Get Well Soon TR

Oh, how we love Trent Reznor, the man with his own NIN army.

Posted on NIN.com:

Void

I searched for a long time through the heartless photoshopped sludge on the internet to find one of my favorite photographs of Michael Jackson.  Despite his personal dysfunction and scandal, no one can refute the tremendous impact Michael Jackson had on performing, dancing, pop culture, and music as a whole. The legend of Michael Jackson is larger than his self and his faults; his existence as an icon will endure forever and outlive his darker side.

I learned of his death from my hairdresser in a salon far enough from Beverly Hills for the news to be buzzing but not ridiculous like the circus outside of the UCLA hospital. At the time the news seemed substantial enough; however, I was only mildly bothered that an icon had passed.  His death was no more important to me than that. I was slightly irritated while eating sushi next door between hair treatments that the news was non-stop coverage of his passing and continued as such throughout the day. Everyone talked about it, everywhere. Hollywood was a joke due to the large amounts of traffic around his stars.

A few days passed before the sheer magnitude of his death hit me.  I never saw Michael Jackson in concert, and his golden era was before my time. But pictures of his performances, his music videos, and his music began to give me the chills as I finally realized how much talent was lost that day. He is a legend, an icon, and one of those immensely talented people that only number a handful each generation.

I will never see Michael Jackson in concert.  He is one more experience I will miss out on in life.

Pawn Shop #1: This One is for Fred…

Before I get into a juicy pawn shop (or thrift store, when I feel like cheating) breakdown, let me just say how much I love Los Angeles.  People watching is never boring in the Hollywood side of town, and there are more odd shops, pawn shops, and even Russian Souvenir (soon to be reviewed!) shops than I could ever hope to explore.  California may be the Golden State, but Los Angeles is certainly the Eclectic City.

Now then, your favorite pawn shop investigator and mall speed dater sure got her hands dirty (literally) today.  Our first stop of this series is Out of the Closet, a thrift store chain benefiting AIDS treatment and care.  You know, that big thrift store on Fairfax north of The Grove.  I bet you have seen it while driving past hundreds of times…but have you ever gone inside?

Honestly, the best feature was the parking located in the back.  Beyond the advantage of convenient parking, this thrift shop did not have many appealing assets.  The furniture was few in number (and altogether undesirable), and the books revealed little redemption.  Sketchy looking clothing for both men and women seemed to be the focal point of the thrift store, hoarding most of the floor on the scary racks of the unknown.  Actually, the scary part was the dressing rooms, or should I say, graciously provided cloth closets-i.e. a small room in the middle of the store made from a sheet that did not hang all the way to the ground.  It might have also had a revealing crack or two, but I was too frightened to look.  Nudity was not a part of the deal when I devised this series. 

The electronics were present in the masses, though not surprisingly; where else would you sell/get rid of them?  The resale value of a used electronic rivals that of a used tissue, which would actually be quite useful because, as I mentioned before, the place was not too clean.  My hands became quite black after searching through the most promising loot of the building-the vinyl. 

In fact after what seemed like forever, I finally claimed my conquest, a small little gem among the piles of rubbish, and for the grand price of …one dollar.  Hey, I never said the prices were bad.

I even managed to sneak in a small “speed dating” snippet, though not really, when one of the workers at the thrift shop decided to be not-so-smooth about hitting on me.  As I was sifting through the small collection of vinyl and he was returning men’s clothes to their hangers, the conversation went something like this…

Guy: Hey, excuse me. Does this look like women’s or men’s? (holds up a women’s sweater)
Me: Uh, women’s. (weird, quizzical look)
Guy: Oh, thanks.  Hey, you must be a DJ too.
Me: Nope. Just looking.
Guy: Oh. (pauses…for a long time) Hey do you know what sea monkeys are?
Me: No. (even larger weird, quizzical look)
Guy: Oh, well you probably think I am strange (yes I do), but I am not. Really, let me show you what I am talking about so you don’t think I am crazy. (but I already do, as he runs off to some secret part of the store and then returns with some “insta-grow sea monkey aquarium set”)  See what I mean? Crazy huh?
Me: That’s ridiculous.

So what did I learn from today’s little outing?

#1) Bring hand wipes/sanitizer to next pawn shop (and maybe mall speed dating outings as well).
#2) I should probably consider being slightly nicer if I want this whole mall speed dating thing to be a success (and by success I do not mean land a boyfriend. No. NO. NO. NO! NO!)

