Not The Actual Events

[joplinpicasso]

I quite like Botley's interpretation of 'meaningless gibberish', especially considering that the narrator wants to pretend he's really a tourist but can't truly leave. Ever been in a strange land that doesn't even use the same letter system native to you? I've been to Japan, and, while walking around, Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana were a bit like visual white noise for me until I learned some.

[joplinpicasso]

Wait, what now?

Yeah, not likely....

[Lew]

fukushima?

(that's all i've got)

[Lew]

I thought of that last night, too. All the webs in the trees were sort of an insane thing to see. Although it might connect nicely with the word "branches" being used, another line for which I had readings I wasn't super impressed with. But again, what would that have to do with the rest of the song--in or out of my interpretation of it?

EDIT: If that's not clear, I wasn't satisfied with my readings of the line. I'm not saying I'm dissatisfied by Trent's lyric.

Also, I love the reason for your edit, @Lew.

maybe the lyrics are meant to highlight the intense and nonsensical bite of time this album and its concept belong to? he did stress, i think, that this album was a snippet and very immediate and very much a time and place kinda thing...so if you are looking at a specific moment, and condense all the emotions and words that attend that specific moment, it may very well come out disjointed and "blurry". do you know what i mean?

edit: i hope this comes out right: kind of like when someone throws a fit...an intense reaction that boils out and over...not easy to clearly articulate though the feelings are clear...ugh..nvmd, i am not sure if i can coherently express the thought. lol.

[mostlymad]

No, I think I get you. More impressionistic, less realistic? Less well-defined? James Joyce vs. Flaubert?

But wasn't it a recent project? When the heck was Fukushima? Before Hesitation Marks, I think?

Interesting to see the evolution of people's thoughts on interpretation. I think I like working with Fukushima as a point-in-time marker. I'd already kind of linked "I was watching on the day she died" as being sort of about New Orleans and Katrina. Though this puts the time sequence out of order. Or perhaps all of it is just a sort of flow backward?

[WorzelG]

I enjoyed this Spin review. I agree that the EP really reflects the times musically.
http://www.spin.com/2017/01/review-n...s+For+Music%29

[theimage13]

Okay, I have done my best to avoid physical spoilers ever since I saw potential ones earlier. Still don't know if the physical thing is a surprise or not. But a simple request: IF there's any solid info that it involves VHS (including definitive info that it does not involve it), please PM me, as it will dictate what comes with me on my upcoming move. I won't be checking back here again until I actually get my package, which is shipping to the new address.

Anyway....as you were.

[Jon]

My next guess was that the console in this photo was maybe Japanese. Who the hell knows. If the latter were the case, the sense I can make of the lyric is as follows: Even in his heavenly, comfortable, well-equipped home studio, occasionally something horrid will come crawling out into the light of day.

That's either an Oberheim Four Voice or Eight Voice, I can't tell from how it's photographed.

[EndlessLoveless]

Hope this doesnt come out shitty, but whenever I hear the Japanese line I think of that picture on nin.com, the big reveal when he cut his hair. Can't remember if it was in Japan or not though. Could be a reference to that time in his life. Either way it sure is a strange lyrical choice. You'd figure if he was looking for a rhyme he'd choose "on my knees" or "on your knees".

[joplinpicasso]

I enjoyed this Spin review. I agree that the EP really reflects the times musically.
http://www.spin.com/2017/01/review-n...s+For+Music%29

I enjoyed that review. It takes a more worldly approach to analyzing the songs and employs keywords I can agree with.

[Microwave Jellyfish]

How the hell does "Infected Japanese spiders crawling everywhere" clear things up at all?

They might be infected with parasitic wasp larvae, apparently some species found in Japan are pretty infamous for this, although it's not exclusive.

As the local fanboy I guess I would be your man for the Godzilla allegory, and I do hear influences here and there in the discography (the Somewhat Damaged riff sounds very much like a motif from the Akira Ifukube theme and I'm convinced that the distorted-shriek-turns-into-deep-echo sound Vessel was built upon was basically TR re-creating the Godzilla roar), but the closest thing the line makes me think of is some kind of body horror scenario, along the lines of Tetsuo or some anime I've never seen.

Does this look infected?



For a serious guess though, Branches sounds more like a "drug one" to me instead of a statement about the world. I think the "parts of me" line comments on a distorted perception as opposed to a change in reality or an aging protagonist's body. The spiders one is a plain visual metaphor; he sees weird-ass, morphing arachnid- and kanji-like shapes under the influence of something. Following that it's all just a collection of familiar NIN themes; denial ("just a tourist", "hide the bruise"), the inability to leave something behind, the failure of moderation ("won't just be a man who sometimes"), and of course not caring anymore. The way I hear it, it's a song about giving up, slipping back and losing to addiction.

Thank God it's not the actual eve- haha, no.

[Kulerage]

Something I noticed was that Trent's lyrical delivery on "Burning Bright" recalls the delivery of "Last", "The Big Come Down", "The Line Begins To Blur", and "Head Down", with the verses abrasively shouted while the choruses are sung more melodically (Well, at least PART of the chorus in "Burning Bright" is sung like that). Kinda fitting when you consider how this album sounds like a blend of Broken, TDS, YZ and HM.

[EndlessLoveless]

Uh, anyone else not exactly down with that Plastic Ono Band reference?

