towards the dissonant impenetrability of Not The Actual Events than the mellow, nuanced gloom of Add Violence, half of the lyrics on Bad Witch are crooned in the style of Bowie, whereas the rest are buried behind walls of noise. Hand claps have never sounded less celebratory than on the opener, “Shit Mirror”*...“I eat your loathing, hate, and fear / Should probably stay away from here” Reznor warns**. “Ahead of Ourselves” writhes with smirking, barely restrained fury until the chorus when it snaps its chain for just a few bars at a time, nearly doubling in volume. Those moments feel like actual punishment for the mistakes we’ve made. “Obsolete / Insignificant / Antiquated / Irrelevant / Celebration of ignorance / Why try change when you know you can’t?”.
After the punch/kick combo of the first two tracks, “Play The Goddamned Part” and “God Break Down The Door" take the listener on a noirish, Lynch/Bowie influenced midnight journey. When the latter was dropped a few weeks back as the one and only single, it consternated a lot of fans, but it finds its place in the context of the album and fits perfectly.
While the first two thirds of Bad Witch are brutal, more an assault than an album, the last third, consisting of the nightmare soundscape of “I’m Not From This World” and the funky, hypnotic groove of “Over And Out”, provides a welcome shift. The final two minutes of the album serve as a well-deserved respite from everything that came before it.

With or without the context of the trilogy of albums released over the past year and a half, Bad Witch stands as the most unexpected and challenging work Nine Inch Nails has ever created. If Trent Reznor were to retire now, I cannot envision a more perfect endpoint to his career. Or, if he wants to keep making groundbreaking stuff for another 30 years, that’s fine with me too. Whatever. Like I said, I can’t feel anything anymore.

* Yes, yes, believe me, I know, I had the same thought.

** Yes! Seriously! I know how it sounds, but the song more than justifies the title and lyrics! CONTEXT, PEOPLE! IT'S ABOUT CONTEXT!

A review of Nine Inch Nails' "Add Violence"

Note: I’m not going to even mention the ARG here. Okay? Good.

Add Violence is the second in a trilogy of related EPs from Nine Inch Nails…and it’s real good, you guys. 

"Less Than”, the EP’s “radio single" is misleading in the best way possible. It’s like an ideal version of “The Hand That Feeds”, which was tired about two minutes into its first play; here’s hoping the weirdly retro synth and drum programming along with the jump kick to one’s front teeth this song provides will forever replace it in all future Nine Inch Nails live shows.

“The Lovers" is as dark and eerie as a song called “The Lovers" by Nine Inch Nails should be, featuring lyrics such as "hot swollen skin / want me take me / perfect embrace / black and bloody / rotten and perfect” and instrumentation that harkens back to “The Believers”, a track from the first How To Destroy Angels EP.

“This Isn’t The Place” has an almost jazzy feel to it and a gorgeous, syrupy slow build, culminating in some of the most vulnerable vocalizations Trent Reznor’s ever created. 

"Not Anymore” is driven by an utterly filthy bass line, reminiscent of 2005’s “The Line Begins To Blur” but…just fucking filthier. Atticus Ross, you wash your bass, young man. It’s also creeping and schizophrenic and just unsettling as hell, one of the band’s most unique tracks to date.

Add Violence ends with “The Background World”, which clocks in at nearly 12 minutes. The first four and change are a solid Nine Inch Nails song, nothing more, nothing less, but the last seven and change are the digital equivalent of a locked groove, but instead of repeating the same few seconds over and over until the needle is lifted, the nine second phrase slowly degrades until it’s just a sludgy buzz. It’s…memorable.

This is some of the most challenging and experimental music from Nine Inch Nails since the stranger moments of Ghosts I-IV. Though I will say that, after one listen, I never have to hear those last seven plus minutes of “The Background World” ever again, just like I never need to hear Coil’s “Tunnel of Goats” ever again.

For those keeping track*, there are references to 2007’s Year Zero, 2013’s Welcome oblivion**, 1999’s The Fragile, 2011's score for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, last year’s Not The Actual Events, and even Bleedthrough, the unreleased concept album that later became 2005’s With Teeth….and that's not even taking into account the nods, Easter eggs, and allusions scattered around the cover art and accompanying music videos. Folks…there’s a lot to unpack here. But, for those who saw that episode of Twin Peaks and downloaded “She’s Gone Away” then heard “The" Nine Inch Nails had a new thing coming out and decided to check out Add Violence…well, sorry. After “Less Than”, you might just be let down and/or confused and/or terrified…and/or a Nine Inch Nails fan for the rest of your life.

* Like the thousands of people over at the Echoing The Sound forums

** Debut LP from Reznor’s side project How To Destroy Angels, which consists of Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Reznor's wife, Mariqueen Maandig.

A review of Nine Inch Nails Live, August 1st & 2nd - OR - copy of a (setlist)

copy of a (setlist)

Trent Reznor does not want Nine Inch Nails to become a nostalgia act. He’s said this numerous times in recent years, as he nears 50, Nine Inch Nails nears 30, and his breakthrough album, The Downward Spiral, hits 20. What better way, then, to combat those creeping feelings of obsolescence then by co-headlining a tour with Soundgarden, another band from the 90’s who, also, released their breakthrough album, Superunknown, twenty years ago this March? Perhaps Reznor could engineer the tour’s setlist to focus on a number of well-worn, radio friendly “greatest hits”? Or maybe reuse the stage set up and lighting rig from the festival tour he embarked upon just last year?

