For song & album requests and to support my channel and musical projects, please consider joining my Patreon (I can't monetize my videos): www.patreon.com/iximusic 🙌 You can also commission me to analyze your original music or do a piano cover. 🎹 And I teach private & group lessons, do film/video game scoring, and music transcriptions 🎶 TIPS: www.buymeacoffee.com/iximusic 💄
One of the feel modern musical geniuses who held on to his sanity. So many others have not, whether through mental illness or exploitation. It makes me so happy to see him just living his life.
A real key to Trent is that everything always sounds amazing & is played with impeccable feel - studio or live. That gives him the ability to create incredible focus & tension with what some might consider simple parts &/or harmony. He's very smart as a composer. The listener can easily digest what they're hearing & the (strong) feelings evoked by the listening experience are immediate.
its not that the harmonies and melodies of NIN are simple, but sparse and incomplete. thats what makes them sound so good. there is a certain level of space, focus, and suspense in all his music that lets the listener fill in the blanks.
Sound design is... I don't want to say "easier" to achieve with industrial music, but it's so endemic to the form that being good at sound design doesn't make for a good song. Composition and arrangement make the sound design *matter*.
Trent is a perfectionist, but not to a detrimental level. He knows exactly what he wants to say and how to make us feel and he does so in a powerful way. A dream of mine would be to have dinner/drinks with Trent and Maynard; that would be incredible.
It's weird how so much diehard Tool fans are also diehard NiN fans, (i'm also both btw, the only other band i must have listened as much as those two would be The Mars Volta i think), yet they don't have that much in common really, maybe just their infinite greatness?
The Frail is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It's hard to dig deeper than that. Deep within his distorted and dissonant world there's this gem, hidden. Safe, untouched, true and frail.
@@S.D.M022 I can still feel you even so far away 🌊 Read the lyrics and/or listen to: Cult of Luna - Further ISIS - Carry 🌌 And maybe check my user/artist name 😉 which is really unrelated... (I agree - The Great Below is one of the most magical moments on the album)
The less-is-more approach to harmony has been a game changer for me as a guitarist. It's what gave me the understanding to go from a solid basis in chords to writing proper riffs
3:35 I'm glad you said, that he is not doing that on purpose. I strongly believe that it is his taste and just reflects his emotions. There is no way he thinks of a c major and just leaves out some notes. He plays what feels right to him.
I think you nailed it. Trent seems to like the tension and suspense that the space invites in the way he plays and composes. I don't know shit about theory, but his music has always struck a chord in me to draw me into his space if that makes any sense. It's like he's telling a story that involves more people, but only from his perspective, while leaving room for interpretation within that perspective. May sound a little weird, but that's the way I see it.
So this got recommended to me and I liked the title.. now I've been through the full downward spiral.. she's making me appreciate my favorite music all over again.
I think the secret to chord voicings is that the lowest and highest note always stick out to our ears. Leaving out the middle "fillings" leaves room for imagination.
He has very interesting, kind of mystical phraseology. Your perception of missing parts and what's implied is very apt in describing that. When you said "parallel motion", I was like; yeah. It evokes a sense of hidden beauty, which kind of makes everything sound more beautiful to me. Idk, I'm stoned.
I have known NIN for years and have always loved their style, but their music never really grabbed me until recently when I revisited The Downward Spiral and started paying closer attention to these details. Rediscovering music is such a beautiful thing.
@@justintonation9726 I guess a lot of people have had this experience, where you like an album but not all of the songs on it, even though it has a consistent style. Some music just takes time to grow on you. Does this make sense to you? And yeah, Ixi's video are really helpful!
@@justintonation9726 My friend wasn't really into NIN he was a KMFDM fan but he eventually came around. For some people, it takes a couple of listens, but if they are patient they will be rewarded.
same. my friends mentioned nin in highschool, but they were also really into slipknot and the like. I assumed it was just another edgy distortion-oriented goth thing. turned out to be really artful stuff
Thank you for this explanation and sharing your knowledge . I never realized why his piano parts had this particular feel to them. Sometimes the trick to writing something incredible is to keep it simple and play what you like. He is a master at that. 🙏🏻
ears, emotion, discernment ....YES.....he paints colours that leave your emotions to fill in or be filled with a harmonic detail...from little...he is a bonsai master of chords and progressions.
