Trent Reznor: "No wonder people steal music" and the Fragile revisited

I caught this tidbit off of the NINHotline recently. Trent's last blogpost made it into a Digg article and attraced so much attention that the dudes (Alex Albrecht and Kevin Ross) over at Diggnation featured it in one of their podcasts. They do a fabulous job summing up Trent's views of music file sharing, his disapproval of how the record industry openly screw over fans, etc. Basically, the post backs up just how much Trent gets how this generation of music listeners function. Up yours, Lars! Poop on a stick indeed.

Like I've said so many times...TRENT LOVES US (and of course we love Trent too.) See, it's one big appreciation orgy.

Anyhow, this gives me a good excuse to post about a NIN album that came out in 1999. I've been wanting to revisit the Fragile for some time now. I can see all the NINers rolling their heavily made up eyes at me all in unison right now, but I have to say it is definitively my favorite NIN album of all time. I do love Downward Spiral but just 1st half in all honesty and I think heavy rotation of some of the songs on the radio while growing up causes me to not play TDS all that often at home. Sounding incredibly trite, I'll go ahead and say The Fragile has aged like a fine wine revelaing it's complexities with each listen. It's taken me several years to even bother with analysing the lyrics because music itself is so intricate. Add to that Trent's confessions of drug and alcohol abuse during the album and the liner notes suddenly take on a whole new meaning.

I'll admit, I'm kind of a heel when it comes to talking about Trent's lyrics. I think it has to do with the AAA or ABABABABA rhyming scheme and over use of the words: fade away, believe, echo, hands and knees, skin, deep(er), eye...you get the picture, but fundamentally he's better than most, so I'll shut the fuck up. Surprisingly when I did take a gander at the lyrics for the song "Even Deeper" (one of the best off of the massive 2 disc album) I found well written prose:

I woke up today
To find myself in the other place
With a trail of my footprints
From where I ran away
It seems everything Ive heard
Just might be true
And you know me
(well you think you do)
Sometimes, I have everything-
Yet I wish I felt something

Do you know how far this has gone?
Just how damaged have I become?
When I think I can overcome
It runs even deeper

In in a dream Im a different me
With a perfect you
We fit perfectly
And for once in my life I feel complete-
And I still want to ruin it
Afraid to look
As clear as day
This plan has long been underway

I hear them call
I cannot stay
The voice inviting me away

Do you know how far this has gone?
Just how damaged have I become?
When I think I can overcome
It runs even deeper
Everything that matters is gone
All the hands of hope have withdrawn
Could you try to help me hang on?
It runs...

Im straight
I wont crack
On my way
And I cant turn back
Im okay
Im on track
On my way
And I cant turn back
I stayed
On this track
Gone too far
And I cant come back
I stayed
On this track
Lost my way
Cant come back



In the spirit of sharing music, I've got a link to one of my favorite NIN songs off of one of the "rare" singles, We're in This Together Now pt. 3 which I believes goe for the low low price of $89.99 used on Amazon.com at the moment. It's a fucking sexy track with a groovy beat and heavy base. Hearing Trent harshly whisper "Give it to me..." makes me weak in the knees every single time, let me tell ya!

Via Satellite: Cities are Temples

My friend Shawn has the best taste in music, so when he tells me to check out a band, I know it'll be good. I was suprised to learn that 2 of the members are from The Album Leaf another band I recently learned of that I really dig (I first heard of them when I watched the Moog Documentary...and congrats to Tim Reese on his recent marriage to longtime girlfriend Jennifer, BTW.)

Be sure to read their profile on the CD Baby page. They're very frank about the growing pains this group experienced when they first started up and I think this has a lot to do with why the words "intelligent" and "poignant" are often associated with them. There's a quote from the Tim Reece, the drummer:

"The hype was never what brought people to this band, it was the music."

I have to agree because up until my friend Shawn mentioned Via Satellite, I had never heard of them and yet, I purchased the album Cities are Temples immedately after hearing their 30 second song clips on CD Baby.

Here's Shawn's review:
I think this is a really great band. They've got a really cool, laid back, "intellectual"
electronica sound - it reminds me somewhat of David Bowie's Heathen album. According to their biography, they're a trio: an ex-minister, a lit major, and an artist/psychologist. Sounds like an interesting combination of folks to me.

The Poem Adept: Songs for the Long Lonely Drive

I'm a relative newcomer to Found Magazine having only discovered the website a few monts ago. I have, however, been a huge fan of Post Secret for some time though, so you can imagine my excitement when I realized the two fellows who started their respective projects, Davy Rothbart and Frank Warren, were coming through my town for a lecture. I had a blast at the event, but what was unexpected was a performance by Davy Rothbart's brother, Peter Rothbart of The Poem Adept.

Peter, who has a gentle vox similar to Paul Taylor and performed on acoustic guitar, writes a lot of songs inspired by found objects. Sometimes he even incorporates the written text on the various notes in these finds into his lyrics. The finished product is often poignant and sensitive. Somethimes they're rip roaringly funny. For instance, one of the songs he performed was a "cover" of "The Booty Don't Stop" (you can hear the original song and even purchase a CD version off of the Found website). This was adapted from a cassette tape found in Ypsilanti, Michigan that belonged to an aspiring rapper named Tim Schreiber. Whether Tim is flattered or mortified, I'm not sure... Let me tell you, people were rolling on the floor laughing their heads off with this one.