Giving Us "The Slip"

Well, there's finally an album that's "100% free".

On the early hours of May 5th, Nine Inch Nails gave the world "The Slip", a 10 track album acting "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."

Unlike that other band that released a "free" album last year (folks, it's not completely free), "The Slip" seems like a more considerate and better served album than "In Rainbows". For one, there are several options with the quality of the tracks, and all of them are high-quality. There's artwork included in a PDF, shoot, they even give you the lyrics embalmed in the songs, so no need to purchase a CD for better quality or artwork of the album. And it's released under Creative Commons, so you can remix it and use it freely for noncommercial usage. The music ain't bad either: it's a blend of noise and melodies, music ranges from pretty piano ("Lights in the Sky"), to sullen ambient ("Corona Radiata").

And Reznor also offers the hard copy in CD form in July too, so that's good news for those of us that likes to have a physical copy.

Reznor's activities and antics lately brings contrast to another band that are credited with so much fanfare and "innovation": Radiohead. It was quite funny that the press will say a band has "pulled a Radiohead" whenever someone distributes music online. Sure, Radiohead was the first major artist to do this kind of online distribution, and they should be acknowledged. But it seems like that they're not completely comfortable with online distribution, and has no plans of further developing their method of online distribution.
The Thom Yorke said that "In Rainbows" was just a "one-off". Certainly, I was disappointed when I heard the news, but not surprised. I was a bit irritated that to remix "Nude", you have to pay for its stems, I mean, Radiohead has the potential and talent to be trail-blazers in this new digital world, but they don't want to reiterate themselves into the "In Raibows" world again. But who knows, Thom Yorke and Co. might try their hands on other interesting methods.

Oh well, there's still Reznor. He's fully believed in the whole concept of "digital distribution is the future", and has become a true innovator. The times are a-changing, and Reznor is taking his place as one of the first leader.

Oh My God, It’s Ghosts!

My Story

A week ago at around 9:00 PM, I was among the many NIN fans that screamed “oh my God!” into their computer screens. That’s right, Nine Inch Nails actually released an album, I mean, albums, online last Sunday.


Reznor had been hinting on something big for a couple of weeks prior to the release of Ghosts I-IV. At around 7:10 PM on March 2nd, he posted “2 hours” on his blog, I was expecting something by the 9’0 clock hour, but not something this big.

When I connected to www.nin.com at about 9:00 PM, the site changed pretty drastically. And more importantly, there was the text that said “Ghosts I-IV is available RIGHT NOW” on my computer screen.

I froze for a second to take it all in, but then I immediately went to the fan forum, and of course, people exploded. I typed in some inane comments about how excited I was and went straight to nin.com to get my hands on Ghosts.

But alas, it was not that easy.

I was able to cruise past the options page that listed all the editions that you can choose from. I clicked on the $10.00, 2 CD option and tried to proceed, but the pages after that couldn’t even load. Apparently most of the people have the same problem as me, because the site was so congested with people trying to order. The early birds that did get their order through reported that they have trouble downloading the files. It was chaos and confusion.

Then we came to the conclusion that we broke the NINternet , LOL.

However, I did managed to listen to the few selected tracks at AinR, and I was delighted with new music. After I calmed down a bit, I read more into the release: it is a 36 tracks instrumental album described as “music for daydream”.

Dude, that’s trippy.

I had the burning desire to own the album, to listen to it, so I went over to Amazon to buy the album for $5.00. Loaded it into my iPod, and I was amazed at the variety, the texture, and the depth.

I was able to get my order through the next day after one failed attempt. But problems didn’t end there, even though I received my receipt, my download link is nowhere to be seen (as I’m writing this, I still don’t have the download link). But I let that go, because I already got a MP3 version and managed to snatch the Apple Lossless version that I wanted from somewhere else. I got what I paid for, even though it wasn’t from the download link.

Here Comes the Analytical Stuff
The first thing that the press said about this release was that NIN pulled a “Radiohead”. While it is an acceptable analogy, there are some significant differences.

One, this is not a pay-what-you-want method. Even though there are variety of options for the customers to choose form, Ghosts have a set price. It’s offering different packages too, and this distribution method seemed more well-thought out than In Rainbows.

In Rainbows seemed more about donation, Ghosts seemed more about business.

