A couple of big announcements were made this week in the music community. First of all, Trent Reznor left a slightly cryptic message on the Nine Inch Nails homepage, saying that “it’s time to make NIN disappear for a while.” Is this an official breakup of the band? Well…nobody’s really sure, especially since Nine Inch Nails, the band, is ultimately just Reznor himself. He’s been releasing NIN records for exactly twenty years now and he says that he’s onboard for one last tour before NIN “disappears.” Being somewhat of a NIN fan, my initial reaction was something along the lines of “NO, TRENT, NO!! WE LUV YOU!!” However, after thinking about it for a couple days, I’m starting to think Trent is doing something very smart here. The last two NIN records, while being very strong, showed very little new musical growth. I’ve written in the past about how I can’t believe Reznor can make musically treading water sound as good as he does. But, after a point, you’ve got to move on. I think Trent understands this and is wrapping up NIN so he can do other things without his old band hanging over him. Knowing Trent, I’m sure they’ll be awesome. (Those interested can read his full message
here.)
Meanwhile, indie stronghold Touch & Go Records announced that they are going to stop releasing new music and are disbanding their distribution arm. While they have said they hope to start putting out music again in the future, when they can get their financial matters in order, the idea of Touch & Go not putting new music out there is terrifying. These are the people who gave the world Big Black, the Jesus Lizard, the Butthole Surfers, the Dirty Three, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV On The Radio, just to name a few. Touch & Go has always been a reliable source of edgy, risky music with a lot to offer. I mean, these are the people who deal with Steve Albini on a regular basis. Not folks you wanna fuck with. Hopefully, the loss of their distribution department will be fairly painless and they can get back to releasing great music.
A couple of big announcements were made this week in the music community. First of all, Trent Reznor left a slightly cryptic message on the Nine Inch Nails homepage, saying that “it’s time to make NIN disappear for a while.” Is this an official breakup of the band? Well…nobody’s really sure, especially since Nine Inch Nails, the band, is ultimately just Reznor himself. He’s been releasing NIN records for exactly twenty years now and he says that he’s onboard for one last tour before NIN “disappears.” Being somewhat of a NIN fan, my initial reaction was something along the lines of “NO, TRENT, NO!! WE LUV YOU!!” However, after thinking about it for a couple days, I’m starting to think Trent is doing something very smart here. The last two NIN records, while being very strong, showed very little new musical growth. I’ve written in the past about how I can’t believe Reznor can make musically treading water sound as good as he does. But, after a point, you’ve got to move on. I think Trent understands this and is wrapping up NIN so he can do other things without his old band hanging over him. Knowing Trent, I’m sure they’ll be awesome. (Those interested can read his full message here.)
I've got a special place in my heart for Trent Reznor, and NIN will be missed greatly.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard about T&G. That's not a good sign at all. I think that this could bode extremely bad for everyone...