CLOCK E.P.

Simian Mobile Disco

Well now, here's something I don't get to review too often - a four track E.P. consisting entirely of instrumental tracks. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever reviewed anything like that before. First time for everything, I suppose. Of course, this means that I won't be able to have a go at the singer for sounding bored and I certainly won't be able to criticise the lyrics for being childish, so all that really leaves me with are the tunes themselves, and do you know what, they're not bad. The title track's a bit dreamy, but in a nice way, Simple is anything but - it changes direction a couple of times (and it's also far better than Clock in my opinion), 3 Pin Din is a messy, squelchy, acid house wannabe and State Of Things, despite being the most out-and-out dancey track, is still streets ahead of most dance music around at the moment. All in all then, a pretty good way to start the week I'd say.

GHOSTS I-IV

Nine Inch Nails (album)

It only seems like yesterday that Year Zero was hitting the shops, but here we are with a brand new Nine Inch Nails album. See, if you've got the fanbase behind you and the bottle to do it, nowadays you can let your recording contract expire and go off and do whatever you want to do. Commercialism be damned - the only person you have to answer to now is yourself. No more suits saying "Could you make that song a little happier?" or "If we chuck some sleighbells on it, we can release it in time for Christmas", no, now you can release things as you want them to be released, and if that means you want to release a two hour album consisting of thirty-six instrumentals, then that is precisely what's going to happen. And that's precisely what has happened. And yes, you heard right, thirty-six instrumental tracks. Makes Simian Mobile Disco's four look a bit paltry, doesn't it? Really, I suppose the best way to describe this is as a series of four soundtracks for films that will never be made, the reason being that the tracks are split into four equal sections (the Ghosts I-IV of the title) and are otherwise un-named save for the track number (so for example, 27 Ghosts III is the 27th track on the album and part of the Ghosts III section). Even though the tracks don't feature any singing, there's still a huge amount of variety, from ethereal, dreamy landscapes to full-on jumping-on-your-head music, and as the average running time comes to under three minutes, if a song comes along that you don't like then you won't have to wait long for another. Now, I actually thought the distinct lack of Trent Reznor's vocal contributions was going to be a major drawback, but oddly enough that's not the case. The songs are structured in such a way that the vast majority of them wouldn't work if someone was singing over the top, and the short running times also help. These aren't songs that were left unfinished before the lyrics could be added, they're more like bizarre experiments (15 Ghosts II is particularly experimental, with the emphasis on "mental"). Moreover, these tracks haven't been simply chucked out onto the Internet, oh no, there's been some thought put in. If you pay the $5 for the full set (that's around £2.50 in real money at the current exchange rate, or you can download Ghosts I on its own for free), you get the tracks in a higher-quality format than Radiohead's In Rainbows arrived in, plus a 40 page PDF booklet and some desktop wallpapers as well, which is rather generous to say the least. This is possibly the last thing I expected Nine Inch Nails to release (aside from a cover of Snooker Loopy), but Trent Reznor's actually got away with it. It's not really something you can dip in and out of, but as a complete experience it's rather good, mainly because there's no way to tell what's going to happen next. It's nice to hear something that's both weird AND wonderful.