Hm.

I’m beginning to think that Trent Reznor doesn’t know what the word “nostalgia” means…

Something I should mention up front: I am spoiled. These most recent Nine Inch Nails shows were my 14th and 15th since I first saw them in 2000 on their Fragility v2.0 tour. I haven’t missed a tour since and try my best to see them more than once whenever possible. After every NIN concert, I say, out loud, “how the fuck is Reznor going to top that?”, and he always, always does. Either with the next iteration’s huge, mind-blowing production (Fragility, the 2005 Live: With Teeth arena tour, Lights In The Sky, tension) or a massively diverse set list (the 2005 club tour, the 2009 NINJA and Wave Goodbye tours), so my hopes were, understandably, elevated for these shows, although I was expecting a somewhat truncated set, as this was a co-headlining tour. What I got for my time, money and effort was this, plus or minus Joshua Eustis and a song or two. 

That show was recorded over a year ago.

There’s also the fact that the setlists for both these shows, one on the first of August and one on the second, one venue a 90-minute drive from the other…were exactly the same. Something which hasn’t happened since 1989, when Nine Inch Nails had only a dozen songs in their repertoire. There’s more I could say about this odd and heartbreaking snafu, but, I don’t want to bore you more than you’ve already been bored; I apologize for having done so.

So, rather than make this (more) personal and bitch about getting to see one of my favorite artists two nights in a row (who on Earth wants to read that?), I’m going to switch perspectives and assume that of a more levelheaded and objective writer.

The shows were fantastic. Technically, Reznor managed to take the grandeur of the 2013 tension tour and minimize it so that it fit into an amphitheater, yet still managed to stun with its visuals and scope, especially during moments like the three minute aural assault at the end of “The Great Destroyer”, which featured Reznor, alone on stage, working out all his aggression on a series of buttons and knobs while, behind him, a pocket galaxy exploded on the row of 10-foot LED panels. Those panels, used in almost every song, were the visual theme that tied the whole show together; sometimes, like in “Sanctified”, they merely stood, utilized as flats, other times, they were a source of video, either forming one large screen (as with “Hurt” and “Disappointed”), or broken into several, individual units (as with “Terrible Lie” and “Gave Up”), and, once or twice, their full potential was met, when they were positioned and repositioned multiple times in one song in order to create a sense of depth and movement, such as with “Eraser” and “Closer”.

Musically, the band attacked each and every song with a seemingly bottomless reservoir of energy, sometimes scrambling across the stage to play different instruments during the same song. Stand outs included “Disappointed”, which featured a modified and evolved version of its visuals from the 2013 tour and an excellent and shockingly funky bass performance from Ilan Rubin (normally on drums, or, rather, normally tasked with utterly obliterating the drums), “The Great Destroyer”, and “Gave Up”, which still retains its jagged, explosive heart after its introduction to the band’s live set over two decades ago. As a whole, the setlist was a strong representation of the span of Nine Inch Nails’ career, centering mostly on their first two albums, Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral, and their most recent one, the extremely well-crafted and nuanced Hesitation Marks.

The only element that was lacking was that of The Fragile, arguably one of the band’s best album, which turns fifteen in a little over a month; its absence was palpable.

While one could contend that this was a “greatest hits” show or that the band is venturing dangerously close to becoming a “nostalgia act”, Nine Inch Nails redefines these (usually derogatory) terms, and makes them something to be proud of, something to strive for, an accomplishment rather than a detriment. Nine Inch Nails is still vital and still has the ability to surprise, whether you’re a seasoned veteran or brand new to Reznor’s unique brand of sonic— 

Okay, enough objectivity, back to my meaningless and vitriolic personal opinions. A few months ago, Reznor announced that he was going to be scoring the next David Fincher film, an adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. The film is slated for an October 4th release, which means the score has to be completely wrapped up several weeks before that. I attribute my disappointment to the fact that Reznor did something all us normal humans do…he overbooked himself. Sometimes, when you overbook yourself, you’re able to pull it off without anyone noticing, but, other times, it shows, and people notice you’re spreading yourself too thin. 

Trent, we can tell you’re spreading yourself too thin. It’s showing, now, plainly, on this tour. Casual fans aren’t noticing because they are just that, casual fans. But the obsessed fans, like myself and hundreds of others, are noticing, and they are bummed out by the fact that they aren’t utterly gobsmacked as they’re walking out of your shows. This is the downside to being an amazing performer who ups the ante and redefines what a live show has the potential to be every time he tours: eventually, you get distracted and divide your time and your hardcore, foaming-at-the-mouth fans notice and call you on it. But I don’t believe Trent Reznor needs people to call him on it. I honestly believe he knows, and, hopefully, he won’t de this in the future. I don’t think anyone is more disappointed in Reznor than Reznor himself.

Or, too put all this a touch more bluntly: that Gone Girl  score had better blow my brain out of my skull.

If you aren’t an overprivileged, obsessed asshole of a Nine Inch Nails fan like myself, go see Nine Inch Nails on their tour with Soundgarden, you’ll enjoy it immensely.*

A note on the pictures: I am not a good photographer. At all. Not only are my pictures of low quality, they don’t do the majesty of this stage set up justice. So, I’ve attached links to some equally blurry yet demonstrative video clips for the sake of context. It’s hard to appreciate just how amazing a Nine Inch Nails stage show is without seeing it in action. 

