THE NIN HOTLINE

Thursday, 4/26/07

Multitracks for 3 YZ songs posted on nin.com

You can now download the lossless multitrack audio for Me I'm Not, Capital G, and My Violent Heart from nin.com -- if you can't see the links, try holding the "ctrl" key down when you click your refresh button.

If you have a Digg account, Digg this story, because four NIN headlines in the music section of Digg just isn't enough.
Wednesday, 4/25/07

Year Zero Debuts at Numero Dos

Not that it's entirely detrimental to the overall success of the album, but Year Zero sold over 187,000 units last week, debuting at the Number Two spot on Billboard's charts. The album was blanketed by Avril Lavigne's new album and the latest "must-buy" NOW compilation.

The Good Soldier is a near-reprise of Closer...

...according to Aaron Burgess' review of Year Zero for the Onion AV Club, which is unfortunate, as I have always felt that the AV Club is usually pretty good when it comes to reviews. While we're on the topic of organizations with critics whom I respect, I was surprised to see that NPR has a review for Year Zero as well, and I get the impression they actually listened to the album - perhaps more than once! There are more reviews in our article archives, which have grown about 33% in the last month or so.

KROQ follow-up

If you're visiting this site because you heard me bantering with Kevin & Bean, you should check out the sites I mentioned, specifically Open Source Resistance and NIN Wiki, as well as the message board that I didn't get a chance to mention, Echoing the Sound. Don't forget to subscribe to our RSS feed if you want to keep up-to-date with all this stuff. Thanks to Kevin & Bean at KROQ for having me on.
Tuesday, 4/24/07

GWB in NYC

For those of you New Yorkers who have embraced the spirit of the AIR campaign, you might be interested to know that President Bush is apparently in NYC today, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets. It might be a good opportunity to wear your AIR paraphernilia and bring some homemade YOU HAVE A VOICE (etc.) signs and get yourself and the AIR campaign on the local news, although be careful, you'll probably get arrested if you stand on the wrong corner or look funny at any one of the million cops around here. And for the record, I stole this headline from Leviathant.

Leviathant Speaketh

Tune in to KROQ's Kevin and Bean show tomorrow morning from 7am-8am PST. They will be discussing the Year Zero ARG and other going ons with our very own Leviathant as a scheduled guest!

For those of you not lucky enough to live in the LA area, go to KROQ's website and click "Listen Live"

Meat Given

To celebrate the release of the new NIN album Year Zero, I am proud to present the long-awaited official Meathead Perspective review! here's another stupid cartoon.

By the way, the answer to the question below is "B".
Monday, 4/23/07

Win Nine Inch Nails back catalogue from Metal Hammer

HEY U.K.! In celebration of the release of the new Nine Inch Nails album, 'Year Zero', Metal Hammer is giving you the chance to win the entire NIN back catalogue: 'Pretty Hate Machine', 'The Downward Spiral', 'The Fragile', 'With Teeth', 'Year Zero' and all the remix albums in between.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning that is answer the following question correctly:

Which of the following people was Trent Reznor a good friend of?

a) Lenin (Text BLAGWEB12 A to 80889)
b) Marilyn Manson (Text BLAGWEB12 B to 80889)
c) George W Bush (Text BLAGWEB13 C to 80889)


All texts cost 50p (This is a UK publication, and I don't know about texting overseas for the US).

Click here to go to the contest's page
Sunday, 4/22/07

IGN wants to hear what you think about YZ

So IGN wrote a fairly blah review of the new NIN album last week, and apparently that didn't go over very well with readers. With the exception of one somewhat embarrassing incident back in 1999, we don't encourage people to react to negative reviews of NIN albums. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, even if what they write indicates that they haven't really listened to the album... but IGN wrote a follow-up as a result of the difference between fan ratings of the album and their own review, and as part of that, they're asking you to send in your opinion of the album. So, if you have a few seconds (and have registered with IGN), let em know what you think about the latest from NIN. Thanks to Christopher for sending this in.

