By Cara Alwill
Though he has declared that his recently-completed "Wave Goodbye" tour represented his retirement from performing live, Trent Reznor hasn't hung up his recording spurs just yet. In fact, he's about to hit the studio with a friend and hero: Gary Numan. The budding relationship between the two became evident when Numan took the stage during the gigs on the Los Angeles leg of the tour and performed multiple songs with Nine Inch Nails and was welcomed with rave reviews.
Musically speaking, a collaboration of this magnitude could result in some pretty fantastic results. Reznor and Numan are icons in their respective genres, and it is clear they make magic on stage together. That magic wasn't necessarily going to be a given — Numan admitted to the Quietus that when invited out to the Los Angeles shows, he wasn't sure what to expect. "For some reason, I don't know why, I just thought it would be a different atmosphere to what it was. And what it was was just really warm and friendly, and Nine Inch Nails and warm and friendly don't necessarily go together! I should have known better. Everyone was great, the crew, the band, everybody, they made me feel really welcome. It was a fantastic experience, I was riding on that for a bit."
So, what's the timeline for the duo? In the same interview, Numan said, "I know he wants to carry on doing music things. We went out a few days after [the L.A. gigs] with a few other people and the way he puts it is when the dust settles — I think he means his marriage — but I think he's going to be pretty busy for a while, so it'll either be later this year or early next."
If their scintillating performances in Los Angeles (including their runs through "I Die You Die" and "Down in the Park") are any indication of what we can expect, then we're in for something big.
When Trent Reznor announced that he would be retiring Nine Inch Nails after a brief tour at the end of this summer, all he promised were beefed up setlists and "a few surprises." After the first two shows in New York — one each at the tiny Bowery Ballroom and the slightly less tiny Webster Hall — it's clear that Reznor wasn't kidding. After pulling out a few rarities at Saturday night's show (including the band's rarely-played cover of Joy Division's "Dead Souls"), the Nine Inch Nails frontman satisfied what appeared to be a long-held desire in front of about 1,400 diehards: He played his 1994 album The Downward Spiral in its entirety on Sunday night (August 23).
Though Reznor's debut Pretty Hate Machine had gotten him the initial attention he deserved, The Downward Spiral made him a star. That's pretty odd considering that record is an incredibly dense, harsh and at times violent descent into Reznor's warped mind. But the difficulty didn't stop it from becoming one of the best written-about and most beloved albums of the 1990s. To some people, it's simply the album that contained one of the dirtiest hit singles in history ("Closer," with its chorus of "I want to f--- you like an animal"), but to the fans who helped sell out Reznor's entire "Wave Goodbye" tour in minutes, it's a definitive statement from a brilliant artist.
Reznor and his able band plowed through the 14 tracks that make up The Downward Spiral with savagery and grace. The opener "Mr. Self Destruct" provided an initial jolt of adrenaline, but then the jazzy "Piggy" slowed things down. Following the one-two punch of "Heresy" (chorus: "God is dead and no one cares") and "March of the Pigs" and the crowd collectively realized what was happening, even the densest keyboard meandering (which makes up some of The Downward Spiral's latter half) was met with love and awe.
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So Radiohead says their pay-what-you-will model for In Rainbows was a one-off.
Oh, really? Well, as we predicted, Trent Reznor's gone and upped them one, giving away yet another Nine Inch Nails album for free “as a thank you to our fans for your continued support.”
What's more, he's telling fans to pass it around: “We encourage you to remix it, share it with your friends, post it on your blog…”
The complete list of angsty, post-apocalyptic track titles after the jump... Read more...
Remember all that talk about how offering music at pay-what-you-want prices was the wave of the future? Sorry -- Radiohead now say it was a one-time-only deal.
Thom Yorke told The Hollywood Reporter, “I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation…It was a moment in time.”
All of Williamsburg is weeping.
So what was the problem with pay-what-you-want? Does this mean that the numbers for In Rainbows weren’t as healthy as reported? And what effect will this have on other name-brand artists who have been experimenting – or considering experimenting – with new models? Will this discourage Metallica, who said they were inspired by Radiohead, from going down that road? What about Trent Reznor, who’s been releasing new NIN material for free? For chrissakes, even the none-too-cutting-edge boys of Coldplay are giving away their single.
Thom Yorke, we don’t understand!!
So it sounds like Metallica, long portrayed as Evil Enemies of the Internets, have finally opened their great metallic minds to the possibilities of the online universe. In a recent phone chat with Rolling Stone, kinda ironically on Record Store Day, beast-of-a-drummer Lars Ulrich talked to the mag about life after the band's final Warner Bros. release:
Lars: You know, this is our last record under contract with Warner, so we're looking at how we can embrace everything.
RS: Like a 360 deal with Live Nation?
Lars: Mmm, we've never sold ourselves that way. No disrespect. We want to be as free a players as possible. We've been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor, and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we'll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet.
Trent Reznor is like a kid in a candy store -- one that only sells black licorice, sour-patch gummy razorblades, and bleeding eyeball bubblegum, but still. The Nine Inch Nails leader is once again celebrating his freedom from major-label shackles by following up the surprise release of his many-pronged Ghosts I-IV instrumental album with a new song, “Discipline."
The track was sent to radio stations around the world on Tuesday afternoon. And according to reports, the classic slab of NIN angst was mastered just one day before, further accelerating the musical arms race -- between acts like The Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley -- to get their music out while the master tapes are still warm.
A message posted this past Monday (which is now seemingly purged from the site) also hinted ominously at another surprise in “2 weeks.” This is similar to the message Reznor posted in February preceding the release of Ghost.
Oh, how does the song sound? Not bad. Could have been a Year Zero outtake.
It starts out with those robot drums and buzzing keyboards, and grows from a spare dirge into what threatens to be a full-on techno rocker -- before pulling back into a restrained boil as Reznor sings lyrics like “I’m losing touch/ Nothing matters to me/ Nothing matters as much.” Best line? “I need your discipline/ Because once I start, I cannot stop myself.” Which, if you’re a NIN fan (or maybe into S&M) sounds like seriously good news.
Trent Reznor will indeed be leaving his home internet enclave this summer for a Nine Inch Nails North American tour. He writes on his website, "Confirming a very poorly kept secret, the band has been reformed (details coming!) and we are about to embark on an extensive tour."
The first set of dates are after the jump. Presumably, a second set of dates are to be announced, that will also include the closing night of Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 3rd.
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