Not The Actual Events

[mauro995]

Definetly, this EP could be the hardest five tracks in a row that NIN has put out since -Closer, Ruiner, The Becoming, I Do Not Want This and Big Man With A Gun-. And I love it.

[Khrz]

Man, make your own cover, you're making a huge deal out of it like it holds the key to the fucking universe! I'm pretty confident they did what made sense to them, even though it doesn't make sense to you.

[BRoswell]

So yesterday i was riding in the car listening to Burning Bright when we drove past...
an actual fucking field on fire, no shit. Like a wildfire trying to start and they were working hard to contain it and shit.
There was so much smoke. We stopped and i took a bunch of pictures of it.

It was pretty fucking surreal.

I had something similar happen on a car ride right after it came out. It wasn't quite a wildfire, but there was a bunch of smoke drifting over from a cornfield as the sun was shining down on it. Really cool looking.

[Kooler Than Jesus]

I don't think it's a big mystery why he chose to reuse the Still cover along with all the other variations. It's most likely for the same or similar reasons that he brought Russell Mills back to do the artwork for Hesitation Marks: to suggest a connection between the two albums. Just because he hasn't SAID what that connection is doesn't mean it's pointless.

I honestly can't see any connection to "Still", it sounds and feels nothing like "Still", and iirc he has even talked about how he looked back to his mid 90s work while writing the music for this ep, that's some of his most agressive and noisy work, and I can see some of that in the ep, it blends Trent's and Atticuss' current style with some of his old stuff from that era and also with something that feels brand new, "The Idea Of You" has parts that are reminiscent of "I Do Not Want This" imo, so I can understand what Trent meant, but "Still" sounds and feels nothing like that and it's from a different era, I'm unable to see a single connection and afaik Trent has not mentioned "Still" as an influence for this ep, and if he did it I just wouldn't understand it, but maybe I'm deaf, idk. XD

If this ep sounded remotely similar to "Still", I would have said that I could see why they used the same artwork, the same way that if some day there is a new "Ghosts" album, I'll understand if the artwork looks similar (although I think that it would be interesting if "V-VIII" sounded completely different to the previous ones). But in this case, I just don't see how NTAE and AATCHB/Still could be remotely connected.

Man, make your own cover, you're making a huge deal out of it like it holds the key to the fucking universe! I'm pretty confident they did what made sense to them, even though it doesn't make sense to you.

I guess it makes sense to them or otherwise they would have done something else, I just don't see how it can make sense to anybody else without a single explanation. XD

I don't really want to piss anyone off, but I thought this was a thread to discuss this ep and give our thoughts about it, and my thoughts are that I love it, but I just don't understand the point of recycling an old cover and keep everybody in the dark about the reasons to do such thing. I just said that, nothing else, and I don't think it was me the one making a huge deal out of it when it was somebody else who seemed to get mad about my opinion.

I'll shut up now since I see that the non "everything is awesome" opinions are not too popular around here, even if I repeat that I do think that the ep is awesome and I didn't mean to piss anyone off, I just don't see the point of recycling the cover, but I can live with it, I only hope that the next album is not released featuring a "With Teeth" recycled cover for no apparent reason and without a single explanation.

[BRoswell]

I honestly can't see any connection to "Still", it sounds and feels nothing like "Still"

Hesitation Marks didn't sound like The Downward Spiral, but the connections were there. Connections go beyond just the artwork.

I guess it makes sense to them or otherwise they would have done something else, I just don't see how it can make sense to anybody else without a single explanation.

Here's an explanation:

...maybe a guy like me is not clever enough to understand this...

Again, there's no real mystery behind it, at least if you're aware enough of Trent's previous work. Obviously Trent must see the album as connected to Still in some way. He's written in the past about how the tracks on Still were written when he was very sick (probably while going through rehab), and considering the dark nature of the new EP as well as the lyrical/musical callbacks to past Nine Inch Nails releases, I wouldn't be surprised if it was in reference to that period of transition.

