Nine
Inch Nails
Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D
****
Trent
Reznor’s industrial behemoths have always been at the
cutting edge of music technology and future sound - using new
techniques frequently throughout their near 20 year history.
The reworking and remixing of their work has been a constant
throughout and recent concept album Year Zero is no exception.
Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D features 14 reworkings from a bevy of remixing
talent who offer uniquely different takes on Reznor’s
apocalyptic electro-metal excursions.
Hip-hop poet Saul Williams jacks ‘Guns by Computer’
up a notch and drops one of his angry rhymes - it fits like
it was meant to be. As he repeats ‘Gunshots by computer’
over the classic NIN fuzz it is powerful stuff. He also reworks
‘Survivalism’ into a dark dupstep joint, giving
the album one of its highlights.
Fans of a more commercial dance sound will get off to remixes
by Pirate Robot Midget and Epworth Phones, who provide definite
dancefloor fillers.
Kronos Quartet and Enrique Gonzalez Muller’s take on ‘Another
Version of the Truth’ begins with a manic break-down,
before it builds into an epic, beautiful and stunning echo of
strings that shows clearly Reznor’s skills as a composer.
New Order’s Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert give distinct
techno reworkings infused with that classic New Order edge,
whilst The Faint’s future-soul version of ‘Meet
Your Master’ takes NIN into new territory.
All 14 tracks have something to offer, but if you get bored
of them NIN have pushed the boat out offering a second DVD containing
wav.files of all the musical parts on Year Zero so you can remix
them yourself.
This additional novelty and the very concept of a Nine Inch
Nails remix album will mainly appeal to avid fans, but the sheer
quality and variety of the remixes on Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D makes
it worthy of being so much more than a completists collectable.
by Chris Marks
