Nine Inch Nalls
“The Day The World Went Away”
(single)
Nothing/Interscope
Grade: B+
Something old, something new,
something borrowed, something blue.
That’s what you’ll get, a hodgepodge of
material, on “The Day The World Went
Away,” the first new single from Nine
Inch Nails in over two years.
A week ago, the single hit airwaves
at radio stations across the nation. NIN
fans were struggling to even get a piss
poor recording to send across the
Internet to folks whose radio stations
hadn’t yet got the single.
All through the Internet, sites
popped up with the track in MP3 file
format, only to vanish a few hours later.
Reports of “NINCops” asking people to
remove the track ran rampant.
Then, Tuesday, the single was final
ly released. In an ironic twist, on the day
that “The Day The World Went Away”
appeared in stores, the official website
... went away.
WWWNIN.com shut down early
that morning and stayed gone for a day
before reappearing. Now, the site asks
for a username, password, email address
and zipcode. No one knows what this is
for and speculation is running wild.
Nothing Records, Nine Inch Nails’
mastermind Trent Reznor’s record label,
has said that riddles abound in the dates
that the single’s been released, die com
ing and going of the website and it’s
starting to seem like Reznor’s gone
Riddler.
• (Riddle me this, Reznor, how much
longer do we have to wait for “The
Fragile,” the new album?)
Reznor is Nine Inch Nails, though,
so he’s allowed to toy with us all he likes,
even though die waiting is driving many
NIN fans crazy. It was 1994 when the
last NIN album, “The Downward
Spiral” was released and 1997 when the
last NIN song, “The Perfect Drug” was
released.
But now the single is out and the
album is on the way. (We hope.)
The question remains: Is the single
any good?
Oh, hell yes.
There are three tracks on the single
(which is selling for about $3.50 at most
places) and they really are about as
diverse as possible.
SOMETHING NEW
“The Day The World Went Away”
was not what most people were expect
ing the new Nine Inch Nails to sound
like.
It has no drums.
The guitars are thick, fuzzed and
layered alternating with very quiet,
almost whispered vocals. In many ways,
the track seems more like something
that would have come from shoegazer
bands like My Bloody Valentine or The
Jesus And Mary Chain that from the
man who told us what he wanted to do to
us like an animal.
Again, there are no drums.
“The Day The World Went Aw'ay” is
also a very relaxed track. It has a brood
ing intensity to it, but it never really
grabs for the throat. In some ways, that
makes die track oh so much better.
If anything, the song sounds like a
track from his “broken” EP that’s been
slowed down to a third of the speed. It
could also be Reznor’s attempt to make
an anthem for the maniacally depressed
of the world.
“I listen to the words he’d sayJ But in
his voice, I heard decay/ A plastic face
forced to portray/ All the insides left
cold and grey/There is a place that still
remains/It eats the fear, it eats the
pain/The sweetest price you’ll have to
pay/The day the whole world went
away.”
Talk about bleak.
Instead of anger, there’s a sense of
weary despair, and perhaps even a little
strength drawn from the despair. It’s
almost as though Reznor has learned it’s
his pain and anger he feeds off of, but
just because he feeds from them doesn’t
mean that’s all he is.
Regardless, it’s a very conscious
dMK Harris
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definitive change for Reznor and a very
welcome one. Like most artists, they
reach a point where they want to make a
big jump from their past. Inevitably,
these artists either make a flop of a
record or an incredibly great one. If the
rest of the record is as experimental and
risky as this (which Reznor has
claimed), “The Fragile” promises to be
one hell of a record.
SOMETHING OLD
Never let it be said, however, that
Reznor wanted to make a complete
break.
The b-side to the single is
“Starf***ers Inc.” and sounds like it was
lifted straight horn die same recording
session that produced the “broken” EP,
and the subsequent “fixed” remix EP.
Here, there are definitely dnans.
The track is a collaboration between
Reznor and remixer Charlie Clouser
who has done a couple of NIN remixes
before.
With the b-side, Reznor kicks the
adrenaline back in and pumps out a
pulsing, racing track that is going to be
incredible to hear live.
The guitars here have that “broken”
buzz to them and the vocals have been
toyed with that reminisces to the very
broken vocals on several of the “fixed”
tracks.