Terrible Lie

Find My Way

Disappointed

Closer

The Great Destroyer

Eraser

* And, just to prove I’m not always a whiny, unappreciative tool, here is my glowing review of the last time I saw Nine Inch Nails; on their tension tour, in October 2013.

A review of nine inch nails live: tension 2013 - OR - Fuck Every Show I've Ever Seen Ever

I attended both the Brooklyn, NY show and the Newark, NJ show on October 14th and 15th, respectively.

Here are the stand outs from each night:

Piggy - This is the first time the lights break the fourth wall, for lack of a better term. Up to this point, the lights have been utilized on the stage to highlight portions of the stage, but, here, they strafe out into the crowd in rays in time with the song's deep synth noise. Always with the gradual progression...

All Time Low - And here, specifically at the end, is where shit gets real.

Disappointed - CONTINUED REAL SHIT. 

Satellite - You know how you'll listen to a new album and there are songs that you just know will not be played live? This was one of them and when I heard the opening, I actually did a tiny, little girl hop. Then the ridiculous real-time wireframe visuals came up and...well, I kind of just stood and stared.
Holy fucking shit.
Roy, Rob, Trent...take your dicks out of my brain.

In Two - Not as surprising as "Satellite", but still surprising. The all out assault of lights on this was just stunning, breath-taking. And the added harmony during the break down is, without a doubt, my favorite use of the two backup singers. The results were absolutely beautiful.

A Warm Place - My very first thought was: Holy fuck! "A Warm Place"! I'd never heard this live before and I am so happy I got the chance. This was less like listening to a song as it was being swallowed whole by a song; a living, breathing womb. Utterly amazing.

Somewhat Damaged > Wish > Burn - Excellent choice of arrangement. There was so much visceral anger in these three songs that I found myself acting like some belligerent little pit shit for a moment. You can really tell Trent's been working on his vocal control with "Somewhat Damaged" and "Burn". Also, a quick note on "Wish". For a while now, this has been on my list of songs I could do without at a Nine Inch Nails show. I mean, I've been to 13 NIN shows since 2000 and it's been played at every one. So. I added it to the list, knowing that I was going to hear it yet again and that I was going to sing along and pump my fist at the appropriate time, but that my heart wouldn't be in it. Then, I saw it live and was swept up completely. And here's what I have come to realize: hearing "Wish" played live gets old, but seeing "Wish"played live? Tori Amos used to open her shows with an eight minute version of "Precious Things". It was...amazing. When her album, To Venus And Back, came out, the second disc had this eight minute live rendition on it as track one and I could never listen to the whole thing. You need to see it.
All this to say: please ignore any further complaints about the inclusion of "Wish" on future setlists. Thank you.

The Day The World Went Away - One of my favorite NIN songs. Any time I get to see this live, it feels like a gift and this time was no different. Just incredible.

There were some substitutions the second night, namely "Reptile" instead of "Piggy" (and I'm going to side with "Reptile" on this one. Goddamn does this still destroy the world live), plus "The Big Come Down", "Into The Void" (another favorite and another one that worked very well with the backup vocals sung by women), "Echoplex" (good to hear, but seemed to lack something) and "I'm Afraid Of Americans" (which was so loud, so deliciously loud...). In most cases, you could tell which songs were interchangeable by their lack of visual accompaniment.

The first and most startling aspect of my time at these shows I have to mention was the complete and delightfully shocking abandonment of the tried and true (and boring) three-part live formula*. This is the first Nine Inch Nails concert since the year 2000 where I've had no idea what to expect** and the feeling was just sublime...although I was pretty sure "The Hand That Feeds" was going to precede "Head Like A Hole".

Along with that, the vast number of "swing songs" has been impressive. At this point in the tour, we've heard about thirty-five, including the entirety of Hesitation Marks except for "Everything" and, according to Reznor, there are still around five or ten songs to be revealed over the next month.
Damn.

Then, we have the new additions to the tour line up, specifically, sleepy bass god, Pino Palladino and the two female, African American back up singers, Lisa Fischer and Sharlotte Gibson. I'm mentioning their race because this was something I was concerned about, that they would add too much "Gawspel" to the mix and, in some cases, that was a problem. It was not a problem on "Into The Void", however, as the album version actually featured an African American back up vocalist who added a lot to the original track. Their contribution was most felt, for me, on "In Two". Their presence transformed the bridge of that song into something just perfect. I only want to hear the live version now. As far as what else they lent to the tour, I'll need to hear a clean concert recording before I can really determine. Off the top of my head, I think they stood out in a negative way on "Disappointed" and "Black Noise" and blended perfectly on the aforementioned songs. Overall, I think they should have functioned as texture and not overtaken Reznor, which, in a few instances, I feel they did.

