Archive for the ‘The Downward Spiral (1994) – Nine Inch Nails’ Category

09 ‘Big Man With A Gun’ – The Downward Spiral (1994) – Nine Inch Nails

  • starts with treated vox sample (apparently a male porn actor orgasming)
  • short sharp to the point
  • drums start, bass joins, vox and gtrs join.
  • rapid fire drumming contrasted with relatively slow gtr chords
  • return of key line ‘nothing can stop me now’

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. rapid fire drumming contrasted with relatively slow gtr chords
  2. return of key line ‘nothing can stop me now’

08 ‘I Do Not Want This’ – The Downward Spiral (1994) – Nine Inch Nails

  • crossfade from previous track – filtered distant beat, panned hard right
  • track officially starts with beat coming in proper (unfiltered, full stereo)
  • great beat – stays solid for the whole track
  • piano arpeggio chords
  • cntr vox
  • spoken section; backing vox hard left, spoken filtered hard right
  • instrumental section, after the gtr wanking, some cool textured throbbing
  • climax; vox overlays (panning, filtered, different performance styles) – same 4 lines overlapping
  • long track with lots of details in each section …

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. great beat
  2. contrast of plaintive acst elements (piano) with hard industrial elements (drums and noises)

07 ‘The Becoming’ – The Downward Spiral (1994) – Nine Inch Nails

  • very strange rhythm – 7 beats, then 6 (which I think is in 13/8.)
  • piano intro, hammering out the chords and rhythm
  • drums join and background loops of people screaming, or laughing.
  • heavy machine drums drive the main beat, repeated throughout the song
  • acoustic break in the middle; acst gtr and backing vox (ah ah) – this part seems 3/4
  • rapid fire bass/gtr riff joins
  • returns to acoustic part
  • song drifts off to the left, fading, goes to hard pan as next track fades in on the right

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. hard panned crossfade into next track
  2. unusual rhythm – makes it hard to dance/tap foot to

06 ‘Ruiner’ – The Downward Spiral (1994) – Nine Inch Nails

  • industrial number with some funky beats.
  • extreme panned backwards sounds from ‘closer’ cross over to this intro
  • chorus; hard panned left only vox, very dry
  • pre chorus bridge vox unintelligible – dimly audible vocal production
  • ominous and cinematic keyboard/synthesizer sweep during the sexual innuendo-filled chorus. ‘how’d you get so big?’
  • instrumental section features, hard panned drums (right) and hard panned gtr solo (left)
  • final line ‘nothing can stop me now’ – hard cut right on the word ‘stop’ – prosody

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. pre chorus bridge vox unintelligible – dimly audible vocal production
  2. final line ‘nothing can stop me now’ – hard cut right on the word ‘stop’ – prosody

05 ‘Closer’ – The Downward Spiral (1994) – Nine Inch Nails

  • very long, 6 mins
  • stilted electronic beat intro
  • wah wah bass line
  • relatively sparse, compared to other tracks
  • faux strings – dirty and distant
  • call and response vox
  • chorus; no gtr up front, organ instead?
  • middle section lots drops out, leaving basic beat, distant faux strings, and punches of bass line
  • then ‘solo’ section. wah wah synth, indecipherable vocal mutterings
  • backwards gtr stabs, hard panned
  • extreme panning in the final section; backwards sounds, wobbly piano melody – theme

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. piano melody from previous tracks – establishing itself as the album theme melody
  2. extreme, uncompromising lyric
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