Music Geekery (NIN edition)

There was an email this morning, with a link to the EP I bought a few days ago. Nine Inch Nails noise greeted the day. It came with a warning that is was unfriendly and impenetrable. I doubt most people read about it before watching the Youtube video of "Burning Bright" and the reactions have been as harsh as expected, from the people you expect them from. The welcoming of the music-noise came from the expected places. (Me, being one.)

There's enough familiarity to know exactly who it is. The thing isn't catchy at all. There's not much to cling to, from that side of the band, though. A part of me was expecting some of the kind of noise on remix albums such as "Further Down the Spiral" so that I wasn't too shocked by it. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's just like that, but there's enough there to remind me.

I've been picking at the artwork since it began to emerge, as have others. Why the official download should look exactly like Still remains somewhat of a mystery, since the two albums couldn't be anymore radically different, unless given to another writer, altogether. There is the message that accompanied the release of an album released at the same time, based on music that was never used on The Fragile. Still was the first attempt made after the public disclosures of all that could go wrong having gone wrong, and the struggle to get and remain clean. Perhaps in revisiting the wounds from that era released a new set of sonic expressions as a cleanser to the work done on this new Deviations album.

I wonder if this is what happened when he tried to remaster and release an anniversary edition of The Fragile. A whole new album based on what got left on the cutting room floor, and then a cleansing EP? Either way, I cannot bring myself to pay $80, even though I am definitely the target audience for such an LP. I am not struggling, by any means, but I have plans for the money I've got coming in. Passports are not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination. Touring Europe won't be cheap, in any way, for me. I still have to regulate my budget.

But don't think I'm not struggling not to go back to the site and make a few clicks. It's pure torture, really, for me. Unless you are interested in something to the same degree, it's hard to explain why this is difficult.

To say The Fragile is my favorite of their albums is an understatement. It competes with The Cure's entire collection, for me. That's a really big deal, for me. If you watched me and my behavior over The Cure, then it should be apparent that this is something of a compulsion for me. Not buying the new Deviations is just torture.

I guess this entry is me trying hard to keep myself from buying it. Passport. Plane tickets. Hotels. Transportation. *goddamnitall I want that album*