I also loved the visual references to past NIN stage setups, such as the Fragility v 2.0 "waves" during "The Wretched", the Fragility v1.0 lighting pods in "Somewhat Damaged", and, of course, the NIN logo (and the new version of said logo) during the end of HLAH from the 2006 Summer tour.
But, while Reznor, Bennett and Sheridan seemed well aware of and connected to past incarnations of NIN live, the show itself seemed to lack cohesion. While each song was, for the most part, jaw droppingly impressive with regards to the visual set up and the light programming, I didn't feel like this was anything more than a really amazing resume for Moment Factory; an opportunity to show the world how fucking awesome they are.
Is this a bad thing? I mean, I had an amazing time, I was awestruck by some of the things I was seeing, so, do I really need to feel that story had been told? I might be less concerned with this if the tour weren't named. Even after seeing two shows, I still don't get where the "tension" was supposed to be.*** I really , really hope this decision wasn't based solely on the merchandise...a lot of which had the words "tension" on it.
Perhaps if there had been one, static set piece that worked as a thematic anchor or more of a tie in with the Mills visuals from the album....

Okay, now, as this is a place where I go to piss and moan and find fault with the things I love, I suppose I'll have to find something to bitch about.
...uh...well, aside from the tiresome but completely unsurprising (and necessary?) inclusion of "The Hand That Feeds" into "Head Like A Hole" (which amounted to a single hair in an otherwise delectable meal)****, the fact that I didn't hear "Various Methods Of Escape", "I Would For You" and "In This Twilight" (my favorite songs from their respective albums) and the lack of cohesion I mentioned earlier...you guys, this was a unique and incredible experience for me, and will be for you too, if you manage to catch it live.

Before I wrap up, just a quick word about Godspeed You! Black Emperor!, who opened for NIN both nights.
I didn't know anything about these guys except that people seemed to have vague hatred for them. I did a little research, as I like to be at least somewhat familiar with openers and kept finding EPs, but no full length albums...until I looked a little closer and saw that these four and five and six track "EPs" were full length albums, most of the songs clocking in at around twenty minutes or so.
Ah ha.
They worked, overall; there was a hugeness and a great calm at the heart of their thirty minute, two song set, although I'm not sure if I'd call what they do self indulgent or hilarious or brilliant.
Probably not that third one.
Whichever their motivations for doing what they do, they seem dedicated to it.
Might interest you, if you are patient and / or into pot.





* Part one ending with "Gave Up", part two being all quiet and moody and visual, and part three starting with "Wish".

** 100% visually and maybe 80% on the setlist, thanks, primarily, to some cunt mouth from the This One Is On Us twitter account who POSTED ON TWITTER, AFTER HAVING COMMENTED ABOUT NOT WANTING THE SHOW TO BE SPOILED, SPECIFIC DETAILS ABOUT THE END OF THE SHOW. If they had just posted the spoiler, this would have been less shitty, but specifically mentioning it and then doing it? Fucking dick.

*** Unless you count the pre-show music, which included 80's horror movie soundtracks, selections from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo score (cool to hear on such a huge speaker setup) and other ambient, sparse electronic stuff.

**** And we're talking, like, the hair of a really attractive women whose hair you wouldn't mind eating...like Deborah Ann Woll.

Did You Rike It?

5.25.10

4:37 pm

At 12 o'clock this morning, the soundtrack to 'Tetsuo The Bullet Man' (third in the 'Tetsuo' series by Japanese director, Shinya Tsukamoto) was released in Japan.

At about 5:50 this morning, someone had ripped "Theme for Tetsuo The Bullet Man" by Nine Inch Nails and put a link to the mp3 in a message board.

At about noon, I downloaded that track.

This...is its story.

A few people had heard the track when it showed up over the credits of the film at the Tribecca Film Festival a couple of weeks ago and they had described it as a combination of two earlier works by Nine Inch Nails; the first was 'Fixed', an almost unlistenable remix album released in tandem with their super-aggro EP, 'Broken', and, what might be the best track off the massive instrumental album, 'Ghosts I-IV', 'IV Ghosts 34'.

After taking the whole thing in a few times (it's only five and a half minutes long), I can say it is MUCH more the former than the latter.

This track is very Nine Inch Nails.

It starts with what sounds like a fatal error message from a computer the size of a planet; just a ton of fucking huge, loud electronic death set to a rudimentary drum machine beat, then, suddenly, a ghostly, ethereal piano, which is shattered almost immediately by even more aggressive electronic screaming and some industrial (like industrial factory equipment) banging that somehow fits into the chaos.

Around then is when the actual theme begins.

A clear melody swallows the grinding, unpleasant noise like a tidal wave, being played on what sounds like an organ made of an ancient city.

The melody itself is epic and invocative; timeless, triumphant and sad.

And then it's gone and we're ejaculated back into the factory.

Then the cacophony disappears, replaced by an almost inaudible ambient whisper in the distance which is soon joined by the piano from before, but clear, rich and immediate this time.

The piano melody plays through once, twice and then the city-organ exhales the theme again, then silence.

It's over.

All in all, this is not for everyone.

In fact, I'd say the majority of it is so violent and abrasive it isn't for anyone.

But there's going to be a handful of people who will get and, going a step or two further, enjoy it.

And you will not be one of them.

Also, in slightly less unlistenable NIN related news, the release date for the How To Destroy Angels self-titled EP has been set.

Tuesday, July 6th.

I'll see you there*.

Not sure if I shared, but it turns out that HTDA isn't just a quick, one off hobby for Reznor before he jumps back into Nine Inch Nails, but something he's actually putting some effort into.