What's so brilliant about how he often leaves out the 3rd of these "implied chords" is how that's the note which telegraphs whether the key is major or minor. By avoiding those notes in his harmonies, it leaves all the ambiguity of whether the intended tone is hopeful or dreadful up to the listener to project.
The genius of Trent is represented by his minimalistic arrangements. Your mind is active, engaged in filling the “blanks”. This design gives him opportunity to introduce another lines between the basic chord progressions. Layer after layer. In a way, he battles with the musical version of the mind of the listener by steering the attention towards a new interpretation. This amplifies engagement and music becomes a collaborative canvas. And replay value is skyrocketing. :) The melodies are so emotionally powerful that you have to force yourself to stop listening. Even when this is possible, the ghost of Trent music is chasing you with days.
As a “musician”, NIN has always been in my top five influences. However, I never truly realized until I watched this video just how influential Trent’s compositional approach was in terms of scale, chord formation and progression, and other tonal aspects of music theory. I’m self taught on everything. The only music theory I have any technical education in is rhythm so I always thought it was just his aesthetic (which I definitely ape all the time lol). But, I play guitar primarily and just realized that I do that exact “implied chord” thing as almost a hallmark of my playing/writing. I always thought I was just being lazy lol. I guess that might not be too novel for guitar playing in general but I do know a lot of super “orthodox” players that scoff at that kind of approach and insist on full chords and running through scales at all times. Just a testament to the power of brilliant, intuitive musicians such as Trent and music in general. Thanks so much for posting this video! I love your content and I always learn so much!
In terms of guitar, I often use the same idea with droning open strings. That is a common form for blues and bluegrass. And also other music in the world. Desert blues. Banjo music. Sitar driven music from India. Etc.
@@py_a_thon very interesting and makes sense. Just never thought about any of it. I just… play lol. But it’s certainly reassuring to know that my “intuitive” approach has some technical and historical/cultural backing lol.
I have a similar background. Only minimal knowledge of musical theory but no education on composing. It’s been mostly intuition for me. Trent’s music (with some Charlie Clouser) had affected both my composing and production without many people even realizing it’s been the source for such a long time. For most of the time I have used implied chords without realizing why I have done that, not even knowing the name for it. So valuable information!
I discovered your channel yesterday when I ran across your video on Stabbing Westward's Darkest Days album. My first thought was "PLEASE-PLEASE HAVE A VIDEO FOR NIN/TRENT REZNOR". I am thrilled you've covered my favorite artist of all time! I'm an old school industrial music teen that never grew up! THANK YOU!
Just wow. I cannot express how I love these tracks. Especially the Ghosts album(s), which is clearly the compilation of different sketches and snippets.
Seeing you talk about the details of music I grew up with details on the actual music theory and design is amazing. I watched your video on Mr Self Destruct and was amazed. I was gonna ask you to look into The Prodigy, but then I figured I should check your channel first. Lo and behold! Can't wait to watch that video after this!!!
In art it would be lost and found edges, fascinating to see it in music. Thanks you for this, it takes nothing away from the feeling of having my soul wrung out to be able to peek under the musical hood.
Very cool. Trent has been a real favorite , for me, for decades. His music has a beautiful, haunting quality. A true genius. I've been fortunate enough to be able to see NIN 4 times. Thanks!
Such a brilliant and well-crafted video. And what a brilliant artist Trent Reznor is. Writing melody first and then bass is sort of where I start, then later filling out inner voices. I hadn't thought about just making it work with two notes at a time, filling in the "emptyness" (caused by omitting the 3rd and/or 5th) with synths, ambience, etc. This really made an impact on me. Thank you so much for making this! 🤘
You are by far one of the best channels I’ve found on UA-cam. I share your love of NIN & surround myself with his music practically all my life. I recently saved up enough and just purchased a Virus Ti2. If you know.. you know ;) so I will be watching your channel & learning as much as I can. The visual keyboard display very helpful. Thanks for being an awesome human being ixi. I admire you & love your videos. :) -Xane
I don't know jack shit about music, but I can just about instantly recognize when a song was composed by Trent Reznor. I've always wondered why, so it's nice to finally watch a breakdown of it. Great vid!
Trent Reznor and Phillip Glass always seemed, somehow, on a similar wavelength of some kind. Minimalist music is quite beautiful when composed well. There is something ancient to the simplicity of minimalist music, and Reznor obviously had and achieved some aspirations to score multimedia products, and create some kind of cinematic music for the sake of music itself.
