Saw these guys up at the (new) Intersection in Grand Rapids tonight. Pretty damn good show. Not a bad showing for a Monday night. As always, I was dead center at the barricade. Fun Fun.

FIVE FINGER!
DEATH PUNCH!
FIVE FINGER!
DEATH PUNCH!

A word about the Intersection…  For those of you that haven’t been there since they’ve moved into their new locale, you’re in for a surprise.  Gone is the old, grungy, long-bar setup with the ancient phone booth.  The new joint is brand spankin’ new and is huge — but as with all things new, it has no character — no charm at all.  It’s a yuppy lounge up front and a huge concrete floored concert hall in back.  Nice place to see a show, I suppose, but I miss the old Intersection.

I was thrilled when I got the email last night, informing me that my copy of Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust was ready for download. Quickly downloaded my lossless FLAC audio files, eager to hear what Trent and Saul had come up with.

What can I say … Some tracks are exactly what I expected, others stray away from what I had invisioned, but in a good way.

Imagine Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, Public Enemy, Seal and The Blue Man Group or Cirque du Soleil all stranded on a Carribean island with nothing but Trent Reznors iBook Pro and some studio mics.

The tracks range from mellow and minimalist to insane and chaotic. Each of the tracks carry a common thread that is unmistakably Trent Reznor — A few tracks reek of NiN so much they would be just as comfortable sharing CD surface area with Head Like a Hole or Vessel.

This release includes a cover of Sunday Bloody Sunday that was obviously the work of Trent Reznor himself — it’s a great track and gives Mr. Williams an instant radio-ready launch pad to the mainstream, but frankly I’d rather hear Mr. Reznor on vocals.

Time to get some work done while I run this on repeat for a few hours and let the music sink in and get a big more familiar.

The Used have been on my top 25 for the longest time — The Bird and the Worm video has got to be my favorite.

Lyrics: (more…)

The “Love Child” of Trent Reznor and Saul Williams, NiggyTardust, is being release Nov. 1st — The method of release is pretty nice “fuck you” to the recording industry machine. Pay 5 bucks to get super-high-quality MP3 or FLAC versions of the music, or pay nothing at all and receive the 192kb MP3’s that you’d otherwise have to download using a torrent. Both version will come with a .PDF with artwork and lyrics. Best of all, no DRM, so you can listen to it pretty much any way that you want.

From the desk of Trent Reznor:

Big news today!

As many of you know, I’ve been working closely with Saul Williams on his new record. We’ve spent many hours together in hotel rooms, busses, backstages and studios around the world working on something we knew was great. This is the most involved I’ve been with any project outside NIN since Antichrist Superstar, and I’ve been impatiently waiting for the chance for you to hear it.
Well… guess what?
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! has arrived!
After my own recent dealings with record labels we decided to release it directly to you. Head over to www.niggytardust.com for all the details. Register now and you can download the record November 1st.
Working on this project was a real pleasure. Saul was interested in breaking boundaries / crossing genres / defying expectations and we learned a great deal from one another in the process. When asked about the sound of the record, I’ve had to resort to “… I really don’t know HOW to describe it.” That’s a good thing more than ever these days.

A word on the way we’ve chosen to release this.
There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just released their new record and the way we’ve chosen to. After thinking about this way too much, I feel we’ve improved upon their idea in a few profound ways that benefit you, the consumer. You obviously will be the judge of this in the end. One thing that IS very different in our situation is that Saul’s not the household name (yet!) that Radiohead is, and that means we need your support on this more than ever. If you like what you hear, spread the word.

I hope you enjoy the music,

TR

Not sure why I’m diggin’ this song so much — No “real” video for it, but here’s the best youtube had to offer…

Just got an invite that has me all warm and fuzzy feelin’ — Yes, I do occasionally get warm and fuzzy. Seems I get to go see these guys at The Riv on Thursday.

Pretty thrilled about one of the openers, Austin based band, The Black Angles.

(more…)