NIN.COM / HTDA_

[chimera]

OH SNAP!
http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=1535

Granted, there's a shitstorm a brewin' on both sides, but yeah...these are the things that happen when you invoke the "A" word.

[luna]

[r00]

I finally gave the new album  couple of good listens straight through and I have to say it is a winner for me.  It is nice and minimalized for the most part and the production is stellar.

"Everything" is still a truly awful song, but the rest of the album receives thumbs up from me.  It's not a gamechanger, but it is continuing the feel that I loved about The Social Network and HTDA (minus the female vocals...  I like those songs instrumentally).  Minimal beets, subtle, layered sound, and lots of space in between.

After a listen on the headphones, I put it through my mixer, sub and studio monitors and it sounded even better.  I definitely can't complain about this one...  and I am so happy for that fact.

(I have yet to listen to the "audiophile" version.)

[rynne]

I just got Hesitation Marks the other day, so I'll put in my two cents.

I like this a lot. To me, it seems like if With_Teeth had a depth of production approaching The Downward Spiral or The Fragile. There's a lot of interesting, layered sound design going on in support of legitimately tuneful songs (tunefulness being something I felt was sorely missing from The Slip and, obviously, Ghosts). I like the second half of the record quite a bit (it reminds me of the back half of W_T), and I think that even "Everything" isn't totally irredeemable (the verses are pretty dire, but I like the wall-of-static guitars surrounding the chorus.)

If I thought about this some more, I could maybe come up with some theory about how With_Teeth and Hesitation Marks are paired as eclectic, relatively upbeat contributions to the NIN catalog, and how that relates to the fact that both came after a period where Trent hung up the NIN moniker while he made significant positive changes to his personal life (i.e., getting sober, starting a family).

I guess the only thing I'm baffled about is how the hell Todd Rundgren got tapped for a remix. Oneohtrix Point Never and Genesis P-Orridge I understand, but Rundgren is perplexing.

[chimera]

I suppose it's a matter of recalling that Trent has all kinds of influences/preferences.  I imagine he sees TR as some kind of elder peer, or something.

Many thanks to our dear kiwi for the Fader link - look at those cover shots!   Oh that long lost face...*sigh*
ETA: wow, now I know why I don't remember too much about that Lolla - look at the smoke!  It's a wonder we could see anything.

Oh, and Daphne Carr is "a preeminent NIN authority?"  Really?!  Her insights have always struck me as the same ones any articulate NINnie could come up with.

[chimera]

I don't like all of the album but I do like most of it.  I still can't stand "Came Back Haunted" and "Everything."  They both almost qualify as parody for different reasons.  But I like the rumpshakers, I like the wall of noise, I like the HTDA-type stuff.  I think...rynne, didn't you say that you disliked The Fragile for the lyrics?  That's how I feel about this album, most of the lyrics are not doing it for me, but the music and the production values are a good distraction from that problem.  This album does have a great mix even if the "normal" mastering is painful at times.  Moulder makes great use of headspace with this one.  I don't see myself listening to the entire album over time, but some tracks, like "Find My Way," "Satellite" and "I Would For You" will definitely get replayed.  But most of the songs are too long and they don't wrap up well, from an arrangement perspective.

I had a moment of listening to "Disappointed" and thinking, "Why is he singing like the Diva Cornell?" :op
My favorite track, for now, is "In Two."  It's kind of a mess, but in that way Trent has of letting things be messy and yet still compelling.

[chimera]

I realized I was somewhat traumatized by this experience when I found myself turning to PHM as a palate-cleanser. (There's no emoticon which can fully express the depths of my confusion.)

[luna]

[rynne]

If you don't mind me asking, chim, could you elaborate on what isn't working for you with the lyrics? I'm interested to know what's rubbing you the wrong way on this one vis-à-vis Trent's normal writing.

As far as The Fragile goes, yes, the lyrics really annoyed the shit out of me---way too self-pityingly whiny for my taste. That being said, I suspect that part of the reason that the lyrics really struck me as awful was that, for whatever reason, the music/production never quite clicked for me. I can be a lot more forgiving about lyrics when Trent strikes the right musical balance of tunefulness and noise.

[chimera]

I realize that this is really just more of the same, because you're a smart guy and you know this already.

Maybe it's his delivery, his voice has not necessarily aged well (unless he makes the effort), maybe the more low-key arrangements, and the lyrics don't merely provide yet another texture, they are right there in the middle of it and they annoy me.

