Random NIN Thoughts

[Volband]

Closer-ATL is easy, Closer-Vessel... not so sure. Yes, it's not hard to imagine that the same guy did both of these, especially if you consider the lyrics as well, but no, I don't find them THAT similar. And YZ is an interesting album - for me, at least - because you might be right that some songs' foundation is based on older material, but they are largely dominated by these electronics, and not supporting the song unlike in previous or even later records.

Maybe it's not as shocking, because Trent is who he is; if he releases a new NIN album with 8 tracks having banjos featured on them, we'd just go "meh, all right, I guess now we have this as well", but overall the record feels fresh... to me.

As for Ice Age... is it, really? I guess the song itself a journey, but it does not wander far at all from what we can hear on that album. I don't even see how it could be perceived as a potential failure, as it doesn't do anything daring in my eyes - or ears, to be more precise. On the other hand, when you sit down in your TDS shirt to listen to this song called The Great Destroyer, and Trent just goes crazy, it's not hard to imagine people flipping out saying "what the FUCK is this?!".

[Volband]

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I personally found the songwriting on YZ to be less than inspiring. if the songwriting was more intricate, maybe I would be more invested in the production. I still don't understand what you're saying.

Definitely not among the most complex NIN materials, I mean all we have to say is The Fragile, and hello, argument closed. It's just more risky to me, especially with your legacy if you are Trent aka NIN. Why are you so sure that the people who digged HLAH, TDTWWA andand let's say Love Is Not Enough will totally go crazy for Me, I'm Not or TGD. And if in your eyes YZ doesn't sound fresh at all, then how does Welcome Oblivion? I wouldn't even compare the two albums, when the HTDA ep kicks WO's butt big time. The beautiful Drowning, the funky and vocally oh so much more interesting (than anything on WO) Fur Lined, or that thing in Parasite which makes you say "wow, I don't know what am I listening to, but it sounds dope as F!!"

[BRoswell]

As for Ice Age... is it, really?

A couple tracks aside (mostly instrumentals), Trent has rarely done something so sparse. Seriously, break that song down to its main components: Mariqueen's vocals, the folksy string plucks, and a dash of noisy atmospherics. That's it. I love The Great Destroyer, but that's the sound I typically expect from Trent. That doesn't make it bad, but it certainly doesn't make it daring.

[nineinchnerd]

Mariqueen is in Hawaii. I doubt we're getting HTDA any time soon. And I'm not complaining. Take as long a vacation as you want, Mariqueen. In fact, stay in Hawaii forever if you can. : )

[eversonpoe]

Mariqueen is in Hawaii. I doubt we're getting HTDA any time soon. And I'm not complaining. Take as long a vacation as you want, Mariqueen. In fact, stay in Hawaii forever if you can. : )

do you really not realize how consistently sexist and offensive you sound?

[BRoswell]

Take as long a vacation as you want...

That goes double for you.

[Khrz]

do you really not realize how consistently sexist and offensive you sound?

He does, but to be fair it's probably that we have just too many bad memories of people bringing up Mariqueen like she's "that bitch that stole Trent's balls". I think @nineinchnerd just doesn't want her to distract his Trent from doing what he wants him to do, which is moar NIN.
Which is, you know, tough shit, because Reznor just pretty much does whatever he wants, and he'll fly the whole studio to Hawaii if he feels like giving HTDA another round right fucking now.

[implanted_microchip]

he'll fly the whole studio to Hawaii if he feels like giving HTDA another round right fucking now.

He should just pull a Kanye, go into self-imposed exile in Hawaii with everyone and make one of the greatest albums of the decade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bea...wisted_Fantasy

[sheepdean]

He should just pull a Kanye, go into self-imposed exile in Hawaii with everyone and make one of the greatest albums of the decade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bea...wisted_Fantasy

Or maybe they're scoring a live action Lilo and Stitch remake


fuck you I can dream

[implanted_microchip]

Or maybe they're scoring a live action Lilo and Stitch remake


fuck you I can dream

You know if Fincher did it he'd sign right the fuck on

[eversonpoe]

Or maybe they're scoring a live action Lilo and Stitch remake


fuck you I can dream

"ohana" means FIST FUCK

[pigpen]

So, I was thinking about TR's output pre and post TF..
Obviously there's a tortured, violent, and chaotic element to the 90's records that has remained unmatched in the 2000's.
There's a guy by the name of Pat The Bunny, who is pretty popular in the folk-punk scene who used to put out records under the name Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains.
He'd sing songs of being an alcoholic/heroin addict and all of the things that go along with that.. Then he got clean, and now refuses to play those old songs, even though
they are arguably his best, but to play them, to him, is just dishonest and he's beyond that at this point...