Only in a sense that I don't think MQ did any songwriting or other contributions besides a chorus of a song. I would even guess the songs aren't about her as they are angry. Plastic ono band is exact opposite, besides some angry moments. But I do love that album. Yoko is a bit of a joke though.

[seasonsinthesky]

he sees weird-ass, morphing arachnid- and kanji-like shapes

Well now I feel dumb for wondering why specifically Japanese people were infected.

[allegro]

Uh, anyone else not exactly down with that Plastic Ono Band reference?

It's deplorable. There are literally THOUSANDS of other references that were available, including Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, but he automatically went to the one with the Asian wife.

What a moron.

[allegro]

Infected Japanese, gotta be this, heh.



( .)

[WorzelG]

Uh, anyone else not exactly down with that Plastic Ono Band reference?

To be honest the meaning of that reference went right over my head

[alfonso99]

I actually tried it yesterday and that repeating pic wasn't there, it was just white screen.

i just went and there it is. hmmmm...

[Dr Channard]

That shout of “I don't care” along with the distorted guitars at the end of Branches/Bones has almost instantly become my favorite moment in music for all of 2016.

Please let this EP be just a taste of an even greater reckoning to come in 2017.

[Detunez]

… it’s bizarre. Anyway we slice it, it’s just one weird-ass lyrical verse.

Or, is it a possibility, that “infected Japanese” could be alluding to one of Trent’s guilty pleasure ditties… a certain 1980s hit song from The Vapors? And could Trent have “infected” said tune by sampling from it and engineering it into various forms of distortion that we hear across NTAE? Ugh, the walls of reality are beginning to crumble around me!

i like this train of thought (even if it probably are the listeners inventing a meaning). i am going to quote wikipedia:

"Turning Japanese" is a song released by English band The Vapors, from their album New Clear Days, and the song for which they are best known. The lyric consists mainly of the singer talking about pictures of his love. It prominently features an Oriental Riff played on guitar.

The oriental riff reminds me of how you hear a Koto like sound in some of the songs on Not The Actual events. Keeping in mind that without realising it, the listeners might be inventing and creating links which have nothing to do with the songs at all.

[allegro]

i like this train of thought (even if it probably are the listeners inventing a meaning). i am going to quote wikipedia:

The oriental riff reminds me of how you hear a Koto like sound in some of the songs on Not The Actual events. Keeping in mind that without realising it, the listeners might be inventing and creating links which have nothing to do with the songs at all.

We always thought, back then, that "Turning Japanese" (song) was about masturbating but THIS SITE refutes that and the Vapors say:

"The Americans seemed to think it was written about that. That it was an English phrase about masturbation. It wasn't. The song was a love song about someone who had lost their girlfriend and was going slowly crazy -- turning Japanese is just all the cliches of our angst... turning into something you never expected to."

[Qualis_Dolor]

Listened to "The New Flesh (Instrumental)" on Deviations 1 today and wondered about the similarity between it at ~2:40 onwards and "Burning Bright...". Of course you can find that on lots of other songs out there. I also get very Death Grips-y vibes from "Burning Bright". I guess all of this was mentioned before.

[ninsp]

Anyone else notice the little Fragile picked acoustic guitar riff that sneaks in towards the middle of Burning Bright ripped straight from We're In This Together? Right at 3:38. There are so many little Fragile callbacks in the album (obviously the artwork). There's a TON in She's Gone Away, such as the synth lines. But obviously the atmospheric synth in Burning Bright is a Fragile callback as well.

Fascinating in that HM invoked TDS but was danceable and upbeat where this EP invokes TF and is very downbeat and dark.

Also, in case you're wondering The Idea of You appears to be the single. Have heard it on the radio.

[seasonsinthesky]

There's a TON in She's Gone Away, such as the synth lines.

Err, you hear TF in that song? It's pretty clearly TDS inspired, what with it being sort of a sequel to "Reptile" and using that bloopy synth that's all over Broken and especially TDS (the first time it's been used since Further Down the Spiral in any NIN song – it wasn't anywhere on TF!).

[elevenism]

Err, you hear TF in that song? It's pretty clearly TDS inspired, what with it being sort of a sequel to "Reptile" and using that bloopy synth that's all over Broken and especially TDS (the first time it's been used since Further Down the Spiral in any NIN song – it wasn't anywhere on TF!).

There
is a noise in that song that sounds a HELL of a lot like a noise from 10 miles high, or maybe it's just the same note

[NIN64]

Am I the only one eagerly waiting for @Sesquipedalism to post the next entry of their album breakdown?

[joplinpicasso]

Am I the only one eagerly waiting for @Sesquipedalism to post the next entry of their album breakdown?

Same. Bet he'll post...soon.

[OSLIN]

Also, in case you're wondering The Idea of You appears to be the single. Have heard it on the radio.

I feel like Branches/Bones would have been a perfect single if it had a proper outro. Part of me loves that it's cut off instantly even though vocally it's the most coherent.

[HWB]

I feel like Branches/Bones would have been a perfect single if it had a proper outro. Part of me loves that it's cut off instantly even though vocally it's the most coherent.

The cut off really freaked me out at first, I didn't expect that kind of scream from Trent, sounded really violent. Slightly gave me "Big Man With A Gun" feeling when it cut off. The "something fucked up just happened" feeling.

[EndlessLoveless]

I feel like I hear the intro noises from the song with teeth in the quick break of burning bright.