The EP is just a precursor to a full length album coming out in early 2011.

He said the first track released ('A Drowning') sounded more NIN-ish than he would have liked and that the rest doesn't sound as much like "his other band", but, after hearing the second release from the EP ('The Space In Between'), I've come to decide that it does, indeed, sound like NIN.

Then again, how could it not?

If "Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails", then how is anything he does not going to sound NIN, at least when he's in charge of writing/arranging/playing etc. the music?

He's talked about some upcoming NIN music he's working on that "doesn't sound like NIN".

I'll have to rack my brain as to what he's released that sounds nothing like anything he's released.

At the moment, the song 'All The Love In The World' is the only thing leaping to my mind.

Everything he does has the same...feel to it, the feel to the arrangement of instruments or chords or what have you.

Then again, so does everything Cake does.

Or eels or Beck.

Even Beck, who is stupidly multi-faceted, more so than Nine Inch Nails ever could be, he just makes whatever his does sound like Beck.

From 'One Foot In The Grave' to 'Midnite Vultures' to 'Sea Change'.

It isn't real folk, it's Beck doing real folk.

And so on.

Prove me wrong, Trent.

Prove me wrong.

And, quickly speaking of eels, turns out that little curmudgeony rabbit E has written a third album, completing what he started with 'Hombre Lobo' and 'End Times'.

I've learned my lesson with those first two and expect the new one to be:

•  14 -16 tracks
•  Between 45 to 50 minutes
• Very light on production, instrumentation and lyrics (in general and those that rhyme)
• Not great

Sorry, but all three albums are part of the same emotional period for E and, based on the sound and content of the first two, this is what I'm gearing up for.

Prove me wrong, E.

Prove me wrong.

The album is titled 'Tomorrow Morning' (hopeful, innit?) and is coming out August 24th.

Eels are also embarking on a world tour, the first since releasing these three albums, and eels is playing at Terminal 5 on Saturday, September 25th.

Hopefully with a fuller band than just him and the Chet, not that the show at Highline wasn't amazing, but a lot of eels music needs more than two guys, no matter how talented.

Tickets go on sale June 11th...anyone interested?

The fact that Cake and eels are playing a little more than a week apart is...mmm...good.

The kind of good that is better than that time Nine Inch Nails played a week before They Might Be Giants.

September is going to be good.

YOU HEAR ME YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES?!

SEPTEMBER IS GOING TO BE FUCKING GOOD!!!!

*"There" being whichever digital distribution house I purchase this non-physical release from.**

**Although it is coming out on CD.

Binding Silence 2010

Can't believe I forgot to put this up.
Ray has done a new edit of "Binding Silence", the short film that he wrote and directed and which I starred in in 2006.
It was 21 minutes and now it's 13 and change with credits.

For all you Nine Inch Nails fans out there, this is the film from which our "Every Day Is Exactly The Same" video (which has over 1,100,000 hits at this point) was made.

I still find it hard to watch myself acting in something that isn't a commercial about sharks, Satan or being tall, but we got enough positive feedback on this for me to realize I must not be doing that bad.
We won the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, yo.
Enjoy.

The Terrorists Have Won.

9.11.09

4:06 pm

Busy, goddamn, motherplucking day.

Three auditions scattered throughout the morning, starting with a faux Darth Vader and a mimicking of the Peanut Butter Jelly Time banana vocalist for some Halloween thing, then some suede and gravitas vox about keeping kids safe from the flu and finally, some hyperactive psychotic scrubbing bubbles for a parody of the typical hyperactive psychotic scrubbing bubbles.

I'm fucking wrecked.

And to add to the general wreckage, I've been soaked in both rain and sweat since I stepped outside which is supergreat when all the auditions are held in stylishly remodeled meat lockers.

And now I have seven hours left here.

With the Trogs.

Seeing World's Greatest Dad tomorrow with Lisa, Alan and Chris.

Good to see Robin Williams getting something that doesn't involve living kids.

Did that make sense?

God I'm beat.

Oh, also, at the flu/suede/gravitas vox audition, when I entered the lobby and removed my solipsistic headphones, I was assaulted by 520 8th Avenue's...Remembrance Celebration?

It was a bunch of overexcited douchebags in red, white and blue lame jumpsuits singing that song about the caissons rollin' along.

One was actually interacting with the people coming in, marching in place and smiling and, for a second, it was about to address me, but I think my look of hate, disgust and shock might have been enough to deter it.

Remember when people just used to be quiet for Crash Day?

Me neither.

Because IT NEVER HAPPENED.

The media and most everyone else has just been as shrill as on the day it happened.

Honestly, does ANYONE need reminding?

Especially anyone in New York City?!

AND DO THEY NEED TO BE REMINDED BY SOME COCKHOLES IN JUMPSUITS SINGING ABOUT CAISSONS!!?!?!!?

If I'd had mastery of time and space for just that one moment this morning, I would have teleported those fruit snacks back to the morning of September 11th, 2001 and duct taped them all to the fucking North face of Tower One.

Tell me more about your caissons, please.

7:31 pm

So the final four Nine Inch Nails shows were September 2nd, 6th, 8th and last night in L.A.