Get Telefon Tel Aviv's Even Deeper remix

We've had a bunch of emails about this, but it's been pretty hectic so no one's posted about it yet here. On May 15th, Telefon Tel Aviv are releasing Remixes Compiled, a twelve track CD with a rather self-explanatory title. Josh & Charlie have included tracks that they have remixed for Phil Ranelin, The American Analog Set, Slicker, and most pertinent to readers of this site, the previously unavailable remix of Nine Inch Nails' Even Deeper, originally recorded for the soundtrack to the movie Newport South. Thanks to everyone who sent in the news!
Saturday, 4/21/07

Capital G Reported as Second Single; Hits eBay

As reported on ETS, it seems Capital G will be hitting shelves on June 4th as the second single off of 'Year Zero'. While that release date has only been confirmed by one outlet, it seems Capital G will indeed be the forthcoming single as promos have already started to hit eBay. Thanks to Mister Garbage on ETS and the NIN Historian for the heads up.
Friday, 4/20/07

Win a signed poster, BYIT, Year Zero from ManiaTV.com

ManiaTV.com is "the world's first LIVE internet television network. We have been live for almost 3 years running and our site includes On Demand videos and the ability to create your own channel to upload to. Our platform is primarily music videos, action sports, short films, animation, along with The Tom Green Live show, and soon coming the Dave Navarro Live show." And they want your eyeballs, so in an effort to attract them, they're giving away:
An autographed poster
A copy of Year Zero
Beside You In Time in both DVD & HD-DVD

If you want a chance at winning these, you've got to register before April 29th. So check it out when you get a chance. Thanks for the heads up on the contest, Lisa!

Bob Ezrin - "Thank God For Trent"

The Torontoist just published this article yesterday about a letter that legendary Canadian producer, Bob Ezrin, sent to Billboard magazine about the changing format of releasing music and to praise Trent Reznor for not settling within the normal boundaries that record labels place on their artists.

Thanks to Casey and Keara for sending this in!
Thursday, 4/19/07

USA Today and Rolling Stone Interviews

Check it out! USA Today's running a pretty good article on Year Zero and the ARG, including a bit of an interview with our very own Leviathant and Merzbau from ETS. Also, Rolling Stone recently ran a print article on Year Zero, etc., in which they talked to Swindley. You can read a transcription here on ETS. Thanks to leo3375 for writing it up!

Secret NIN Show in LA Raided By Police

Remember how last week a bunch of people in LA got AIR kits with cell phones from some dudes in a van somewhere? Well, these lucky fans got calls on their phones telling them to show up at a certain location last night, and what began as an AIR meeting led to a secret Nine Inch Nails performance that was prematurely ended by the local SWAT team. You can watch video of the meeting on OSR.net and you can read more about the events here on ETS. Make sure you digg the story, too. And, NO FAIR WHAT ABOUT THE EAST COAST.
Wednesday, 4/18/07

HitsDailyDouble reports NIN behind Avril

Apparently preliminary numbers are in, and Hits Daily Double, which still plays that sheep noise when you visit it, is reporting that Year Zero is trending towards debuting in second place with over 200,000 sales compared to Avril Lavigne at around 250,000. If you haven't picked up the album yet, remember that you can get it for $9.99 from most retailers (notable personal exception: FYE at the Gallery by Market East Station in Philly - fuck you, FYE!), and the best deal we've seen is from Hot Topic, where you not only get a (admittedly crappy) free patch, but with the $9.99 purchase of the CD, you can get any NIN shirt for $9.99 as well. And for the first time in a very, very long time, you can buy the new NIN album at Wal-Mart, of all places.

So yeah, if you've enjoyed the album, pick up the CD and support a dude who's pretty much foregone the traditional music industry route when promoting this very good record. The packaging is totally badass, too, tell your friends.

Year Zero Reviews are in!

A lot of Year Zero reviews have poured in over the last few days. You can catch up on the rest of the articles I may have missed here in the Hotline News Archive

Year Zero Site Revamped

It looks like the Year Zero site has been spiffyed up a bit with a new "Resources" link and with a more organized layout. The two subsections include "Experience", which lists Echoing The Sound and NINWiki, two very fine sources of info regarding the ARG, along with the just-updated Open Source Resistance page. The other subsection is "Press," which links you to a few publications that have been keeping up with the info regarding the album. Give it a look-see.