Part of what’s really nice about this
track, however, is all the little back
ground sounds that include squeeling
guitars and swirling synths. At some
points, the sound even feels like the
song “Sin” off NIN’s first album,
“Pretty Hate Machine.”
The lyrics to “Starf***ers Inc.” are
brutal and the music incredibly in your
face.
Luscious Jackson
“Electric Honey**
Grand Royal/Capitol Records
Grade: B+
Luscious Jackson have scored more
breaks than most bands. They were rec
ognized by the Beastie Boys and were
signed to their label. For their second
M-length album, U2 producer Daniel
Lanois manned the Control boards.
Now, for theirthird album, “Electric
Honey,” they nab mix master Andy
Wallace, the producer who gave Slayer
and Nirvana an oil-slick sheen to some
of their best works. They also scored a
killer guest vocalist by enlisting the help
of Deborah Harry.
All of this wouldn’t make a bit of
difference if Luscious Jackson didn’t
have the talents to back up their studio
help. And “Electric Honey” is their
most consistently enjoyable album to
Like ‘Tever In, Fever Out,” their last
album, the band opens with a song that
dares you not to hit die ‘replay’ button
on your player. But instead of “Naked
Eye,” the listener is treated to the boun
cy, “Electric Breakthrough.” While
many artists are rushing to incorporate
rap into their musical arsenal, in
Luscious Jackson’s case, the rap ele
ments seem natural and not novelty. The
rap elements fit perfectly midway
through “Nervous Breakthrough,” giv
SOMETHING BORROWED
“Starf***ers Inc.” has a couple of
things that aren’t so original, though.
At one point in the song, Reznor
comes across as a demented Carly
Simon, bellowing ouf^feu’re so vain. I
bet you think this song is about you.
Don’t you? Don’t you? DON’T
TOU?!?!” While it does work within the
song, the first time, I think everyone
shook their head
There are also elements of KISS’s
“Shout Out Loud” worked in at the very
end of the song.
In many ways, it’s fairly obvious that
“Starf***ers Inc.” is a reference to pro
tege-gone-bad Marilyn Manson, whom
Reznor had a falling out with not too
long ago.
The fact that Reznor incorporated a
bit from KISS, another band in makeup,
only helps to further that suspicion.
SOMETHING BLUE
To close out the single, Reznor
included the “quiet” version of “The
Day The World Went Away.”
It opens with a wordless singing that
sounds eerily similar to Pink Floyd’s
“Another Brick In The Wall Pt n,” but
then continues with piano and back
ground guitars so far in die distance that
they sound like crackling electricity.
True to his word, it is a very quiet
rendition of the single and invokes
memories of “Something I Can Never
Have” from “Pretty Hate Machine.”
All in all, the single bodes incredibly
well for “The Fragile.” Expectations are
running very, very high and the two-disc
album is expected within the next few
months. It certainly won’t be for every
one, but it has all the potential to be phe
nomenal.
-CliffHicks
ing it a deep grove to coincide with the
airy funkiness of the opening beat
Though the band has been scaled
down to a trio (keyboardist Vivian
Trimble left the band), they actually
sound more unified and confident on
this outing.
Songs like “Alien Lover” and “Sexy
Hypnotist” give the listener a good indi
cation that “Electric Honey” is meant to
be enjoyed and not analyzed to death.
Sure, the titles are silly, but die band’s
fluid as water delivery is so intoxicating,
you don’t care if you can decipher the
lyrics.
Like “Fever in, Fever Out,” die band
loses some steam towards the end of die
album. A trio of songs, “Fantastic
Fabulous,” “Gypsy” and “Beloved”
toid sound like they’re three parts of a
very long song.
Still, it’s a relief that Luscious
Jackson released this in the middle of
the summer. Like their label mates
album, “Hello Nasty,” “Electric Honey”
succeeds both at making a cerebral
work and at making a great summer
album: an album meant to listen to
while driving around with the windows
down on a humid day. And unlike such
other summer fluff (basically anything
off the Billboard Top 10 right about
now), you don’t feel like you need a cav
ity filled after listening to this sweet
release.
—Sean McCarthy