Reznor is not giving the whole thing away for free (theoretically), instead, he used the method of free-samples to get people to buy it. he offered 9 songs for the free (through BitTorrent, no less) to build interests. He seemed more cautious after Niggy Tardust , and takes the mind of a businessman.

He took time to make this a worthy and fair purchase also: for $5.00, you get 36 songs, a PDF, and DRM-free, high quality files in the format that you want. One of In Rainbows’s complaints were bad quality, well, Reznor’s effort solves that.

Reznor is a vocal advocate for online distribution, and he’s a good man for taking a step. While he is not the first one to try online distribution (no, the first one is NOT Radiohead, they’re the first big act to do that), I think that he offered the best method so far. Business-wise. That is not to say that his method this time is perfect: the servers didn’t do their jobs right.

Of course, due to high volume of downloads, their site crushed, and people started screaming that their downloads doesn’t work. Perhaps it was poor-planning on their part, or perhaps they underestimated their fanbase.

But he fact that the site crushed and that they sold out their $300 edition under 2 days is a good sign, this means that they have business. People are coming in and giving him money. The downloads of Ghosts were ranked high in torrent sites, even if they didn’t get people’s money, they got their ears.

And here’s a larger question: will this method work for others? Yes and no. for big and well established bands, I think this plan would work fine. There’s your cheap and worthy download at a low price for the poor and the casual fans, and there’s your expensive deluxe edition for the hardcore.

For unknown and the smaller bands, I think the Radiohead method works better. The donation-esque method is not as imposing. Even a low set-price may drive away customers because they don’t know the band and are not familiar with the music, a $5.00 may sounds outrageous to them for an unknown band, I would think it’s better for them to donate according to their own will. Donating and buying is two different things. You also don’t need extra accessories like quality and PDF to satisfy your customer (but it would be nice), since the general expectation is lower for things like that with a smaller band. They don’t have the fanbase for deluxe editions either (at least not for $300), a simple release should be able to do the trick.

But who knows what the future holds? More well-known artists have to participate in order for us to imagine how things will be.

A Few Words on the Saul Williams Stats

As said before,in October Trent Reznor announced that the Saul Williams album Niggy Tardust will be a digital release, which you can get it for free or "donate" five bucks. Well, unlike Radiohead, who is all secretive about the stats of their In Rainbows "experiment", Trent Reznor announced the stats on the Niggy Tardust album. To quote:

"Saul’s previous record was released in 2004 and has sold 33,897 copies.

As of 1/2/08,
154,449 people chose to download Saul’s new record.
28,322 of those people chose to pay $5 for it, meaning:
18.3% chose to pay.

Of those paying,

3220 chose 192kbps MP3
19,764 chose 320kbps MP3
5338 chose FLAC"

These data at first disheartened me a bit, since I paid $5.00 without any considerations and couldn't quite fathom why 81.7 % of people chose to pay nothing. Does people really see no value in music anymore in the age of piracy? I even posted on a messageboard about whether musicians should even consider the "free" option.

BUT, after reading other people's thinking and thinking it a bit myself, I guess my first reaction was wrong. People are going to get it for free if they want to, it's getting easier and being justified more and more and there is no point anymore in trying to make people pay for music anymore. While 18% is a bit low in my opinions, others said that it's still making a good profit. Yes, they make more than $140,000 on this so far, but you have to take into account the expenses involved with making a record. According to Reznor, this record didn't sound like it's made in a cheap studio with some cheap engineers. Then there is the point of "well, this record gain Williams more fanbase than he ever had"(with Reznor acknowledged at the end of his post). While I do agree this may be a long-term investment, but I guess the essence of Reznor's post was about what others can expect from a distribution method like this, and how much cash they can make from it.

And I guess these statistics will not apply to ALL the others that will come after them. The Saul Williams situation is a bit unique: He is an obscure artist, with a major artist backing him. I would expect that most of the people who downloaded this album (like myself) are NIN fans, and didn't want to risk $5.00 for something that they don't know if they will like or not, because hey, they want that $5.00 to buy a cup of Starbucks coffee, goddamnit.