Online Year Zero chart info, so far

Well, Year Zero has been #1 on Amazon for a few days, and will probably stay that way for a while, but on iTunes, the album is nestled firmly at #2, with Avril Lavigne(!) at the top slot, and Timbaland's release not far behind the NIN album -- which, I found out this morning, comes with a slick PDF lyric booklet if you purchase it on iTunes. Unfortunately for UK & German iTunes users, however, there have been reports that there is an error in the system resulting in the album being delivered without "Zero-Sum." We have no idea what the Soundscan numbers look like yet, though they will probably start showing up later in the week.

Another Version of the Truth on Know the Score

Know the Score has been updated with probably the only easily transcribed track on Year Zero - Another Version of the Truth.
Tuesday, 4/17/07

NIN + QOTSA = Acronym Fun!

We've been getting reports that Trent's doing some guest work on the new Queens of the Stone Age album, "Era Vulgaris," which has a tentative release date of June 12th. Trent's vocals appear on the title track, though it looks like it isn't going to be released on the album. However, it is possible that the song could appear in other various formats. Other notable guest appearances on the album include Julian Casablancas from The Strokes and ZZ Top guitarist, Billy F. Gibbons. Er, nevermind.

*UPDATE!* Looks like the song was given to fans as apart of a giveaway and that the fans were instructed to get the song out for everyone to hear. Neato.

Hot Topic & Year Zero

Just to clarify,

Hot Topic is packaging a limited edition AIR flag patch inside its copies of Year Zero. So if you are calling your local Hot Topic about the patch, they may not know about it. And as previously reported, purchase the album for $9.99, and you can get a shirt for $9.99. So, a T-Shirt, patch and the album all for $20.

Year Zero Released Today

For those of you unaware, today marks the release date for Year Zero in North America. We've been flooded with emails over the past week or so regarding a ton of different secrets about the release, including the colour-changing Thermochrome disc art, secret codes and websites in the CD booklet, and a new Bureau of Morality phone number. Given we didn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone, we've left both Echoing the Sound and the NIN Wiki to uncover all the secrets of the CD release. Make sure to visit both sites and join in on the fun in unlocking the code of Year Zero. Remember: this is just the beginning.
Monday, 4/16/07

Stereo Warning, MTV, and site stuff

There's a nicely laid out interview at Stereo Warning that strays from the more common interview responses that have come up in other magazines. Mind you, I'd be recycling my own talking points if I had to give heaps of interviews too, no harm in that, but I figured it'd be worthwhile to point out an interview that's different.

James Montgomery and Todd Brown from MTV News made an appearance to report on Friday's Open Source Resistance meet-up, and their article is now online. I thought the instructions said "Don't be followed." Speaking of the so-called Music Television channel, we hear they've added Survivalism onto their playlist at MTV (does MTV even play videos in full anymore?), and that it's #1 over on MTV2. You can also watch the edited version of the video anytime over on MTV Overdrive, if you somehow missed it's USB-key debut last month, etc. etc.

And two quick site-related notes: First, our submission form will only wipe out text once now (if you don't know what that means, don't worry. And if you do, sorry, that was laziness on my part.) Second, we're selling inexpensive official gear through our affiliation with Goodrock.com again, where not only are credit cards accepted, but Paypal and Google checkout as well. The selection's limited at the moment (the merch company takes their sweet time dealing with Goodrock) but most of the shirts are $12.99. Have a look around anyway. As usual, we'll let you know whenever they add stuff.
Saturday, 4/14/07

ARG Updates: AIR Goes Live in LA

If you haven't been following the recent ARG developments over the past week, you've missed a lot. One of the newly-discovered websites, Open Source Resistance, advertised a meeting in LA for last night with explicit instructions on clothing to be worn and procedure to be followed. For the fans who showed up, they were surprised with an AIR kit which included buttons, posters, stencils, and in some cases, cell phones. Ongoing discussion regarding the kit and its contents is going on at ETS, so hop over there for up-to-date and continuing information.
Friday, 4/13/07

