Nine Inch Nails - Broken

Nothing Records: 1992

Feels like I've come another full circle, having started this blogging project with an unexpected dive into Nine Inch Nails' discography. Closer, The Downward Spiral, Further Down The Spiral, and Fixed came from a previous owner of those CDs, but I was intrigued enough by Reznor's music to also spring for The Fragile and Ghosts I-IV. Now, as I crawl ever closer to some sort of proper conclusion to this project, I've come to Broken, the last of the big EPs from the band's '90s output. Except The Perfect Drug, but I kinda' already have that since Lab 4 nicked it.

Broken came out at an interesting time in the Nine Inch Nails saga, by which I mean an utterly turbulent, tumultuous test of Trent's resolve. Despite the success of his debut album, Reznor wasn't reaping all the rewards for his efforts. He felt TVT Records was dicking him around (because they were), and was looking for a way out of his contract with them, even going so far as to record new music on the sly under different aliases. It did land him with Interscope Records, and his own Nothing Records, but TVT somehow still had their fingers in the pot (to say nothing of how those label deals turned out later, but that's a discussion for another time). Throw in the killer combo of a world tour that wasn't turning out as they'd hoped, and it's unsurprising that angst-filled thrash vibes were seeping into Trent's sonic palette. Hey, anything to distance themselves from the 'synth-pop' tag TVT so carelessly tossed on them.

The result was Wish, where distorted guitars sound like they're being ground up and chewed back out by the machinery of industry, only to finally unleash their full fury in the chorus (a few 'fuck's thrown in for good measure). Heavy metal industrial was already in existence, but few put as much production detail as Reznor did here, a song remarkably dense for something so primal. Last is more of a standard thrash rocker, while Happiness In Slavery gets thicker in the industrial muck with EBM basslines and digital distortions. Final track Gave Up comes off rather quaint in comparison, muffled for much of its duration, at least until a raucous close-out of shouty, thrashy noise, as if to drive home the point that Nine Inch Nails is anything but a 'synth pop' band.

When Broken first came out, it was followed-up by a mini-EP with extra songs, a gimmick that would carry on with Closer. That was soon changed, second runs of Broken simply adding the tunes to the regular EP, but indexing them as tracks 98-99. Yes, this is one of those CDs, with 90 seconds of silence eaten up by second-long tracks. Hey, if there's fun to be had with the format, have at her. Oh, the songs themselves? Decent hard industrial rockers, but not worth the wait to hear them. Thank god for instant access on computer devices!

ACE TRACKS: December 2012

Fair warning: for the next week, I’m embarking on a quest. One where I know few, if any of you, are willing to endure with me. This was a long time coming, a project that started out even before my days at TranceCritic, though never saw completion. In fact, it was a trial run of sorts, getting the handle on writing music reviews on the internet, though in this case for an already accepting audience. It is also, by far, the geekiest thing I will write about, as this upcoming 7-disc box set is, by far, the geekiest thing I have in my music collection. With barely a smidge of electronic music within, I don’t blame you if y’all check out after the first review. And fair enough if so – have a holiday from this blog, return after Boxing Day. However, if by chance you area fan of this gaming series (!!), then think of the coming week as a big ol’ holiday present.

Okay, enough of that. Let’s get to some ACE TRACKS of three got’dang years past. Holy cow, there was still only one Hobbit movie when I was listening to these!


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Disco Dub House: Mixed By Carl Michaels
Various - Dimensions In Ambience 2
Technical Itch - Diagnostics
BKS - Dreamcatcher
Ornament - Bleu
Felix Da Housecat - Devin Dazzle & The Neon Fever


Percentage of Hip-Hop: 14%
Percentage Of Rock: 29% (if you want to include The Downward Spiral as rock)
Most “WTF?” Track: Charles Manier - Bang Bang Lover (Dance Mix) (what the Hell is he saying!??)

Bloody stupid album version of Absolutely Fabulous cutting off at the peak of the track. Seriously, who does that? So stupid, and I’m so sorry y’all must suffer hearing it that way too, no full version available on Spotify. Also, way too many cool albums missing as well, but so it goes with the older stuff.

What we do get for Decemeber 2012 is a lot of ambient dub (shock!), a little tech-house smash, a filling of ‘electronica’ mint (Underworld! Daft Punk!), a dash of dream trance cheese, and bunch of Snoop Dogg with Trent Reznor at the end. Straight forward enough, with a few fun sequences thrown in there. *whew* Almost finished the ACE TRACKS backlog too. Savor these times, friends.