There are some many more factors contributed to the results as it is. Just scroll around messagboards and comment sections and you will see the whole convention of people discussing it. Do these stats say alot? I don't know, I guess we will have to see more stats from different artists. But it's laudable that Reznor posted his stats and shared it with people. It's not clear how much Saul Williams and Reznor had make on this record, but the record is still online, and there will still be people downloading it and (maybe) pay for it.

But whatever distribution method figure out in the future, it seems that you should expect the majority of the people to get it for free, and a minority of them to pay for it.

Attack of the Radioheads

Seriously, does every end of the year "Best Albums" list has to have Radiohead's In Rainbows as #1?

The totally innovative, out of this world and brilliant method of distribution * must have blown everyone's mind, and let this overshadows the music. Not that I hated In Rainbows, but I just never find it so excruciatingly amazing. Maybe it was because everyone went on and shouts: "OMG, In Rainbows is totally fucking awesome!" because that sort of stuff tends to annoy me and alienates me. I tried to love In Rainbows and "get it", but I just never did. Sorry. I completely understands that some people truly loves this fucking record, but I just didn't get the big deal about the music**.It's certainly better than a lot of crap that came out this year, but was it really that extraordinary and such a masterpiece? Maybe it was because I'm not sophisticated enough to like +(some) songs that has no hooks and no dynamics. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks that this album was so fucking overrated.

And now every time I read that In Rainbows is #1, I just roll my eyes. And if any Radiohead fans reads this, they probably wants to curse me. Hey, I'll still buy the CD version of In Rainbows and continues to like Radiohead, but shut up about
"In Rainbows is not only the best album of the year, but maybe the decade."


*This statement was totally exaggerated and sarcastic.
** Despite saying this, I will continue listen to "In Rainbows" and try to "get it".
+ This is not to say that all of the songs have no hooks and no dynamics.

And There's the Grammys...

This is a bit late, but, I got to say it: The Grammys suck.

It's predictable and totally commercialized. The Grammys does not recognize musical talents but musical commerce. Whatever is on the radio gets nominated. Whoever is the buzz that year gets nominated. Those established Grammy favorites gets nominated every time. I've realized a while ago that the Grammys are irrelevant,it's just a spectacle for the media and give a chance for the labels to pat themselves on the back.

So let see who's nominated:
Amy Winehouse is everywhere this year, so of course she gets 8 nominations. Kanye West won the sale contest with 50 Cents, so he gets nominated. Beyonce, check. Justin Timberlake, check. Fergie, Check. Nickelback, check. Daughtry, check. What you hear on the radio is what you get.

Then there's that awful "Hey There Delilah", and Foo Fighters got some pretty high nominations. I like the Foo Fighters, but "Album of the Year" ? "Best Rock Album"? Foo Fighter's average album is the best, huh? Well, it's better than Daughtry.

Whatever, LOL.

Gem of the Day: Courtney Love's Blog

When I first came across one of Courtney Love's blog postings (on moonwashrose.com), I was absolutely fascinated by it. Not by how well-written or how it resonates with people, but by how it was so incoherent and how Courtney Love posts about personal things. Her posts were just simply a rant, a long rant filled with grammatically errors and spelling mistakes.

Then I came across her post again today, that post was linked to Sputnik Music, and she talked about Radiohead. While I'm sure she has some very in-depth thoughts on the Radiohead distribution plan, I couldn't understand 1/5 of her post. This is her original post:

Originally Posted by Courtney
as for radiohead= they didcnt jump off a REAL clifff, they bungee jumped you KNOW the kamikaze pilot in me wnats to do the same dfamm thing excapt wuith my a lsit mnaterial, with the real thing- theyve made 9.7 m,illion in 3 weeks this way and its live junk-= not junk as radioheaddoesnt really amke JUNK but its live - most of it heard before( wich youve all heard liveversaionbs of things veryvery different than non live versions of things) i really think it couldf work do all my magazine covers in january - so the lead time in there kamikaze thropugh my junket my oprah my tv **** n the 2 week leaD UP and just jump of f that cliff i love doing things really first im greatful for radiohead for making the first move- id do it differentlyt -= thats why b sides are no longer b sisdes but have to be a sides to an extent-= cos theyre EXTRA TRACKS now wich can mean up to 500k to such and such sponsor coty./my space etc. ... i justthinjk offering about 10 songs but your best for "free" witha what am i worth sign not just NINs cast offs i mean yopur a sides- i don t know im percolating- i love risk and most everything ive ever done well has been because everyone said iw as crazy to do it-= thazts why words liek "risk management" and Rime management:" are4 resonating with me now.