I think some of the "emptiness" of the chords works well with soundtracks for film as well because it is the bare minimum to get the message across, creates a lot of tension but also leaves enough headroom for other sounds to come from the film or game scene
Long time NIN fan here, returning previous ixi viewer. - The Frail was so hard hitting to me way back in the days when I could just sit and listen to music, and like, nobody else I knew liked anything I liked, except my bestie of about 25 years now. Maybe we would have all been friends in high school. Maybe I would have picked up some talent. - Sorry about the noisy road by your home. :( Here, it's cops in choppers searching the area, and other low-flying aircraft that make up the disruptive soundscape. It would be nice, though, if we got past car dependence some day. There's a lot we could get back if we were rid of the requirement to always be driving, so much commuting waste and ruined space. I can't help but believe this would also address the conditions that result in so much police activity, too. - OMG PORPOISE! My bestie and I ALWAYS remark this when we hear that song! I think we tried to sneak it in at karaoke once. - There was a video you did on a song from The Downward Spiral (maybe A Warm Place, which you just mentioned as I listened to this video) where, in the comments, I strongly disagreed on a matter of interpretation. I think I forgot at the time that you're allowed to filter things through any number of experiences and lenses, which is funny, because I'm always saying that myself. These things are more absolute to me when I'm in a bad place. I'm not always (or often) my best self. - On hollow sounds that resonate with empty feelings: that's what I was feeling when I was disagreeing with you so insistently about A Warm Place. Though I was wrong to treat emptiness as some obligate and exclusive element of his compositions, it's certainly there a lot. Do please pardon the parasociality of all this. I get to wanting to share, even if into the void. (Kind of a NIN pun, that. I will not apologize!) More broadly, though, in this frame, we viewers see a person who is just passionate about their interest, rather than the way most time is filled, alienated from ourselves and each other, acting against our interests, being drained and hollowed out to live our remaining hours emptily. We yearn and reach out to fill ourselves back up, but we only find products. Filler. Con-tent. All just commodities for consumption, something to pour into an unfillable pit that is steadily excavated within us until we're gone, but still moving for a few more years until the shell gives up. When we are aware it's happening, we try to reach past the commodities for something purer, and when we see someone passionate and vital -- like what we see of you here, in this simplified cross-section of your life, showing us your fullness, but none of your emptiness -- across the chasm, we see in the shape of your passion what the shape of the hole in us is. Only... (Another NIN pun?) we are so conditioned to consume, we would seek to consume your passion, and in doing so, transform it into yet another commodity that will never fill the hole. If able, maybe we'd consume you, too. The parasocial relationship is one way that we might seek to drain your passion for ourselves, but there is another way. I've heard other content creators express the idea that, in the way their passion is transformed into employment, it is commodified, and thus we can smell it's blood, your blood, in the water. "Aren't I a miserable fuck?" --Trent Reznor (likely misattributed long ago, can't find verification, heard in early 2000s)
When I first brought home my piano I plunked out Non Entity (live solo) and the Still version of The Day the World Went Away from And All That Could Have Been, which is an absolute gem. I’d love to see you break that down through to the end. So much going on. Love your work! 🎉
Jeez... You and your channel are pretty much my same preference in music, and it's uncanny. I wish I had people to relate to in my personal life who shared these musical interests.
This is just what’s I’ve been looking for! Never come across you before but I cannot wait to dive deeper. Also, deeply appreciate the focus on post-fragile Trent. Sure, 1989-1999 was great, but so was all the stuff that came after!
Thank you for making this video. All of these songs are my go to when I wanna listen to him.. (whenever it's not the Broken short film, even though it's there too I think 😭) so it's cool to investigate why that is.
I remember first time I listened to the fragile. I didn't get it, but there was something in the noise. Took 3 listens and then it strikes you. Trent plays with destroying everything with noise, and then he can bring back the underlying harmony by the turn of a knob. And the underlying stuff is just so minimalistic and beautiful.
Guessing she said this on porpoise, I wasn't aware of it but there's a meme derived from misheard lyrics of "Every Day Is Exactly The Same"; "I think I used to have a porpoise, then again that might have been dream"
The extrapolations are so Radiohead it's scary. Especially in the Ghosts example. I've followed Trent's musical career since '89s 'Down In It', and it still boggles my 'fragile' little mind that all of that comes out of one man's head. A gifted genius, for sure.
as ive said before, i love watching you appreciate Trent. i have no musical talent or music reading ability but im fascinated by your explanations. It would be amazing to see you interview Trent, with a piano or keyboard and him talking you ( and us) through his tunes.
