Likes: 
Faceplams: Originally Posted by Daegor
http://tinyurl.com/mezbw52
Active Member
http://tinyurl.com/mezbw52
Flaccid Member
Thanks anyway :P
Someone else helped me out...
Stubby Member
Cd is still on rotation , just not as much , Favorites : Copy of , VMOE Not so favorite :Haunted....
she/her/hers
i listened to the album the other day after not listening to it for a while.
some thoughts:
i still don't really like find my way...at all. i mean, it's kinda pretty, and once it builds up a bit more, it's interesting. but other than that, it doesn't do much for me.
same thing with while i'm still here. i definitely wish it sounded more like black noise all the way through.
everything is a great song. like, really great. i love it.
favorites - copy of a, all time low, various methods of escape, i would for you, & in two.
Stubby Member
I feel the Hesitation Marks artwork doesn't go well with the music.
The artwork itself is nice and is obviously a reference to TDS, to which it would fit more naturally, IMO.
The artwork is very organic looking, very complex and features textures of fabric and various stuff from nature.
In contrast, the music is very modern, electronic and sparse. (For the lack of better descriptions for both the music and the artwork, but you may get my point.)
To me, the music of HM is best represented by the minimal, yet very effective production of the 2013 Festival shows.
Anyone else have similar thoughts about this?
Down, but not out.
I find that interesting, because I thought that some of the artwork from With Teeth, Year Zero, and The Slip could've fit in with Hesitation Marks. I don't really have that much to say on that part of the subject though, but what you said also covers how I'd also feel about it now that you've mentioned it. The CD also looked like some sort of throwback to Pretty Hate Machine and Beside You In Time as well.
Active Member
I'm a big Russell Mills fan, so initially I was just excited to see him working with NIN again (and jazzed about the multiple covers.) But you're right that the organic nature of the art kind of clashes with the inorganic nature of the music. On the other hand, Mills' art this time around is less organic overall than it was for TDS, so the disparity could have been worse if that earthier, more decay-oriented style had been revisited. Also, many people have remarked that the music of HM seems more atmospheric than most recent NIN output, so the complexity of the artwork maybe still kind of works in that way. Definitely an interesting and somewhat jarring contrast.
Banned
I think the same thing.
Active Member
Yeah, I love both the album and the album art, but the throwback to TDS just doesn't work. Just because thematically, the record if a transposition of the Downward Spiral storyline 20 years later doesn't make it close enough to reference it all over the place. That nod aside, Hesitation Marks doesn't have much in common with its older brother...
On the other hand, isn't that reaction just us putting TDS and everything Downward Spiral related on a pedestal ? "This artwork goes with that music goes with these lyrics goes with this Reznor..." There are a thousand electronic albums out there using organic imagery and we don't even blink I'm sure...
Throbbing Member
There's a lot of artwork, but some of it definitely looks minimal or sparse to me. There are quite a few with repeated objects or large blocks of color, maybe with some variation. And, as you mention, fabrics and textures which are also some amount of structural uniformity, which is also true of some of the organic structures (in the leaves and honeycomb thing). I guess I don't really think of the music as completely electronic and inorganic, anyway. I mean, there's still singing (and some "live" instrument performance, too) and emotion. And a lot of it definitely sounds structural with subtle, maybe random or organic, variation to me. Not saying your wrong, just a different perspective.
And there are other ways of considering the art - like, instead of asking how suitable the visuals are for the music, they can be thought more equally, like, "how do the two works relate?" Anyway, just some other perspectives.
And this. Maybe even not that TDS is on a pedestal so much as it's just so familiar. I mean, the similarities really stand out to us (especially since we've all discussed them), but that's really just one aspect of the art.
Last edited by m15a; 04-17-2014 at 02:05 AM.
Active Member
Something else that I think makes the organic artwork of HM work with the more electronic/processed sound of the album is this: on TDS, conceptually there's this regular separation of the "organic" side and the "machine" side of the narrator; there's the human being and there's the constant mechanical voice of depression. As the album goes on more and more organic elements get shed and more and more industrial and electronic elements take the forefront, with the organic parts becoming more abstract and twisted (songs like Eraser or the title track), with Reptile being a great example of this, only for the machine side to ultimately dissipate and we're left with nothing but the fragile, natural sense of reality of Hurt, where everything seems held back, gentle and hesitant until the very end.
To me, for HM, one of the best parts of it is that it has this mature approach to the same machine vs. man subject from TDS, ultimately saying, "There are no halves, we're the same thing and it's simply a part of who I am and by negating that maybe I've damaged myself far more than I needed to or would have otherwise." Look at songs like In Two and you'll see what I mean. While I'm Still Here feels like an acceptance of that fact and finally coming to terms with that notion of self, that all of the destructiveness, depression and addiction isn't some foreign self but rather simply another part of the whole and not some "side" that can be defeated.
So for the artwork to have that organic sense of frailty and decay and then bounce against the more electronic vibes of the album seems to go hand in hand honestly. It's a contrast that, to me at least, really accentuates one of the core points of HM. Also, since HM takes on a more mature look at a lot of the same subjects from TDS, I find it really cool how the artwork for HM is reminiscent of TDS but with a far more deeper/richer color pallet. It fits with both being older and looking back on a younger self as well as the shock/contrast between what is and what's thought to be, and I absolutely adore all of the work that Mills put in to this album.
Active Member
Nice little behind-the-scenes photo posted to Instagram: http://instagram.com/p/nd4r3CjqgV/
Throbbing Member
Does anybody else get popping in Black Noise from the ALAC audiophile download? The rest of the record is fine except that track. I've downloaded it several times with the same result.