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine

TVT Records: 1989

S’up, Nine Inch Nails? Remember when I went on a binge of your music a while back, nearly every month having a review for you? It’s been a year and a half since I last wrote about you though, and that flame I felt for Reznor’s vocals, dense industrial rock production, and album craftsmanship has dwindled some. Maybe it was only meant to be a brief flirtation anyway, as so many explorations outside one’s comfort zone go. I’ve no doubt I’ll return to The Downward Spiral and Ghosts I-IV at some point, but did I really need to indulge The Fragile? Perhaps not, but it was good for me at the time, so no regrets at this late point. And yet, after such a long dearth of NIN in my diet, I get to tempt my palette once more with the album that started it all, Pretty Hate Machine.

Hmm, it tastes… kinda’ plain? Oh dear, this really is a debut album, isn't it. I give Reznor all the credit in the world for persevering with his passion project, but it’s clear there’s quite a bit of musical growth ahead of him. The song-writing is rather straight-forward for industrial rock, though considering ol' Trent was helping define the genre at the time, that's not surprising. Still, it was Reznor's bold experimentation in the ensuing decade that intrigued me, and Pretty Hate Machine is in old-school mode, owing more to gothy new wave and early EBM than thrash metal and dense sonic manipulations. It’s a sound many, many, many others would emulate throughout the ‘90s (some undoubtedly inspired by Nine Inch Nails), so doesn’t come off as sonically amazing compared to Reznor’s later efforts. Plus, there’s a sense he’s still playing a bit with conventional rock song writing, mostly intent on getting his lyrics across with rhythms and melodies in service of them. Ah well, it’s better to learn the rules before you break them anyway (erm, even if industrial was all about breaking rules to begin with).

Honestly though, I'm more fascinated by the process Pretty Hate Machine came into being and the success that came with it. No matter your taste in music, you have to admire Reznor's gumption, creating his demos during studio downtime while working as a janitor. Then he settles on TVT Records to release it, a label that wasn’t known for much of anything beyond soundtracks and scores even then (though they did release The Timelords music too – maybe that’s what attracted Reznor to TVT?). Following that, a whole lot of underground buzz bloomed, Nine Inch Nails finding an audience with tech-savvy metalheads and the like who dug on those cold electronics with the guitar riffage and angsty singing. Soon enough, Pretty Hate Machine is hailed a classic, even though Reznor was quick to move on from it. It goes to show if you have the dedication, you can accomplish anything. Okay, it also doesn't hurt having something unique as your final product either.

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV

The Null Corporation: 2008

This is the last one, I promise. Well, at least until we get around the ‘P’s, if I decide to pick up Pretty Hate Machine (might as well, right?). I’m astounded that I now own this much Nine Inch Nails material, gathered up in such a small frame of time (helps when friends are offloading their old CDs). I mean, there were odd tunes here and there that I liked, thought were interesting, didn’t mind if they happened to air, but little that’d make me go, “Okay, let’s do this!”, and properly dive into Trent Reznor’s discography. Something had to be a catalyst though, to finally pique my curiosity enough to take that leap, and that would happen to be this here album, Ghosts I-IV.

Actually, it was a single track off here that did it, used as the backing score to this fucking awesome video of the Cassini Mission to Saturn, created by Chris Abbas. The images are already lovely, but the accompanying music stunned me when it was revealed as a Nine Inch Nails piece. The band was doing music like this? And not as a simple one-off filler, but a whole album’s worth? Wait, two CDs worth!? I’ve misjudged you, Nine Inch Nails, may I experience more?

To be fair, nearly two hours of pleasant, ambient doodling can get tedious (yet Brian Eno’s had a long career peddling such stuff), even with such a tantalizing piece as 2 Ghosts I leading the way. The whole project isn’t really about that though; rather, having finally freed himself from any and all record contract obligations once his deal with Interscope ended, Reznor desired to free himself of any and all creative direction. In other words, no specific themes or album concepts, just musical expression and experimentation, letting the muses of everyone involved to go where it may. Swell… jazz, then.

