Gift Horse Dentist

I love getting free stuff. It’s like winning a prize for being yourself. In a world where you are charged for earning money (traditionally called income tax, but it’s basically the same thing), it’s nice to get something for nothing. So, when I heard that How To Destroy Angels was offering their debut EP as a free download, it was like Trent Reznor himself was buying me a drink, just for being a champ. Cheers, Trent. For the record, I don’t download any free EP that comes my way, but being the salivating Nine Inch Nails fan that I am, I was pretty excited for this project as it was. For the terminally clueless, How To Destroy Angels is a project composed of Nine Inch Nails main man Reznor, his singer wife Mariqueen Maandig and producer Atticus Ross. It was promised to be a more ambient, laid back sound than NIN, but with Reznor’s track record of brilliance, expectations were high.
He didn’t disappoint. Just from listening to the EP, I can tell that he handled most of the instruments, while his wife sung and Atticus Ross produced. It’s synthy and has a lot of cool beats and grooves, as well as some catchy sections that would be right at home on the radio, in a good way. Even when Trent ramps up the abrasion factor, like the atonal guitar on “Parasite”, it’s still melodic and catchy. Fans of NIN’s heavier stuff may be disappointed, there’s no “Wish” or “March of the Pigs” here, but it has the indelible stamp of a Reznor work from the composition to the playing to the production.
The cynic in me is demanding that there has to be a catch. The EP is definitely worth more than the $0 dollars I paid for it. Of course, it’s obviously a marketing stunt; the EP was released through Reznor’s label; The Null Corporation, and in releasing it for free he has ensured more people will get to hear it. It’s like handing out free samples; if the product was crap, no one would care, but with this quality EP he’s ensured a ready and waiting audience for the full length album when it is released. Hell, it worked on me; I’d fork out for it when it comes out.
Is this really so bad? Rather than seeing banner ads for the latest American Idol abortion and having to listen to the stew of stupidity that is FM radio (that new Travis McCoy and Bruno Mars song, something about being a billionaire, is fucking mind poison. I want to castrate them both.), this kind of marketing lets the consumer decide for themselves, and it ensures that the music that stands up to a discerning audience is the music that is successful. With any luck, for the price of a free EP, I also got another nail in the music industry’s coffin. And a very entertaining nail it is.