Huh? What is she talking about here? I can sort of figure out that she said she appreciates Radiohead doing their "free" download thing, and something about a-sides or b-sides, something about NIN castoffs, and something about money. But other than that, I'm not smart enough to understand her.

And after looking around, I found a generous person translated Courtney Love's post in a language that I (sort of ) understand:

Originally Posted by Courtney Love Talks Radiohead
As for Radiohead: they didn't jump off a real cliff; they bungee jumped. You know the kamikaze pilot in me wants to do the same damn thing except with my A-list material, with the real thing. They've made 9.7 million in 3 weeks this way, and it's live junk—not junk, as Radiohead doesn't really make junk, but it's live—most of it heard before (which you've all heard live versions of things very, very different than non-live versions of things).

I really think it could work—do all my magazine covers in January so the lead time is there, kamikaze through my junket, my Oprah, my TV shit in the 2 week lead-up and just jump off that cliff. I love doing things really fast, I'm grateful for Radiohead for making the first move—I'd do it differently.

That's why b-sides are no longer b-sides but have to be a-sides to an extent, 'cause they're extra tracks now which can mean up to 500k to such and such sponsor company/MySpace, etc. I just think offering about 10 songs but your best for "free" with a 'what am I worth' sign—not just NIN's castoffs, I mean your a-sides—I don't know, I'm percolating. I love risk, and most everything I've ever done well has been because everyone said I was crazy to do it. That's why words like "risk management" and "time management" are resonating with me now.

Okay Courtney. And yes, I totally bookmarked your MySpace.

RIP Demonoid

"The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding.
---From Demonoid.com
First Oink, then Demonoid. Wow.

I was never an Oink user, but I do understand the site's importance to some people. I'm also not a Demonoid member (though I did used it before), but this is too much.

The music industry's woes will not be solved by forcefully closing down torrent and file sharing sites. If you want people to buy music, lower the fucking price of the CD! Stop blaming the music piracy and think about what you did wrong, and try to find a way to embrace the Internet instead of oppressing it. The more you push it down, the harder people will rebel.

Yay, Another Way of Selling Music

The distribution method of Saul William's new album, "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggytardust!" is what I think is the best reaction of the post- In Rainbows "experiement" . Even if it's just merely a few weeks after the news that Radiohead released that shockwaved the whole industry.

It's an improvement on the In Rainbows way of paying your money, with a set price of $5.00 or choose to pay nothing. Also, you can choose 192kbps, 320kbps, or Flac files ( better quality than In-Rainbows)if you choose to pay $5.00. If you choose not to pay, fret not, you still get 192kbps. Sweet.

And, it includes artwork and lyrics. Yay, now I know what the hell they're talking about.

Now I paid my $5.00, mostly for the cause of it. Besides, Trent Reznor produced it, so it should be interesting. It should also be mentioned that Reznor himself said he would like the same method of distribution in interviews couple months back, so I guess NIN will possibly employ the same method for the future. And yes, NIN should put a physical thing out too if they use this method mentioned above, as long as they don't cost $80.00 like In Rainbows.

Also, I heard "Break" off of Niggy Tardust, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was rich and complex, has texture and depth. Much better than comtemporary hip-hop.

Trent Reznor is Happy

It's not ending yet. So...
OMG! NIN is now independent! Like Trent can do whatever he wants now! He's not on Universal or Interscope anymore!

Yes, Mr.Reznor says goodbye to his record label, finally. After his anger and dissatisfactions directed toward his label, it's good to hear that he get to do whatever he wants. He's been saying that he's eager to get off of the label since March (or at least that's the first time I really heard about it, not counting the time he was with battle with TVT).

Here's the whole statement from www.nin.com :

08 October 2007: Big News
Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make the
following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally
free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have
been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the
business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very
different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a
direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.
Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.
Exciting times, indeed.
posted by Trent Reznor at 10:45 AM. 1203 Comments

So yeah, it would be interesting to see where he goes from there. I have a faint idea of what he's going to do (but what do I know?), I think he's going to distribute his music directly from his site (or some site), have some sort of cheap price, and people get their music directly from him. At least that's what I think he's going to do, according to things he said interviews.

