How To Destroy Angels

Not long ago Trent Reznor, the creative force behind Nine Inch Nails, announced that he was putting his band on ice. A few months later a new project, How To Destroy Angels, was announced. Mystery was added as, little by little, one minute films of in studio progress were posted on the band's site. The videos featured unidentified players strumming guitars, twisting knobs and pulling ribbon controllers making some intense sounding music.

It was revealed that the line up, besides Reznor, included his wife Mariqueen Maandig-Reznor (ex-West Indian Girl) and long time collaborator Atticus Ross. The group's first EP has just been released by Reznor's new label The Null Corporation.

The big difference of this project, besides the clear cut three piece line up, is that Reznor has taken a step back as lead vocalist. But even though a new voice is at the front of things the cadence of the lyrics is extremely close to that of NIN. A complaint that has come up is some fans feel that Mariqueen comes off as cold and lacks passion. This might not be a bad thing.

Reznor has shown a love of calm collected moments to juxtapose his more angsty cathartic tracks, even as early as 1994 with the track A Warm Place on The Downward Spiral. It's an island of contemplative beauty in the center of a pool of blood and anger. He had since been flirting with more meditative tracks on several more releases after that. It was able to come to a head on Ghosts. Or the not often heard enough Still. In which Reznor and company stripped several NIN standards down to simpler acoustic arrangements. In this new light the music yielded a gorgeous desolation that had not yet been apparent. These minimalist elements play a big part in How To Destroy Angels.

At the same time Reznor has been fighting off a dance rock germ for the last few years. This comes out on their song Fur Lined. This track sort of sticks out like a sore thumb on the EP. Reznor himself has said that the next release will sound closer to a new animal. Hopefully he might beat the dance bug. The new record doesn't hit the ground running. More like a slither, but that might be the intention. The EP has a few great songs and the future holds much potential.

The EP can be downloaded here for free in high quality mp3 or in lossless for $2.00 and includes the video for The Space In Between.

Whether or not you like the new group. It is easy to agree that their first video is breathtaking with its striking visuals.

-St(i)les

Got me spinning like a top

Greetings all,

I thought I'd take a moment to throw the spotlight on a certain artist who's thrown me into a state of euphoria with his music. It's even accessible! It's down right catchy even. He is simply named Pogo.

Pogo is an Australian electronic artist who makes Chillout techno with Trip-hop leanings. What sets Pogo apart in my mind is his penchant for splicing sounds from films from the last 50 years together to create melodies for his tunes. All of which are usually laid gently over a sweet bass groove or even a rad loop derived from the same film. This isn't the average insertion of a clip here. Pogo often shreds words from a musical you grew up with and rearranges them into a new song. Did I mention some of these beats are killer?

The result is much like a collage of syllables strung together into a nonsensical song that makes you grin like an idiot and dance around your room. He often even puts together a music video to go with his songs. I have an example here:

That's his track called "Scrumdiddlyumptious" I have had this on loop for 3 days straight now and I brim with joy every time I hear it and you should too. Some other great ones are "Bangarang," and "White Magic"

He has even gotten permission from Pixar and remixed Up and Toy Story. Pixar gets free advertising. Pogo can continue to cut and dice and not get sued. Everyone is happy. Which is pretty fly.

Many of Pogo's songs can be downloaded gratis from his lastfm page. Trust me this guy is worth it. And good news...

He doesn't take himself too seriously.

You can follow Pogo on his site http://www.pogomix.net/

That's all for now! OVER AND OUT!

-St(i)les