[sweeterthan]

It's not true at all that "everything is awesome" opinions are expected. You are allowed to express your opinion on a discussion board. I'm sure some people even agree with you about the recycled artwork. Personally I think this approach is about nostalgia and personal connections to what nin is to Reznor and to us. I have no idea since no explanation has been made by anyone who might actually know.

Reznor said something like "wait and see what happens" in an interview before NTAE was release so maybe his throwback rip off concept will become clear when all is revealed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[botley]

If this ep sounded remotely similar to "Still", I would have said that I could see why they used the same artwork

Really? Really?

[Ryan]

So @Ryan, I searched myself, looks like you removed this cover without explanations : http://www.nin.wiki/File:Ntae_alt_3.jpg what happened ?

That was made by someone here on the forum, not official.

[Ryan]

You inspired me.

I'd wank to that!

[kraw]

ask again a couple months from now.

[FULLMETAL]

ask again a couple months from now.

Oh, shit! Caesar's gonna get whacked!

[Kooler Than Jesus]

Hesitation Marks didn't sound like The Downward Spiral, but the connections were there. Connections go beyond just the artwork.

Trent brought Russell Mills back to make new works and explained how he looked back to his TDS's days while writing HM, that's it, he didn't have to tell every single detail to "ruin the magic/mistery", but I got it. If instead of doing that he had just hired a new guy to copypaste/recycle TDS's artwork and had said nothing about the possible connections between HM and TDS, I'm pretty sure that a lot of people would have thought that he had lost his mind or that he was just trying to poorly imitate what Bowie had recently done.

Here's an explanation:

Maybe you are clever than me, please enlight me, what are the connections between NTAE and AATCHB/Still that justify the copypasted/recycled covers.

Honestly, right now I feel like if I was in a Manson message board, where every stupid thing that Manson could possibly say or do is interpreted by his fans as some form of true art that only his fans can understand even when it's just stupid shit for anyone with a brain.

I'm not saying that there is not a connection or a deeper meaning that I can't see, I just say that I doubt that anyone can see that connection or that deeper meaning when Trent or his art director have not explained shit yet, so for anyone who is "not clever enough" it looks just like if they simply recycled an old cover for no reason, which makes it feel like a lazy and cheap artistic choice for a band/artist of this caliber.

Maybe Trent will explain all of this in a future interview and maybe I'll get it then, or maybe not, I don't know, but so far I just can't buy the "this is too clever for some people to get it" bullshit.

But if you know something that I don't know, please, let me know.

EDIT: When I wrote that above I had not seen what you added/edited:

Again, there's no real mystery behind it, at least if you're aware enough of Trent's previous work. Obviously Trent must see the album as connected to Still in some way. He's written in the past about how the tracks on Still were written when he was very sick (probably while going through rehab), and considering the dark nature of the new EP as well as the lyrical/musical callbacks to past Nine Inch Nails releases, I wouldn't be surprised if it was in reference to that period of transition.

I don't know, I have said that maybe we'll find out the reasons to why he has decided to do this, but so far I think that is understandable to not get it without a single explanation, because he has not asked somebody to do a cover that was reminiscent of the cover for a previous album, it's just the same exact cover with a different title for a completely different album that according to him is inspired by stuff from an era that is completely different to the era of the album with the cover that was recycled for this new album (did that make any sense? XD).

If the cover was somewhat similar (not a carbon copy) to the cover for "Broken" or "TDS", well, he has talked about how he has allowed himself to look back to the music he used to do back then, and even if the ep sounds like Trent's and Atticus current style, you can also notice some influence from those days, however I can't possibly see/hear any connection to "Still", he has not talked about any connection to "Still" yet, and the cover is not just similar to the cover for "Still", it's just the same cover, so I'm just saying that I think it's normal that I don't get it, like I doubt that anyone else can possibly get it except if you enter into a "mansonfanesque" mode where everything your favorite artist does is gold with a hidden artistic meaning that is too smart for everybody else to understand it.

It's not true at all that "everything is awesome" opinions are expected. You are allowed to express your opinion on a discussion board. I'm sure some people even agree with you about the recycled artwork. Personally I think this approach is about nostalgia and personal connections to what nin is to Reznor and to us. I have no idea since no explanation has been made by anyone who might actually know.