And he's planning it for a while now, I can tell.

I was surprised that he announced so suddenly, I expected it to be later. But, sooner the better. Established acts should be leading the way. While this will not trigger evolution or anything, this can be a catalyst of change to come.

Radioheads are Smart Businessmen

OMG! They put the new Radiohead album on the net! For free! For download!

I pre-ordered Radiohead's new album "In Rainbows" (got to say that's a bad title, in my opinion) last night. I just have to be part of this most groundbreaking, innovative, and futuristic musical distribution event ever in the history of the Internet and download music! Plus, I like Radiohead.


I've got to admit, I do think that this method of distribution is quite clever, giving it the appearance that they're giving the album to the people for free, thus gaining them more reputation among the Internet-oriented music fans. I've also got to say that they're the first major act to openly use this method, and thinking about a solution for the selling of music in the collapsing industry. In the way, they're thinking about the future, and giving other artists the result of their "experiment" and let the others further develop a way to distribute their own music.

But really, the album is not free.


First, it's released also as a super deluxe version that costs like $40 in US dollars (or something). Second, they asked for "donations"! I would think when most of the people pre-ordering the album on downloads would feel guilty not giving them a bit of money (I gave them 2.00 in Euro, since I'm poor and charging the credit card of my father). And I assume, people who order that album are at least have some interests in Radiohead, making them more vulnerable to the "donation" tactic. And hard-core Radiohead fans? They're throwing their money in there.

Of course, you can put 0.00 in that donation box, and I don't really think that will be a large fraction. The album can be free, but really, it's not free.

Of course, there's people saying that "I'm going to pay nothing, then I'm not even going to listen to it". Ha ha.

Various News Roundup

Marilyn Manson is Angry
Marilyn Manson said that Gerard Way is ripping off his style. Okay Manson, when are you going to apologize to David Bowie and Alice Cooper then? I don't like My Chemical Romance either, but this just makes me dislike Manson more, what a way of the pot calling the kettle black. I can rant on and on about Manson's attempt at grabbing attention (dating a 19 year old (now 20) and his publicized divorce). But whatever.

Paris Hilton Goes Back to Jail
Most of the time I like playing devil's avocate, but this time, I'm happy about this news item like everyone else. I was quite angry when I heard about her getting out of jail just after 3 days, and that proves that money can get you out of anything. I was pissed. But now she have to serve her full sentence, so suck it Paris.

Here's some real news:

Global Warming at G8 Summit
It's a good thing that the leaders finally address this issue and actually attempt to do something about it. It's a step, and we may take a long time to be able to walk, but it's a step.

In other stuff:
I just saw the Pride Parade, lots of drag queens, biker chicks, half-naked dudes, and a bunch of bears. Good times. I saw couples that were together for many years and were just recently married, it's quite heart-warming. Now the bible thumpers wanted to put an option of banning gay marriage on the ballot in 2008, and if it does, I don't think there's enough people that will vote "no" on banning. There's lot more conservatives in America than you think, and they're the powerful ones.

Finals, Music Chart, and Summer Reading!

It’s been busy as hell in school, with all the final testing coming at you at once. But you got to take it as it is. We just got through the biology final, which was okay, and I'm pretty sure I fucked up on at least serveral questions. Then next week is the English, then next next week is algebra, Latin, and whatever else, woot!

Anyway, with all of this whirlwind, I still managed to find some time to keep an eye on the music chart. I’m always baffled at what’s on top of the charts, I don’t even know why I care anymore. I don’t know if people really want to be force-fed Daughtry and Nickelback, or that they really believe that the album deserves their buying. Ahhhhhh, who am I to judge?

Commercial success is not about quality, it’s about status and promotion.

As the summer approaches, so is all sorts of exciting summer activities. And because the school hates its students, we have summer reading to do. And seriously, most of the students are just going to read it the two weeks before school starts, and write some half-assed report on it. At least this year’s format is more interesting, and breaks away from the “summary-character-comments” format. “original writing” of the students, as they put it.

God, I hope it’s going to rain.

