By Jesse Cataldo
Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero – Nothing Records
A concept album by a man who’s made a career peddling concepts, Year Zero lives and dies by its unifying message. In this case, it’s the assertion that our modern world, riddled with corruption and infested with greedy corporations, is on the fast track to hell – a message that Trent Reznor delivers with characteristic aplomb.
The album treats us to his vision of post-apocalyptic America, a horrific world that’s equivalent to a 14-year-old’s blacklit bedroom in terms of subtlety and design. The bluntness of the message is of course far from surprising. Reznor’s lyrics have never been his strongest suit and Year Zero approaches politics with the same hammering delicacy that he took to emotional issues on With Teeth. No matter what feelings he explores, Reznor’s dominant motif will always be rage, and even songs that try to approach issues with irony or wit stink of it.
Predictably, the best songs are the ones that most separate the music from the lyrics. “My Violent Heart,” does this best by shuffling the message to the bottom of the mix, turning the words of the anthemic chorus into an invisible current of anger over a deliciously discordant electronic snarl. Times when Reznor abstains from singing are also successful, such as “The Greater Good,” which buzzes along with little more than electronic noise and ambient xylophone a la “Into the Void.”
Year Zero is billed as a return to Nine Inch Nails’ electronic roots, but its biggest problem is that Reznor is still afraid to indulge himself after the failure of the over-ambitious The Fragile resulting in a palette that’s too guitar-driven, narrow and unsatisfying. Simplicity may be the only option for his lyrics, but it’s not the best choice for his music……3 STARS
Blonde Redhead – 23 – 4ad
Not since Michael Jordan retired has 23 been so in demand. Recently the subject of a Jim Carrey / Joel Schumacher disaster, the number and its supposed mystical properties appears again on the aptly titled 23, the latest effort from Blonde Redhead.
Whether the subject is confronted with the same hokey clumsiness is hard to tell, and in truth the band, and by extension 23 as a whole, isn’t as much about the content of the words as the sound of them. They act as another atmospheric level, and the voicework on songs like “Publisher” and “My Impure Hair,” contributes more to what’s already a shimmering Easter basket of an album. This is not to say the lyrics are inane or even inconsequential, but their murkiness is simply unnecessary to decipher. Usually springy but often grim in its baroque intensity, 23 floats along like a storm cloud with a silver lining……4 STARS
Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha – Fat Possum Records
A self proclaimed professional of the esoteric talent, Andrew Bird’s secret weapon has always been his whistle, a multifarious instrument that lends tremendous character to already intricate songs, adding a lilting high or a haunting feeling at just the right moment.
His greatest talent, however, is for lyrics and instrumentation that are equally complex, operating in unison to compose the meat of his meaty catalog. Armchair Apocrypha continues in this tradition, and while lacking any of the ear-catching showstoppers that defined The Mysterious Production of Eggs, the album works in a quiet, thoroughly competent fashion. Each simmers with energy and crackling wit, and the violin work that comprises the focus of the music is spectacular as usual, although noticeably more subdued. It’s touches come through most fully in the background of more guitar dominated songs, such as “Fiery Crash,” where soft strings peek in at the edges and “Yawny at the Apocalypse,” where it twirls gracefully beneath a landscape of ambient noise……4 STARS
CD Reviews
