Bad Witch LP, out June 22 (thread pt 3) SPOILERS

[afors]

My BW bundle arrived today. A day ahead of schedule. Thanks to UK store (bsimerch.com) for top notch shiping and customer service.
Love the new sound to this LP on first spin. Will need a few listens but great to have new music still coming out from your
favourite artist. Sometimes the best albums around are those that grow on you after a few listens.
Irrespective of your own particualr tastes, we should all be grateful that hes still producing such edgy, current and amazing sounding material
on a continual basis.

[neorev]

When Hesitation Marks came out, it was all loved, there is a thread for Hesitation Marks on Echoing The Sound, when it came out/leaked, everyone was celebrating.

NTAE Add Violence and Bad Witch are the least recent polarizing releases I can think of.

Sorry, not everybody, I wasn't a fan of Hesitation Marks and still not and I remember a few folk who weren't feeling it. I remember HM having the same love/hate response. NTAE was the first release from Trent that I absolutely loved from front to back and felt like "Yeah, Trent is back" since With Teeth.

[neorev]

Then go listen to those records and stop listening to the new ones. I hate the logic that, because a new album doesn't reach the heights of the classics, that the music it's worthless.

I think you missed his point. This has nothing to do with reaching heights as you claim it to be. You make it like the guy is sitting around listening to an album he hates. The guy just wants an album that moved him and connected with him like The Fragile and The Downward Spiral did. For some reason, those albums connected with him in a certain way and these didn't. You keep using words like "height" and "worthless" like your assigning some sort of numerical value to these releases. It's simply about being moved by a release or not. If a person isn't moved by the art, why be so angry about it? For him, he didn't have the connection to the newer stuff like he did. Apparently you did yet you are the one attacking. You found something in the newer stuff. He didn't. Doesn't make him wrong. Those are his feelings and you can't change a person’s reactions to art. It's like people who think Warhol was a genius while others think he was a joke. Music is art and everyone experiences art differently. Art is a two way street. In art, the artist could change or the person experiencing it could change or both. That connection is gained, lost, gained again, and/or lost forever.

[Bachy]

Feels like I’ve been here before
This keeps happening over and over again
Are you sure this is what you want?
Time is running out
So what are you waiting for?
God, break down the door
Mutation feels alright

[paul_guyet]

Just received my deluxe bundle. Prints are beautiful (they come in a sexy black envelope like the Physical World tickets), fleece is a welcome addition, record is kind of sparse as far as liner notes, pins are fucking excellent (and I'm not even a pin guy), and the messenger bag...confounds me because I've never used one. I seriously have no idea how to even hold the fucking thing.

But! Everything was packaged nice and tight and safe. And early!

[paul_guyet]

Also: check out that new interview on nin.com. Not a lot of new stuff, but Reznor pinned down the meaning of Bad Witch pretty solidly.

[elevenism]

That’s not a problem. That’s how opinions work. I think year zero is on par with TDS and TF. Plenty of folks here will disagree with me and say it’s not even close.

We are losing our minds because our favorite artist is blowing our minds again!! We went from the accessible pop of hesitation marks to the heavy art noise trilogy in just a few years. It’s pretty exciting for us nin fans who aren’t sad that TDS was 24 years ago and bad witch is now.



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I absolutely agree with you about YZ.
And I genuinely love Bad Witch. I think it's fucking stunning.
And this is NOT because I automatically decide every NIN release is the best thing ever: NTAE and AV took a little while to grow on me.
But this, this is top tier NIN right out of the gates for me.

It's vital. It pushes the envelope. How many other bands are doing this 30 years in?
It's a very small club: people like Bowie, Rush, Johnny Cash. There aren't many more.

[nihilmatters]

What's on side two of the vinyl? Etching? Blank? Side B of the EP?

[JMB-GNR]

What's on side two of the vinyl? Etching? Blank? Side B of the EP?

GBDTD is de first song of side B

[StockAvuryah]

Also: check out that new interview on nin.com. Not a lot of new stuff, but Reznor pinned down the meaning of Bad Witch pretty solidly.

It explains a LOT of things though. Binds everything together.

