Nine Inch Nails: The Slip (2008)

Nine Inch Nails: The Slip (2008)

The Slip does what many of the post millennium NIN albums basically do: it mixes the angry and the serene, and after repeated listens it's the serene tracks that prove to have the most depth musically and emotionally.

It was reportedly created in just three weeks, being an experiment in 'working with a compressed timeline'. It adheres to a mostly paint-by-numbers formula, but at least none of those numbers are (Year) Zero.

The end result does sound kind of rushed, but the enthusiasm for both the music and the project is definitely evident in the compositions and there are some quality tracks to be found.

It was FREE from the official site, released under a creative commons license (although a physical release did follow). Curiously, it no longer seems to be on the official website, at time of writing, but is still available from the Internet Archive in both lossy and lossless formats.

Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I – IV (2008)

Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I – IV (2008)

The sixth NIN studio album is almost entirely instrumental. It's a work that needs abstract analogies to define it.

I'm respectfully not going to attempt to provide any such things because they'll likely be different for everyone who hears it. Whether intentional or not, the music is like a soundtrack to whatever fleeting thought a subject's mind conjures when it's given free rein to do so. As you listen to it play, you'll create the meaning yourself.

It's split into four parts with nine tracks apiece. There's a specific mood to each of the four parts but they're malleable and can be made to fit the listener's own ideals and anxieties.

Nine Inch Nails: With Teeth Lyric Poster (2005)

NIN: With Teeth Lyric Poster (2005)

The Lyric Poster (as pictured right) was made available free from NIN.com as both a regular image file and as a higher quality PDF for printing. However, for whatever reason(s), it's no longer on the official site. So, for those folks that wanted it but missed out, take advantage of the MEGA link below. I embedded it in the post initially but it was too large and took forever to load.

*** With Teeth Lyric Poster ***

You can take the image from this page if it suits your needs, but it's a resized and scaled down jpeg. The link above will give you the superior quality PDF (size 20.1 mb). The link should remain active for as long as MEGA continue to host stuff for free. But if for some reason it's not working, tell me in comments and I'll re-upload it when I'm able.

Hardware (1990)

Hardware (1990)

Dir. Richard Stanley

Over the years and after repeated viewings I've grown to really love Hardware even though the things that are wrong with it are probably equal in number to the things that are right.

By that logic, it should be little more than an average movie, but Richard Stanley put so much of himself into the film that it's as if the inner-workings achieved a kind of semi-life of their own, making even the flaws interesting viewing.

From the mystery figure in the opening scene, shown walking through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, scavenging for whatever he can turn into profit in a decaying economy, through to the city, itself a different kind of wasteland, right to the very end credits it's a film that feels strangely familiar but simultaneously, mysteriously unreal.

NIN | JA: Tour Sampler (2009)

NIN | JA: Tour Sampler (2009)

An E.P that was given out free via direct download to promote the Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction Tour.

It features two tracks from NIN that were originally laid down during the With Teeth (2005) recording sessions. They didn't make it onto the final product. Don't assume they didn't make the cut because they're crap. They're certainly not. They're actually a must have for fans (well, fans of that particular album at least).

Wiki claims the two Jane's Addiction tracks were newly recorded studio versions of songs that had previously only existed as live versions.

Pale Sketcher: Music (2013)

Warm Sunday (2013)

Pale Sketcher will be a name that sounds familiar to fans of Jesu because Justin K. Broadrick released a Jesu album named Pale Sketches (2007). This is him again, in another of his many guises, but it's lighter in tone than most of his other works.

It has things in common with Jesu material but is stripped back and deconstructed, replacing guitar with a dreamlike quality synth.

Broadrick is prolific with his music but he never puts out crap, so you can always buy with confidence. It's a Name Your Price at Bandcamp, so it's up to you how much you think it's worth. You can find it HERE.

DUNE 2000: Video Game (1999)

Dune 2000 (1999)

Genre: Real-time Strategy  |  Players: 1 / Multi (link)

Developers: Westwood Studios / Intelligent Games

NOTE: Review is of the PS1 port, but I'll mention the PC version briefly at the end for obvious reasons.

Dune 2000 is a remake/update of Dune II: Battle for Arrakis (1992), originally developed by Westwood Studios, creators of the well-known Command and Conquer series. Dune was first, though, so in a way it's Westwood's RTS granddaddy.

Wikipedia states that Dune II was based on David Lynch's filmed version (1984) of Frank Herbert's seminal sci-fi novel Dune (1965), but you can make the transition to the game from the novel without needing to have seen the film, and vice-versa.

Anastasia Vronski and Ricardo Alrucini: The Groom is... (2011)

Anastasia Vronski and Ricardo Alrucini:

The Groom is Still Waiting for the Bride at the Altar (2011)

One track lasting twenty-three minutes that never once feels like it’s gone on for too long.

It reminds me of music designed to give atmosphere to tabletop RPGs, except it has haunting, creepy spoken word throughout, documenting the opening of the sixth seal from the Revelation of John the Apostle.

The instrumentation is equally as unsettling. There’s rattling chains, creaking protestations from ancient wood and ritualistic drums.

When the sky splits apart and the land moves, it turns to noise. It feels then as if the horrors it’s relating are happening right at your feet and you better not look down unless you want to be a part of them. If you want to experience it for yourself then get over to the Internet Archive where it's available for FREE. Here's a LINK.