NIN Re-un-un-reconfirmed To Play Ireland

Ticketmaster and a number of other venues are now re-confirming Nine Inch Nails as supporting the Foo Fighters at Marley Park in August.
NINE INCH NAILS will perform as special guests to the FOO FIGHTERS at Marley Park on 22 August. Silversun Pickups have also been added to the line up.
Get your tickets before they change their minds again! Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Wednesday, 4/11/07

Independent Days Festival: UPDATE

As previously reported, NIN will be headlining the Independent Days Festival in Italy on September 2nd. That said, we just got an huge update from Paolo that will make many of your dreams come true. The co-headliners for the festival have been announced. Tool will be sharing the stage with Nine Inch Nails as co-headliners. This should be a very good show!
Tuesday, 4/10/07

NIN Myspace Now Features 'Year Zero'

In case you've been living under a rock for the last week and haven't surfed over to the Spiral or the Year Zero website to listen to a streaming version of 'Year Zero', that same stream is now available on the NIN Official Myspace page. There is even a nifty function to allow you to put any song from Year Zero on your own Myspace profile. Thanks to the hundred or so people who wrote in to let us know.

InSound begins to ship Year Zero preorders

A number of people received email today notifying them that their orders with InSound have shipped - a week before the album is due to be released! Looks like the company has learned from their fiasco with Beside You In Time (which some folks in Canada and Mexico have still not received) and are no longer shipping their products via fourth-class mail, but via first-class mail. Not bad!
Monday, 4/09/07

Vendor exclusive pre-order specials

We've gotten a number of emails about a couple of pre-order options that have cropped up in the last week or so, but no one has updated about them yet, so I'm going to try and fit this in real quick before I get back to work.

Pre-ordering Year Zero from Best Buy will only cost you $9.99, and you get a code that lets you download a 10 minute interview with Trent Reznor, "while supplies last." I think that's how it works. On a related note, Uncle C's sent in a link to bestbuy.com/nineinchnails, which is a 4.5 minute video interview of Trent speaking over an instrumental take of Me, I'm Not.

Hot Topic also has an exclusive pre-order deal -- pre-order the album for $9.99, and you can get a shirt for $9.99. Not a bad deal, really. In addition, Hot Topic is having a "listening party" for the album at 7PM nationwide on Friday the 13th. This basically consists of every HT store in the country playing the album at the same time (in a given time zone, of course).

Thanks to everyone who wrote in about these deals, and thanks to Paul for the update about the "listening parties."
Sunday, 4/08/07

Won a patch, but never got an email? Also...

This weekend I got a lot of emails about folks who have filled out a form to receive instructions on getting an Art Is Resistance flag patch, but never received the email. I would write back to you all individually, but I was busy installing a dishwasher and helping Melissa with grouting the tile in my kitchen this weekend. I'll be setting up a script to send a follow-up email to everyone who's won a patch, and I'll try to make it extra spam-proof, so that it doesn't get lost in the shuffle this second time around. At that point, I'll also post news that the email has been sent, and if you -still- don't get the email, contact me (again) and I'll send you further information personally. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Also, I added a few helping hands to the staff last week, and a couple of them have already helped to add a bunch of newer articles to our dull-looking but huge article archive. Are we missing anything you may have read recently? Submit links to music reviews and news via the "Submit News" button and we'll try to get everything entered.

NIN Fans vs MSN/Geffen?

This is getting ridiculous. What started out as one of our goofy poll-bashing posts has turned into an all-out battle between our wacky fan-base and what appears to be a battle against either internal MSN rigging, or Geffen rigging. If we were losing to, say, Radiohead, or Tool, or any band that actual has any kind of online fanbase, I could understand that, but this kind of smells like payola. That smell has whipped up NIN fans a bit. Right now, there are more votes in this poll than there are citizens of Canada, and somehow, The Bravery are still competing. It's kind of an interesting story, you can start to read more about it at Digg.
Saturday, 4/07/07

Trent and Manson on Harddrive XL

Adrianna and Scicks wrote in to let us know that the Harddrive XL Radio Show hosted by Lou Brutus will be doing feature interview segments with "Nine Inch Nails" (presumably with Trent) and Marilyn Manson on Monday, April 9th. No word whether there is going to be some sort of joint segment or if Manson and NIN will be interviewed separately. Either way, it should make for a fairly entertaining and informative interview session. Be sure to check if your local station carries or streams Harddrive XL so you can listen in.