What should you learn from my experience? If you plan on visiting Out of the Closet, save your money or spend it at Family Books and/or Canter’s instead.

But hey, at least the shop had a cute pet! 

Brits and Americans Clash Over Slash

 

Rolling Stone, America’s Rock n’ Roll magazine, kicks out its high and mighty top [insert arbitrary number here] lists on every category imaginable-classifying, quantifying, and qualifying things barely tangible enough to be ranked-pertaining to the music industry (and popular culture and politics).  A moderately current list of note is Rolling Stone’s “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”.  

Now forget the current lack of credibility floating around Rolling Stone’s aura, and forget the obvious criticism concerning this list.  Simply focus on the exclusion of Slash, a.k.a a certain Mr. Saul Hudson.  Let us also ponder on the fact that the term “guitar slinger”, or even “legendary guitar slinger”, was practically coined specifically for this man.  My bias aside, even non-rocker-musically-ignorant-extra-terrestrials know that the name Slash belongs to a talented and widely respected guitarist; this reputation alone should have at least afforded Slash the ninety-ninth percentile.  Let me remind you, he was not number thirty, not fifty, nor eighty-two.  He was not ninety-nine.  Rolling Stone, for whatever reason, completely and entirely slashed him from the history of rock, guitars, and … Oh and I forgot to mention, he also has his own guitar line.

 

A list in which Slash HAS been included: The second subcategory of the first definition for “slash” in the Urban Dictionary.  Glad that is settled.  Oh wait, never mind because also within the category of “slash”, rounding out number six, reads the following British-English definition:

Urinate (chiefly British)
“I’m dying for a slash, but there’s a line for the bog.”

Ignoring the “bog” and diving straight in for the “slash”…peeing?  Really?  No, not enough terms for urinating exist; let us add a few more.  Because PISS, PEE, URINATE, DRAIN THE LIZZARD, et cetera are not sufficient.

Sadly the body’s balancing of water and electrolytes and the legendary musician battle it out throughout the numerous definitions listed.  Long live the contributor who wrote:

“Slash f***ing ROCKS! When he’s on stage playing his Gibson Les Paul guitar with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth – you can see true Rock N’ Roll right in front of your eyes!”

Thus, next time you see Slash walking down Sunset Boulevard, stop and give him a hug.  He seems to be experiencing difficulty and harsh times, failing to win over the hearts of American magazines and the British vernacular.   

P.S.  Jack White stuck at number seventeen?  Weak-he too deserves a boost.  Not that I am biased or anything.

 

The True Musician

[Sigh of content].  
 
No feeling quite matches the sweeping relief that quality, mind-blowing music still lives.  Such may be difficult and tedious to find; nevertheless, the elusive true musician more than justifies the effort.
 
Specifically, I am speaking of Jack White.  Still on a Raconteurs concert high, I cannot rave sufficiently.  Never mind the insane talent exhibited by this man, for only the fool denies his guitar-slinging worth, but let us consider his devotion to his music, to the music.  He does not perform, as do most musicians at comparable levels of success.  He feels.  He moves.  He evokes emotions from a guitar (and piano) in a way for which few other musicians could hope.
 
And while Jack strives to maintain the integrity of the political backside of music, he leaves the obsessive “business hat” to Reznor.  Jack White, if only Jack White, can be relied upon to play exquisite, sincere notes until his dying day, simply just to play.  For the music.
 
Not the stardom, not the performance, not the fans.  Not the business, not the industry.  Certainly not the money.
 
For the music.
 
One of a dying breed, Jack White remains a last-standing true, honest musician who feels every note, chord, song, and lyric.

A Comical Burn: Seconds

For those Guitar Hero and Rock Band fans…

The next step: playing the actual songs on actual instruments.

Comic from xkcd.

The Slip (halo 27): The One on Trent.

If Nine Inch Nails US tour dates were not enough for NIN fans (go check out the performance page for pre-sale tickets!), the unexpected and atypical release of two singles–Discipline and Echoplex–along with the cryptic message to visit the nin.com website on May 5th eradicated our socks that had already been blown off.  At 12:06 this morning, Trent Reznor released halo 27 ironically titled The Slip completely for free to all, thanking fans for their everlasting support, as rabid as they are, claiming “this one’s on me.”  Thank you Trent!