Rant of the Day: Hipsters and Metal Heads

You know what irritates me?

Indie-pseudo-intellectual-holier-than-thou-hipsters. Stop fucking talking about Of Montreal, Arcade Fire, or whatever band you read on Pitchfork.

Once the band sells more than 500,000 they’re going to piss all over the bands that they praised to high heaven. Talk about flip-flopping and narrow minded.

Same goes to I-just-like-guitars-and fuck-electronics-metal heads. Stop talking about how a band “isn’t metal enough”, or how a band doesn’t scream enough.

Once a band put out a record that isn’t as “heavy”, they’re going to spit all over the band and call them “gay”. Talk about meat-headed and closed-minded.

Of course, all of this yapping from me isn’t going to help. And what demographic do I belong to? I don’t even want to know.

P.S. Who the hell is buying the new Lavigne disc? Wait, I had her last two albums, things you do when you’re younger…Now I’m a flip-flopper.

Mass Suckers

It is just another sad thing that I see.

People at the end of the day just want something that’s easier, something that won’t challenge them. They want fucking packaged pop, escapist but not thinkers.

This week there is two major releases---Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero and Avril Lavigne’s The Best Damn Thing. One is a dense concept album with a challenging theme and sound, one is an album with pop songs designed for Top 40. Which one do you think is going to sell more? Lavigne, of course.

According Hits Daily Double, it looks like Avril Lavigne is expected to debut #1 with about 250k in sales, while NIN should be right behind her with about 200k in sales. While the margin is not big, I was a bit sadden by it.

PEOPLE JUST FUCKING WANT DISPOSABLE POP.

Yes, NIN has Internet buzz with the ARG campign, has mostly positive and some very positive reviews, (yes, the album is great). But it touches darker subjects---mass sedation, a controlling government, rebellion, a giant hand of god---stuff that makes for good science fiction. Set in place 15 years from now, it represents a bleak future, and perhaps something that the mass does not want to think about. Hey, there are still a lot of people who still won’t believe that global warming is upon us.

Lavigne, on the other hand, has something better (in terms of sale)---she has Top 40 radio play, a bunch of TV appearances (how punk is that?) and a mass-circulated video. She got mostly average to negative to reviews, but does it mean anything? Nickelback sold a ton.

I guess that’s why most of the time discs that ends up in “Best of the Year” list is usually things that wasn’t a mass –commercial success (again, mostly), because to achieve critical success, it has to be challenging, daring, interesting, and audacious. The average mass is not going for that, they just want something normal, something peaceful and something ordinary.

And who am I to judge?

I don’t even know why I should care anymore.

The Definitive 200

The Definitive 200 is the list that the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame came up with for music lovers, or something. Not surprisingly enough, the list is consists of albums that sold a ton with some artists of minimum talent (though perspective may vary). And of course, The Beatles is #1.

I printed out the list to see how many album I own on the list, for a minute I thought I own none of it, but it turns out I own 10 out of 200 albums that’s on the list. Including:

The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem

Speakerboxx/The Love Below by Outkast

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ by 50 Cent

American Idiot by Green Day

Eminem Show by Eminem

Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park

OK Computer by Radiohead

Diary of Alicia Keys by Alicia Keys

The Black Albumby Jay-Z

Dangerously In Love by Beyonce

7 out the 10 album are hip-hop and R&B, so does it mean that I own more classic hip-hop and R&B album than classic rock albums? And the funny thing is, only about 21% of the albums that I brought are actually hip-hop and R&B. So this means that I only buy mainstream, top-selling hip-hop album? I guess.

God, I knew I should have brought Nevermind and Ten.

Weekend Playlist

Wolf Like Me
By TV On the Radio
From Return to the Cookie Mountain
Fuzzy guitars mix with blaring bass, with dreamy backing vocals on the background. Can’t help but sing along to it.


Ruby
By The Kaiser Chiefs
From Yours Truly, Angry Mob
It’s all in the chorus. In fact, their new album (which Ruby is on) Yours Truly, Angry Mob is full of delightful big choruses.


In This Twilight
By Nine Inch Nails
From Year Zero
With a crackly noise that recalls a rusting machinery, this song has a extremely melodic chorus that showcased Reznor’s singing ability. The crooning makes a great morning listening when riding on the bus and the sun is rising (ironic), or setting (as the title say).