You can never make too many Trent videos. I’d love to here your take on The Leftovers Season 1 soundtrack. Specifically the various versions of The Departed, Dona Nobis Pacem 1 and 2. Some of these have strings and vocal samples but it’s beautiful. Especially how well the score works with the source material. The Leftovers is the best TV shows I’ve seen use music to evoke strong emotion and thematic elements. I’d highly recommend watching the live video of his song November played live by Mari Samuelson with the Beijing Orchestra. Richter is such a talented composer.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
For song & album requests and to support my channel and musical projects, please consider joining my Patreon (I can't monetize my videos): www.patreon.com/iximusic 🙌 You can also commission me to analyze your original music or do a piano cover. 🎹 And I teach private & group lessons, do film/video game scoring, and music transcriptions 🎶 TIPS: www.buymeacoffee.com/iximusic 💄
Alternate title: "I Triad, But I Gave Up"
😂🤌🏻
" It took you to make me see the light "
🙃
All That Chord Have Been
"Head Like a Whole Note"
Reznor builds a sandwich, takes out the filling, and keeps the bread. Your ears determine the content.
Is this supposed to sound profound?
@@KP-ec7mrWhoa guys watch out we got a real tough guy in our midst
Trent Reznor is a GENIUS and he saved my life more times than I can count with his music.
Same:-)
One of the feel modern musical geniuses who held on to his sanity.
So many others have not, whether through mental illness or exploitation.
It makes me so happy to see him just living his life.
His music was а soundrack for darkest hours of my life.
I concur, Bruno!! Trent is definitely a genius!
🙏 same
Nobody gets “less is more” like Trent. Really cool to visualize it on the keyboard. Thanks
Copy of a Copy 💡
@@mtmcapital???
I'm glad you said porpoise. I sing it that way every time I hear Every Day Is Exactly the Same.
As NIИ fan I really enjoyed all of your break downs of Trent's music. Thank you for all of them ❤
How did you flip the N?
@@mtmcapital I'm from Russia
I love how ambiguity (as a concept) can so easily be imbued by dropping the middle of these chords
Year Zero is such an underrated NIN album. Thank you for this video
5 piano notes in and I am instantly comfy and safe. I have gotten through so, so much listening to nin
5 secs of Ixi has the same effect on me.
"A Warm, Safe Place" you might say? 😉
_(hey, _*_someone_*_ had to make the reference...)_
I start tearing up when I hear those melodies so alone
A real key to Trent is that everything always sounds amazing & is played with impeccable feel - studio or live. That gives him the ability to create incredible focus & tension with what some might consider simple parts &/or harmony. He's very smart as a composer. The listener can easily digest what they're hearing & the (strong) feelings evoked by the listening experience are immediate.
I think that’s how a lot pop music works, and that’s why it’s popular-there’s nothing to “get” because it’s replete with cliches.
its not that the harmonies and melodies of NIN are simple, but sparse and incomplete. thats what makes them sound so good. there is a certain level of space, focus, and suspense in all his music that lets the listener fill in the blanks.
@@Jake7inchnails to each their own. Debussy and Satie were mentioned-now those were truly interesting composers.
@@francis-808 .....what?
Sound design is... I don't want to say "easier" to achieve with industrial music, but it's so endemic to the form that being good at sound design doesn't make for a good song. Composition and arrangement make the sound design *matter*.
Trent is a perfectionist, but not to a detrimental level. He knows exactly what he wants to say and how to make us feel and he does so in a powerful way. A dream of mine would be to have dinner/drinks with Trent and Maynard; that would be incredible.
It's weird how so much diehard Tool fans are also diehard NiN fans, (i'm also both btw, the only other band i must have listened as much as those two would be The Mars Volta i think), yet they don't have that much in common really, maybe just their infinite greatness?
“I’m not saying he did it on porpoise”… yeah, that’s a true Nine Inch Nails fan. Fantastic.
The Frail is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It's hard to dig deeper than that. Deep within his distorted and dissonant world there's this gem, hidden. Safe, untouched, true and frail.