The new release contains ten new songs, totalling at 43:45 minutes of wholesome Reznor-ness.  The music will no doubt be showcased in the upcoming NIN tour, and a physical release of the album to supplement the free download offered at nin.com can be expected sometime in July.

After delving into an ablum revolving around a futuristic political plot and then following with a pure industrumental experiement, Trent Reznor has returned to autobiographical lyrics in The Slip–a The Fragile meets With Teeth aberration in the NIN album line-up.  The album progresses into popish contortions yet remains a nostalgic regression into his gritty industrial roots.  Nevertheless, a certain hollowness and monotone distance can be heard throughout the album, not present in previous work by Trent Reznor.  Certain tracks do separate themselves from The Slip lineup, such as the ghosts-like soothing echos of “Lights in the Sky” and many instrumental songs reminiscent of a Ghosts sequel.  Overall, not the best Reznor production, but nonetheless worthy of his name.

From the nin.com website:

as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com.

the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options – all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.

for those of you interested in physical products, fear not. we plan to make a version of this release available on CD and vinyl in july. details coming soon.

Addendum: The nin.com news feed…about two hours too slow.

Benedict Metallica

Creating much controversy across the internet, Metallica have suggested in an interview with Rolling Stone that they might follow the lead of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails and embrace the music download culture.  After downplaying the band’s helping hand as RIAA spy or “tool” by suing Napster, drummer Lars Ulrich discusses how the Metallica members have been watching the two bands’ methods and hope to pursue “possibilities with the internet” sometime in the future. 

Basically, Lars Ulrich and Metallica are running scared.

Many music enthusiasts, still sore over the Metallica vs. Napster ordeal, claim that if and when the band releases songs in the “pay what you want” fashion, they will refuse to pay for the music.  While this debate ensues, the pertinent issue is not if consumers will refuse to pay for Metallica music because of their past stance on illegal and legal music downloading; the obvious factor resides in the part of the interview less travelled: Ulrich reveals that Metallica’s upcoming album release will be produced by Rick Rubin.

Of course consumers will not be paying for the next Metallica album.  Remember when Linkin Park made good music?  Yeah, that was before Rubin and Minutes to Midnight.  Rubin’s musical tainting may be genius in other genres and seems to be a hit and miss with Red Hot Chili Peppers and System of a Down (Rage Against the Machine equals brilliance regardless of producer), but Linkin Park bombed and Velvet Revolver knew better.

Rick Rubin should remain in his mainstream-pop genre, and Metallica should return to their roots, focusing on becoming once again a relevant band in the metal realm, and perhaps even a relevant band that embraces and utilizes music downloading.

Out of the Loop: Nine Inch Nails Releases Single “Discipline”

As much as I try to be up to date in regard to all things Nine Inch Nails and other various bands, I am disadvantaged for the following reasons:

1. I am completely unaffiliated with the band and all band members
2. I am busy as hell
3. I am a hermit (see reason 2)
4. Apparently not listening to the radio has become a factor as well

 

10:00am–I am sitting in my biopsyc class, listening to lecture with one ear while surfing the internet with both eyes.  Check NIN webpage, though I had just done so at approximately 1:00am, and to my amazement…an update.  Another dreaded teaser “2 weeks”.  So I figure, I actually have time to dedicate to my academic priorities and such before I will be delving back into the obsessive world of NIN cult following.  But no, of course things would be much more complicated and riveting.

6:00pm–Sitting, enjoying a mediocre meal with my good friends, and sipping on my iced tea.  Mid-swallowing, my friend inquires tauntingly, “So how do you like the new NIN single released today?”  And out I spit my drink (figuratively. I saved it last minute, but almost).  The worst moment: the realization that once again, try as I might, I have fallen out of the know, out of the loop and into the obscure world of ignorance.  The perfect exception to “ignorance is bliss” because everyone else in the world (or at least it feels as such) knows about this gem of news and has heard the single before me.  Where have I been?  Thus, despite the wonderful news of new Nine Inch Nails music (with lyrics and Trent’s beautiful voice!), my day was ruined, and I was pissed, pissed, pissed.

So what about all of this?  Today, April 22nd, Trent Reznor released to radio stations nation wide a new single titled “Discipline”.  Apparently the single was released without any forewarning, not even a hint on nin.com, and according to The NIN Hotline, the song was mastered only yesterday.  Perhaps this has relation to the above Flickr photo posted on nin.com on April 8th; perhaps the Four Guys Up To Something were up to a new album to be released in 2 weeks?