[paul_guyet]

It explains a LOT of things though. Binds everything together.

"This is dirt and a broken computer chip and everything you believe in is really just bullshit."

Boom.

[StockAvuryah]

"This is dirt and a broken computer chip and everything you believe in is really just bullshit."

Boom.

What someone said about The Trilogy earlier is 100% accurate after this :

Am I fucked ? Is the world fucked ? We're all fucked.

He just described it in details.

Wasn't this the theme of How To Destroy Angels too ? A bit less bleak but still.

[paul_guyet]

What someone said about The Trilogy earlier is 100% accurate after this :

Am I fucked ? Is the world fucked ? We're all fucked.

He just described it in details.

Wasn't this the theme of How To Destroy Angels too ? A bit less bleak but still.

I think so, yeah. No good news here.

[Conan The Barbarian]

I wish there was a physcial component to this, so I could have a digital download. I feel sorta incomplete.

[joplinpicasso]

I think so, yeah. No good news here.

This is all extremely interesting considering his statement that "pessimism is a dead end." I'm with him there, for practical and emotional reasons, so I don't see the culminating message of BW as negative necessarily, just a stark realism about the negative aspects of The Physical World - it's not in your head, it's not a simulation. Or rather, breaking through internal (NTAE) and external (AV) barriers to the 'real' world yields a stark picture, one that we all have to accept and deal. I don't know what I'm waiting for.

[ChipRock]

Given Bad Witch a couple of spins now. Still feel like a need a 'proper' listen yet, but so far I have just a couple of points.
1) Over and Out is straight up wonderful 2) Shit Mirror sounds particularly good immediately after The Background World
3) I'm really struggling to take this record seriously as a whole because I keep thinking of Father Ted... Play The Goddamned Part = "Just play the fucking note!" (A Song for Europe).

[Fred]

This is all extremely interesting considering his statement that "pessimism is a dead end." I'm with him there, for practical and emotional reasons, so I don't see the culminating message of BW as negative necessarily, just a stark realism about the negative aspects of The Physical World - it's not in your head, it's not a simulation. Or rather, breaking through internal (NTAE) and external (AV) barriers to the 'real' world yields a stark picture, one that we all have to accept and deal. I don't know what I'm waiting for.

It's worth a note that the final minutes of the album are very serene and beautiful. No noise or dissonance. Just those beautiful, celestial synths ringing out.

It can be blissful to accept that there is nothing you can do about the hardships of life but deal with them. There's no simulation to step out of, no grand meaning or purpose, or nothing to blame yourself for. It just all happens. I think the ending of BW finds peace and bliss in that.

Sendt fra min ONEPLUS A5010 med Tapatalk

[StockAvuryah]

It's worth a note that the final minutes of the album are very serene and beautiful. No noise or dissonance. Just those beautiful, celestial synths ringing out.

It can be blissful to accept that there is nothing you can do about the hardships of life but deal with them. There's no simulation to step out of, no grand meaning or purpose, or nothing to blame yourself for. It just all happens. I think the ending of BW finds peace and bliss in that.

Sendt fra min ONEPLUS A5010 med Tapatalk

Yep, feels more like finally understanding this, accepting it, being in phase with it, and now to deal with it (or not). wonder what will happen next.

[elevenism]

I have a feeling that this trilogy might NOT tell a coherent story. Like, perhaps a coherent story was planned but then aborted.
There are definitely running themes though.

[cdm]

I have a feeling that this trilogy might NOT tell a coherent story. Like, perhaps a coherent story was planned but then aborted.
There are definitely running themes though.

Trent confirmed as much in recent interviews.

[ImTheWiseJanitor]

I'm actually leaving work early tomorrow to go by the record store, pick up Bad Witch, come home, and let myself swim in that album/trilogy until I get sick of it. Honestly, the excitement to finally have it in my hands and listen to it proper is super worth the wait - especially after reading the conversation with Lizzy Goodman, and getting some insight into the album and the trilogy as a whole.

My body is so ready.

Edit: KC area record store just uploaded a picture of the "New NIN EPs they're putting up tomorrow."

Guys...

