Nerds, Nine Inch Nails, and Numbskulls.

April 22, 2007 4:49 PM

Nerds, Nine Inch Nails, and numbskulls. It's also an ARG.
posted by Mr. Gunn (14 comments total)

To bad the new CD sucks, especially compared to the last one.
posted by delmoi at 5:15 PM on April 22, 2007

(Actually the color-changing CD thing is pretty sweet. Gimmicks like that might make people slightly more interested in buying CDs)
posted by delmoi at 5:16 PM on April 22, 2007

Actually - I prefer the new one to anything Reznor has put out since The Downward Spiral, so YMMV.
posted by jkaczor at 5:20 PM on April 22, 2007

Yep I enjoying Year Zero a lot.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 5:35 PM on April 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

Anyone else having trouble with the new CD? When I play it start to finish, the last track starts skipping ahead about half way through and ends 2 minutes early. It only happens when the whole CD's been played. I wonder if the color changing gimmick is a factor.
posted by davebush at 5:38 PM on April 22, 2007

Year Zero, previously.
posted by churl at 5:59 PM on April 22, 2007

Gee, churl. That's proof the search is broken, then.

I'm more interested in the ARG angle, though. Is there something we're missing? Is there a connection between the noise spectrography on the tracks and the horizontal lines across the pictures on the fake websites? I didn't ralize how big the whole production was until I found the nin wiki.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 6:29 PM on April 22, 2007

I'm more interested in the ARG angle, though. Is there something we're missing? Is there a connection between the noise spectrography on the tracks and the horizontal lines across the pictures on the fake websites? I didn't ralize how big the whole production was until I found the nin wiki.

The distortion found on the websites is a product of something within the ARG. I'm not going to post the spoiler here, but check out "Solutions Backward Initiative" on the ninwiki for the answer.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:46 PM on April 22, 2007

It is really interesting, I was reticent at first but the ARG has really drawn me in. I really love its presentation as a constellation of strange texts each providing a different perspective onto the dystopia. The details are fun and often smart--for example the concept of "Citizenship points" is very clever.

Overall, I like the music better than what he's put out since Fragile.
posted by voltairemodern at 8:28 PM on April 22, 2007

To bad the new CD sucks, especially compared to the last one.


Trent is so awesome he made you use "bad" as a verb.
posted by dopamine at 10:12 PM on April 22, 2007

I used to be the saddest little NIN fanboy. The Fragile snapped me out of it. It's been years since NIN has held the slightest interest for me, but damn it to hell, I can't help but be intrigued by this novel marketing.
posted by EatTheWeek at 10:30 PM on April 22, 2007

Like it or not, you should get used to hearing about it. It's supposed to run another 18 months.
posted by deusdiabolus at 2:49 AM on April 23, 2007

I spent a couple of hours last night getting into this. Looks like a great story and a great concept. I'm going to keep following along.

Open Source Resistance has some footage of a free NIN concert being 'raided'
posted by empath at 5:52 AM on April 23, 2007

Ok, so I'm an ex-NIN fanatic. While I thought his last cd was pretty much useless and fragile could have been shaved down to half of its size (keep 90% of the instrumentals, i say!) I'm glad Trent's still doing interesting stuff. His lyrics were always most interesting when he explored the relationship between man and machine, and his medium is still on message.

I guess I'll keep trying not to look down on new NIN fans :)
posted by es_de_bah at 10:46 AM on April 23, 2007