Comments on: First Review Of Nine Inch Nails’ The Slip

By: Skip Entro

Skip Entro — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:26:19 +0000

I’ve been listening to the whole album. It’s very solid. Strong songwriting. All you haters want your bands to put out the SAME album over and over. Boring. Let a group evolve… and evolve with them. Thank god The Beatles evolved. It changed the world.

(and on another note — I can’t believe people are bitching about getting a FREE record. how about some gratitude?)

By: Vincent

Vincent — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:24:36 +0000

Is it just me, or do NIN have the most immature fan following of any band? Sure, NIN have produced some great material. The Downward Spiral and The Fragile were superb albums. But this new online release is absolute horse-shit (echoplex, your least favourite track is probably the best track on the album oddly enough). I’m getting sick of those myopic NIN fans who worship Trent like some kind of occult god. And don’t even get me started on Last.FM charts… it seems like the sole purpose of some people’s existence is to get the worst album of the year up the charts.

For the record I don’t hate NIN. Like I said, The Fragile and The Downward Spiral are truly great albums. Bands do grow old and tire out and run out of ideas musically. Yes what Trent is doing to change the landscape of the current music listening model is innovative, but the music seems to have suffered as a result of Trent being too preoccupied with trying to challenge the industry.

PS - I wonder if trent released and album of random fart loops, how many NIN fans would hail it as an ‘artistic master-piece’.

By: Pram Maven

Pram Maven — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:40:05 +0000

Hi Trent. *waves*

Well, I just want to say this: I bought Zeitgeist by Smashing Pumpkins, and then I found The Slip and downloaded it. The Slip reminded me more of In Rainbows, which I thought Radiohead did a great job on. Especially considering that it was free to download as well (although I did pay about $24.00 for it).

The thing I noticed very quickly is that MUSIC THAT DOESN’T SUCK is being given away for free. Meanwhile, the formerly good bands are now putting out awful music and expecting you to pay for it.

So, to reiterate: If you see good music out there, snap it up… Chances are, it will stand up to repeated plays and possibly become integrated into the background of your daily life. By contrast: if you see an album that costs 14.99… RUN!!! More likely than not, it will suck out loud, you will feel cheated, and you’ll never trust the concept of paying for music again, which means that you probably won’t even give my albums the once-over. Due to the bad rap DRM and traditional music business models, I have to ROT in a CONVENIENCE STORE every damn day of my life instead of getting paid to do what I love, which is making music and being compensated for my creativity.

To that end, it’s probably too late for me. That said, I wish the rest of you luck (or the closest thing to it), and urge you to make music for the artistic value of it, and NOT THE MONEY.

Thanks,

Pram Maven

By: Brian S

Brian S — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:33:03 +0000

I don’t know if it’s the same with you… each time a new NIN album comes out, im exited to the maximum, and when I first hear it, it sucks. The second time, it sucks even more. The third time, I get it and I realize that it is a great as any other NIN album. I guess some of the haters and flamers and “disappointed hardcore fans” didn’t even take the time for a third listen before they went here to make a this-is-the-end-of-nin-post.

(To be honest, with Ghost I-IV it took 5 or 6 times till I liked it, and after the 20th time I got bored again, but hey, this is NOT THE end, as we know now)

By: jose

jose — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:10:04 +0000

ok i admit it some of the track werent good but hey what do you expect its free btw only 3 tracks sucked the rest rocked

By: doctec

doctec — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:05:07 +0000

NIN set the bar so friggin’ high with TDS, ever since then he’s been caught between topping TDS and reinventing himself. With this latest release on the heels of Ghosts, he’s decided to split the difference. Is The Slip NIN’s best work to date? No. But like Ghosts, it points to an aesthetic evolution in his music that I find to be both refreshing and challenging. It’s got its moments, it’s free (how can you beat that?) and it definitely keeps me interested in seeing what new ground he chooses to explore in his next release.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:23:30 +0000

(edit) 5th sentence in on my comment should say “That’s NOT something …” instead of “That’s NOTHING something …” which makes no sense.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:19:47 +0000

I think the reason so many people have a problem with this is two-fold. 1). it’s free and people have a tendency to think that they’re getting the leftovers when something’s free. 2). Trent has either been in a prolific phase or we’re just getting B-sides. Songs that didn’t make the cut with Year Zero. That’s nothing something that’s actually true in this case. I fully believe, intellectually, that Trent put as much energy into making The Slip as he did Year Zero, but our stupid consumer based minds are trained to think that if something is 1)FREE and 2)Released very soon (esp. when trent usually takes like 4 decades between albums) that it’s a bunch of crap. I like the album. It is growing on me with each listen the way a good album should.

