Saturday 2:10 am : My phone vibrates violently… it’s a text message from Kaitlin. Written is “Make me feel better,” and attached is a rather seductive (But tasteful) picture of her. A stupid grin came across my face and i did what any sensible guy would do: Closed my laptop, got out of bed, went to the kitchen, and made myself a cheese and pickle sandwich (A sensible, vegetarian guy). Sorry, Love, but not only did you forget your current locale (RE: New York), but you also forgot that i don’t have unlimited text/pic messaging — that stuff adds up after awhile!
So yesterday evening Trent Reznor decided to release an album. Just because it was Sunday or something. No press, no leaks, just a post on nin.com directing us to the new album(s), Ghosts I-IV. And it wasn’t like, “So here are a few new songs i’ve been working on.” No, that wasn’t it at all. It was more like, “Here’s 36 bleeping tracks that i worked on in the bleeping autumn, and when you play these bleepity-bleeps together it adds up to nearly two bleeping hours of bleeping music!”
Now, where i come from, a move like this qualifies a man as a straight up baller. A straight up baller pimp. The music being good wasn’t even a requirement for earning this title, but by the love of g.o.b. this shit is off the chain. So picture this: Trent Reznor and his main man Atticus Ross dialing up a wide variety of organic, spacey and psychedelic tracks with a little help from cabaret-tastic drummer Brian Viglione, Italian ladies’ man and synth extroadinaire Alessandro Cortini, and legendary guitar virtuoso — my favourite guitarist, by the way — Adrian Belew (You know, from King Crimson, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Frank Zappa and the Mothers).
What you’re not going to hear is vocals. At all. What you are going to hear is a breathtaking two-hour soundtrack to a movie that has never been made, and can probably never be on account of the fact it would blow everyone’s f’ing mind to smithereens. And the PDF file that comes with the download is a visual aid that makes this release twice as good. This is the best new Nine Inch Nails material released in six years; the best new Nine Inch Nails album in almost nine years.
Go! Download the first nine tracks for free! Buy all 36 for $5! Buy a physical copy for $10! If you’re crazy get that deluxe edition for $75! If you hate your kids and don’t want them to go to college then buy the limited edition with the vinyl and other stuff signed by Trent for $300!
I’m blown away. This is digital distribution done right. This is music done right.
-niCk