Heh, no, but Ghosts I-IV does get rambly after a while. As one can expect with drifting muses, the music comes off like half-formed ideas, bits and pieces of something that could have been made into a greater whole had Reznor went down that road instead. With so few breaking even the four-minute mark, it’s the sort of music you’d expect to hear as transitional pieces on a proper album, or weird experimental remixes on Side B. I can’t say I was ever bored with Ghosts, as there’s enough stylistic variation – glacial piano drone, brief industrial freak-outs, distortion-fuzz rock jams – that’ll keep your attention, just to hear what odd-ball sounds will come with the next cut. At the same time though, so much of it comes off like teases, musical ideas deserving of more care.

Apparently Ghosts was intended as a one-shot EP, and perhaps it should have remained as such despite Reznor and co. enjoying all the results. It’s akin to one of those ‘studio sessions’ rock bands often release as bonus discs to their classic albums, only missing the classic album. Interesting and oddly enjoyable, but unessential.

Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile

Nothing Records: 1999

This doesn't feel right. For those singles, sure, no problem. Remix EPs? Ain't no thang. Even a critically hailed album in The Downward Spiral? Relatively straight-forward, as I'd heard most of the big tunes off that one at one time or another, not to mention all the positive press its received several years after-the-fact made it easy figuring out what to expect and enjoy.

The Fragile is an entirely different case though. As Trent Reznor's third proper Nine Inch Nails album, an absurd amount of expectation was weighed upon it. Not only were folks wondering if he’d maintain his creative momentum, but might he even rescue industrial-rock from the doldrums the genre was suffering? Let’s be honest here: that scene had turned passé as nu-metal’d risen to prominence in the late ‘90s, nor was it done any favours by goofball hits like Rob Zombie’s Dragula. If ever there was a time to re-establish industrial within the public conscious as music with creative ingenuity and passion, that time was now (er, then).

Since all most remember from alternative rock at the turn of the century are bands like Limp Bizkit and Creed, it’s safe to say The Fragile failed to make the impact many hoped it could. To be fair to Reznor though, he may never have intended the album to generate such acclaim. It’s always a dubious endeavour for rock musicians to attempt the double-LP, critics ready to pounce with claims of hubris overshadowing talent. Still, Reznor had built up a decade’s worth of good will, thus The Fragile garnered plaudits for ambition, if not sales numbers.

So here's my conundrum: this album's been regarded as something of an 'art rock' experience, one that won't reveal itself with immediate catchiness, but with subtleties to be enjoyed after repeated listens - and I'm sure I will after a few more plays; hard, thrashing rock and oozing, ambient experimentation definitely makes this one enjoyed in a proper play-through. Unfortunately, due to my ridiculous self-imposed constraints, I don't get repeated plays to provide an in-depth analysis of The Fragile, merely what a couple quick listens offer mere days after I've removed the shrink-wrap. So... essentially how most enjoyed the album that first week it hit the streets.

And...? It's a good album, with subtleties I'll enjoy after repeated listen, but lacking those instantly memorable tunes one could still expect on a Nine Inch Nails release. No Closer, Wish, even Perfect Drug (the stop-gap single released a couple years prior). For sure, good songs abound on The Fragile, but they feel more as a part of a greater whole, whereas tunes off The Downward Spiral could stand alone just as well.

Yes indeed, it’s unfair that I must write a review of The Fragile without ample time to properly digest its contents. Oh well, I’m sure there’s exhaustively in-depth reviews of it floating out in interwebland. I’ll just leave off with the confirmation that, yes, it’s a worthy addition to the Nine Inch Nails legacy.

Nine Inch Nails - Further Down The Spiral

Nothing Records: 1995

I swear I never intended to get such a crash-course in Nine Inch Nails’ peak years. I figured it’d come as a slow, gradual process, assimilating Reznor’s music at a comfortable pace of my own volition. Oh so fool hardy of me to think thus. It’s almost as though ol’ Trent intended to release so much material within such a narrow alphabetical range, such that should anyone attempt to listen through their music collections in that order, they’d be forced to go through Nine Inch Nails discography almost all at once. It even makes me want to pick up The Fragile now, just to complete the process. Oh what the hell, I may as well.

Until that shows up, however, here we get the remix EP to The Downward Spiral, Further Down The Spiral. I’m not sure why it’s considered an EP though, as its runtime easily makes this a proper full-length remix album. And like all Nine Inch Nails remix projects, an attempt at creative a cohesive listening experience is repeated, a small collection of artists and producers called upon for all eleven tracks.