By: AZ-Buckeye

AZ-Buckeye — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:50:48 +0000

Trent is a true artist ( which there aren’t many around anymore ) so if you don’t appreciate it then thats just fine w/ me b/c art is something that not everyone can appreciate the same way. I, as a loyal fan for about 15 years, applaud Trent for the growth in his music and creativity in giving the fans more than what is expected from a “band”, which they really are not. While I don’t consider myself a dark or gloomy person I cant help but listen to his music everyday and be completely happy and introspective at the same time. By the way, The Slip is awesome from beginning to end.

By: Zeric

Zeric — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:23:26 +0000

A great ablum that just keeps building and building. The flctuation between the heavy tracks, the ‘radio-friendly’ Discipline, the more experimental tracks like EchoPlex, the paino driven Lights and the last two tracks is a joy to hear, so different from all the bullshit that comes out of radio and the charts.

To that person who said all the music sounds the same, you could get a job as a reviewer at Pitchfork Media since like them, you clearly don’t actually listen to the music you’re talking about.

Of course I love the whole thing but while I don’t normally pick faults with Trent’s work (I don’t question genius) I did feel that 3 instrementals was just one too many after Ghosts, Corona Radiata should have had vocals, even hushed ones like in The Greater Good or The New Flesh.

Lights gets me everytime, it reminds me alot of the title track from The Fragile which was my favorite song off that album.
While it’s still not Year Zero part 2 it’s a great surprise and such a radical change after Ghosts and FREE with lyrics and great artwork.

By: zac

zac — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:07:04 +0000

i have to admit it isnt the greatest thing that trent has produced, but its is so hard for him to continualy creating great albums after another with the reputation he has. and at least he isnt producing the sam old shit over and over agin like top twenty bands, hes just being creatively different, i quess you could think that he has started his carrer again starting from year zero and hopefully his new direction will develop into something great

By: Metatron

Metatron — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:47:52 +0000

While Year 0 and even Ghosts were both amazing, this new album has proven that Trent needs to slow down a bit. As a free album, it’s great. But he’s right in not charging people for it.

By: Orestes

Orestes — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:01:35 +0000

ok i will spill my mustard over this wall:

while i feel, mr reznor has found peace in his life, i feel the music has lost some bite. maybe i am getting old, but it seems it had purpose up to (and including) the fragile, but afterwards it became some sort of a job, which he still executes with bravour, but i miss the blood and the guts.

By: Kaej

Kaej — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:16:06 +0000

obviously everyone has different feelings and thoughts and there is no way you can ever get everyone to like what you have to say. i, personally, love nearly everything trent has ever done, esp. the Quake soundtrack, songs that aren’t released on main albums(”the perfect drug”, “black bomb”, “burn”, “deep”…), and his other ambient works.
he’s been releasing his ambient stuff(ghostsI-IV, half of The Slip) lately and i like that.
while i can agree some of the lyrics on The Slip could have possibly been a tad better he’ll make up somewhere else. you’ve got to changte up your style a little bit or else you get old. go listen to ministry if you want to hear the same guitar loop for a half an hour.

P.S. whoever wrote this review needs to listen again: “echoplex” and “lights in the sky” are the two best songs on the album, followed by “head down”. “letting you” got on my nerves and i’m not as impressed by “corona radiata” as everyone else but it will probably grow on me.

By: Virulent Inhibitions

Virulent Inhibitions — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:59:03 +0000

Fuckin’ awesome. Personally, there is no greater free CD. As a musician, it gives me all sorts of ideas. Melodies, harmonies, beats. Just a plain good time for me.

JSkY