La mer always spoke to me. Even before I knew the backstory
The frail, whole album is a masterpiece! “The Great Below”- when he sing/screams that title verse, I get chills it’s so beautifully haunting.
@@S.D.M022 I can still feel you even so far away 🌊
Read the lyrics and/or listen to:
Cult of Luna - Further
ISIS - Carry
🌌
And maybe check my user/artist name 😉 which is really unrelated...
(I agree - The Great Below is one of the most magical moments on the album)
4:21 Ixi: If you don't recognize the music then get out of here.
Me: literally continuing the song by singing the synth bass line.
The less-is-more approach to harmony has been a game changer for me as a guitarist. It's what gave me the understanding to go from a solid basis in chords to writing proper riffs
Trent Reznor is like the musical MacGuvyer. He does the thing and it saves the day.
I logged on just to post this and didn't realize I already had ! I was like wow someone did the thing before I could and was like hey it's me 😂😂😂
3:35 I'm glad you said, that he is not doing that on purpose. I strongly believe that it is his taste and just reflects his emotions. There is no way he thinks of a c major and just leaves out some notes. He plays what feels right to him.
This woman is a musical queen !
I think you nailed it. Trent seems to like the tension and suspense that the space invites in the way he plays and composes. I don't know shit about theory, but his music has always struck a chord in me to draw me into his space if that makes any sense. It's like he's telling a story that involves more people, but only from his perspective, while leaving room for interpretation within that perspective. May sound a little weird, but that's the way I see it.
So this got recommended to me and I liked the title.. now I've been through the full downward spiral.. she's making me appreciate my favorite music all over again.
She started playing ghosts 34 and my brain immediately made me start tearing up.. the memories I have of hearing this music for the first time!
With Trent’s art it is all about the spaces between. It’s the mystery.
The fragile is my favorite album ever im thinkin.
I think the secret to chord voicings is that the lowest and highest note always stick out to our ears. Leaving out the middle "fillings" leaves room for imagination.
interestingly enough, Trent will sometimes play the full voicings in a live setting.
ooh I'd like to hear those examples!!
THE FRAGILE is one of very favorite recordings. The entire album is beautiful, emotional and provoking.
Those first three notes I instantly knew what song it was, my dude trent is so insane at composing
"So much beauty in missing information."
Beautiful.
He has very interesting, kind of mystical phraseology. Your perception of missing parts and what's implied is very apt in describing that. When you said "parallel motion", I was like; yeah. It evokes a sense of hidden beauty, which kind of makes everything sound more beautiful to me. Idk, I'm stoned.
I have known NIN for years and have always loved their style, but their music never really grabbed me until recently when I revisited The Downward Spiral and started paying closer attention to these details. Rediscovering music is such a beautiful thing.
Not trolling, I promise. How can you love an artist, but their music never really grabbed you? Have Ixxi’s videos helped you appreciate it more?
@@justintonation9726 I guess a lot of people have had this experience, where you like an album but not all of the songs on it, even though it has a consistent style. Some music just takes time to grow on you. Does this make sense to you? And yeah, Ixi's video are really helpful!
@@justintonation9726 My friend wasn't really into NIN he was a KMFDM fan but he eventually came around. For some people, it takes a couple of listens, but if they are patient they will be rewarded.
same. my friends mentioned nin in highschool, but they were also really into slipknot and the like. I assumed it was just another edgy distortion-oriented goth thing. turned out to be really artful stuff
Dude is a legend! Big part of my musical journey the past 30yrs
Thank you for this explanation and sharing your knowledge . I never realized why his piano parts had this particular feel to them. Sometimes the trick to writing something incredible is to keep it simple and play what you like. He is a master at that. 🙏🏻
ears, emotion, discernment ....YES.....he paints colours that leave your emotions to fill in or be filled with a harmonic detail...from little...he is a bonsai master of chords and progressions.
What's so brilliant about how he often leaves out the 3rd of these "implied chords" is how that's the note which telegraphs whether the key is major or minor. By avoiding those notes in his harmonies, it leaves all the ambiguity of whether the intended tone is hopeful or dreadful up to the listener to project.
The genius of Trent is represented by his minimalistic arrangements. Your mind is active, engaged in filling the “blanks”. This design gives him opportunity to introduce another lines between the basic chord progressions. Layer after layer. In a way, he battles with the musical version of the mind of the listener by steering the attention towards a new interpretation. This amplifies engagement and music becomes a collaborative canvas. And replay value is skyrocketing. :) The melodies are so emotionally powerful that you have to force yourself to stop listening. Even when this is possible, the ghost of Trent music is chasing you with days.
