• Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch

    June 30, 2018 - By 

    Trent Reznor has been throwing shade at practically everybody on this most recent press tour. The Nine Inch Nails frontman has railed against Trump, Kanye and the contemporary state of music. At times, there have been well-formed ideas spoken with a confidence and authority that implies a level of consideration and forethought. At others, it’s amounted to little more than “Old man yells at cloud”. With all this bluster, the release he was promoting got lost in the fold. In fact looking back at this coverage, the most interesting aspect of this current mini-album, Bad Witch, is that it was, in…

  • Nine Inch Nails – Not The Actual Events

    January 3, 2017 - By 

    It’s not unlike Nine Inch Nails to blindside you. The release structure for albums like The Slip and the Ghosts series have been very much an ad hoc affair and their latest, Not The Actual Events, is no different. The record, announced with the introduction of new full-time member Atticus Ross, owes a great deal to NIN’s past as well as Reznor and Ross’s soundtrack work over the last decade. While the EP isn’t groundbreaking, it’s been a welcome Christmas treat or long time fans. Proceedings blast off with the incendiary ‘Branches/Bones’ and it’s as though the last ten years…

  • Inbound: Little Matador

    October 17, 2013 - By 

    Fronted by Snow Patrol guitarist Nathan Connolly, Little Matador are a band that have already proved themselves to be much more than the sum of their parts. The “parts”, in this instance, before the aforementioned globetrotters, LaFaro, Idlewild and many more projects and musical endeavours besides. Boasting five evidently versatile musicians, the band went down a storm at one of their first shows, opening for none other than Nine Inch Nails at Belsonic in Belfast. We speak to Nathan about the band’s early beginnings, their forthcoming debut album and making time to make it work. Hi Nathan. Firstly, could you tell us how Little Matador came about and who’s…

  • Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks

    September 11, 2013 - By 

    Hesitation Marks is the furthest Trent Reznor has pushed the aural parameters of Nine Inch Nails since the bands’ inception. Whilst previous releases have varied in degrees, several constants have always remained: dark and nihilistic themes, recurring musical motifs, and tracks that build dozens of layers into a towering climax – most of these traits have been eschewed in favour of a new approach here. The new record Hesitation Marks – their eighth full length –  is an exercise in minimalism, in honesty, in peeling back the skin; both in terms of song writing and tone. Reznor is creating music with new goals…

  • Recap: Holy Ghost, Julia Holter, Cloud etc.

    August 25, 2013 - By 

    In the first installment of our weekly feature looking back at the best tracks that emerged the week previous, this week’s Recap features a lovely slew of swooning electronica, shady lo-fi pop and the latest, rather interesting metamorphosis of a noise-rock demigoddess (go on, take a guess). As always, we’re interested in what’s been catching your ear from the world of new music full-stop: inform us of your favourite things new-fangled and magnificent via newmusic@thethinair.net. In the meantime, there’s these… RY X – ‘Vampires’ The wonderfully spectral new single by Australian songsmith RY X, ‘Vampires’ is taken from his forthcoming Berlin…

  • Belsonic: Nine Inch Nails

    August 23, 2013 - By 

    With their eagerly anticipated eighth studio album, Hesitation Marks, primed for release at the beginning of next month, Trent Reznor’s genre-defining, decade-spanning Nine Inch Nails stop off in Belfast for Day Three of Belsonic 2013 experiencing quite possibly their most marked period of acclaim to date. Twenty-five years since Reznor formed the band as an effective solo project, there is an almost touchable urgency about the band and the music following a four-year incubation period. As fans rove in their thousands, everything, it would seem, is pointed in the general direction of a monumental first visit for the five-piece. Having endured the…

  • Download: Nine Inch Nails – Copy Of A

    August 12, 2013 - By 

    Taken from the band’s forthcoming new album Hesitation Marks, Nine Inch Nails are giving away a new track – ‘Copy Of A’ – via Amazon. Something of a recent live staple, the track comes off the back of the release of ‘Came Back Haunted’ in June, the band’s first single since signing with Columbia Records. Nine Inch Nails play Belfast’s Belsonic on August 21. Go here to buy tickets. Hesitation Marks – the band’s eighth studio album to date – will be released on September 3. Stream the track via YouTube below and download the track here.

  • 2013: Metapocalypse

    June 4, 2013 - By 

    Thirteen. It’s an unlucky number for some, but certainly not for fans of metal. I say metal. Of course, what I really mean is METAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL! This year sees some of the biggest and loudest  bands in the history of metal descend upon Ireland like an eagle on a sleeping mouse. If you aren’t a big fan of heavy guitars, you might be safer indoors for most of this year. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Bands such as Slayer, Mastadon, Nine Inch Nails, Lamb Of God and even the fathers of heavy metal (or should that be grandfathers) – Black…

  • Nine Inch Nails make surprise album announcement

    May 28, 2013 - By 

    Just twelve hours after it was announced that they are to play this year’s Belsonic festival in Belfast, Nine Inch Nails have made a surprise announcement stating a brand new album is finished and set for release later this year. On a statement released on the official Nine Inch Nails website, the band’s founder and brainchild Trent Reznor wrote, “I’ve been less than honest about what I’ve really been up to lately. For the last year I’ve been secretly working non-stop with Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder on a new, full-length Nine Inch Nails record, which I am happy to…

  • Nine Inch Nails and more announced for Belsonic

    May 28, 2013 - By 

    Playing Northern Ireland for the first time since forming a quarter of a century ago, U.S. industrial rock legends Nine Inch Nails are amongst several new acts announced to play this year’s Belsonic festival in Belfast’s Custom House Square. Set to take place on Wednesday August 21, North Coast post-rock quartet And So I Watch You From Afar have been confirmed as support for the iconic band, fronted by Trent Reznor (above). Several new support acts have also been announced for this year’s festival. Manchester band James will up the nostalgia factor by supporting Suede on August 24; The Courteeners,…