The career of TR has ridden the same line, and in that, I kind of found a new appreciation for the post "throws of addiction" records he's released.

..I don't know, it's random but having read a bit about PTB, I found the parallels interesting.

[blassster]

Was lying in bed staring at the ceiling, then an idea popped into my head and I cackled: I might make a t-shirt out of this for myself on redbubble.com. Not for sale, but just for me. I don't know where the original image I shopped is from. I don't care if people IRL don't understand.

http://www.echoingthesound.org/commu...764#post108764

[nineinchnerd]

He should just pull a Kanye, go into self-imposed exile in Hawaii with everyone and make one of the greatest albums of the decade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bea...wisted_Fantasy

Speaking of Kanye (who dropped his last album around the same time Trent dropped HM), he's premiering a new music video this weekend, ahead of his latest album release. No exiles for him this season.

http://www.latinospost.com/articles/...iere-brand.htm

[Frozen Beach]

Hopefully when the current iteration of Swans is done, Trent will invite Thor Harris to join the NIN live band for whatever tour might be happening at that time.

[Volband]

do you really not realize how consistently sexist and offensive you sound?

Don't know about his other replies, but how is it sexist that he hates someone, even if with a passion?

He should just pull a Kanye, go into self-imposed exile in Hawaii with everyone and make one of the greatest albums of the decade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bea...wisted_Fantasy

Oh boy, the album where I had to realize that not only Nicki Minaj is capable of proper rapping, she's actually quite fucking good at it.

So, I was thinking about TR's output pre and post TF..
Obviously there's a tortured, violent, and chaotic element to the 90's records that has remained unmatched in the 2000's.
There's a guy by the name of Pat The Bunny, who is pretty popular in the folk-punk scene who used to put out records under the name Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains.
He'd sing songs of being an alcoholic/heroin addict and all of the things that go along with that.. Then he got clean, and now refuses to play those old songs, even though
they are arguably his best, but to play them, to him, is just dishonest and he's beyond that at this point...

The career of TR has ridden the same line, and in that, I kind of found a new appreciation for the post "throws of addiction" records he's released.

..I don't know, it's random but having read a bit about PTB, I found the parallels interesting.

There's a somewhat popular Hungarian singer, who became famous as a rebellious alternate rock star, and his persona pretty much revolved around drugs, alcohol and women. Then he found money, erm, sorry, God, got clean, and now he sings about Jesus and other major bullshit for the christian sheeps. Yeah, I don't like that hypocrite, as you might already figured that out ,haha.

Honestly, I can't look at people like him or even that guy you talked about as some kind of warriors who are doing the right thing. Your past is always a part of you, like it or not - pretending it never existed is not brave, but cowardly and you are just deceiving yourself. Trent is not The Wretched anymore, he is not Hurt, he doesn't want to fuck someone as an animal without any emotion, and so on, but aside from these songs being good, they are also a part of him. Yeah, he is in a spot right now where every single one of us would trade place with him, even without the dollar millions, but he is putting a performance, a show out for us during the concerts, and I'm fairly sure the vast majority of concert goers want to shout their lungs out to songs which are about Trent's past persona, and not listen to "if you're happy and you know it..."

[Dr Channard]

I honestly think that some of those older angry shouting songs Trent doesn’t perform that much anymore, because he simply doesn’t have the voice for them night after night. Not necessarily because he feels disconnected from them or anything. In the studio he can still squeeze out some good shouts (we heard a few on HM), but as a touring force I think he’s more effective as a crooner these days while his backup vocalist hit the guttural shouts. I think he could still make a studio album of angry shouting and screaming, but he wouldn’t be able to support it with an extensive live tour.

[Volband]

I honestly think that some of those older angry shouting songs Trent doesn’t perform that much anymore, because he simply doesn’t have the voice for them night after night. Not necessarily because he feels disconnected from them or anything. In the studio he can still squeeze out some good shouts (we heard a few on HM), but as a touring force I think he’s more effective as a crooner these days while his backup vocalist hit the guttural shouts. I think he could still make a studio album of angry shouting and screaming, but he wouldn’t be able to support it with an extensive live tour.