Stubby Member
I have noticed that, but I thought it was intentional.
Memb, Member, The Membest
Maybe the voice in the intro says "a copy, a copy" and first song picks up on it?
Throbbing Member
I, too, have been away from the board ever since the new album and subsequent touring happened. With that said, Hesitation Marks is still a frightfully precise and addictive record. "Copy of A" and "In Two" might be in my top 5 NIN songs of all time. I still wish there were more spacious experimentation but we have the soundtracks and HTDA for that. TR has been nothing but supremely industrious in the past year and I admire him for it all the more. There is not a week that goes by where I'm not listening to this album. To all who've followed my posts, I miss ya!
Down, but not out.
Hesitation Marks grew on me very fast. It's probably by far the most addictive post-The Fragile record for me so far as well. I've also made sure to appreciate his prolific output, not only because I enjoy most of it, but also because of simply looking at what happened between 1994-2005. This isn't to say that all hiatuses are bad, but it was certainly fun to catch more shows than I would've with the hiatuses. And since I don't attend rock concerts regularly, the wait I had from The Slip to Hesitation Marks wasn't that bad at all. It was still less than 5 years anyway. (That is, the gap between the shows I saw, not the albums, as I attended one show in 2009, and another show in 2013.)
Last edited by Halo Infinity; 05-07-2014 at 04:28 PM.
Throbbing Member
sorry for opening a dead thread again, but it's been almost a year since we got the album, and I think HM finally passed that time of being a "new record" for me, you know, now the freshness is away and I feel like it is a part of the whole discography. and I got some opinions: now I'm pretty sure it's his best work since The Fragile, even though I was always deeply in love with YZ and TS. HM has a perfect flow, it just feels right. it's flawless.
moments that make me climax and are one of the best moments in NIN's whole history:
* that moment when "I am just a finger on a trigger on a finger" in Copy of a
* "HEY! EVERYTHING IS NOT-O-K"
* that chaotic, hectic guitar after Running's chorus, especially with Trent singing in the background "I'MRUNNINGOUTI'MRUNNINGOUTI'MRUNNINGOUT"
* last seconds of In Two (this makes me cum so hard)
* EPIC SAX TRENT IN WHILE I'M STILL HERE
* Black Noise in general
Pink Nails
I think the first bridge of In Two, "It's getting harder to tell the two of you apart...", with this wall of guitars, is the best thing Reznor has ever recorded. And the ending of the song is unnecessary.
Banned
As in, the song is so good it should just keep going and never end?
Banned
How hard??
Active Member
I wish Trent would go back and add the piano bits on Disappointed that he put in live in some of the European performances of it. My only complaint about that song was that it goes on just a bit too long, but those additions make that void
Active Member
well, sometimes I just can't get enough of the endless loops and bleeps in disappointed but every now and then I feel it's too long aswell. It's still a great tune and I just love the whole performance alongside the visuals for it. Can't get why there is so much hate for this tune...
And I have to agree... HM has become my most listened to NIN album in a very short time. It feels very seamless and is quite to the point. Not too long, not too short. The production is top notch and the record feels and sounds very cohesive. This is pretty much his mightiest comeback so far and I sincerely wouldn't have thought about this to actually happen. I was worried I might be over with NIN after 2009, it felt stale and then a couple years later HM happened and all the beautiful touring around this damn fine record!
copy of a has become my most favorite live tune by any band and I have been rocking out to it beyond belief. And I just love the way Trent looks like he's enjoying this song way too much when it starts, clapping, running around, doing the airplane and pumping his fists.
Throbbing Member
Funny, I actually started typing the same thing twice already this past week... but gave up and closed firefox. I can't figure out how I feel about this album. Copy of A, CBH and Find My Way are very good songs.
As for the rest of the album I find it kind of mediocre, poorly arranged at times and the bridging in some songs are dull. It's good but not that good. It's not one of NIN's most stimulating albums but I get that stimulating is not the message with this album.
But then I load up the album while I type and think it's fucking awesome and close firefox without posting what I wrote.
I really like the concept of 'I would for you' but I would have liked to see some better bridging from verse to chorus, some palmed distorted guitar during the chorus, a bit of live perc (kick/snare), a bit of synth arp in the background, more variety of synth snare/hh.
I really like 'Various methods of escape' - I'm not fond of the simple kick drum during the verse... I do like the high hat usage... I would have loved to hear live perc through out the song. There' something very mid range about this song until it reaches the end, the epic end!
Satellite - I instantly thought of N.E.R.D's 'Seeing Sounds' album because of the percussion used (kick/clap). I HATE the bridge in this song, the woooowwwww synth then clap clap is very plain and dull. Over all the song is good and I like how it shifts into a new world as it reaches the end. I think some sounds need to be equalized differently and made more visible. The simple percussion dominates the song, and I don't like that.
'Disappointed' reminds me of 'Within You Without You' by The Beatles.
'While Im Still Here' - I wouldn't change anything!
Active Member
This is very specific! Is this the sort of thing you could change if given the multitracks?
Throbbing Member
like SO HARD
Active Member
don't think I've heard those -- link?
Active Member
Last edited by WorzelG; 07-13-2014 at 09:46 AM.
Throbbing Member
yeah, those are awesome.. and definitely would have made the studio version more interesting towards the end
Down, but not out.
I'm not sure if this video was posted in this thread yet, but I thought of posting it anyway, since it's a fan-made commercial of Hesitation Marks. If only I caught it last year, or I did, and then just somehow forgot about it. It certainly deserves more views from the way I see it.
Reply With Quote
