Like most people, I enjoy free things. Often, though, free stuff isn't synonymous with quality stuff. Take the bag of CD cases that were offered to me today by my bandmate Mike: because I'm male, and because there's Italian blood running through my veins, I happily took them off of his hands; even though most of them are broken, and I don't even have any loose CDs in need of jewel cases, I took them because they were free, damnit, free!
With the way things are going in the music biz, however, free has gained a powerful ally. Myriad artists are putting their shit out on the market at a zero price point, and to whatever dubious end, as a music connoisseur I can't be too displeased at this development, particularly given that I've decided to go all self-righteous on ya'll.
And so it was that a couple of months back, the How to Destroy Angels EP wound up in my iTunes library au gratis. This is Trent Reznor's (of NIN fame) latest side project, consisting of him pushing buttons and twisting nobs, his wife Mariqueen Mandig on vocals, and Atticus Ross pulling crazy wheelies on his guitar (or the equivalent thereof).
This isn't Reznor's first foray into releasing material on the free: back in 2008 he threw up some of his Ghosts project free of charge. Reznor's always been in touch with the latest marketing trends, and so it's not surprising that he's taking advantage of his reputation to proliferate this latest effort. After all, tossing your newlywed wife behind the mic and slapping some synthetic beats behind her isn't going to inspire confidence in absolutely everybody, so it was probably wise to vet the new material by passing it through as many people's ear canals as possible. I'm glad he did, because the EP is really quite good and will see regular rotation on my playlist, and I'm sure he's quite glad he did too, because I and presumably some others would be inclined to purchase any future HTDA release that will, in all likelihood, not be priced at zero dollars.
The single being pushed off the EP is titled "A Drowning" and is quite indicative of the type of thing you will find on the record. I have a feeling it's the type of thing that will either truly resonate with the listener, or not really do anything for them at all. For one thing, Mandig's vocals are a bit of a make-or-break situation: they're a bit thin, quite ethereal--they sit on top of the electronica, seeming to flit to and fro with the movements of the music behind them. Reznor has implemented them adroitly, though, and I personally find her voice to be of a delicately beautiful texture, like a well-made mousse.
Reznor's beat making is delightfully simple, and I say delightfully because he has been known to stretch too far with his e-drums before. His last NIN album, Year Zero, suffered from this at times, even though I find him in general to be an excellent rhythm arranger. There are whispers of Prince in his beat-making, a distilled essence of a good beat that can be quite irresistible.
The lush textures on the album are exceedingly well done, and speak to the lessons he's learned in similar projects such as the Ghosts series. Yet make no mistake, at its heart this record is an extension of NIN: tracks such as "Fur Lined" could have been lifted straight off of Pretty Hate Machine. It's actually quite refreshing to see Reznor return to the synthy badassery of this side of his musical persona, and it's kind of eerie to hear a female channel his snarky vocal delivery in such an effective way. It's a welcome respite from Mandig's more whispered vocal tones, and shows that she has some range and versatility as a vocalist.
Recommendation - well, it's free, so go get it! Here's the link http://www.howtodestroyangels.com/ . If you like the sound of old-school NIN, and don't mind the occasional wandering into Ghosts and Year Zero territory, then this album will do something for you. Like a well-made mousse.
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