Nevertheless, 2 weeks could refer to the final stages in the merging of the nin.com website and The Spiral, the pre-sale of concert tickets, or perhaps the release of the new album to complement this new single.  The rumor mill at Digg.com, which has some pretty colorful comments on the subject, waivers between the new album being released in 2 weeks and according to various DJ’s sometime in July.  Trent speaks nothing on the subject of a new album; his only reference on the NIN website is that some of us “may have heard a new Nine Inch Nails track on [our] radio today” and that the song can be downloaded for free directly from the NIN website.. 

Make what you will of his only hint, “We have some tour info coming… SOON (I know you love that word) as well as some other info about something else, too.”  Yes Trent, you alone have construed such a nasty connotation to such a previously benign word.

What else?  Well apparently, for those who purchased the ostentatious version (“super-ultra-mega-deluxe”) of Ghosts I-IV, Trent has received the 2,500 copies and currently deliberates over hosting a live webcast of the signing process.  Thus, we may observe in real-time a massive hand cramp.  Trent remarks, “These really turned out great and I can’t wait to sign EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.”  Stay tuned ALL DAY Thursday.  Too bad I will be in class…

 And what of the single itself?  Not bad (obviously, what NIN song is?), but honestly, not my favorite.  From With Teeth to Year Zero we have been observing the slow transition from industrial rock band to mainstream rock, and now with the release of the new single “Discipline” it would seem Trent has been resurrecting his Option 30 days.  “Discipline” certainly brings forth the pop-ish side of Trent, similar to that shown in the remix halo Every Day is Exactly the Same.  Nevertheless, the NIN element is unmistakable, and the song brings good news to those missing the sound of Trent’s voice in the latest Ghosts release.

Addendum: Did Trent actually post this, or are my eyes deceiving me?

Take your shirt off and dance to it!
REMIX it!
Enjoy.

R.I.P The Spiral

With the release of a new album, available in stores as of April 7th, the nin.com has slowly been undergoing a face-lift.  The Nine Inch Nails website first unveiled its new skin simultaneous with the surprise release of Ghosts I-IV and later sported a news feed and Flickr links. 

Spiral members have known that The Spiral’s days were limited; in August Trent posted:

 after much thought and discussion, we’ve decided to give nin.com and the spiral a drastic overhaul/upgrade. over the next 6-7 months, we’ll be preparing for the launch of the new nin.com/spiral (merged) site. we will not be accepting any new memberships during this time. the spiral will remain “as is” and all existing memberships will remain valid. be prepared.

Answers to the questions of “when” and “how” were becoming more apparent when Trent no longer posted on his blog and updates materialized on nin.com rather than The Spiral.  However, earlier today Trent officially announced the pending end of The Spiral, scheduled for within the month. 

The new nin.com will incorporate much of the interactivity and benefits presently offered on The Spiral, but a paid membership will no longer be required. A free nin.com account will be all that is needed to access the features of the new site, and The Spiral in its current form will no longer remain active. As we get closer to the upgrade, we’ll be making more information available to existing Spiral members to better prepare for the transition to the new site [...]

We’re very excited to begin offering a wide range of improved interactivity to all nine inch nails fans, all for free.

The death of the Nine Inch Nails fan site stands as a sad milestone for those dedicated members of many years, but the merging of the two sites brings good news for both veteran members and non-member NIN fans: free access to Nine Inch Nails.  Spiral members may mourn the exclusiveness of The Spiral; however, this eradication of fan site exclusivity and fees acts as an integral part, if not a good faith statement, in Trent’s quest to alter the face of the music industry.  The archaic methods of labels revolve around close control of the product, but the idealistic musician behind Nine Inch Nails now gives the power to the people–all people, rather than just paying fans–with creative commons releases, free access to pre-sale tickets, and “inside” band updates and photographs.

Nevertheless, veteran Spiral members mention a good point: What prevents scaplers and brokers from simply registering as a fan on the new site, stealing front row, reasonably priced pre-sale tickets from dedicated fans?  And the other privaledges rewarded to Spiral members, such as admission to sound checks?  Perhaps exclusivity did properly weed out the mediocre fans.  Hopefully, and surely, Trent has reasoned through these issues.

Simply stated, Trent treats his fans right, and I doubt he would merge the sites without ample thought and care.