It’s hard to believe that Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails have been around for 20 years. Though the “band” is mainly Trent Reznor (at least on record), it’s still amazing he’s been going strong for such a long time.

Billboard.com has a great retrospective piece titled “20 Years of Nine Inch Nails” that details each important phase of Trent Reznor/NIN’s career. The piece covers everything from Trent Reznor getting his first job working in a studio to the release of his newest album “The Slip” and everything in between. Of particular interest is the period between “The Downward Spiral” and “The Fragile” when Reznor was starting to develop a serious drug problem.

“On July 1, NIN cancelled its London Arena show, purportedly because of the drummer’s stomach flu. Years later, Reznor would reveal the real reason: He had overdosed on heroin, one particular drug he had always denied doing. The tour ended the following week, and Reznor disappeared for five years.”

For any NIN fans, this retrospective is well-worth checking out and also features a NIN Chart History, NIN Essential Videos and NIN Essential Recordings list.

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The first edition of the Pemberton Festival ended the other day, and while I didn’t mention the festival here previously I was interested in finding out how it went.

The main acts playing were Coldplay, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Jay-Z, Nine Inch Nails, The Flaming Lips and Death Cab For Cutie. Organization wise the festival seems to have suffered, as reported by several publications. Festival organizer, Live Nation (formerly Clear Channel) claimed that the festival was a “triumphant success.”

No matter who you believe, you can still check out some great photo’s from the event at Stereogum.

The tenth Voodoo Music Experience will be happening this year, Oct 24-26 at New Orleans City Park. The festival is starting to release an impressive lineup of big name acts.

“Death Cab For Cutie, Erykah Badu, Wyclef Jean, Panic At The Disco, Joss Stone, Lupe Fiasco and Dashboard Confessional are among the top names joining headliners R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails and Stone Temple Pilots.”

“Billboard.com can reveal that the event will also feature performances by DeVotchKa, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Cold War Kids, Ghostland Observatory, Joseph Arthur, Old 97’s, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the reunited Shudder To Think, the Gutter Twins, Thievery Corporation, Tokyo Police Club and Man Man.”

“Among the dozens of local and/or non-rock acts set to appear are the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Irving Mayfield’s New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, the New Orleans Bingo! Show, Ozomatli with Chali 2na, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Kermit Ruffins, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Iguanas, Bonerama, Marc Broussard and King Britt, the latter staging a tribute to local legend Sister Gertrude Morgan.”

Weekend passes for the event are priced at $115. Three-day VIP passes will sell for $450 and both go on sale Monday, June 23rd.

Personally, I feel that there really aren’t that many bands I’d like to see but the lineup does boast a small number of unique acts. Besides solid headliners, R.E.M. and Nine Inch Nails, I’d love to see the reunited Shudder To Think and wouldn’t mind seeing Death Cab For Cutie, as I’ve never seen them live before. I think one of the most interesting thing about this festival would be the local talent. Usually, you look at festival lineups and every single one lists the same artists. It’s nice when a festival makes a point to add some local flair to its lineup.

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So I haven’t posted in a few days. Some interesting news has been reported in the past couple days, namely this years annual Lollapalooza lineup. In case you haven’t heard, a few years ago Lollapalooza changed from a touring festival to an annual one held in Chicago’s Grant Park. It takes place from August 1-3 this year.

The lineup this year looks pretty good to me, and features a lot of alternative, guitar bands.  Here are a sampling of the bands playing this year that I’d like to see…

Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Wilco, The Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, Broken Social Scene, Cat Power, Explosions In The Sky, Battles, The Black Keys and a rare festival appearance from Witchcraft.

Just based on those bands alone I’d be up for going. The early bird tickets have sold out, but at $195, the current ticket prices are dramatically less then Coachella at almost $300. Lollapalooza ticket prices also have no service charges. Although the lineup looks good, I have to see if a trip to Chicago at the beginning of August will work out for me.

As many people probably know by now…Nine Inch Nails has self-released, (via the internet) a new 36 track instrumental album. In a fashion similar to Radiohead’s pioneering approach, whereby the band’s website offered users a choice of paying any amount they want for the album, or nothing at all. Nine Inch Nails however, offered the entire album as a $5 download through file-sharing program bit torrent, a $10 2 CD set, 9 free songs from the album or various special edition packages ranging from $75 to $300 for an ultra-deluxe limited edition package.

According to Nine Inch Nails official website, the idea for the album was to just go about an organic writing process. The process was to sort of improvise with a variety of musical instruments, including guitar effects, bass synths, etc…The result isn’t one you’d usually expect from Nine Inch Nails. I’d say it runs the gamut of really cool textures and sounds to something you’d never really want to listen to on a regular basis. Although it should be noted that this sort of thing would’ve never been possible under a major label. So it’s cool to see Trent Reznor branching out and really doing some more weird and unique things musically.

The album also reportedly went on to pull in $1.6 million in the first week alone, as the sales go to direct to the band/Trent Reznor.

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