Reznor said something like "wait and see what happens" in an interview before NTAE was release so maybe his throwback rip off concept will become clear when all is revealed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, that is exactly how this whole debate started, somebody else (@Sesquipedalism, it's really all his fault ) commented how maybe once the vinyls and the "physical components" arrived, everything would make sense and maybe we would see a non-Still cover art, and I just replied saying that I had thought the same thing for a while, and that I would love that kind of surprise because I was not a huge fan of the recycled covers, explaining why.

That seemed to bother Kraw, and I just replied to his messages directed towards me, and then I was told that I was making a huge deal out of this, when I really was just giving my opinion and replying to other people's messages and it was somebody else who got slightly mad, that's why I said that it seemed like some people did not appreciate my opinions about this subject.

Really? Really?

I think I'm gonna take a good rest now, stop quoting me!!! XD


EDIT: I've seen this after writing all the stuff I wrote above:

ask again a couple months from now.

If that was a message to me, I certainly will. XD

Seriously man, don't take anything I said as an offense towards your work, I repeat that I like what I've seen in your sites, I just don't get the "Still"/"NTAE" connection, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, I hope I do in a couple of months. And you can be sure that whatever you do for NIN, if I think it's good, I'll be glad to say so.

[InvitingmeAway]

I know this, but have you seen the lyrics that were left out, especially from Branches/Bones and She's Gone Away?

They don't look like lyrics, or something that'd fit into a song, I know this is a thing Trent did, but there is too much stuff left out. , I mean, just look at this


finding order almost everything of you

yes i have been here before
yes i guess thought i was

my proven false in false in one
all of you but the way actual events a way of finding mattered
what i thought of finding order almost of you
i guess have a way of comfort in the past events
but the way like I’ve been here the past not the but the way
i of myself has proven before allowing myself to almost everything i thought events
but the way sense of comfort in what i thought
i have a way of actual events but
the mattered what i thought the actual events
but the actual events but been here before allowing of myself
has proven in one way guess things have a
of finding order almost my definition of myself
you all of you myself to feel a feel a sense of thought
i was my thought mattered what i have proven false
to remember them and comfort in the past
and you all of way of finding order you
i guess things all of you i of myself has proven of myself has proven
the way i choose in one way or i guess things have order almost everything
i myself to feel a not the actual events in the past
not remember them and you feels like I’ve been you
i guess things i thought mattered what here before allowing myself
way i choose to of finding order almost of finding order
almost or another and you all of before allowing myself
to allowing myself to feel way of finding order
of myself has proven my definition of myself
please go away from here
please all of you
i past not the actual
like I’ve been here in one way
or myself has proven false
guess things have
please go
please
please
please

yes i have been here before ´

Are these from the vinyl liner notes? I'm just wondering where you found these lyrics because I've found missing lyrics off previous albums such as Dissapointed off Hesitation Marks (in the liner notes)

[HWB]

MP3 files came with these lyrics. The ones from NIN.com. I decided to put the mp3 files into my itunes and in the lyrics option this was in there

[Substance242]

When I first read "Branches/Bones" (before listen), it connected in my head to this pretty little bird "shrike" which I saw shortly before in BBC Planet Earth II. English is not my native language, so yes it is not really "branches", but shrike still does impale its prey on thorns to eat comfortably (having no hands must suck, but on the other side I would like to fly), nature is beautiful. ;-)

[elevenism]

@Sesquipedalism your arg talk made me seriously laff. Thanks :P

Jesus, there are people i don't know everywhere and it's scary. Now i know how you guys felt when i showed up.

[alfonso99]

I honestly can't see any connection to "Still", it sounds and feels nothing like "Still", and iirc he has even talked about how he looked back to his mid 90s work while writing the music for this ep, that's some of his most agressive and noisy work, and I can see some of that in the ep, it blends Trent's and Atticuss' current style with some of his old stuff from that era and also with something that feels brand new, "The Idea Of You" has parts that are reminiscent of "I Do Not Want This" imo, so I can understand what Trent meant, but "Still" sounds and feels nothing like that and it's from a different era, I'm unable to see a single connection and afaik Trent has not mentioned "Still" as an influence for this ep, and if he did it I just wouldn't understand it, but maybe I'm deaf, idk. XD

So, this EP has 5 songs all with lyrics. Still has 5 songs with lyrics.
What if every song from NTAE is a mirror/response or is linked to a STILL song?