[paul_guyet]

This is all extremely interesting considering his statement that "pessimism is a dead end." I'm with him there, for practical and emotional reasons, so I don't see the culminating message of BW as negative necessarily, just a stark realism about the negative aspects of The Physical World - it's not in your head, it's not a simulation. Or rather, breaking through internal (NTAE) and external (AV) barriers to the 'real' world yields a stark picture, one that we all have to accept and deal. I don't know what I'm waiting for.

I think, in his real life, with a wife and kids and everything, pessimism is a dead end, but here, on BW especially, it was sort of a "worst case scenario". That's what I took away, in any case. I feel like "Over and Out" is a type of resolution, but it's not a comforting one, feels more like resignation.
Although that line "I've always been 10 years ahead of you" is really tantalizing... It could even be seen as optimistic, as in "maybe in a decade things will get better". I don't know...

[paul_guyet]

I'm actually leaving work early tomorrow to go by the record store, pick up Bad Witch, come home, and let myself swim in that album/trilogy until I get sick of it. Honestly, the excitement to finally have it in my hands and listen to it proper is super worth the wait - especially after reading the conversation with Lizzy Goodman, and getting some insight into the album and the trilogy as a whole.

My body is so ready.

Edit: KC area record store just uploaded a picture of the "New NIN EPs they're putting up tomorrow."

Guys...

Hope Trent doesn't see that...

[joplinpicasso]

I agree with others' contributions to my musings about the clash between TR's personal optimism and the generalized bleakness of the trilogy.

I honestly think Bad Witch needs the other two records the most to really have some meaningful context. It's quite enjoyable as a standalone, but hear me out:

The climax to Not The Actual Events is Burning Bright (Field on Fire), and the climax to Add Violence (and I'd argue the pinnacle of the whole trilogy when listened to in full, as it's the end of Act II) is The Background World, yet the climax of Bad Witch is IMO actually God Break Down The Door. "There aren't any answers here / not the ones you came looking for" -- the frantic pace and the swell at the end confirm this for me. I'm Not From This World and Over And Out act to provide ominous and then mellow closure on the record and also the entire trilogy. Of course, I say all this and I haven't in fact listened to the 80 minutes in full yet, so I might feel differently...

[afors]

I wish there was a physcial component to this, so I could have a digital download. I feel sorta incomplete.

If its any consolation, I have the vinyl but haven't done the leak. As yet, no official link to D/L and the card that gives you a digital download (from the vinyl purchase)
isn't active yet, and I'm travelling tomorrow and last time i looked mobile tunrtables haven't evolved yet

[thefragile_jake]

For those of us who ordered that Spotify-off white vinyl of Bad Witch, it looks like I still haven't gotten any confirmation on any shipment for those. Hopefully it doesn't take too long.

Anyway, back to the record ... this will without a doubt be in my top five albums this year for sure. Hesitation Marks ended up as my 13th favorite album of 2013 and while that's still not a bad number for my favorite band ... Bad Witch feels like such an important record for Trent to make and it's one that is going to stick with me for awhile I think. I REALLY hope this is just the beginning of more new sounds for him and experimentation. I've had to try and occupy myself with other new stuff (the new Death Grips album leaked today so that was a good thing to wake up to!) just to ensure I don't overplay it so much in one month. I cannot wait to continuously revisit this thing.

Bad Witch was everything I was hoping for and more. Even though I'll bet we're two to maybe three years removed from it, I'm already excited for what the next album could sound like!

[afors]

Vinyl code for download from Sound of Vinyl now working. An almost official mp3 download! {turns out to be WAV}

[Nellyrific]

Did anyone that ordered form JB HI-Fi get a shipment email yet?

[sonic_discord]

Did anyone that ordered form JB HI-Fi get a shipment email yet?

Not yet. Probably won't come for another week or so I'm guessing.

[Mr. Ill Intent]

Vinyl code for download from Sound of Vinyl now working. An almost official mp3 download! {turns out to be WAV}

Was disappointed about this. I hope there'll be an MP3 download from the NIN site too, is there precedence for anyone who got the previous two EPs on vinyl?