Trent Reznor seems to be just as busy as ever after his planned “retirement” of Nine Inch Nails. First his new How To Destroy Angels project. Now he and long time collaborator Atticus Ross are nearing the end of scoring the new film from David Fincher, “The Social Network,” better known as the Facebook movie. This may seem strange at first, ‘self-admitted social reject music star established to anything but status-quo creates music for sign-of-the-times-movie about global social phenomena.’

Upon closer inspection it seems perfect: in recent years Reznor has fueled his success through online social networking, his creatively active twitter account (although not without brief lapses), created an entire social network based on NIN media and fans and probably opened himself and his music up to his fans more than any other artist in history; and in doing so changed the future for the music industry entirely.

“I”ve always loved David”s work but quite honestly I wondered what would draw him to tell that story. When I actually read the script and realized what he was up to, I said goodbye to that free time I had planned.” Reznor states.

This isn’t Reznors first time working in film (Natural Born Killers, Lost Highway), though he has never scored a film before. Though his original music productions for the video game Doom (later versions of the game we produced by Tweaker, Nine Inch Nails ex band mate Chris Vrenna) give him plenty of experience in this arena.

Reznor and Ross are planning a stage two for the original film score “distilling the large amount of music we”ve written for this down to a satisfying record (or two).” Reznor’s comment “Speaking of the film… it”s really fucking good. And dark!” sheds new light… or should I say darkness, on the film for me.

Trent Reznor has stayed true to his retirement of Nine Inch Nails and began working on a new project with his wife Mariqueen Maandig, from West Indian Girl. In brilliant Reznor fashion, he’s developed a catchy name which is easily formed into an acronym and correlating iconic logo (sound familiar?). It’s called How to Destroy Angels and just like all recent Reznor works, you can download their 6-track debut EP for free. For $2, you can upgrade to the HD package, which adds options for lossless audio (24-bit 44.1kHz WAV and 16-bit FLAC and Apple Lossless) and the music video for “The Space in Between” in 1080p and 480p. You can also get an immediate download after purchasing any merchandise from the band’s website, official T-shirts, posters and stickers. Listen up kids – that’s how you do it without a record label.

The music’s production is reminiscent of the Nine Inch Nails album With Teeth (with a touch of Year Zero beats). Which was Reznor’s return to the music industry and touring as well as a ‘back to basics’ recording style not seen on his previous two records. Mariqueen’s on main vocals with Trent backing and a mirage of synths, guitar effects, dirty beats and what sounds like mostly Trent’s words: upon first listen it reminded me of the short lived 12 Rounds, which released an album in ’98 on Reznor’s now defunct Nothing label. It’s great to see such a talent as Reznor back in the studio giving his grotesquely loyal and obsessive fans something to chat about online.

How To Destroy Angels full length CD will be in stores July 6th and a vinyl edition will follow.

Download How to Destroy Angels debut EP

I doubt it was any internet backlash that got the nin:access app back on the approval list… but it makes geeks with egos feel good, so let’s just leave it at that. Still can’t use special characters for passwords, but hey, a simple password change and I’m up.

This is a video interview, by a fan, with Trent Reznor to appease his salivating, info hungry fans (as if we don’t get enough). The video is in response to some questions that were left unanswered, in fans minds, after a recent interview Digg’s Kevin Rose. Trent gives some incites into the new tour set list such as not playing “Closer” and working “Lights in the Sky” into a set or two. He also mentions being a lot more structure-free on the upcoming NINJA tour. Allowing the band the freedom to play what they like on a nightly basis, which will make the set lists change dramatically. He also hints on where NIN will be, after recently staking this tour as the last Nine Inch Nails tour. For Good! He’s standing firm on that but also confesses Nails will probably always be making music in some form or another. Trent also touches on what types of projects he’ll be working on after this tour is up; things he’s been wanting to do but has been preoccupied with Nine Inch Nails. Take a look.

trent reznor fan-interview from wretchi wretch on Vimeo.

The recently released free app nin:access for the iphone and ipod touch has been rejected because it contains “objectionable” content. Technically the app (v1.0) is still live, for now. Apple rejected the v1.0.3 updated which was submitted for approval 24 hours after the release of v1.0 to fix bugs for international users (and hopefully those login issues?). Oddly, nothing changed in the “content” of the app; which technically doesn’t really contain the objectionable content, it just accesses the content on the internet (no, no objectionable content anywhere there). Apple named the content as “The Downward Spiral;” not sure if they’re talking about the entire album or the song but the nails crew has removed the song from the sever (available on itunes and on a free podcasts on itunes, no objections there) in hopes of future approval. The greatest part is the extremely vague description of the content and complete lack of suggestions for resubmitting the approval. Read the full rejection and Trent’s thoughts. 

Grow up Apple, what year are you living in anyways…I’ve had more objectionable content come through on my fax machine. Stop letting the computers make decision’s from algorithms and get some nerd with taste on the project. I’ve heard nothing but praise for Apple from Reznor in the past. He even released his first public remix content (wow, has he come a long way since then) strictly in Garage Band, shortly after it’s conception, just to encourage people to use Mac. Now look what they’ve done… you don’t wanna fuck with a stone-sold sober rock star who’s been pumping iron instead partying for over 4 years just waiting for a chance to take out some aggression. Your move Apple.

Nine Inch Nails APP: Approved and Here. Download it for free at iTunes.

Musicians and brands alike need to pay attention to Nine Inch Nails…they, Trent Reznor and Rob Sheridan creative NIN masterminds, really know how to create a user/fan experience. They hit the nail on the head when they created the new nin.com 2.o with deep user community interaction with remixes, photos, videos, forums and more. They’ve now taken the concept 2 steps further and developed a free iPhone App where you can access your nin.com user account from for iPhone or iPod Touch. But wait, there’s more. You can access all the vids and pix and conversations and add the pictures to your wallpaper, but really cool things start happening using your GPS enabled iPhone. You can choose your phone to use your current location and get involved in a conversation with people near by. They’re also going to add a pinpoint to google earth for each concert they play, each time a new comment pops up, google earth will cross the globe and pinpoint the user. Very cool when a large group on fans are in one area for a show. Plus you can take pictures from your phone and post and share your experience instantly. Don’t want people to know exactly where yer at? They’ve developed a “fuzzy” location feature which randomly changes your position within a mile. Never a dull moment in nin land…  Stay tuned to access.nin.com the app will drop sometime this month.

 

NINJA Tour Sampler

Trent Reznor hangin’ in the studio last month with Jane’s Addition wasn’t just a time to reminisce and it turns out Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s have been playin together more than just to practice for their upcoming tour. In fact they’ve laid down some tracks to integrate into the new tour and (in 21st century style) have decided to give the ninja 2009 tour sampler away in a free download. The NIN tracks Non-Entity  and Not So Pretty Now bare a deep resemblance to With Teeth. Which is great…I feel Trent may have lost a little free-spirited, simplistic studio experimentation that made his “come back” album, With Teeth, so fucking fresh from mainstream slop. Street Sweeper’s not my gig. Ol school Janes fans will recognize two tracks from their very first album and one brand new. Hot demo style tracks to keep your mouth watering all the way to the ticket booth…just head to www.ninja2009.com for your free copy.