Returning from the Fixed remix project are industry icons Coil and J.G. Thirlwell (most well known as Foetus). Coil’s trippy, psychedelic take on The Downward Spiral actually ends up sounding like something The Orb was producing in those days (which may have contributed to Dr. Patterson getting tapped for a remix on The Perfect Drug a couple years later), while three different version of Erased play more to Coil’s twisted sense of choking soundscapes (the short Polite version notwithstanding). Meanwhile, Mr. Thirlwell gets his hands on Mr. Self Destruct, and brings the thrashing original closer to a proper industrial work; good for what it is, but his remix for Wish still ranks as his best.

Reznor adds a little distortion to Hurt, and studio associates Brian Pollack and Sean Beaven turn Self Destruction more clubby. Let’s face it though, the real draw of Further Down The Spiral is the special guest producer on hand. That’s right, let’s give it up for Rick Rubin! He gets to work with Piggy, where-

Eh? What do you mean there’s another special guest providing a remix? No he isn’t. Oh, he was approached to do so - guess someone in Reznor’s camp (Trent himself?) noticed that oddball Aphex Twin chap shared a similar noisy aesthetic, and thought he’d make for a welcome addition to the Further project. Turns out, however, Richard D. James couldn’t be bothered to even listen to the original track to remix, and simply sent some unreleased material instead (legend purports he initially used the excuse of “sped up entire song to use as a snare” to get away with it).

So you ended up with a Nine Inch Nails remix album, plus two new Aphex Twin tunes (both of which skew closer to his drill’n’bass period). Guess Futher Down The Spiral becomes essential purchasing if you’re a completist of either act.

Nine Inch Nails - Fixed

TVT Records: 1992

With the release of Pretty Hate Machine, Trent Reznor made his Nine Inch Nails project an overnight success story. In adding more punk angst, it dragged the industrial scene out of quirky obscurity where only noise terrorists and silly jack-booted Belgians and Candadians existed, and back into the radar of rock enthusiasts. Sensing the momentum, the ensuing NIN tour utilized far more thrash, which further inspired Reznor in the studio while making the Broken EP, abandoned most of their debut’s obvious electronic influence altogether. Or maybe he was just really, really, really pissed off by TVT Records’ control over his work. Anyhow, Broken was a success as well, but the band never bothered with a tour for it, likely because Reznor was already in the process of making The Downward Spiral. And with that, I thank you, oh Lord Wiki.

In the meanwhile, a remix EP for Broken was released, titled Fixed. Remixes for industrial were hardly new, but as NIN leaned quite heavy into rock’s arena at this time, it probably came off confusing to all the thrash kids eager for more. Tough beans, chaps, you’re about to get a history listen here, as Coil’s in the mother-fuckin’ studio. Something of a super-group of the early-early industrial scene, having the duo lend their noisy blessing to Reznor’s project properly legitimized NIN with even the most stubborn doubters. Their mix of Gave Up chops the tune up and adds plenty of electronic noise, but the beats are almost pure rave (Belgian new beat!) with their clicky-clack percussion complementing.

Another industrial luminary shows up for a remix of the kick-ass Wish, J.G. Thirlwell, he of Foetus fame. He takes the thoroughly thrash elements of the tune, runs ‘em through a sample grinder, and adds more tribal rhythms. Hey, this shit is even better than the original! At nine-plus minutes, it’s like the Awesome Extended Mix, or something. (in case you couldn’t enough of that, there’s also Fist F*@$ at the other end of the EP, essentially the ‘dub’ version)

The other three Fixed tracks are Reznor and bandmate Chris Vrenna tinkering with the song themselves. Their re-rub of Happiness In Slavery is more of a regular EBM take on the tune, while Throw This Away and Screaming Slave sound like experimental test-runs of what The Downward Spiral would feature in finished form. Not essential, but it does provide the EP with a little variety.

Remix EPs have a tendency to be pointless fluff, save the odd killer cut (hint: that’s Wish in this case), but Reznor wanted Fixed to stand on its own just as solidly as the Broken EP, and as a body of Nine Inch Nails music, this CD is definitely one of the stronger singles to be found. This band was only getting better as the ‘90s took form. Thank fuck I’m finally discovering this, even if I’m two decade late to the party.