Living For the Weekend
By Hard-Fi
From Stars of CCTV
An electric lead from the song goes permeating into a working class anthem---shitty job, long hours, and the celebration of the weekend. From the debut album Stars of CCTV, this certainly match loads of people’s mind.



True Mathematics
By Ladytron
From Light and Magic
The throbbing bass goes together with the slashing drums to create a dance track that hard-hitting. Points added to the weird vocals in a foreign language that’s probably made up.




Years later if I read this, I’ll know what I was listening to. Isn’t this what a blog is about?

PS. Writing about music is like dancing about architecture, and I sound a pretentious music critic.

Is "Better" Worse?

So, "Better" from the long awaited Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" was leaked, now it's rumored to be the first single.

I heard it about a week ago, and the local radio station was playing it yesterday, with a lot of people calling in and say :" This sucks!"

The funny thing is, I DIDN'T think it was THAT bad, maybe it's BECAUSE I'M NOT A GUNS N' ROSES FAN.

It's been what? Sixteen years since the last album (which is a little bit older than me)? Fans are fed up, tired of Axl Rose saying that Chinese Democracy will be released whatever year. This album has to be THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER RECORDED (okay, maybe not that much) to restore people's faith. And that track was not the greatest thing ever, so people are pissed (even more), and this applied to the GNR fans. Fans hated it more than non-fans, because Chinese Democracy meant more to them, so when they're disappointed, there's no mercy.

And you know, people's opinion are easily influenced, then once the initial impression is established, it's hard to change. So when the first wave of people who heard it (i.e the fans)and the view spread, people everywhere are starting to say this is bad. And those who say that this track is good will likely to get flamed and be called a over-obsessive fanboy/girl.

To be fair, like I said, it's not THAT bad. The beginning is bad, with Rose singing in falsetto (which sounded horrible)and some atmospheric sounds (as one radio personality noted, "it sounded like NIN"). Then there's a period of whatever the hell and it kicks in a (pretty) straight forward hard rock riff (with Axl Rose sounding better now). Near the end there's some more industrial-rock like electronic bleeps in the riff. And sadly, Axl tried to scream in the end, and again, it sounds horrible. For a while it sounds okay, maybe even good.

Wonder if this song was released, I don't know, 14 years ago, it would have a better reception. But it's not, so too bad.

My Favorite Pitchfork Reviews

Pitchfork Media is of course one of the most important music site on the planet as we know, and no, I don't constantly read their reviews. But, known also for their pretentious ranting about indie bands and bloated reviews that leaves you scratching your head, here are some of my favorites:

Autechre
Untilted
[Warp; 2005]
Rating: 7.4

This review is not a review, but instead a play. It involves a conversation between the Tortoise and Achilles about the Autechre record. What better way to review a record than this memorable way? Somebody put this on Broadway.

Audioslave
Out of Exile
[Interscope; 2005]
Rating: 6.8

This one is awesome and it makes me laugh. In the author's own words, the review is about "Fresh out of exile, Chris Cornell is trying to re-adjust to the real world. Cornell has one problem, though: He only communicates using Audioslave lyrics". Really, it's funny. Here's a sample:

"Chris Cornell at the eye doctor:

Eye Doctor: So what's wrong, Mr. Cornell?

Chris Cornell: I've stared straight into the sun.

Eye Doctor: You can't see anything?

Chris Cornell: I've seen 50,000 names all engraved on a stone.

Eye Doctor: So you see some things, but not other things.

Chris Cornell: Send my soul away.

Innovative indeed.

Next we have Jet, again, it's not a review, but a Youtube video:

Jet
Shine On
[Elektra; 2006]
Rating:

I would think that this was rated 0.0. Since the video was about a chimp reliving himself.

Next:
Tool
Lateralus
[Volcano]
Rating: 1.9

This "review" was written in the perspective of a Tool fan. Basically it was the fan talking how good music comes in the cycle of every 16 years. it brings out the stereotype of Tool fans likes doing math and that kind of shit. Did the reviewer even listen to the record? I didn't see any straight-forward description of what the music on the disc sounded like. You can't blame them, since major label artists suck (in the eye of Pitchfork), right?