Bloggers really like Year Zero

According to technorati, the most popular music being listened to by bloggers is Year Zero, with nearly twice as many links to the new album as the second most-popular album (by Daughtry). Interesting... on that note, I'm doing an impromptu, totally informal survey. I'm curious to see, if you've downloaded Year Zero, where have you downloaded it from? If you get a second, fill out the really simple little form to the right. If you haven't downloaded it -- that's pretty cool of you. Just a reminder, you can listen to the whole thing on yearzero.nin.com, too.

*update* To the paranoid who have filled out 'narc' and 'is this an riaa trick' -- you really should know me better by now. On my awesomely bad previous car, I had the original anti-RIAA sticker (which, on thinkgeek, has since been replaced with an anti-MPAA sticker. I've probably had more unpleasant run-ins with record label lawyers than you, so quit being silly. Yes, I have also pre-ordered it, it's a fucking good record.
Friday, 4/06/07

OpenSourceResistance.net

With so much going on relating to the release of the album, we've generally deferred news about the Year Zero phenomenon to NIN Wiki and Echoing the Sound, but I wanted to touch base about one of the newer sites to have sprung up from this whole experience.

OpenSourceResistance.net is a live site taking your artwork, videos, messages, whatever. They've put up some submitted works in the last week or so. Anyway, I wanted to point that out, it's a good place to send stuff, if you want to get involved.
Thursday, 4/05/07

NIN vs The Bravery - Modern-day payola in action

It looks like The Bravery has a fanbase about as looney as NIN, as they currently have over 14,000 votes in the MSN "Artist of the Month" survey, putting them in the lead at 38%. If you've got a second, let's try and correct that lead and return NIN to the forefront. No registration required or anything like that.

**update 4/6/2007 **
So after taking a healthy, healthy lead in the poll, The Bravery once again destroyed NIN. If this band had any online fan base at all, I'd accept that. If they had a fanbase like Radiohead, Tool, Depeche Mode, or even Madonna, I might even concede that perhaps we were actually validly losing. But it's The Bravery. They don't have an online fan base. Apparently we're up against either internal rigging at MSN, or a PR flack at Geffen.

Survivalism Hits #1

Billboard Online is reporting that 'Survivalism' has attained the number one spot for modern rock tracks. This means NIN is only the second band ever to have four straight #1 Modern Rock singles on the charts. I think that deserves a big woot! Thanks to seplomaniac and sat for the links.
Wednesday, 4/04/07

More Festival Dates

Nine Inch Nails have been confirmed as headliners at both the 'Rock-Am-See Festival' in Germany on September 1st, and the 'Independent Days Festival' in Italy on September 2nd. We'll post more information regarding the festivals and tickets once that news becomes available. Thanks to Engholm and Paolo for letting us know.

Year Zero makes broadcast debut on Q101

If you ever had a doubt in your mind that calling a radio station up and requesting a song really made any difference, this might be evidence that indeed, they do listen to you. We just got email letting us know that Electra on Q101 in Chicago is playing all of Year Zero on-air right now, and wants you to call in with your comments. They've got an online stream that runs til 5:00pm. Check it out.

Listen to 'Year Zero'

Spiral members have been given a little treat this afternoon as a link to a Year Zero player has showed up on the Spiral website. Login to listen to the album in its entirety in CD quality sound.

Update: You don't need to be a Spiral member to listen to Year Zero. The same player is available on the Year Zero website as well. Thanks Ryan!

Sad Kermit Covers NIN

We've gotten a plethora of emails regarding Kermit the Frog covering both 'Hurt' and 'Something I Can Never Have', as covered by Canadian newscast 'The Hour' on CBC. Given there is nothing more important to listen to today(!) hop on over to Sad Kermit's website to listen and watch his stirring rendition of the Hurt video.

