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Nine Inch Nails : The Slip - Review
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Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
Trent Reznor truely is a man on a mission; and one that he has deftly maneuvered his way throughout, giving the music industry labels the Slip they so rightly deserve. His last release, Ghosts I-IV was a truely inspiring move for the maverick musician: Where other artists have been dabbling in digital distribution, most notably Radiohead as the ostensible mainline flagship for the truely independent distribution method, none have come nearly as close as Reznor has to defining what it means for art, artist and admirer alike.
Ghosts was incredibly artistic, spontaneous and utterly spectacular; and importantly did not find itself marred by the monetary unpleasantries that accompanies nearly every other music release in the industry. It was all about the fans, and the Slip not only continues this tradition but perhaps even eclipses it. This is the most fundementally important move in the industry, coming from the same source as before, and within mere months of his last revolutionary release. The new single for example, "Discipline", was distributed to the airwaves within a day of completion. It's unprecedented. It's reached the top tiers of musical charts without selling a single copy. The logistics of distribution have changed forever.
Moving on from the ramifications to the industry, lets consider the art itself. The Slip is admittedly perhaps less so musically innovative that the last work, but is what I consider the perfect summary of what Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor are about. Sonically it sums up Nine Inch Nails excellently, and has a mix of songs encompassing the various sounds that have pervaded its career. The opening tracks slam home the message immediately, "1,000,000" giving us the loud thumping fuzz bass Nine Inch Nails have honed over the years. The "naturalistic" drumming production is a particular aspect most fans have highlighted, though I feel it is perhaps only its positioning within the opening of the album that belies rapid fire electronic snap of the pacy, punchy "Letting You". "Discipline" and "Echoplex" hark back to the dark pop buzz of Pretty Hate Machine; while the subtle touches and nuances that augmented Year Zero so excellently doing so here; they're smooth, rolling; you'll actually want to get up and move to them.
At the point, the album does seem to lose its coherency somewhat; the pace and movement is lost in favour of the haunting ambience made Ghosts so awe inspiring. It doesn't quite work here. It's a little jilting; having gotten amped up, the reduction feels disjointed. At the same time, I don't think the songs are particularly inferior; but I would be happier sliding them up the playlist to join their progenitors earlier in the discography. This said, "The Four of Us are Dying" is probably my favourite song on the album; having settled down after the awkward placement represented by "Lights in the Sky" and "Corona Radiata", "The Four of Us are Dying" represents Trent at his best; abandoning more conventional song structure and manipulating noise; stretching it and playing with it to create an ethereal, arcane soundscape. Closing with "Demon Seed", it perhaps, ultimately ends slightly uninspiringly; perhaps a little too repetitive, while lacking the punch of the earlier tracks, while not really capturing any of the other sounds available in any interesting fashion.
Ultimately, musically it's nothing Nine Inch Nails' fans will not have heard before; it's actually a refreshing take on an introductionary or greatest hits album perhaps; giving fans a taste of the various landscapes one can expect from their other albums. It suffers accordingly to one who listens to it as a whole since it lacks a coherent movement between style and composition. There are some great songs on there; highlights being "The Four of Us are Dying", "1,000,000" or "Letting You". In terms of art and industry though, this is proof that Reznor truely is one of the driving forces of change, and quite simply a top class guy who cares about his fans. Sure he may have already made enough money for it not to be an issue, but at least he's earned it right? This isn't about music as a product. It's about music as an art form.
Download the album free, legally, under the creative commons license at: www.nin.com
Ghosts was incredibly artistic, spontaneous and utterly spectacular; and importantly did not find itself marred by the monetary unpleasantries that accompanies nearly every other music release in the industry. It was all about the fans, and the Slip not only continues this tradition but perhaps even eclipses it. This is the most fundementally important move in the industry, coming from the same source as before, and within mere months of his last revolutionary release. The new single for example, "Discipline", was distributed to the airwaves within a day of completion. It's unprecedented. It's reached the top tiers of musical charts without selling a single copy. The logistics of distribution have changed forever.
Moving on from the ramifications to the industry, lets consider the art itself. The Slip is admittedly perhaps less so musically innovative that the last work, but is what I consider the perfect summary of what Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor are about. Sonically it sums up Nine Inch Nails excellently, and has a mix of songs encompassing the various sounds that have pervaded its career. The opening tracks slam home the message immediately, "1,000,000" giving us the loud thumping fuzz bass Nine Inch Nails have honed over the years. The "naturalistic" drumming production is a particular aspect most fans have highlighted, though I feel it is perhaps only its positioning within the opening of the album that belies rapid fire electronic snap of the pacy, punchy "Letting You". "Discipline" and "Echoplex" hark back to the dark pop buzz of Pretty Hate Machine; while the subtle touches and nuances that augmented Year Zero so excellently doing so here; they're smooth, rolling; you'll actually want to get up and move to them.
At the point, the album does seem to lose its coherency somewhat; the pace and movement is lost in favour of the haunting ambience made Ghosts so awe inspiring. It doesn't quite work here. It's a little jilting; having gotten amped up, the reduction feels disjointed. At the same time, I don't think the songs are particularly inferior; but I would be happier sliding them up the playlist to join their progenitors earlier in the discography. This said, "The Four of Us are Dying" is probably my favourite song on the album; having settled down after the awkward placement represented by "Lights in the Sky" and "Corona Radiata", "The Four of Us are Dying" represents Trent at his best; abandoning more conventional song structure and manipulating noise; stretching it and playing with it to create an ethereal, arcane soundscape. Closing with "Demon Seed", it perhaps, ultimately ends slightly uninspiringly; perhaps a little too repetitive, while lacking the punch of the earlier tracks, while not really capturing any of the other sounds available in any interesting fashion.
Ultimately, musically it's nothing Nine Inch Nails' fans will not have heard before; it's actually a refreshing take on an introductionary or greatest hits album perhaps; giving fans a taste of the various landscapes one can expect from their other albums. It suffers accordingly to one who listens to it as a whole since it lacks a coherent movement between style and composition. There are some great songs on there; highlights being "The Four of Us are Dying", "1,000,000" or "Letting You". In terms of art and industry though, this is proof that Reznor truely is one of the driving forces of change, and quite simply a top class guy who cares about his fans. Sure he may have already made enough money for it not to be an issue, but at least he's earned it right? This isn't about music as a product. It's about music as an art form.
Download the album free, legally, under the creative commons license at: www.nin.com