Why not another Tool review?
Tool
10,000 Days
[Volcano; 2006]
Rating: 5.9

The reviewer was not a Tool fan to begin with, because: "At 28, I'd feel funny mocking 15-year-olds still finding their place in the world. And as for taking them seriously-- well, I take Tool about as seriously as I do black metal or Lil Jon or the films of Tsui Hark. Which is to say, not very."

How can a review be fair if you already dislike Tool to begin with? Even if all the reviews are subjective, let's not make it this fucking obvious.

"If only the music had one-tenth of the Public Image Limited song's power. Instead I find myself in the awkward position of trying to sell you on the merits of a deeply uncool band by telling you to go buy their last album instead.
I guess the more opinionated, the better. No, I'm not that big of a Tool fan and I don't think 10,000 Days is a great record, but that review was just so subjective and predictable.

At last but not least:
Nine Inch Nails
The Fragile
[Nothing/Interscope]
Rating: 2.0

The reviewer complained about the record being bloated and predictable, but the irony is the review itself is bloated and predictable. I don't even know long the review itself it, but it just rant on about how much Nine Inch Nails is stupid and Trent Reznor sucks. It critized The Fragile being not concised enough, and the review itself was not concise itself.

And yeah, let me point this out:
" 1:49am: "Even Deeper," a track mixed by Dr. Dre, spits aluminum riffs into my headphones. The entire concept of pairing of Dr. Dre and Nine Inch Nails, a match ,maid in Kornboy heaven (or most likely the Interscope commissary) is laughable."

It's "made", not "maid".

Of course Pitchfork Media has its legion of haters, and I would think that reviews like that contributes to it.

Year Zero=Science Fiction

Yes, Nine Inch Nails is releasing a new album on April 17th, and it is titled Year Zero, and things are getting a bit creepy (in a good way) for the promotion of this album...

There's a trail of websites containing an apocolyptic images and description of the USA, set in place around 2022 (or as the websites say, 0000). The government controls the media, adding substances to the drinking supplies to (possibly) control and sedate its citizen, an army controlled under God and religion, a new drug named Opal, and the Presence (aka the Hand of God)...

Here's the websites that's related to Year Zero:
I Am Trying to Believe
A site first discovered by fans, noticing on the back of the tour T-Shirt with the letters highlighted the above phase. A website that talks about Parepin, the substance added to the drinking supplies.

Be the Hammer
I don't really know what this is, a resistance site as some suggested.

Chruch of Plano
A Chruch website

105th Airborne Crusaders
The army under God.


Consolidated Mail System , appearently a ... mail system in the story...
Also the Consolidated Mail System, but you can't do anything with it.


Another Version of the Truth Clikck and drag the mouse around, there's a forum around
HERE,

There's audio clips around, and yes, ONE TRACK HAD LEAKED, "My Violent Heart" was found in a bathroom in Libson, Portugal, and all hell broke loose.

Yes, I heard the track, it's awesome.

There's static noises at the end of the song, and some fans analyzed this noise using spectrograph, and got this:






And in www.iamtryingtobelieve.com, there's this:

Fucking weird.

And of course, if you want to join the discussion and snoop around ,you can always count on this: Echoing the Sound Forum

This is very cool...I can now honestly say that Trent Reznor is a smart guy, he knows how to work things...

What I Brought Yesterday (or at least some of it)

I was planning to buy this album after "Smile" really grew on me.

Usually, when I buy albums base on the single I heard (I'm one of few who still buy the whole album instead of downloading the song), the album just have a few good songs. But not this one, I can say the whole album is great.

It's full of melodic clashes, the poppy atmosphere dominates the record, and there's the beat that keeps you moving. In other words, it's like one of those Top 40 hits, except it's better and not make you want to tear your hair out.



Also brought: Saul William's self tiltled sophmore album.


It's hip-hop, except with less profanity,less bragging and more meaning. The music itself it's not really what hip hop now sounds like: it's simplistic, a blend of electronics with a little (just a little) rock edge.

His lyrical intentions is much better than the usual "I got my hos and bitches line up, and my blings are thicker than your neck" kind of boo-hah. It's about life, proverty, politics and society.

Of course, he won't blow up because he didn't talk about his hos and bitches.