Over the course of the last two, about half the show was Reznor and his usual band while the rest of it was Reznor pulling out a myriad of guest stars including Dave Navarro (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction), Gary Numan (just Gary Numan), Mike Garson (David Bowie), Greg Puciato (Dillinger Escape Plan), HEALTH, Danny Lohner (old NIN bassist), Eric Avery (Jane's Addiction) and Atticus Ross (12 Rounds and a lot of work on the last two or three NIN studio albums).

So half of the set was Reznor playing with these guys while they did most of the singing.

When I saw them in New York, everyone in the audience was hoping and praying for Bowie to show up (the son of a whore lives, like, two miles from the gig) but all we got, two nights in a row, was Peter Murphy.

He was only on stage for three songs each night, so it wasn't horrible.

They were both fully Nine Inch Nails concerts.

But the final two Nine Inch Nails shows ever were half other people and a third other people's music.

Quite frankly, I would have been a bit pissed at only hearing fifteen Nine Inch Nails songs preformed by Nine Inch Nails at their last two shows ever (or for five years or ten years or whenever Reznor gets bored of being a newlywed).

The fact that, aside from Danny Lohner, I don't really care much about any of the guests probably lends to that claim.

Bowie would have done it for me though.

But he didn't show up, so, yeah.

Next up: Waiting for NIN to release the concert DVD chronicling the final ten shows ever.

Moichendizing! Moichendizing! Moichendizing!

9:03 pm

So.

A woman just called me, at 9:02 pm on a Friday evening, from what sounded like the best house party since the movies of that name and asked me what insurance I (the operator) take.

I wanted to answer "all typesa shit" but I didn't.

Does this mean I like having my job or merely that I like having a job?

9:33 pm

Just got off the phone with Phil.

We have invented three new words which need definitions:

Namblatencity

(nam-blah-TEN-si-tee)

and

Namblatentastic

(nam-blah-ten-TAS-tic)

and

Namblatenacity
(nam-blah-ten-ASS-i-tee)

Keep it clean.

Can't think of a thing to say...

8.24.09

10:19 pm

I've just finished reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

In my experience, one concrete way to gauge if I really really love a book (or short story or novella etc.) is by my desire for it not to end.

Or, more correctly, for it to continue without an end; to be able to close one story and open another to find the same characters moving forward in the same universe.

It struck me as I finished The Graveyard Book, that this happens almost every time I finish a work by Neil Gaiman.

This guy...is just nuts.

He needs to just write some massive book bringing all these amazing characters together.

The really nutty thing is: he never really does anything totally novel or original, he just takes what's old and busted and makes it into the new hotness.

Like I said: nuts.

I recommend you read The Graveyard Book if you have not already.

I've had it on my shelf for the better part of a year and only after I heard it beat out Anathem for the Hugo did I even remember t was there.

It had sort of slipped from my mind, something that brings a smile to my face after meeting and getting to know the protagonist.

I also enjoy Gaiman's friendship with Tori Amos.

And with Jonathan Ross.

I feel as if all his works, in some part, contain elements of both of these people.

Usually more Tori than Ross, but she shimmers underneath a lot of his best work.

She really is a modern day muse.

I like the image of Tori and Neil just hanging out.

She's writing a song, he's writing a short story.

Then they just switch.

"Why don't you sing about Morpheus in this verse?" he suggests.

"Why not make Death a spunky, little redhead?" she counters.

I used to picture this in my head when I was younger, the bands and artists I loved working with each other.

When Reznor popped up on "Past The Mission" and then later on Bowie's "Outside" I had this strange, awesome feeling that, slowly but surely, all the artist's I loved were about to announce some massive, genre-melting, industry-redeeming project.

Never really happen though.

I'd still love to see Bowie, Tori and Reznor do something (the second part of the ""trilogy" Bowie started with "Outside" anyone?), just as I'd love to see eels and Beck collaborate.

Beck did cover "Diamond Dogs" and remix "Seven" though, so, that's something.

This Record Club thing I mentioned before would be an excellent opportunity for Beck to Bowie it up.

Can't really picture TMBG really jamming with any of these guys, but who knows?

Someone did make a mash up of "Particle Man" and "Closer"...

Aaaaaand speaking of Bowie and Nine Inch Nails...tomorrow and Wednesday are the final Nine Inch Nails shows in New York...EVER.

At least according to Reznor.

Whatever the case.

I will fucking be there, front and center.

Their first show at the Bowery was a crazy 27 song set and the second night at Webster Hall they played The Downward Spiral in its entirety, front to back, something that's never been done before.

No Bowie though.

And honestly, I don't know why I'm expecting him, but...godfuckingdamnithowfuckingcoolwouldthatbe?

Jesus.

Pretty jazzed over here.

Pretty jazzed.

Jazzed.

NIN In FIlm

3.3.09

8:55pm

Warning: this post contains intense fan boy adulation for Nine Inch Nails and incessant exhortations for the reader to listen to their music.

You have been warned.

Found out Sunday that Nine Inch Nails' song "The Day The World Went Away" was going to be used in the new trailer for Terminator: Salvation.

I watched it yesterday and now I am writing this post.

Action...reaction...

The music was slightly edited here and there to make the quiet parts longer and the noisy parts more drummy (there are no drums in the original track) but it was clearly the song and it works very well with the imagery and subject matter in the trailer.