For example, I think "Came Back Haunted" had the potential of being a creepy thing, but not with that track.  Came Back Haunted?  More like, Came back wanting to kill it where it stands.  But "Everything" contains a verse which is surely one of his most trite and overused tropes ever, and the track is just insult to sonic injury.

"Satellite" is also a trope and yet, because it works with the music it's fine, I'm fine shaking my big white ass to it.  Same thing with "In Two" which is very NIN, and that's not usually a compliment but it is in this case.  Trent can do whatever he likes, of course, but nobody does Trent like Trent (and we all know who the imitators are).

And finally, listen to "While I'm Still Here" and then go listen to the PF track "Two Suns in the Sunset."  There's a connection there, and it's probably coincidental but Trent mines his own emotions in the same way Roger does.

[chimera]

If I thought about this some more, I could maybe come up with some theory about how With_Teeth and Hesitation Marks are paired as eclectic, relatively upbeat contributions to the NIN catalog, and how that relates to the fact that both came after a period where Trent hung up the NIN moniker while he made significant positive changes to his personal life (i.e., getting sober, starting a family).

I totally get this now, having listened to the two back-to-back.  The main difference to me is that W_T is mainly homogenized as an attempt to reconnect with the public, whereas HT is a much more interesting record which contains stylistic quotations from every phrase of his career.  Also a great deal of his musical preferences.  For example, there is so much Prince on this record and if that's got anyone saying WTF? then I say you haven't listened to enough Prince to know what I mean.

But yeah, the parallels are so obvious now.  Like those stylistic left turns?  Remember our epic debates about All The LULZ in the World and Nine Inch Foo and WITHA_TAMBOURINEA?  The same thing is happening on this record, the only difference is that "Everything" is not a good song.  I'm fine with Trent being happy because even happy Trent is still Trent.  This is why using Tardar's face in that photo is so appropriate (on the FB page).  It doesn't matter how he feels inside, he's always going to express it in some noisy way.  It's better for him to make a record which is all over the place because it's still him.  Honestly, making a rock record now would be beneath him.

But Trent likes to troll us - not in the lulz sense, but because I honestly believe he wants us to react to what he creates rather than just absorb it.  And that's part of the reason why he makes those left turns which make us say WTF?  He knows what we want and gives us just enough but then says, "Wait a minute...fuck all y'all, I'm supposed to be doing what I want."  But he's not stupid - he's never been stupid, just weak.  He knows this is a brand which he needs to protect.  The evidence of his influences in that regard is very obvious.  The reason that there is a visual stylistic continuity which he pays attention to as much as the music is because he has learned from the best in that respect.

So I've got a better appreciation for HT now, because it officially means that The Slip is his worst album and I'm okay with that.  I'm not heartbroken anymore, but I will still skip over "Came Back Haunted" and "Everything" and "Running" like my finger is on fire.

And I still love "Sunspots."  Fuck you haters. 

[Goose]

I think the reason you're not liking "Everything" is because you're taking it seriously.  Trent's said in interviews its a ridiculous song.  I look at it like the equivalent of a South Park of music.  The song is using all the pop tropes during the verses, and it sounds ridiculous.  The choruses devolve into a barely functioning cacaphony with a semblance of a beat, and that's essentially what pop and pop-rock have become. 

Listen to it as tongue-in-cheek, and the song starts to make a hell of a lot more sense.

[chimera]

Yeah I get that it's satire now (and even I thought so when I first heard it, like, "This is approaching parody.") but even so I don't want to listen to it.  But other satirical moments I enjoy; it took me a while to realize he was parodying Manson in "God Given," for example.

[luna]

I have still not been able to bring myself to listen to Everything again since the first time, I think I've developed a sense for the moment it's about to start so I can hit the skip button

Yeah it's complete satire but that doesn't explain why he would choose to release it as a single (or whatever, it was on the radio that's all I know) for people that don't know his history or anything to just think this is the type of music he's making now...like was he making fun of the whole pop thing while simultaneously trying to get some new fans who actually like this style of music?

[TPD]

Everything makes me like Getting Smaller. I don't think saying it's parody is fully saying what trent said about it. He said some of the lyrics were saracastic, but as for the full thing and the music? I really dunno. All i know is he doesn't play this one live… so, yeah. The best part of is the end. Overall, the album got better with subsequent listens but i haven't really listened to it since seeing that meh show. It wasn't a bad show. Just wasn't that great either.

Maybe I'm old and jaded now. I dunno.
Meh.