Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero

The latest Nine Inch Nails studio album is titled Year Zero and was released on April 17, 2007. It is a concept album that describes Reznor’s forecast of “how the United States government’s current policies will impact the world fifteen years in the future.”

Riiiight. Concept album. You mean like Mellon Collie & the Infinate Sadness? Cause at least half of that album ROCKED! Nope, this is Trent Reznor  we’re dealing with here – so if it is a concept album, the concept will be fleshed out and explored.  Maybe this quote is a better clue: “The term ‘marketing’ sure is a frustrating one for me at the moment. What you are now starting to experience IS ‘year zero’. It’s not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form… and we‘re just getting started. Hope you enjoy the ride.“  Man, he was not wrong.

Most folks round these parts will whack the disc in their player and never explore the world of Year Zero further, and with respect to them, the review will limit itself to the elpee in question. But if you would like to explore this immersive world, read this post carefully.

Running 16 tracks long, YZ is a return to form for NIN. Trent runs out of disc space before he runs out of ideas, and that’s quite a feat after 18 years of music making.

Me, I’m not (below) and capital g were leaked on USB drives left in bathroom cubicles at concerts prior to the release date together with seemingly random audio and images. Teasers for year zero. (http://) Another version of the truth could be an Aphex twin track, because it certainly isn’t rock.

It would be fair to say that this isn’t a rock record. Nor is it industrial or an electronic record – it’s the fruition of Trent Reznors focused imagination now that he’s looked around rather than his usual rusted self loathing introspection. This album is huge – and getting bigger. Eighteen years on he’s still at it, still convincing, still relevant- and still no-one else sounds like this.

THINK: It’s NIN, it’s not going to sound like anyone else…

READ: NIN’s homepage and myspace, or Trent’s blog

WATCH: The Survavalism Clip

BUY: Year Zero at allofmp3.com

Maximo Park  - Our Earthly Pleasures

Maximo Park gave us ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’ on April 2 to such hype in the UK. But then again, everything is hyped in the UK. Franz Ferdinand’s second album, anyone? Ba-bow. Bloc party. Meh. Our Earthly Pleasures reached these shores with barely a whimper. Maybe Silverchair and Powderfinger had a little to do with that and that’s okay. Oi oi oi, as it were.

So without hype I spend a weekend with Maximo. I hadn’t planned on playing the album as much as I did, but that’s the charm of this album. It opens with two great upbeat tracks dripping in Geordie Charm and intrigue. Accents and riffs vie for your attention, with lines like ‘you’ve lived your life with your mouth wide open’ finally taking hold.

Our Velocity could be ferocious. Every live performance I’ve seen of this track blows away the album version, which is a shame. I can’t help thinking that Gil Norton’s production has polished a little too much of the ferocity away. ‘Books from boxes’ , below, is at this moment in time my album jjjem.  But I know that by the end of next week it will be ‘Nosebleed’.

Paul Smith’s vocals are so distinct that even Mark Ronson used Smith on a reworking  of ‘Apply some pressure’, a maximo song, taken from the 2005 album ‘A certain Trigger’. Maybe it’s my penchant for Northern post-wave with intelligent lyrics (Yeah, like you don’t) but I think that Maximo have provided all you Northern Hemisphere folks a perfect soundtrack for your summer.

THINK: A Geordie Snowpatrol before they wrote for m.o.t.r.
READ: Maximo Park’s Homepage or myspace
WATCH: Books from Boxes clip
BUY: Our Earthly Pleasures from AllofMP3

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank is Modest Mouses 5th long player. It was released after a frenzied build up caused by the single ‘Dashboard’, featured in the May edition of Borrowed Beats. Dashboard is symptomatic of the entire album ’ It sounds like novelty-rock’ on first listen. Catchy, off-kilter, finely crafted self indulgent novelty rock, but novelty rock none the less.

What I’ve enjoyed most about this album is the unexpected surprise that it is actually a work of substance. Much like Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible, We Were Dead gently reveals its layers and continues to refine Brock’s aesthetic. The development is clear in the way “Parting of the Sensory” smoothly evolves from foul-mouthed acoustic lament to the best hoedown this side of Springfield.

Johnny Marr joined Modest Mouse for this album, and despite his sophisticated influences, it’s still undeniably Brock’s band. His charisma and confidence of delivery of his impressive inventory of vocal characters keeps you coming back for more. To the fore is shouty Brock, followed closely by Tom Waits-like growling Brock, and Emo-tastic Brock. I chose ‘Parting’ to showcase the singer playing call-and-response with himself, and how effective this inventiveness can be.

We Were Dead runs a little over 60 minutes, and reading all the reviews would run many times this length. Every aspect from the existential lyrics (”someday you will die somehow and something’s gonna steal your carbon) to the indie radio friendly cross over to Marrs influence have all been discected at length.
All that is left for me to say is that I rate We Were Dead. I rate it 4 crows.

THINK: Indie-rock sea-shanties with more substance than initially meets the ears chanelled through Tom waits

READ:Modest Mouse homepage and  myspace

WATCH:The brilliant Dashboard Video

BUY: We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank at Insound

And with Ratatat I end my mini obsession with instrumental rock. It isn’t the genre I would have picked to start this blog with – but dems de breaks, as it were. And while this album was released in 2006, I have just come across these guys. And here on Triplejaysus, if it’s new to me then that’s news.

Classics is the second outing by Brooklyn duo Ratatat. Unlike the other instru’rock artists offered up, Ratatat aren’t at all overly cerebral. They write immediately arresting hooks, use samples that are on the kitsch cusp, and like to rock out Yngwie Malmsteen style.  They try to transcend rock and beats, using angular breaks, acoustic and slide guitar and the odd sleigh bell.

‘Wildcat’, below, features the only vocals on the album, and was the obvious inspiration for the album cover image. It reminds me of the pared back guitar harmonies of Brian May & Eddie Van Halens Star Fleet Project. For that reason alone it gets 4.5 crows!

THINK: Joe Satriani with out the perm, Briam May meets the Neptunes

READ: Ratatat’s homepage or myspace

WATCH: Ratatat perform “Gettysberg” at Guggenheim Museum (NYC)

BUY: Classics at allofmp3.com

 

Battles release their first full lenght album Mirrored tomorrow. This US math rock band has a collective history in bands like Don Caballero, Lynx and Helmet, and certainly know a thing ot two about musical experimentation.

 ’Atlas’, the first single is set to be a classic. The video is is directed by Timothy Saccenti and is bound to get stacks of airplay. Where bands like Mogwai and Sigur Ros draw the line creatively, Battles plough on fearlessly. This creative freedom can sometimes give way to chaos. Leaked track ‘tonto’ is not one of these times. It’s a brilliant instrumental rock classic, powered by ex_Helmet drummer, John Stainer.

THINK: Mogwai’s older, angrier brother

READ: Battles homepage

WATCH: ‘Atlas’ video here

BUY: Although Mirrored is out tomorrow, you can buy the older stuff at bleep.com