New Year Zero cover art posted

NIN Hotline imageNIN Hotline imageOver on Echoing the Sound we got a post from n_ in Poland, who was sent these photos in response to a request for more information about a since-pulled online auction. As discussed in that link (which also contains a few more photos) this appears to be a slipcover (not unlike used with The Downward Spiral) and you can make out the cover featured on yearzero.nin.com. If you click the thumbnails here, you'll be linked to higher resolution, full shots of the front and back covers. Looks like they're going all-out with this release. Did I mention pre-ordering your copy yet?

Now the RIAA really, really hates you

We didn't mention anything about the awful cellphone recording of the album that had been passed around over the past few days, but last night, someone leaked a 320kbps copy of the full promotional (as opposed to retail) copy of the album. Normally, we don't really report when a leak gets out, but given that this is kind of a follow-up to a super shitty leak, if you can't wait another two weeks and want to download the album, this is the one to download.

And it's phenomenal. Don't forget, if you like what you hear, please pick up a CD.
Tuesday, 4/03/07

The RIAA Hates NIN (and You!)

There's a news story on Blabbermouth reporting that everyone's favourite watchdog group - the RIAA - is pursuing legal action against websites that have hosted the USB-leaked songs from Year Zero. Cease and Desist orders for everyone! Thanks to Juan and sleepy for the heads up.

RSS News Feed upgrade

It may still be a little buggy, but I added a second RSS feed to this site - you can now choose between the original 'lite' edition of the feed, which pulls only the headlines, and a heavily-demanded 'verbose' version, which includes the entire text of the update (but without links and images and all that). The lite feed will still be served locally, but I'll be running the verbose feed through Feedburner for a while to see how that service works out. Check it out, and let me know how it works for you. (If you don't know what RSS means, Google it.)

Q101 wants more NIN

Q101 Chicago has a poll about the most anticipated band this spring. At the time of this posting, NIN was getting spanked by the Arctic Monkeys. It's one of those click a radio button, click the vote button things. I think I've said enough.

9inchnails.com undergoes major facelift

Matt Brink has updated his long-running website Painful Convictions along with it's distinctive message board Perfect Isolation with a host of new features.

Now you can customize the site to suit you, choosing different color schemes and header graphics, members of PI can now create a blog within the board system, or link to their blog on another site.

If, somehow, you've missed this site in your travels, Painful Convictions is an excellent resource. Not only is there a huge lyrics database, but an extensive encyclopedia on all things NIN & related, and a high-quality image gallery with stills from videos spanning Nine Inch Nails' entire career.

Did you receive a button at a Year Zero listening party?

If you attended one of the US listening parties, you might have received a button like those shown here. What you might be unaware of is that those buttons play a vital role in the unfolding of the Year Zero puzzle and have lead to a number of discoveries in the game. It's becoming apparent that some of the buttons containing these clues might have been overlooked. You might even be wearing one now. Take a look and see if you can help out.
Monday, 4/02/07

Vote for MSN Artist of the Month

NIN is currently in the running for MSN's Artist of the Month. They're up against Avril Lavigne, Pam Tillis, The Bravery, and Patti Smith. So please, overlook your secret love of Avril Lavigne and vote for NIN. Thanks to Jenni for the link.

Channel [V] Loves You

Australia's Channel [V] currently has a competition for double passes to one of three Australian shows. All you have to do is register and tell them "what you would like to hammer a Nine Inch Nail through and why", along with the show you'd like to go to. Your choices are:

Monday 7th May, 2007 - Riverstage, Brisbane, QLD
Wednesday 9th May, 2007 - Luna Park, Sydney, NSW
Sunday 13th May, 2007 - Metro, Melbourne, VIC

The contest closes 4-22-07. Good luck and have fun!

Do you consider yourself to be savvy?

Check out this CNN article about Year Zero. Thanks to all who wrote in about it.

Survivalism remix on Saul Williams' myspace

The Survivalism_OpalHeartClinic_Niggy_Tardust!(Escaped... remix is now online at Saul Williams' myspace page.