Nine Inch Nails, "Ghosts I-IV"

Ghosts is probably the most exciting release because of its uniqueness. What we need is a reminder that good music has always come from breaking the rules and Nine Inch Nails hails that tradition with new spirit. All instrumental, these soundscapes take your mind to new places and invite you to live in them with no preconceived associations. They invite creativity, imagination, exploration and they inspire all kinds of visions. It has taken me many listens just to enter the doorway of this music and I know I will be staying for a long while.

Their release of the album holds true to the music's purpose, offering up the content and letting you choose your course. I really am a proponent of this type of marketing for music. It's time to admit that the old model for distributing music doesn't quite fit in today's age and I really appreciate artists who embrace the challenge instead of fighting against it. I am also completely inspired by Nine Inch Nails' invitation to make your own videos for their music and submit them them to the band:

Creation at its finest inspires more creation and I myself look forward to the challenge...

I won't say where this music has taken me, but will only say tap into it and see where it takes you. It's totally worth the trip.

refresh

I decided it was time for a fresh look. The seasons are changing, spring is seeping its way in slowly, and new leaves are turning. Appropriately, this look is called "foliage." Thank you, Derek Punsalan, for this cool template. I am still working on the set-up, so bear with me.

Let's see, let's see... I've been listening to lots of new music lately, but haven't quite been ready to write about it yet. It is good to know that rock is alive and kicking. I was worried there for a while. Lately it's been a shuffle between:

NIN, "Ghosts I-IV"
The Black Crowes, "Warpaint"
The Raconteurs, "Consoler of the Lonely"

My NIN post will follow this one, but I will just say that all three albums are totally inspiring and energizing in their own way. Get them all, share them with your friends. Good music is everything.

SotD: How to Disappear Completely by Radiohead

I am working on it.

That there
That's not me
I go
Where I please
I walk through walls
I float down the Liffey
I'm not here
This isn't happening
I'm not here
I'm not here

In a little while
I'll be gone
The moment's already passed
Yeah it's gone
And I'm not here
This isn't happening
I'm not here
I'm not here

Strobe lights and blown speakers
Fireworks and hurricanes
I'm not here
This isn't happening
I'm not here
I'm not here

SotD: One by U2

I learned how to play U2's "One" tonight and it reminded me how truly beautiful this song is. I am not a huge U2 fan, but this song is a classic. Its simplicity manages to dig in at just the right emotional spots to speak volumes. A personal story and a universal one. Love. just love... and yet it's everything.

The song just gets that and expresses that so completely.

One love. One life.
When it's one need in the night.
One love.
We get to share it.
It leaves you baby if you don't care for it.

Song of the Dy/Music Education (Cont'd): It Ain't Easy, David Bowie

This album hits you all at once and then again and again with each song. I could live in it, and have been for the last few weeks. I am still learning my way around. It Ain't Easy is a theme song for this week/this life as it presently stands. 

When you climb to the top of the mountain

Look out over the sea

Think about the places perhaps, where a young man could be

Then you jump back down to the rooftops

Look out over the town

Think about all of the strange things circulating round 

It ain't easy, it ain't easy

It ain't easy to get to heaven when you're going down 

Feel the same? Sing along.