NIN - Ghosts I

I don’t know how this going to work out kids, because really, I don’t know how well anything is working. Sometimes they say we talk in codes. But isn’t that what it is anyway? Who has got the code book?

1. Sounds a bit like this was recorded inside the piano, stick the mic up inside that mother and roll. I really dig the synth that comes in on this one. Simple but very effective at raising the levels. What?

2. Ball of sound. Thanks! Not so friendly ball? It’s hard to put words on abstractions such as these, that’s why they are there because words aren’t enough.  The contrast of the insane synth manipulation vs. the organic piano. Very delicious work.

3. Sudden intrusion of the robots. A factory of some kind of course. That’s usually the idea, but what about in the future when there are no factories and everything is created with thingy-ma-bobs. Everything is only something in relation to something else isn’t it? Perhaps that’s the real answer here. As far as God. That ol’ thing. God is a relationship of things to other things. Thingness. Thingy upon Thingy. Beat Beat Beat. Oh, yes. I woke up and I’m aware that this doesn’t make much sense. To be sure, I need better shit. I could take a shit on the floor and stay on Flava of Love. 911 is a joke. Truly that is a clue, but to something so incredibly insigniciant. As if there aren’t already enough mysteries?

4. I love the guitar effect on this one. What it sounds like to me (not sure if this is how it was actually done) is that it’s a recording of an electric guitar with no sound at all (just mic on the strum) but then the sound is switched on and it’s got this insane distortion on it. So it goes from, well you get it. Great contrast. Even if that’s not what is actually done, that’s the effect. Works well.

5. Breathing (but no, scraping??) Broken drum. A guitar that speaks and a piano that dreams. Yo, that’s like some Walt Whitman in this mother. I appreciate that Walt tried to speak to me. I, as a Robotic Mushroom, often think of speaking to the people of the future. It’s hard to imagine what their life will be like, but it’s sure to be like ours in the basic ways, isn’t it? Or maybe not.

6. This track is mad groovy, ain’t it? It reminds me of ol’ Brian Eno quite a bit. I think something of his in particular but I can’t place it at the moment. While I am unsure of the power of these toppings. Well I am beginning to suspect that the wait time was just longer than I thought it would be. Even us Robots miscalculate from time to time as you know the humans mess up our programs from time to time. Which brings me to AI (the movie.) I think it’s quite underrated. I love the whole end bit with the idea of these artificial beings from the future being the only ones left and they searching for some sort of meaning to their own existence. Of course their God is… Us. Man. Dig? That’s what I’ve always got from it anyways, but I’m just a lowly Robotic Mushroom. No, clearly I am a human being. DAMN THE MAN.

7.  I’ve allowed myself to wander away from this world a little bit. There do appear to be doors opening that may let us enter other places.

8. The Fireman. That’s all I can say right now. No, I’ll do a wonder as well: I wonder if Reznor has heard that album.  Just the bass and the beat though, the rest is totally different from what I’m referring to. Oh yes and when I say beat I actually mean beat as in the drums not ALL of the music. Call me an old Grandpa mofo that don’t understand the kids but man it drives me crazy when I hear people refer to all of the music in a song as the “beat.” WTF? The beat is just one element of music, a minor element in most non-dance songs I dare say (no offense meant to all of the drummers out there.)

9. I kind of haven’t been here for most of this one. I’ve quite enjoyed Ghosts I. But I think I’m going to move along now. I’m feeling like, sure maybe Ghosts II can make the paper plate fly off my desk but would that really help me in any true meaningful way?  Yeah that’s right. We’ve gotten to that part of the night. The slam my head into the wall part of the night? No, thankfully not that. Actually I am listening to the first track of Ghosts II right now. iTunes is crazy like that. It’s seems a bit more aggressive so far. Like it may want to eat my face if I let it. Well you know what, I’m not going to even tell you anymore about that. The truth is, this typing BS is very distracting.

2008, NIN

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