Or maybe as STILL, NTAE has different/alternative versions than the full album that's going to be released this year.

[HWB]

So, this EP has 5 songs all with lyrics. Still has 5 songs with lyrics.
What if every song from NTAE is a mirror/response or is linked to a STILL song?

Or maybe as STILL, NTAE has different/alternative versions than the full album that's going to be released this year.

What if Not The Actual Events is an EP with deconstructed songs from an actual full fleshed album called "The Actual Events" with a difference that we got the deconstructed EP before the actual album, basically the reversed way The Fragile was relea--

Naah, I am just bullshitting.

[r_z]

So in one of the recently released interviews Trent talked about how he tried to avoid methods of producing and/or instruments he frequently used in earlier years for a long time when making music for NIN. For this ep tho, fur fun's sake, he got rid of that sentiment, picking up the guitar again, amongst other stuff.

Maybe that's where the title and the concept of the ep came from? Like, he's using similar production methods and instruments as on earlier releases (the actual events [as in stuff that happened some time ago]), but not just to reproduce those older sounds, because with this ep he's creating something new (NOT the actual events). The processed / altered cover of Still being re-used would be kinda fitting in that regard, wouldn't it? And it would also explain why there're elements of previous songs creeping into the lyrics and sounds of the new ones.

[InvitingmeAway]

MP3 files came with these lyrics. The ones from NIN.com. I decided to put the mp3 files into my itunes and in the lyrics option this was in there

Ok, yeah I guess I never did that with Branches/Bones. I just tried it and saw them. Who knows, he definitely cut that song short on purpose, perhaps a longer version will be released in the future.

[WorzelG]

The write up for Not the Actual Events on nin.com just made me laugh
UNAPOLOGETIC, UNFRIENDLY, DENSE, LYRICALLY COMPLEX, SO-FAR-BEHIND-THE-TIMES-IT’S-AHEAD-OF-ITS-TIME, HIPSTER-REPELLING UNCOMPROMISING MUSIC SMART PEOPLE CAN FUCK TO. IT MAY NOT BE FOR YOU.

How long has this hipster hatred thing been festering?

[implanted_microchip]

The write up for Not the Actual Events on nin.com just made me laugh
UNAPOLOGETIC, UNFRIENDLY, DENSE, LYRICALLY COMPLEX, SO-FAR-BEHIND-THE-TIMES-IT’S-AHEAD-OF-ITS-TIME, HIPSTER-REPELLING UNCOMPROMISING MUSIC SMART PEOPLE CAN FUCK TO. IT MAY NOT BE FOR YOU.

How long has this hipster hatred thing been festering?

I think he's always hated whatever the dominant "tastemaker" forces in the music industry have been from day fucking 1, otherwise we'd have never gotten anything even close to Pretty Hate Machine as a debut, and it just so happens that the hipster Pitchfork world is the current one that has that dominance. It seemed like around 2013 he tried to maybe connect into it and find some common ground -- the festival shows, trying to get Death Grips to open, etc. -- and just got even more certain that it's a waste of his time and he loathes it.

Which is absolutely fine by me as long as it leads to more songs like Burn Bright and Idea of You!

[ultimatebdp]

How long has this hipster hatred thing been festering?

I'm with him on this...and I don't live in California!! I bet he's up to his eyeballs in hipster bs out there!!

[Shadaloo]

I feel like it'd be possible, with quite a bit of work, to unscramble this and severely pare it down to a small coherent paragraph, by slowly identifying 'definite' portions of text, like 'Not The Actual Events' or isolating repeated sentence fragments and trying to line them up together.

It's been bugging the crap out of me since the release but I can't find the time to sit down and try to decode it.

Humor me here. I think I may have come close to cracking it.