Ha waited like 10 years to sing Last. WITT is basically a white raven, and hasn't even been played on either Fragility tours despite being a single and among the few songs which had a released music video. Sunspots has never been, and mst probably never will be played live, and we can hear on the With Teeth rehearsals that Trent is having a very hard time singing it.

My point is, it's not just decade old songs he can't quite pull off. WITT and Sunspots both have parts where he actually has to SING sing, not just talk/shout/scream on a rhyme.

edit: fuck me, I meant he probably did not like his live performance on those songs when they were just freshly released.

[Dr Channard]

Ha waited like 10 years to sing Last. WITT is basically a white raven, and hasn't even been played on either Fragility tours despite being a single and among the few songs which had a released music video. Sunspots has never been, and mst probably never will be played live, and we can hear on the With Teeth rehearsals that Trent is having a very hard time singing it.

My point is, it's not just decade old songs he can't quite pull off. WITT and Sunspots both have parts where he actually has to SING sing, not just talk/shout/scream on a rhyme.

Exactly. And to some degree I think that is why HM comes across as a “softer” album. I think Trent made the conscious decision to make an album full of material that he could use night after night that wouldn’t obliterate his vocals. Not everyone has it like Chris Cornell, who I think has some kind of a vocal temporal inhibitor chip keeping his voice intact. But even on the HM tours, songs like CBH you could tell were at times taxing Trent’s voice. HTF is another one that pushes him. He never even attempted Everything live. But as time goes on, if he keeps making albums and touring as nin, I think his own abilities will push him further away from old nin and more into radiohead territory, which HM felt like it skirted on at times.

[nineinchnerd]

Exactly. And to some degree I think that is why HM comes across as a “softer” album. I think Trent made the conscious decision to make an album full of material that he could use night after night that wouldn’t obliterate his vocals. Not everyone has it like Chris Cornell, who I think has some kind of a vocal temporal inhibitor chip keeping his voice intact. But even on the HM tours, songs like CBH you could tell were at times taxing Trent’s voice. HTF is another one that pushes him. He never even attempted Everything live. But as time goes on, if he keeps making albums and touring as nin, I think his own abilities will push him further away from old nin and more into radiohead territory, which HM felt like it skirted on at times.

Saying he made HM a "soft" album so he wouldn't hurt his vocals is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. There are more than a few tracks where he's screaming his lungs out. And it's not a "soft" album -- whatever the heck that means -- by any stretch of the imagination.

[implanted_microchip]

Saying he made HM a "soft" album so he wouldn't hurt his vocals is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. There are more than a few tracks where he's screaming his lungs out. And it's not a "soft" album -- whatever the heck that means -- by any stretch of the imagination.

Soft might be a bad word to use in a general music sense but as far as NIN albums go, it's definitely soft compared to The Downward Spiral or Broken. Soft isn't necessarily an insult either considering Still is the softest thing Trent's ever made and it's widely heralded as one of the finest things he's ever released. In context of the rest of NIN's discography it's certainly a softer sounding record. Disappointed, All Time Low, Various Methods of Escape, While I'm Still Here, Satellite, Running, none of them are particularly heavy or loud, a lot of the album trades industrial noise for groove-based rhythms (which I love). In Two is as hard as it gets, compared to The Slip which had 1,000,000 and Letting You or Year Zero with Meet Your Master or With Teeth with Getting Smaller and You Know What You Are?.

I'm not OP but I just don't see it as a criticism or insult at all. Trent has definitely adjusted his vocal style over the years in studio and live. Most of the louder vocals on HM are still very baritone, very deep-voiced singing without going up in pitch and volume. He has a way more naturally throaty, deep-sounding voice now than when he was younger and he definitely plays into that and uses it to his advantage.

[EndlessLoveless]

Saying he made HM a "soft" album so he wouldn't hurt his vocals is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. There are more than a few tracks where he's screaming his lungs out. And it's not a "soft" album -- whatever the heck that means -- by any stretch of the imagination.

In what song does he scream his lungs out? I agree with you though, that the album wasnt made a certain way to be easier for him. But i dont recall any "scream your lungs out" moments. There is some yelling though, if that counts. But no throat shredding vocals like WITT or TDS (song).

