Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

I know no one reads this, and anyone who sees this entry already knows about this. And I know Trent Reznor is not the most prolific musical artist out there releasing albums (see Aidan Baker, Machinefabriek, etc), but this Free NIN album is pretty unprecedented. Considering that Year Zero had so much (very creative) hype leading up to it under the huge label, it's so crazy to have two NIN albums in a year released without warning.

Now that Trent isn't on a label, he somehow feels comfortable releasing music for free? I don't understand except that I love that. "This one's on me," he says. Considering how many songs this guy has written under the NIN formula, writing songs must come pretty easy now. He can probably release an album each season with all the dudes helping him mix and write. I don't mind. He might try to get some other singers together for the next one. Trent's voice isn't bad, but he's not trying anything new with it (again). On The Fragile he tried so many new things with his voice. He went for a jazzy approach often at times, and on this album it sounds like, well, year Zero 2.6 or With Teeth 13. Although I do love the "oohs" on "Discipline." They remind me of a gay cowboy jumping through his own spinning lasso to the beat. The culmination of parts at the climax of "Demon Seed" is also great.

Still, (heh) while it all sounds nice, it covers a lot of the same sonic territory as the last couple "normal" Nails albums (Ghosts the exception). It's as if Trent likes to sing when there's a crumbling disco beat, but not if there's banjo. Come on, figure it out! Remember when you listened to Downward Spiral or The Fragile and you thought you were somewhere? There is a landscape to those records. Year Zero did it pretty well, too. The layers were way more mysterious. This one starts going somewhere with the instrumental pieces in the latter half, but then we're back at the Crowbar in track 10 (albeit a more subterranean, good jam) . I guess that's the landscape then: End of the world experienced in a discotecque, with occasional , quieter bathroom breaks -- a year zero b-sides dance/mope-a-thon, if you will.

I think Trent will be transcending the whole "record review" market with this move. I mean, why would anyone review the record on their sick ass hip music site? The only point of reading one is to assess whether or not you want to buy the album. And this one's free, so F that noise.