Thanks!
Truly enjoyable insights and delivered with the right balance of humour and professionalism. High five :)
Thanks very much, as always, Andrew!
The fact that Trent uses chords so sparingly really puts emphasis on them when they're used.
As a “musician”, NIN has always been in my top five influences. However, I never truly realized until I watched this video just how influential Trent’s compositional approach was in terms of scale, chord formation and progression, and other tonal aspects of music theory. I’m self taught on everything. The only music theory I have any technical education in is rhythm so I always thought it was just his aesthetic (which I definitely ape all the time lol). But, I play guitar primarily and just realized that I do that exact “implied chord” thing as almost a hallmark of my playing/writing. I always thought I was just being lazy lol. I guess that might not be too novel for guitar playing in general but I do know a lot of super “orthodox” players that scoff at that kind of approach and insist on full chords and running through scales at all times. Just a testament to the power of brilliant, intuitive musicians such as Trent and music in general. Thanks so much for posting this video! I love your content and I always learn so much!
In terms of guitar, I often use the same idea with droning open strings. That is a common form for blues and bluegrass. And also other music in the world. Desert blues. Banjo music. Sitar driven music from India. Etc.
@@py_a_thon very interesting and makes sense. Just never thought about any of it. I just… play lol. But it’s certainly reassuring to know that my “intuitive” approach has some technical and historical/cultural backing lol.
I have a similar background. Only minimal knowledge of musical theory but no education on composing. It’s been mostly intuition for me. Trent’s music (with some Charlie Clouser) had affected both my composing and production without many people even realizing it’s been the source for such a long time. For most of the time I have used implied chords without realizing why I have done that, not even knowing the name for it. So valuable information!
One of the funnest things I gathered from this is to experiment with boycotting thirds!
I think the emptiness fits his style. It's so much less crowded than the full chords.
I discovered your channel yesterday when I ran across your video on Stabbing Westward's Darkest Days album. My first thought was "PLEASE-PLEASE HAVE A VIDEO FOR NIN/TRENT REZNOR". I am thrilled you've covered my favorite artist of all time! I'm an old school industrial music teen that never grew up! THANK YOU!
It's crazy how I could identify each of the songs in the intro from the very first pair of notes. Iconic.
Just wow. I cannot express how I love these tracks. Especially the Ghosts album(s), which is clearly the compilation of different sketches and snippets.
I've always listened to a lot of their lesser known stuff, thanks for posting this, glad to see other musicians perv on his music.
Thank you so much. Please do more on Trent.
thank you!
No apology required; I've missed your NIN content! Love you, gurl!
I adore your speaking voice, and your knowledge of music. Perfect harmony.
Seeing you talk about the details of music I grew up with details on the actual music theory and design is amazing. I watched your video on Mr Self Destruct and was amazed. I was gonna ask you to look into The Prodigy, but then I figured I should check your channel first. Lo and behold! Can't wait to watch that video after this!!!
Soooo glad you mentioned that Halsey album!! So underrated by Halsey and NIN fans imo. The Tradition is one of my favourite album intros ever
In art it would be lost and found edges, fascinating to see it in music. Thanks you for this, it takes nothing away from the feeling of having my soul wrung out to be able to peek under the musical hood.
Whoa that fully chorded version of Truth has strong Badamalenti vibes. Would fit right at home in Twin Peaks.
You can actually hear part of Laura Palmers theme in the middle of the track "Reptile" from The Downward Spiral album.
Oh please don't stop with the Reznor analysis ixi, I need this on a personal level.
Trent's approach to piano is sick as hell and I appreciate that this video is just an excuse to think about that a lot
Very cool. Trent has been a real favorite , for me, for decades. His music has a beautiful, haunting quality. A true genius. I've been fortunate enough to be able to see NIN 4 times. Thanks!
Nice...tonal loneliness, longing, yearning, pondering. Insightful agitation of the soul. Aaaanyway, great video.😊
I definitely just read "I have to apologize" in Trent's falsetto from "Sunspots."
You did it right!!