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

Nothing Records: 1994

One of ...oh, who knows number of industrial albums you're supposed to have, even if you're not a fan of industrial music. I've barely scratched the surface of that scene, so there may be at least two dozen releases the discerning rivethead will point you to. The Downward Spiral, however, received critical acclaim across the rags, properly exposing the rock world to the world of industrial ...again (oh, how the originators were forgotten because of EBM). All hail Reznor, then, for bringing respect back to the industrial scene! ...for a few years anyway.

Man, what the hell am I supposed to say about this one? I've only just recently heard this album in full, although I'm familiar with the big hits like Closer, Hurt, and March Of The Pigs. The fact it's taken me this long to check out an album that's hailed as a classic of the 90s – of any genre – leaves me soundly kicking myself. It even falls into my sphere of musical interests, being electronic and all. Yeah, there's thrashing metal and other elements of rock throughout, but that shouldn't have shied me away from it. I liked The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, after all, and Trent Reznor's a far better producer and musician than either of those acts.

I have only the music industry to blame. 1994 was still reeling from the loss of their current rock poster child, Kurt Cobain, and left scrounging for another Next Big Thing. Instead of scouring for potential new stars in other scenes, they stuck things out with grunge, hoping acts like Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, or, if you were Canadian, Our Lady Peace would be the next Nirvana. Or hey, how about that Brit-wave thing, with Oasis and Blur maybe rescuing rock from post-grunge doldrums! Oh please, anything but industrial, where only weird computer hackers enjoy it. They are the only ones that enjoy it, right?

After all, who could like this? Okay, so The Downward Spiral has some amazing production going on; an incredible attention to all the little details, yet keeping things smoothly flowing as each song progresses. If Reznor’s a good musician then, why can’t he make something more radio friendly? All that choking industrial distortion, creepy sound effects, eerie ambient passages, counter-pointed acoustic melodies, and shout-singing that sounds as though the machinery of society is holding all his angst back - that no matter how much he tries to make his voice heard, it will forever come through only in a digitized, garbled mess of noise. Geez, none of that can be played on any respectable airwave. Maybe that “fuck you like an animal” song, if he cleans up the language.

So thus, The Downward Spiral was initially relegated to the fringes, where yours truly never noticed it until the momentum it caused for industrial rock made it impossible to ignore. Would I have liked it had I heard it the year it came out? Hell no, I had ‘techno’! *kick, kick*

Nine Inch Nails - Closer

Island Records: 1994

Also known as that “fuck you like an animal” song. In fact, I think it’s all anyone knows about this song. Well, except for the opening kick-snare, which immediately alerts people that the “fuck you like an animal” song is starting.

And no, I didn’t go back on my word from the last review. This is electronic music. Nearly all industrial music is to a degree. However, because it’s primarily the rock scene that latched onto the sound, it's often overlooked when considering the whole of electronic music’s heritage. There’s more to it than that, of course, but I’ll get into it when I’ve an album more appropriate.

Meanwhile, let’s talk Nine Inch Nails. Or, maybe you can tell me more? Truth is I’ve barely given Trent Reznor’s band notice over the years. What I heard, I thought was cool (especially that “fuck you like an animal” song everyone was playing!) but my bed was firmly in the ‘techno’ camps back when NIN was blowing up, and my limited purchasing power reflected that. Fortunately, now that I have disposable income, I can go back and rediscover that which I foolishly bypassed. Or, in this case, gather up friends’ CD collections whenever they’re looking to offload them.

As a single, Closer is an odd one. Apparently it was released as a double-digi pack, but with only one CD within, the second of which had to be purchased at a later date. Guess that’s one way to test fanbase loyalty, and I’d be astounded if anyone could pull it off now.

Of the two CDs, there isn't much difference in terms of tone. The first has the version of Closer everyone’s familiar with even to this day (“Hey, Bro! It’s that ‘fuck you like an animal’ song!”), a funky Jack Dangers remix that almost sounds like what a Lenny Kravitz cover would end up as, and various other industrial-metal, noise, and sonic experimental cuts scattered about the rest. The second CD mostly reworks other songs from The Downward Spiral, the main highlight being an awesome EBM-thrash version of Closer called Closer To God. Compared to the first CD, these cuts are a nice break from hearing Reznor constantly telling me he wants to fuck me like an animal (wait, huh?).

Overall, this is a solid single for fans of 90s industrial - the ironic-fascist, angst driven, cyberpunk sort. If you’re just looking for the “fuck you like an animal” song though, best stick with the simply titled track Closer .