Weird, I'm pretty sure that Sasha Frere-Jones pretty much is describing (more eloquently...cuz this is, uh, his job!) thoughts on NIN that I alluded to re: ritual/theater/objectification in an earlier C-Ville Weekly piece and follow-up here as well. Is the New Yorker hiring?
Check check 1 2 1 2:
A) Interview with David Benson of DBB Plays Cups. I've played a few shows with David; people who've seen more than one have a hard time believing it's the same band. The last show we played was at Gravity Lounge and featured Rob Froetscher (who conducted the above interview) and Gary Canino, both of whom David invited to play with the usual minimal preparation. Thanks to all who came out!
B) Mildred Pierce #3 -- third issue of a zine put out by John Bylander, an all-around great guy and artist who once called Cville his home. I need to order this and the other issues.
C) No more NIN?
Things I did not have space to mention in my C-Ville Weekly review of the Nine Inch Nails + HEALTH gig from last week:
1) Nine Inch Nails concerts are really about a sort of empathy. Trent isn't actually a tortured artiste, so much as a shaman leading the audience through a collective rockist ritual in which a safe space is created for highly organized, socially acceptable representations of entropy and disarray. Per lyrics from "The Wretched": "Now you know/This is what it feels like".
2) Reznor has gone from being a scrawny, reluctant sex symbol in the 90's to a mega-pumped, ultra-masculine stage presence. The show was often about using overwhelming might and mastery to tap into the collective rock libido.
3) Lots of my musically inclined friends consider NIN a punchline. The joke's on them. I challenge you to name another group that has managed to combine elements of Prince, Bomb Squad Productions/Public Enemy, Ministry, King Crimson, Einsturzende Neubauten, etc. into such a winningly pop-oriented melange. And at last Wednesday's gig, I heard hints of crunk and R&B in some of the tracks from Year Zero. The lyrics, as in most great pop music, range from nonsense to inspired nonsense.
4) A meathead asked aloud of the audience members down below: "Why don't you ******** start a pit?" The crowd occasionally broke into the mosh routine, but mostly people danced and sang along; NIN's MO was always to make music that suggests headbanging but really encourages hip-swinging.
5) HEALTH were nasty live. I saw them at the Bridge last year and they were one of the most thrashing, visceral groups I'd caught in a while. They sacrificed none of that energy on this high-profile opening act slot. Farsheed had caught them live at the Pitchfork Festival and was a bit less than impressed with their sound in an outdoor venue on a sunny day. Their new material suggests that they are learning how to effectively manage the aesthetic and acoustic demands of playing in ever-expanding venue spaces.
6) My friend, Greg, pointed out that HEALTH's drummer was wearing an Obama shirt...and that it would be really hard to imagine ANY rock musician wearing a Kerry shirt.
Whatever yr thoughts on Nine Inch Nails and their music, the idea of putting out a remix album with a bonus DVD that has all the individual tracks from their Year Zero album is pretty cool. And it would've been even cooler if Universal would let Reznor et al go forward with a website for fans' remixes. If anybody wants to post remixes of NIN or other artists up here, feel free to lemme know -- frankly, when I get a little downtime I might even put one or two up here myself.