Such a brilliant and well-crafted video. And what a brilliant artist Trent Reznor is. Writing melody first and then bass is sort of where I start, then later filling out inner voices. I hadn't thought about just making it work with two notes at a time, filling in the "emptyness" (caused by omitting the 3rd and/or 5th) with synths, ambience, etc. This really made an impact on me. Thank you so much for making this! 🤘
This was really lovely. As a long time NIN fan and musician it was great to see someone passionate break down these songs. Thank you!
Reznor's style reminds me a bit of Thomas Newman: foreboding, melancholic, and inspirational. Also Debussy.
You are amazing. Please keep doing these. I've always loved Trent Reznor's instrumental parts.
You are by far one of the best channels I’ve found on UA-cam. I share your love of NIN & surround myself with his music practically all my life. I recently saved up enough and just purchased a Virus Ti2. If you know.. you know ;) so I will be watching your channel & learning as much as I can. The visual keyboard display very helpful. Thanks for being an awesome human being ixi. I admire you & love your videos. :) -Xane
This made my day. Thank you for existing and loving music from the mastermind Trent Reznor
12:50
No wonder I always liked grunge harmony!
I am so happy that you are pointing out how good Trent is at piano...you must love Non-ENTITY
I don't know jack shit about music, but I can just about instantly recognize when a song was composed by Trent Reznor. I've always wondered why, so it's nice to finally watch a breakdown of it. Great vid!
"the tension of the chord, you just need these" mind blown
All you need is two ears and a heart. Love your videos!
Trent Reznor and Phillip Glass always seemed, somehow, on a similar wavelength of some kind. Minimalist music is quite beautiful when composed well. There is something ancient to the simplicity of minimalist music, and Reznor obviously had and achieved some aspirations to score multimedia products, and create some kind of cinematic music for the sake of music itself.
I agree with you, but I personally would add Brian Eno as well. Some of his best songs are also the most minimalistic.
I think some of the "emptiness" of the chords works well with soundtracks for film as well because it is the bare minimum to get the message across, creates a lot of tension but also leaves enough headroom for other sounds to come from the film or game scene
Long time NIN fan here, returning previous ixi viewer.
- The Frail was so hard hitting to me way back in the days when I could just sit and listen to music, and like, nobody else I knew liked anything I liked, except my bestie of about 25 years now. Maybe we would have all been friends in high school. Maybe I would have picked up some talent.
- Sorry about the noisy road by your home. :( Here, it's cops in choppers searching the area, and other low-flying aircraft that make up the disruptive soundscape. It would be nice, though, if we got past car dependence some day. There's a lot we could get back if we were rid of the requirement to always be driving, so much commuting waste and ruined space. I can't help but believe this would also address the conditions that result in so much police activity, too.
- OMG PORPOISE! My bestie and I ALWAYS remark this when we hear that song! I think we tried to sneak it in at karaoke once.
- There was a video you did on a song from The Downward Spiral (maybe A Warm Place, which you just mentioned as I listened to this video) where, in the comments, I strongly disagreed on a matter of interpretation. I think I forgot at the time that you're allowed to filter things through any number of experiences and lenses, which is funny, because I'm always saying that myself. These things are more absolute to me when I'm in a bad place. I'm not always (or often) my best self.
- On hollow sounds that resonate with empty feelings: that's what I was feeling when I was disagreeing with you so insistently about A Warm Place. Though I was wrong to treat emptiness as some obligate and exclusive element of his compositions, it's certainly there a lot.
Do please pardon the parasociality of all this. I get to wanting to share, even if into the void. (Kind of a NIN pun, that. I will not apologize!) More broadly, though, in this frame, we viewers see a person who is just passionate about their interest, rather than the way most time is filled, alienated from ourselves and each other, acting against our interests, being drained and hollowed out to live our remaining hours emptily. We yearn and reach out to fill ourselves back up, but we only find products. Filler. Con-tent. All just commodities for consumption, something to pour into an unfillable pit that is steadily excavated within us until we're gone, but still moving for a few more years until the shell gives up. When we are aware it's happening, we try to reach past the commodities for something purer, and when we see someone passionate and vital -- like what we see of you here, in this simplified cross-section of your life, showing us your fullness, but none of your emptiness -- across the chasm, we see in the shape of your passion what the shape of the hole in us is. Only... (Another NIN pun?) we are so conditioned to consume, we would seek to consume your passion, and in doing so, transform it into yet another commodity that will never fill the hole.
