Jim Barraud

A strong line of thunderstorms moved through the area today which consisted of some impressive cloud formations. What really struck me was the rate at which the clouds were traveling. So a whipped out my point and shoot and captured some footage.

With the release of the Ghosts I-IV album a few months ago, Nine Inch Nails has been holding a film festival on YouTube. The idea being to take the tracks from Ghosts and apply imagery you feel fits the tracks best. And since the album was released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, this is a legit use of the music.

I thought my cloud footage fit nicely with one of the Ghosts tracks, so this is my submission.

Last night I experienced my first Nine Inch Nails concert and what an experience it was. This is a band I’ve wanted to see perform live since high school, but just never did. Well last night more than made up for lost time.

Mr. Sykes and I traveled up to the IZOD Center (or the Brendan Byrne Arena as we old school Jersey folk remember it) in East Rutherford, NJ for the show. But to call it a “show” would be an understatement. It was more of an audio/visual juggernaut sending your auditory and visual senses into overload. There were signs posted around the arena warning that “Strobe lights are in use” when they should have said “your mind may explode”.

Being a long-time fan and this being my first time seeing NIN live, I was extremely happy with the setlist. Sure, they played the big standards “Closer”, “Head Like a Hole” and “Hurt” which are to be expected (and rocked). But they also played some great non-standard tracks off past albums. “The Big Comedown” off The Fragile was one of the best performances of the night. But the best? “Reptile”. Fucking Reptile. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see them perform this, and we were only 8 songs into the performance.

The first third of the show consisted mostly of a wall of synchronized lights and strobe lights for the visual effects, which in itself was amazing. Then three screens were lowered to stage level and basically encased the band. The front two being essentially a mesh LCD screen (not sure of the exact technology) allowing you to see the band behind them. These screens created the illusion of the band playing in the desert, a swamp, the rain and even a wall of static that gave the appearance of being controlled by Trent. Amazing stuff.

The musical performance was top notch. The band really seemed energized and hammered through each song flawlessly. Midway through the show they performed three tracks off the recently released instrumental album “Ghosts I-IV” with an electronic/acoustic twist involving an upright bass and Trent playing a xylophone. The songs were more down tempo then the rest of the set which provided a nice change of pace. But were back to rocking in overdrive with “Wish” in no time.

Overall I would have to say this is one of, if not the best show I have ever seen. It’s possible they’ll be playing in a city near you. So if you have the opportunity, go check them out. Even if your not a fan, it could turn you into one.

Unfortunately my little point and shoot was having a hard time capturing any of it so I didn’t really get any quality photos or videos. But I’m finding plenty of other people did, so I’ve included flickr slideshow below of shots others have gotten. You can also find plenty video goodness from the show on YouTube

In my previous post about the new Nine Inch Nails album I mentioned it was purchased using iTunes “craptastic pre-order mechanism”. Let me explain.

This was my first pre-order through the iTunes store. I did so since I was going to purchase the album anyway, and if you pre-ordered it you would receive a bonus track. Another advantage of pre-ordering was when you placed your order, the current single would automatically be downloaded. You would be charged 99 cents for the single, then charged the remainder when the album was available. So I figured why not.

I was notified via email when the album was available for download. Upon downloading the album I noticed something strange. Then entire album was being downloaded except for track 3. Which was the previously downloaded single. Not a huge deal, I could just update the ID3 tags of the file so it had the correct album name and more importantly, the correct track number. It’s current track number was 1 since it was the single that was previously downloaded. Updating the album name and track number would put it in the correct track listing order, or so you would think. No matter what I updated on the file, what should be track number 3 would always be listed last. And after searching Apple’s support forums, it turns out I wasn’t the only one.

But there was something else strange. iTunes has a feature where it places an arrow next the selected track, artist and album. Clicking this arrow takes you to that particular track on the iTunes store. At least it should. Clicking the arrow on these tracks produced the error “Year Zero will be available in the store on April, 16 2038”. So obviously something was wrong.

I sent an email to Apple support explaining the track listing issue. Which essentially boiled down to the following. You can sort by Track Number and everything is peachy. But if you sort by album, the previously downloaded track is placed at the bottom of the track listing. The iPod sorts only by album, so it would never be listed in the correct order on my iPod. Apple support promptly responded with a suggestion of creating a custom playlist to sort the tracks correctly. To which I responded that this was not an acceptable solution. That something was obviously wrong with the file and explained the date issue upon clicking the track arrow. Apple support then responded that something was indeed wrong with the files and apologized for the fact. I had expected them to just give me the ability to re-download the album, but they actually provided me with a refund for the album. I have to give them credit that they exceeded my expectations in resolving my issue. Will I pre-order an album again? No. First impressions are the most important. And while the support response was great, I still wouldn’t risk having the issue happen again. But I would by more tracks from the store, I’ve purchased plenty already. They just won’t be pre-ordered.

You’d think I would have just turned around and repurchased the album on iTunes. But no, I didn’t. With all the cool things I’ve heard about the packaging and the heat sensitive label, I went out to my local Target and purchased the CD. I then ripped it at a higher bit rate then what’s currently available on the iTunes store. And I have the freedom to put those tracks on any device I choose. I also have the ability to share this great album with friends who may not have discovered it on their own, <cya>not that I would do that of course</cya>. Maybe that EMI company is on to something.

I’ve been listening to this incessantly since it was first available as a full album stream on yearzero.nin.com. Quiet simply, awesome. It harkens back to earlier Nine Inch Nails albums with a return to a more industrial sound. It’s also refreshing change in that it’s not another “woe is me” melodrama. But a concept album about an apocalyptic future as a result of an oppressive government. And now that I’ve purchased it through iTunes’ craptastic pre-order mechanism (I’ll cover that later), my morning commutes are full of Year Zero goodness.