Like many people, I am planning on seeing Watchmen this weekend, and I am almost certain that this Terminator trailer was made to be placed right before it, just like the teaser was made to appear right before The Dark Knight (oh Warner Bros., you can just fuel space shuttles with your credibility right now, can't you? Will, can we get a new X-Prize in which the contestant harnesses the power of Warner Bros. credibility to make a rocket go someplace? Excellent.).

All this lead me to thinking about how effective Nine Inch Nails' music has been in pretty much every film/trailer I've seen it in.

Professionally speaking; I don't mean the "Mr. Self Destruct" video set to Fight Club footage or the "Every Day Is Exactly The Same" video set to Binding Silence footage (metaburn!!!!!1 580,000 plus hits meta burn!!!!!!1!!!!)

Ever since I heard my first Nine Inch Nails instrumental tracks on their Broken EP (the creepily suggestively titled "Pinion"-- which only works in full if you've seen the video for it, and the regrettably angstily titled "Help Me I Am In Hell"-- gasp! I'm so Goth I'm dusty...) I have enjoyed them.  It's easy to get your message across in a song with lyrics, you just say what you're trying to get across; but to express an idea or image or sentiment with only music, or in the case of Nine Inch Nails, sound? That takes talent.

On their next album, "The Downward Spiral", they had another instrumental called "A Warm Place" which was so disparate from anything NIN had done before, it shocked some people, even more so because it was sandwiched between a song called "Big Man With A Gun" in which Reznor is screaming about having a big dick and coming all over you, the listener, and "Eraser" which has about two whole minutes of Reznor screaming "kill me" over and over as his voice eventually gets swallowed by an ocean of dissonance. That's right, there was a mainstream artist in 1994 who knew the meaning of 'juxtaposition'.

Between "The Downward Spiral" and their next album which would come out five fucking years later, Reznor finally did what a lot of people wanted him to do: work on movie soundtracks.  Namely, Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" and David Lynch's "Lost Highway".  Reznor produced both soundtracks and created new music for each.  His music appears more noticeably in NBK (a different version of "A Warm Place" and "Something I Can Never Have" are used at key moments in the film and the original track, "Burn", which was actually written by Reznor AFTER he had seen the rough cut of the film, appeared in the credits) but it works in "Lost Highway" as well. The track created for "Lost Highway", "The Perfect Drug", has one of the tightest Mark Romanek directed videos ever; it's Nine Inch Nails meets Edward Gorey on absinthe.
Trent Reznor's "Driver Down" appears at the end of the movie.

Those are the only notable Reznor soundtrack moments to date, but since then, people have used Reznor's music in films and trailers to excellent effect.

Specifically the AMAZING opening credits to David Fincher's Se7en. 

I'm actually kind of glad I didn't see this in theaters, because I probably would have made some terrible pre-adolescent stew in my pants.

Moving on.

Then, Tony Scott (Ridley Scott's brother, I think) had his brief love affair with Nine Inch Nails when he used some NIN music in The Fan (sort of effective, but a bit too "the song is describing what's happening in the scene" at times) and Man On Fire (much more effective and mature; Scott blended a few different songs together in one scene where Denzel attempts suicide.  Very powerful and disturbing).

Next occasion that I'm aware of was when the instrumental "Just Like You Imagined" was used in the trailer for "300".

This song is amazing and the way t was utilized in the trailer fucking blew everyone's mind.  If only the actual movie had been better.

But whatever, this isn't about the quality of the movie.

That trailer...good lord.

And that brings us to the Terminator trailer.

If you see Watchmen any time soon, you're probably going to see this trailer.

Tell me it doesn't work.

I guess the point of all this was to ponder out loud why NIN music just works so well in films and trailers.

I suppose it's the inherent cinematic nature of Reznor's music.

Although I'm partially convinced that the concept at the heart of this ponderance is stuff happening in time with music.

Man, am I ever a sucker for that.

If it's done well.

I'm not THAT easily impressed.

Seriously.

Anyway, after their tour with Jane's Addiction this summer, NIN is going on hiatus so Reznor can do more stuff (some not Nine Inch Nails related, some not even music related), hopefully some of which will relate to scoring films.

After Reznor released "Ghosts I-IV", the 38-track, two plus hour, double instrumental album (on which one track, "IV Ghosts 34" was nominated for the Best Rock Instrumental Grammy this year), he has proven himself able to score films that don't even exist, scoring films that do should not be much more of a stretch.

And here come those exhortations:

I urge you to check out "Ghosts I-IV".

It's five dollars here.

Not all of it is gold but a lot of it is really solid.

It's beautiful, creepy, funky, vulnerable, cacophonous and a lot of other adjectives.

If all you know of Nine Inch Nails is "Head Like A Hole" and "Closer", you're going to be surprised.

1 ghosts I - The Broken Sky

Finished.
Here.

SO PROLIFIC!

After four months of having the footage just lying around, I have just finished putting together a new video.
It is for the Nine Inch Nails Ghosts Film Festival and should be up in the next fews days.
I still need to tweak a thing or there and I can't decide on a title.
Can't be too Nine Inch Nailsy or too teen angst.
Something that SOUNDS like a NIN song title that has yet to be written.
Hmmm.....
I'm very happy with it whatever I decide to call it and I'll let you know when it's up.

