Video Of The Week: Nine Inch Nails

This had all the promise and the making of an instant classic, of a timeless piece of art: Trent Reznor resurrecting Nine Inch Nails, returning to a sound more electronic, harking back to prior to The Downward Spiral, closer to the Fixed/Broken EPs, and an artsy black-and-white video directed by none other than David Lynch, one of the most daring, unique, visionary American film directors of the past quarter-century; the pair had previously collaborated on Lynch's amazing Lost Highway, as NIN wrote two songs for the film (The Perfect Drug and the end credits' Driver Down), and Reznor producing the film's soundtrack.

What we're left with is (relatively) standard experimental film fare, vaguely inspired by Luis Buñuel's and Salvador Dali's Un Chien Andalou (the eyes), at other times reminiscent of the works of Kenneth Anger (the subversive and repetitive subject matter), Norman McLaren (the animation, the scratching of the lens), René Clair, Stan Brackhage, Fernand Léger (the repetitive found images of an odd dance/ballet), and maybe even Georges Méliès (the moon-face).

I wouldn't call it ''cliché'', but it's not all that original, either.

But I decided to give it a few days, a few listens.

And this, despite its obvious references to a film grad and screenwriter such as myself, remains the best video I've seen in a (short) while. And to anyone without the experience to see where the inspiration comes from, this could open their eyes to a whole new world of (better) films out there. Which is also great.

And the song itself fits in the NIN pantheon. Very well. It's not as political as Head Like A Hole, not as obviously subversive as Closer (though that song is now a staple at strip clubs and sporting events...), not as heavy as March Of The Pigs nor as angry as Starfuckers, Inc., not as ''inclusive of all the ingredients that make up Nine Inch Nails'' as The Perfect Drug, but it's one of the better songs released this year so far. It grows on you.

And I'd rather have Nine Inch Nails doing the rounds, performing on talk shows, touring, grabbing your attention (and dollars) than modern-day futilities such as Macklemore, Bruno Mars and Will.I.am, or past success revivalists like Chicago and Bon Jovi.



I'll be purchasing the new album, Hesitation Marks, the day of its release - on September 3rd - as I have done since 1992 because, well, NIN is a great band project.

Noise Park

Many people take the South Park-themed apps to ''Park'' themselves, their friends, or their idols - or just waste time. The good people at Noise Park took it one step further and took the entire genre of experimental music and turned it into the crude cut-up-style creatures we love watching on TV:

Jean-Michel Jarre

Aphex Twin

Albert Ayler

Whether it's electronica, jazz or whatever that soft prog Jean-Michel Jarre creates, they are now part of the Noise Park universe!

Video Of The Week: AIDS Wolf

First things first: if the band's name scares you off, your best bet is to not listen to the music. At all. Ever.

But you will. And you won't like it. You'll find it childish, like that ''art'' that hangs at galleries that is just a rectangle, that your 1-year old son could draw but is worth millions.

Let it be known that the musicians of AIDS Wolf (currently a trio formed of Chloe Lum, Yannick Desranleau and Alexander Moskos) could, if they wanted to, play note-for-note renditions of any Rolling Stones record (although they might actually prefer covering a Black Flag album), but as a no-wave band that hints on hardcore punk and dub themselves ''wierd punk'' (sic), they purposely choose atonal sounds, screams, textures and layers over melody.

They pride themselves on going wild in their live shows, which usually involve their extended entourage being in the crowd but has grown to include a large international following (from a fierce touring schedule and regimen over the past 5 years). And, for that - to build that - the name helps. Certainly.

For a while, they lived their art even outside the sounds of the band; sure, I'm referring to the screenprinting venture Lum and Desranleau are responsible for - Seripop - one that has garnered an international reputation as well, with shows in museums all across North America; but I'm also referring to the nude band pics that can be found pretty much everywhere on the interwebs.

These days, they let the music speak for itself. Case in point: they don't actually appear in the video - not in a decipherable fashion, anyway. Which is the point - and is pretty much the exact same point that they're trying to make with the type of music they choose to play: they're tired of the old, tired rock, and they get off experimenting in something that is both more primal and more 'researched', more layered. To get into it, you need to open your ears' minds and look for what you want to hear. It's too much trouble for many, but it's quite rewarding for others.



Aids Wolf - Suck is Happiness from Emily P on Vimeo.