First off, most (but not all) of the crap I copy/pasted together: similar words and snippets with debris and crap everywhere:

feels like I’ve been / like I’ve been here / like I’ve been here / been here before / here before
yes i have been here before / yes i have been here before ´
to way
please all of you / all of you / you all of / you all of you
of of you /
all of you i of
please go
please
please
please
please go away from here

yes i guess / i guess / guess things have a / i guess things have / guess things have a /i guess things / i guess things / guess things have
in one way / in one way or order / in one way
almost or another and
have a way of / i have a way of / a way
to almost
way of finding order/ of finding / of finding order / of finding order /of finding order / finding order almost / of finding order/ finding order/ almost /almost everything / almost everything / almost everything i thought / thought mattered/ the mattered


thought i was / i was my / i was
i guess things have a way of finding order
i guess I have a way of finding order
almost everything what I thought mattered
what i thought / what i thought / i thought mattered / mattered / what i thought
my definition of myself / my definition of myself
of myself has proven/ proven false in / false in one / has proven / myself has proven / myself has proven / proven false / of myself has proven /myself has proven false
allowing myself / allowing of myself / allowing of myself / / myself to feel/ allowing myself / i of before allowing myself to /allowing myself to feel / myself to feel a / feel a sense of thought / sense of
of comfort in / comfort in the past / comfort in the past events / in the past
actual events but / actual events / but the actual events / not the actual events / past not the actual / but the way / but the way/ but the way actual events / the past not the /but the way / the actual events
way i choose / the way i choose / the way i choose
to remember them / not remember them

[Shadaloo]

Result of my best attempt to piece it all together attempting to re-use as few words as possible:

Feels like I've been here before

Yes i have been here before

I guess I have a way of finding order in things. Allowing myself to feel a sense of comfort in the past. But not the actual events. The way I choose to remember them, in one way or another. And almost everything I thought mattered, what my definition of myself was, has proven false.


Please all of you go away from here





I encourage others to try de-scrambling it and see if we come up with different sentences or see a more logical excerpt than the one I've made out.

[Ryan]

Resullt of my best attempt to piece it all together attempting to re-use as few words as possible:

Feels like I've been here before

Yes i have been here before

I guess I have a way of finding order in things. Allowing myself to feel a sense of comfort in the past. But not the actual events. The way I choose to remember them, in one way or another. And almost everything I thought mattered, what my definition of myself was, has proven false.


Please all of you go away from here





I encourage others to try de-scrambling it and see if we come up with different sentences or see a more logical excerpt than the one I've made out.

Why you clever fucking bastard!

[tremolo]

..

[elevenism]

"Smart people can fuck to it, YOU may not like it"

i can get behind that.

[ninjaw]

At least you got tags then ? wth they are changing artwork only on request or at the age of your order !?! Gonna complain too to see if that works. I wonder if they corrected the awful deviation zip the same way.
EDIT : what and since when they offer all three versions now ? I fighted and exchanged to get them all.

here's my report:
It took 48h to receive an answer by mail to my website complain, I asked for a corrected flac album because they forgot tag.
Yes, they are now sending all 3 quality in 3 separate zips, and they are also doing it for deviation and fragile.
And yes, you have to ask them it's not auto.
Yes there is the 5th cover in that 2017 corrected zip, unfortunally it's not a flac cover, mp3 cover is updated too.
Yes this time flac got tags... without lyrics... who knows why.
Yes MP3 still have lyrics and updated cover.
Yes this cover is still 3000x3000 but the size is regular 3MB, the old one appears to be 13MB for the same res ??? maybe it's just the reason for the 5th cover.
I guess we could give the name of 2017 cover but ... the zip filename is now called just Not The Actual Events FLAC.zip and the old 2016 one is called Not The Actual Events FLAC 2017.zip lol
.

[ninjaw]

.... and I just realized it : Yes in the 16MB oriiginal track 1 mp3 there is .... 12MB just for the cover, remove tag and your mp3 turns to 4MB
.... The zip file ? it changed from 110MB to 58MB

If you ask me, yes, the 5th cover is just a fix