If able, maybe we'd consume you, too. The parasocial relationship is one way that we might seek to drain your passion for ourselves, but there is another way. I've heard other content creators express the idea that, in the way their passion is transformed into employment, it is commodified, and thus we can smell it's blood, your blood, in the water.
"Aren't I a miserable fuck?" --Trent Reznor (likely misattributed long ago, can't find verification, heard in early 2000s)
When I first brought home my piano I plunked out Non Entity (live solo) and the Still version of The Day the World Went Away from And All That Could Have Been, which is an absolute gem. I’d love to see you break that down through to the end. So much going on. Love your work! 🎉
Thanks
“I’ll tell you how great that is…” ❤❤❤ 😂😂😂😂😂
The porpoise joke sent me! Hahah, lovely work, as usual.
Jeez...
You and your channel are pretty much my same preference in music, and it's uncanny.
I wish I had people to relate to in my personal life who shared these musical interests.
Brilliant explanation of Trent’s composing style. Great job.
Nice video. Trent is one of a kind. I like the fill in the space thought. Enlightening my dear.
This is just what’s I’ve been looking for! Never come across you before but I cannot wait to dive deeper. Also, deeply appreciate the focus on post-fragile Trent. Sure, 1989-1999 was great, but so was all the stuff that came after!
So when do we get a dark and moody album like this from you with your vocals?! All Trenty styled with your own twist.
Thank you for making this video. All of these songs are my go to when I wanna listen to him.. (whenever it's not the Broken short film, even though it's there too I think 😭) so it's cool to investigate why that is.
I remember first time I listened to the fragile. I didn't get it, but there was something in the noise. Took 3 listens and then it strikes you. Trent plays with destroying everything with noise, and then he can bring back the underlying harmony by the turn of a knob. And the underlying stuff is just so minimalistic and beautiful.
Thanks for the Satie and Debussy drop, checked them out and your opening up a whole new world for me, appreciated. :)
Josh Homme does this on guitar. His entire career is based off of it. Thanks for the breakdown
I felt a deep satisfaction after playing Ghost 34 today, thank you for the lesson IXI!!🙏
I keep going back to NIN, with more info from you and finding out different elements/ layers I had never noticed.
Thanks for this. Love what you do with all the grunge analysis. Really love nin, always enjoyed and now even more… 👏👏👏👏
I just stumbled upon your channel when I was looking into Nine Inch Nails music. I'm so glad I did.
Subbed.
You spoil us. Side note I need to write more music with chords and implied harmony.
I don't think Trent does this on porpoise either! 🐬
That was an old running joke on the forums from the old NIN website. "I think I used to have a porpoise"
Guessing she said this on porpoise, I wasn't aware of it but there's a meme derived from misheard lyrics of "Every Day Is Exactly The Same"; "I think I used to have a porpoise, then again that might have been dream"
Danke!
thank you Tanja!
So glad to see another one of these videos 😊 the last bit was really good
5:57 I am disappointed you didn't put on a cowboy hat for this one... No reason... Just a missed opportunity.
The extrapolations are so Radiohead it's scary. Especially in the Ghosts example.
I've followed Trent's musical career since '89s 'Down In It', and it still boggles my 'fragile' little mind that all of that comes out of one man's head. A gifted genius, for sure.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the satie like qualities to his music
as ive said before, i love watching you appreciate Trent. i have no musical talent or music reading ability but im fascinated by your explanations.
It would be amazing to see you interview Trent, with a piano or keyboard and him talking you ( and us) through his tunes.
Thanks!
thank you Jon!
I love all your work on NIИ. Please keep it up!
(I love all things NIИ. We accidentally named our spare vehicle "The Wretched".)
You can never make too many Trent videos. I’d love to here your take on The Leftovers Season 1 soundtrack. Specifically the various versions of The Departed, Dona Nobis Pacem 1 and 2. Some of these have strings and vocal samples but it’s beautiful. Especially how well the score works with the source material. The Leftovers is the best TV shows I’ve seen use music to evoke strong emotion and thematic elements. I’d highly recommend watching the live video of his song November played live by Mari Samuelson with the Beijing Orchestra. Richter is such a talented composer.
I am absolutely mesmerized by the end of Closer and Perfect drug...
i love your videos im not a native english speaker i wish i could say how much i really like your explanations with musical terms, keep doing that
I love music and I love your enthusiasm and how dissecting this video is. I wish I understood half of what you're fired up about 😂