ISSUE #27
Ghosts V: Together & Ghosts VI: Locusts
by Nine Inch Nails
The soundtrack to our new dystopia has arrived. Together is a longform anthem of grief and hope, Locusts a serrated darkness looming on the horizon.
FRIENDS-
WEIRD TIMES INDEED…
AS THE NEWS SEEMS TO TURN EVER MORE GRIM BY THE HOUR, WE’VE FOUND OURSELVES VACILLATING WILDLY BETWEEN FEELING LIKE THERE MAY BE HOPE AT TIMES TO UTTER DESPAIR – OFTEN CHANGING MINUTE TO MINUTE. ALTHOUGH EACH OF US DEFINE OURSELVES AS ANTISOCIAL-TYPES WHO PREFER BEING ON OUR OWN, THIS SITUATION HAS REALLY MADE US APPRECIATE THE POWER AND NEED FOR CONNECTION.
MUSIC – WHETHER LISTENING TO IT, THINKING ABOUT IT OR CREATING IT – HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE THING THAT HELPED US GET THROUGH ANYTHING – GOOD OR BAD. WITH THAT IN MIND, WE DECIDED TO BURN THE MIDNIGHT OIL AND COMPLETE THESE NEW GHOSTS RECORDS AS A MEANS OF STAYING SOMEWHAT SANE.
GHOSTS V: TOGETHER IS FOR WHEN THINGS SEEM LIKE IT MIGHT ALL BE OKAY, AND GHOSTS VI: LOCUSTS… WELL, YOU’LL FIGURE IT OUT.
IT MADE US FEEL BETTER TO MAKE THESE AND IT FEELS GOOD TO SHARE THEM. MUSIC HAS ALWAYS HAD A WAY OF MAKING US FEEL A LITTLE LESS ALONE IN THE WORLD… AND HOPEFULLY IT DOES FOR YOU, TOO. REMEMBER, EVERYONE IS IN THIS THING TOGETHER AND THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AGAIN SOON.
BE SMART AND SAFE AND TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER.WITH LOVE,
TRENT & ATTICUS
It’s nigh impossible to watch a dramatic HBO series, movie or documentary these days without hearing the haunted, beautiful soundscapes crafted by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and his composing partner Atticus Ross. From “The Social Network” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” to Ken Burns’ “The Vietnam War” and Leo Dicaprio’s “Before The Flood” - and now most recently HBO’s “Watchmen” series - this duo has spread thin, inky fingers of sonic melancholy throughout the world of television and film for over a decade. These soundtracks have been a staple of mine for winter walks or late-night sessions of Dungeons and Dragons requiring of emotional ambience or industrial angst, but an even more beloved collection of instrumental witchcraft predates them all: Ghosts.
Ghosts V and Ghosts IV are expansions on a dark, seldom traveled underbelly of the Nine Inch Nails catalogue. Ghosts I-IV is a 36-track collection of untitled and instrumental piano arrangements, industrial beats and ambient soundscapes that range from tender and bruised to battery-acid-aggressive. Released in 2008 after “Year Zero” and before “The Slip”, this album probably went under the radar of many, but has grown to be one of my favorite NIN works with time. Ironically, it’s main claim to fame is the beat from 34 Ghosts IV, which was added to trap drums by producer YoungKio before being turned into the international country-trap hit Old Town Road, earning Trent Reznor a hilarious place in the Country Hall of Fame alongside Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus.
Now, 12 years after the first 4 Ghosts emerged from between monochrome dunes, the world has grown dramatically darker and Reznor and Ross have responded in the best way they know.
Image courtesy of Revolver.
Ghosts V: Together is soft, more emotionally driven and featuring fewer - but much longer - tracks. Piano, textural drones and vamping guitars evoke something mammoth moving slow and somber through an enveloping dusk. My favorites include With Faith - sci-fi chants over a hopeful intro that devolves into thick melancholy and Apart , which features ethereal strings with incomprehensible motives and huge bass hitting around the 10 minute mark before deteriorating into scattered motes of dust in a ray of light. The most intense moment of the album arrives on Still Right Here as droning guitars build and build, far off but urgent, before drum machines erupt from every direction in a space-station-red-alert escape sequence.
Ghosts VI: Locusts is grittier, grungier and features more sharp edges to snag yourself on. Shades tirelessly stalk the periphery here, and there is danger in the very air - but this collection starts off slow, eerie and disturbing. The Cursed Clock and Around Every Corner infuse the ear with dread and creeping tension before Run Like Hell kicks down the door with enormous, dirty breakbeats. There are softer moments as well, like the ascending, slightly detuned helixes of Trust Fades and the distant fires of A Really Bad Night, but the most memorable passage has to be the 13-minuteTurn This Off Please with its omnipresent mechanical heart whirring darkly behind a veil of distorted sirens and damned voices.
Both works are undeniably Reznor/Ross, industrial and haunted throughout, but Locusts feels like the struggle to survive an apocalypse while Together is the period of grieving and recovery immediately afterwards. Both perspectives feel important to engage right now, and both albums are available to download for free on the Nine Inch Nails store at https://www.nin.com/.
Thanks for reading, and listen to Trent and Atticus: take care of each other.
♥ Zach
Take a bump of these…
Cenizas
By Nicolas Jaar
Nicolas Jaar's third studio album under his birth name has been released today. I had the opportunity to tune into his Twitch stream earlier this week where he previewed Cenizas, and it was, in a word: awakening. Introducing the album as a representation of healing and transformation, Nicolas Jaar delivers texture after texture that are both abstract and palpable. It's a religious experience. It was a perfect way to wake up this morning with coffee in-hand, windows open, and headphones on.
If divinity had a sound, this album would be it.
Purchase Cenizas on Bandcamp.
New Me, Same Us
By Little Dragon
Little Dragon's sixth studio album following the release of 2017's Season High, is the clear and carefree summer's day we need during these weird times. With their signature melding of funk, disco, soul, and electronica, New Me, Same Us is Little Dragon in their final evolution. Throw this on if the weight of our current global climate is too much to bear and you just need some blood to flow and serotonin to flood your system.
Purchase New Me, Same Us on Bandcamp.
Fuego Nuevo
By Nicola Cruz
Ecuadorian electronic music producer Nicola Cruz has just been churning out music over the last couple months. Today, his latest EP Fuego Nuevo has released and we're all about it. Demonstrating a mastery of Afro-Cuban beats, and an energy so hot that it melts your worries away, this four-tracked EP was made to dance to.
