Nine Inch Nails wave goodbye.
Anyone who knows me nowadays knows that I am a pretty big Nine Inch Nails fan. What most probably don't know is that I actually only really became a fan around 2005, about the time With Teeth was released. I remember reading an article about how Trent Reznor was mad that a radio station leaked two new songs from his album (his first new album in 6 years), and how fans' first impressions of it were ruined by listening to a low-quality radio recording. To "get back", or maybe to prove a point about how first impressions are important, Trent ruined the ending of Million Dollar Baby which had just opened in theaters. A movie I hadn't seen yet, but wanted to. I was a little cheesed, but I thought it was funny, and I decided to download With Teeth and give it a shot.
Nine Inch Nails - Rexall Place, Edmonton, AB - 7.28.08 - photo by Warrren Hrycun
My first impression was that the album was "okay". I had been aware of NIN as a band (if you can call one guy a band) for years, seeing as they were fairly popular in the mid-late 90s, but I never actually gave them a chance. I gave With Teeth a few more listens, though, and it started to grow on me. It wasn't until several months later that I decided to buy The Downward Spiral on a whim when I saw it for $9.99 at HMV. I was out of town at the time (Billie's brother's wedding), so without a CD player, I had to wait until I got back home to listen to it. Unknown to me at the time, I had just planted a seed that was soon to grow into a full blown obsession.
In the next 3-4 years, I managed to track down not just all of their full length albums, but each of their singles and EPs as well, which usually contained many good remixes. It was easy to keep track of which albums I was missing, due to a convenient little numbering system for each release called Halos. Each release (with a couple rare exceptions) was given a Halo number. Their first single was Halo 1, and their very last release to date is Halo 27. In 2005 they were only at Halo 19, but I still had quite a bit of collecting to do. To this day, the only ones I am missing are 12 and 15. One being a rare out of print VHS tape, and the other being an also out of print, three-part single that usually sells for $80 per-part on eBay.
Nine Inch Nails - Rexall Place, Edmonton, AB - 7.28.08
My obsession took another turn for the worse when I bought a record player some time in 2007. Now I had the need to go back and buy all of my absolute favorite albums on wonderful vinyl (Billie was initially opposed to this idea, but she's now somewhat grown fond of collecting records). I held back a little bit, partly due to the rarity of many older NIN albums on vinyl, but I eventually managed to find copies of every full length album, including Broken and The Fragile which have never seen repressings beyond their original release. My absolute prized possesion that came from all of this has to be the ultra-deluxe limited edition of Ghosts I-IV that was released in 2008. It's pretty awesome, you guys.
By now you're probably wondering why I'm sharing all of this, and if you're still reading, here's why: It has been recently announced by Trent himself that the current NIN tour is going to be their last. Their last forever? Nobody knows, but at least their last for a long, long time. In the short time that I've been a fan, I have been lucky enough to see them live three times. Once in 2005, and twice in 2008, and they were by far the favorite concert experiences I've had. Though I am probably a little biased. Just a little.
Single tear.
So here is where my obsession ends, or at least slows down, for now. Trent prematurely announced he was in talks with HBO to pitch an original TV series revolving around the story of the album Year Zero, but that was a while ago and there hasn't been much news about it in some time. I guess I am lucky to have enjoyed new NIN music in the short time it was available, seeing as though the older fans commonly had to wait 4-6 years between each album prior to With Teeth's release. At least now other fans and I can follow Trent on Twitter to see what he's up to. I guess it's time to play the waiting game.
I'll get the obvious out of the way first and start with this one. For sale on the Nine Inch Nails website as a digital-only version for $5 or as an ultra-deluxe limited edition version for $300, this was a 2-disc album containing 36 entirely instrumental songs. There are no official videos for this album, but there was a partnership with YouTube to allow fans to create their own custom videos, sort of like an online film festival.
Another obvious one for me, this album was released for free online in digital form as a gift for the success of Ghosts I-IV. It saw a physical release on CD and Vinyl, but was limited to 250,000 copies worldwide. Many critics said it was Trent Reznor's strongest work since The Downward Spiral in 1994.
Everyone teases me for listening to rap music, but they don't know what they're missing. Atmosphere released several small EPs the past year, but their strongest was definitely this album. I was somewhat disappointed with their previous full length album so I didn't have the highest expecations for this one, but my doubts were erased when it was released.
This album made both 
Another favorite on Last.fm, also one of the catchiest albums I've heard in a long time. This is MGMT's first full length album and is sure to be played in my car for a long time.
This album fits into my "silly electronic music" phase that I've been in recently, along with several other albums released in the past couple years. This is the only one making the list, since it's the only one released in 2008.
Another electronic album, although not really that silly. Somewhat similar to Daft Punk in style, this one is best enjoyed when played very loud with a lot of bass.
I first heard of Man Man when I saw them opening for Modest Mouse. Their genre is hard to describe, so I'll just quote Wikipedia: "Their musical style has been described as Viking-vaudeville, Manic Gypsy Jazz. Man Man is known for their exuberant live performances. When performing, the members of the band dress in white outfits and wear war paint."
Another favorite weird band of mine, Why? is from the primarily hip-hop record label 
Yet another weirdo band from Anticon, Restiform Bodies is an experimental hip-hop group. I don't really know what else to say about them other than they're probably an acquired taste.