Friday Not-so-random Eleven

Greeting, chum(p)s! I'm back for another Friday of listening to music, giving my opinion (snarky or brilliantly insightful, depending on how I feel at the moment), and then posting these musings for the whole world to see. This morning I downloaded, for FREE!( Legally, even!!!), The Slip, by Nine Inch Nails. Let's have a look under the hood:

1. "999,999". The album starts off with this cool swirling instrumental, kind of reminiscent of Ghosts I from his recent "Ghosts" project. Nice way to build up the beginning of the album.

2. "1,000,000". This next track starts off fast and angry, with an experimental spirit. I have to tell you, after watching American Idol a couple of weeks ago, listening to this stuff is a much-needed breath of fresh air.

3. "Letting You". Of course, the down side of experimentation is when things go inevitably wrong. This song, I don't like so much. It's not awful, but still.

4. "Discipline". This starts off like a dance club thumper, and a deliciously unedited false start. The subject matter of the lyrics is predictably angrosexual, but it's got a good beat, and you can dance to it.

5. "Echoplex". Hmm...I think I've actually heard this one on the radio a week or so ago. It has kind of a cheesy 80's Casio beat, but it works for this song. He's also put together an inspired break-down, build-up. Good stuff.

6. "Head Down". Excessively noisy in some parts, but overall, pretty good. The soaring chorus is really what saves this song from mediocrity. Plus, at the end, it kind of sounds like a modem, so bonus geek point for that.

7. "Lights in the Sky". After the noise of the previous track, this song is just piano and voice (plus some barely audible background hissing that starts about halfway through) . In an album full of experimentation, this stripped down song might be the bravest.

8. "Corona Radiata". The start of this song blends in with the end of "Lights in the Sky", and this one is a long one: seven and a half minutes...this pattern usually doesn't bode well for the listener. However, this instrumental track is well done: a mellow, hypnotic dirge for the first 5 minutes, which then eases into a slowly building soft cacophony that doesn't try too hard.

9. "The Four of Us are Dying". This album continues to show surprising depth and range. Another instrumental track, this one sounds like what would happen if The Cure did a song for a James Bond movie.

10. "Demon Seed". The name of this song doesn't give me much hope, but let's give it a fair shake here. Hold on while I listen...Ok, I'm back. Yeah, it's pretty much filler. But good filler.

11. Radiohead - "Pyramid Song". Well, the NIN album was only ten songs, so in order to fulfill my contractual obligation, I needed one more song. This one eerily fits in perfectly.


As a reward to those patient enough to actually read to the end of this post, I offer you a link to the free download of the new NIN album, The Slip.

But wait, that's not all, if you act now, I'll throw in, absolutely free, this link to download the first album of the 4-album NIN project, Ghosts I-IV. How can I afford to do it? Brain damage!!!



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Listening to: Snoop Dogg - Drop It Like It's Hot
via FoxyTunes