Now im going through every song on HM in my head at double tempo trying to think about this.... I always wished in "i would for you" that he wouldve during the 'i only have myself to blame' part.

[nineinchnerd]

In what song does he scream his lungs out? I agree with you though, that the album wasnt made a certain way to be easier for him. But i dont recall any "scream your lungs out" moments. There is some yelling though, if that counts. But no throat shredding vocals like WITT or TDS (song).

Now im going through every song on HM in my head at double tempo trying to think about this.... I always wished in "i would for you" that he wouldve during the 'i only have myself to blame' part.

How about 'Came Back Haunted' and 'Everything' for starters? There's some primal vocal delivery in those songs alone.

[Khrz]

How about 'Came Back Haunted' and 'Everything' for starters? There's some primal vocal delivery in those songs alone.

Honestly, those are really tame in comparison to We're In This Together, Last, or even The Line Begins To Blur... There's loud singing on HM, but nothing close to screaming...

[Krazy]

TR on HM's vocal delivery...

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/07/28...referrer=&_r=0

And in the context of the Nine Inch Nails catalog, where a whisper tends to lead, sooner or later, to a scream, Mr. Reznor found himself following other impulses. “It didn’t dawn on me until I was almost done with the record that I don’t really even raise my voice on this album that much,” Mr. Reznor added. “The mechanism of screaming choruses doesn’t exist here. And that wasn’t by design.”

[nineinchnerd]

Honestly, those are really tame in comparison to We're In This Together, Last, or even The Line Begins To Blur... There's loud singing on HM, but nothing close to screaming...

One man's scream is another man's whisper. If Trent came to my bedside and sang 'Came Back Haunted' or 'Everything' I wouldn't consider it him whispering me to sleep. I'd consider it him screaming me awake.

[Dr Channard]

Saying he made HM a "soft" album so he wouldn't hurt his vocals is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

Fair enough. I could be wrong about the “conscious decision” part, as what Krazy posted would indicate. So I instead now propose that he subconsciously decided it.

But I still believe Trent at 50 doesn’t have the pipes he once did. That’s not meant to be a jab at him. Listen to some of the more recent recordings available on RITC, you can tell on some songs he just doesn’t or can’t repetitively push his voice like he once could.

There are more than a few tracks where he's screaming his lungs out.

Yes, as I said just a few lines up, “In the studio he can still squeeze out some good shouts (we heard a few on HM).” But there is a difference between doing that at his leisure in the studio over the course of a year while making the album, and repeating it for a whole show over and over, night in and out, for months while touring.

And it's not a "soft" album -- whatever the heck that means -- by any stretch of the imagination.

Let me help clarify here, “softer” is what I said, not “soft.” Softer, indicating I’m comparatively speaking, comparatively against Trent’s own vocals in his back catalogue. That’s what that means. HM at it’s core isn’t musically driven by the roar of machines nor is it a vocal assault on the listener, kleiner352 summed it up well.

…Disappointed, All Time Low, Various Methods of Escape, While I'm Still Here, Satellite, Running, none of them are particularly heavy or loud, a lot of the album trades industrial noise for groove-based rhythms…

[Volband]

Everything is not a heavy song, but by far the hardest* song to sing from HM, and we all know what is the only unplayed song from that album...

*Well, to be honest, I'm not sure how hard is it to do a falsetto like on VMOE, but as I try to do that, then properly sing Everything in my head, the former sounds way less humiliating

[Khrz]

One man's scream is another man's whisper.

Ahah no. I mean, I'm a fan of silly hyperbolic comparisons just like any other, but we weren't comparing "Came Back Haunted" to "absolute silence", we were saying that relatively to songs he used to sing ten years ago, HM had quieter delivery. That's a fact, there's nothing wrong about that, Reznor just didn't go "Eraser" on us this time around...

[sheepdean]

Ahah no. I mean, I'm a fan of silly hyperbolic comparisons just like any other, but we weren't comparing "Came Back Haunted" to "absolute silence", we were saying that relatively to songs be used to sing ten years ago, HM had quieter delivery. That's a fact, there's nothing wrong about that, Reznor just didn't go "Eraser" on us this time around...

I think 3 decades of singing live has taught Trent that the less screaming he does on the record, the less screaming he has to do in concert :P