FistoPlex Productions

So, long story short:
Back in March, Nine Inch Nails released a two disc instrumental album entitled 'Ghosts I-IV'.
Trent Reznor then asked the fans to make videos to accompany the tracks.
Here is the entry that Christina, myself, Barrett and Micol (NIN friends) made.
It was all shot at the Grumman facility in Bethpage, New York where the first Apollo lunar module was made.
The guy you see is Barrett.
It's taken us over two months but we are very proud of the results.
Check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FistoPlexProduction

nine inch nails ghosts i-iv

Hello...mind taker...

3.6.07
8:23 PM
Now, people who know me well know that I really don't go out of my way to be unique.
The unique is sort of just thrust upon me.
Or maybe you don't believe this.
Or maybe I'm not being up front with myself.
Whatever.
Anyway, I just got off the phone with a branch of the American Institute for Psychotherapy, specifically the hypnotherapy division.
I had a talk with a very intelligent woman who thinks that what I asked about is both very interesting and very feasible.
I am planning on undergoing hypnosis to convince myself that I have never heard Nine Inch Nails' 1999 album 'The Fragile' (my favorite NIN album).
I told her I have heard this album literally hundreds of times and I'd like to hear it for the first time...again.
She admitted that no one has ever come to her with a request like this, but that it's very interesting.
She also said I sound intelligent which will help with the hypnotic process.
I guess.
This is what a true fan should do; undergo mental reprogramming in order to refresh their ears.
If this works, I might just use hypnosis for a bunch of stuff.
Maybe I'll erase the whole NIN catalogue from my mind, come at the whole thing with new ears.
I love the idea of hypnosis.
And I especially love the idea of hypnosis working for me.
I also think this is one of the coolest things I've ever done.

2.14.07
7:13 PM
I don't know how many of you have the more advanced iPod's (80 gig) or if it happens with all Apple mp3 players, but mine was thinking today.
I went out for a while on a audition at House (15th and 10th) and on this commute I decided to shuffle my iPod.
The first ten or fifteen songs included "Valentine's Day" by Marilyn Manson, "Happy Valentine's Day" by Andre 3000., "Queen Bitch" by Bowie and two live versions of "Debra" by Beck.
Let me say right up front that I might be paranoid and stupid, but the iPod has a pretty advanced CPU.
It can search for words, it has a calendar, it can connect to networks (podcasts and such) and I believe that since today is February 14th, my iPod picked songs that might fit in with Valentine's Day.
Either with the word "Valentine" in the title or a female name (that might be stretching it) or the word 'bitch", just as a joke.
Again, maybe I am paranoid and stupid, but maybe I am not.
We've all seen AI.
And speaking of AI, does anyone remember the INSANE little...I don't know...world that was created along with it?
Let me touch on it for a moment...
In the credits, there was a woman listed with a rather strange name. She was credited as "Robot Therapist" or something along those lines.
If you took the initiative as a viewer to Google or search for her name on the Net you would be lead into the massive, web spanning "game" for lack of a better term that tied into the movie and made it much more than just a sci-fi film.
Anyway, this new NIN album, year zero, was originally just a new NIN album, but recently, a lot of things are coming to light.
Nothing had really been revealed about the project aside from Reznor stating "it could be about the end of the world".
Nothing new.
But then an editor from SPIN magazine was treated to a few tracks by Reznor and said it was a story about a totalitarian government in the not-too-distant future set to a sci-fi background.
I became worried.
I think things like that are a bit...ridiculous. It's an album. It's a collection of sounds that equal seventy four minutes or less, that's all. It's not going to realign the thinking of the world or anything like that.
Up to this point, NIN albums have NOT been stories, they might have themes or feels to them, but they haven't been narratives or anything like that.
So I was worried.
A few days ago, NIN started their first European tour in a while.
One of the your shirts with the dates on the back, has a few letters highlighted.
The letters spelled 'i am trying to believe'.
Someone typed in www.iamtryingtobelieve.com and things got weird from there.
After the discovery of that site, several more web sites relating to the new album appeared.
These five or six web sites are set in a depressing and distopic future where the government (the Administration) is lying to people about bio-terrorism and putting stuff in the water and violating people's rights and a lot of other stuff.
It's much more detailed than I make it out to be.
Basically, they set up the world in which the album takes place, or refers to...I don't know.
It pieced together that 'year zero' refers to a declaration made by the President in the year 2022 that America is in need of a new beginning, so he resets the clock as it were, naming it 'year zero'. Any time before year zero is referred to as - # BA.
2007 is -15 BA.
Anyway, there are events that happened in this timeline including dirty bomb attacks, bio-terrorism, the US bombing Tehran and other such countries, the escalation of global warming and the adding of a drug called "parepin" to the nation's water supply in order to protect us from bio-terrorism.
You know, this must be boring as shit to people who don't care about Nine Inch Nails.
That includes everyone I know except for Barrett who already knows all this.
Never mind then.
What else...
Oh yes, Christina rocks and makes me boogie. I came in from my hellish trek thought the white shit and she made me a delicious and wholesome lunch, the first I've had since Kindergarten.
And I had a good audition today where I did 7 drastically different voices.
It's SAG so I probably won't get it, but it went well despite my fucking cold/flu/anal death.
The recording engineer commented after three of the more...strange voices, "Dude, that was fucking sick."
"Thank you", I responded, "I myself am feeling rather fucking sick."
Touch dolphins.