Review - How To Destroy Angels EP

My HTDA download link arrived in my inbox in the early hours of this morning. After a drama with computer security settings, it was finally on my machine and pouring out of my speakers. Here is the track-by-track review.

1. The Space In Between
Familiar to many from its gory, mesmerising video, the track has been remastered slightly and given a final polish. As an opener, it's a great choice. Lyrically and vocally, it is definitely one of HTDA's strongest tracks, and the extra room afforded by an MP3 gives Mariqueen's serene vocal some extra clarity and depth. Although Trent Reznor has described the video as being about a dying relationship, it is hard not to pick up some definite lyrical nods to last year's Twitter drama and the ensuing bitterness.

2. Parasite
Begins with a squalling guitar line and dirty beats. Mariqueen's barely-audible whispered voice cuts in, then we hear Trent for the first time. He and Mariqueen share the singing over Atticus's sinuous bassline, and it's almost as if they're one singer, so close are their lines. The whispered refrain of "Parasite" and the distorted stabs of guitar are quite reminiscent of NIN. Towards the end, the song collapses in a jagged mass of guitar and synth, and the talk track returns. The bassline from this was in the second of the teaser videos.

3. Fur Lined
Probably the "poppiest" track on the EP. There is an immediate resemblance to certain more upbeat NIN songs, especially the drum track (Only). Mariqueen switches up her vocals from her usual whispery style to a kittenish sneer, which is a welcome diversion. There are strong electro influences audible here, with trebly synths and heavily treated voices, although it breaks down into something scuzzier at the end. The double synth line from the final teaser appears towards the end of this song as a repeating motif.

4. BBB
Probably my favourite track from the EP. It's another electronically-based number, and it's here that we get to hear the filthy synths from the first teaser video. The Swarmatron is very much in evidence and sounds even better on the finished song, its distorted wail rising above the assorted cat sounds, whines and drones of the other instruments. The BBB of the title stands for "big black boots", which appear in the lyrics. There is a clear nod to BDSM here and it is hard not to interpret this as a bondage love song. Mariqueen and Trent duet once more, with Atticus on the knobs.

5. The Believers
I think this is a slightly tweaked version of the song I heard last week, although I may be wrong. It is a percussive, glitchy electronic number with what appears to be a lot of "organic" instruments thrown into the mix. It has a strong Asian flavour: the drum sounds and patterns sound somewhat Indian and some of the other incidental sounds make me think of southeast Asian tuned percussion instruments, like a gamelan orchestra gone techno. There's a neat guitar and eight-bit style synth duet at the end. Vocally and lyrically, it's the weakest track, but the music makes up for it.

6. A Drowning
The first single will be familiar to many listeners. It is the simplest of the songs, and also the calmest for the most part. Mariqueen sings over a trebly synth bassline, familiar from Atticus's other work. The music builds into a wall of underwater-sounding guitars and synth, before a plaintive and jarring horn section cuts in. The minor-key piano motifs sound very Reznor-ish, and the distorted guitar solo rising above Mariqueen towards the end is also noticeably him. It finishes the EP well, as its length does not burden it quite so much.

You can download your copy here.

Elsewhere on the internet...

That's me, that is.

I was shown this celebrity face recognition thing on a forum earlier in the week. You upload a picture of your face, and the doubtlessly state of the art software brings up a list of celebrities you look most like. Despite being female, apparently I have a 77% resemblance to Jude Law. Which would be fine, if I were a man. My closest female match was Diane Kruger, although she looks about as much like me as Jude does.
I should go on at this point about the pernicious and vacuous nature of celebrity culture, and our obsession therewith, but the face recogniser is kind of fun, and it's not hurting anyone.

Elsewhere on the internet, music is afoot. Autechre are releasing their second album of the year in July, and have put a track online for our listening pleasure. y7 is available here from Autechre's own site. y7 is quite an upbeat track, with a shifting rhythm of pleasing analog-sounding synth pulses. Despite its upbeat tempo, there's a nice hint of menace lurking within, too.

RWL favourite Trent Reznor has also been a busy boy this week. First, he put out a new track as Nine Inch Nails, a soundtrack effort for the film Tetsuo: The Bullet Man. You can download it here. The Theme is one of the most aggressive pieces Trent has put out for a while. It is almost completely electronic, abrasive as anything and manages to make a synth horn section sound quite scary. This is interspersed with typical Reznor minor-key piano. It works almost like an angry little symphony, with movements and reprises.

Not content with putting the rumours of NIN's total demise to bed, Trent has also unveiled another How To Destroy Angels track. It's meant to be a giveaway with Wired magazine's iPad app, but copies are leaking all over the internet. Atticus, Trent and Mariqueen have taken a more rhythmic approach this time, and The Believers is full of glitchy beats and chopped-up synth. I think you can even hear a Swarmatron riff at the beginning. This is the first HTDA track to feature an obvious TR vocal, which should please many.



Lastly, Klaxons are back, if anyone is still bothered. Their new track, Flashover, was described as a departure from their Nu Rave beginnings by a critic, but to me, it still sounds like Klaxons, albeit a more noisy incarnation. Listen

New Music Monday

A little playlist of new things I've been listening to and watching:

1. How To Destroy Angels - The Space In Between

This is not only a great second song from a scarily-prolific new project, it's an eerie, beautiful video too, if something this twisted can be beautiful in your world.



This video, directed by Rupert Sanders, looks to be part of a series. Will we find out the identity of the murderer? Is it Atticus? Is it the mystery blonde woman? Is it the man in the bathroom?
The music shows much more menace and a harder edge than A Drowning, but still retains the dreamlike (or nightmarish) quality of the first song. You can hear the guitar riff from the third teaser video in here, too.

2. Crystal Castles - Celestica

No video for this. I've not been a fan of Crystal Castles in the past, but this slice of sweetly-voiced electro does something for me. I'm hoping that their new album will grow on me.

3. Emika - Double Edge

Emika is a German vocalist and producer who records on Ninja Tune. This is her second song, and I don't know much about her.



Glitchy, trippy dubstep with subtle, emotional vocals. The video is minimal and somewhat functional, and reminds me of a hostage video.

Things I Like This Week:

1. Angel Hunting


I blogged last week about How To Destroy Angels, the suspected new project from Trent Reznor and Mariqueen Maandig. It all got a bit previous - although I stated that they had owned up, that didn't happen until yesterday, when the band's first song, A Drowning, appeared on pitchfork.com. More on that in a minute.
The few days before the reveal were a flurry of frenetic online angel hunting. The band - Trent, Mariqueen and Atticus Ross - stepped up their programme of teaser videos and enigmatic, faintly survival-horror-esque images. The players were revealed one by one, apart from a guitarist whose hands and arms were the only part of him displayed. This turned out to be Trent, who is being very coy in promotional pictures, either standing at the back with shades on or turning his back to the camera.
So, the music. A Drowning is gentle but menacing, with a pulsing beat and dreamy piano motifs, interrupted by mournful synthesised brass and a scuzzy guitar lament towards the end. It's sung by Mariqueen, who shows herself to have a delicate, ethereal voice. It is a very controlled and polished performance. I love the song.

2. Shiba Inus

The little dog that's big in Japan. Someone near me has one. What's there not to love?

3. I'm going to see CocoRosie the day after tomorrow. Watch this space for a review.

4. Old Vic and Bob sketches, specifically the Bra Men. I used to watch Vic and Bob, and I never remember seeing these superb comic creations.

How To Destroy Angels: yes it is Trent Reznor...

This video appeared yesterday online (sorry for the knockoff copy - the vimeo original won't embed on here properly). The name of the project is How To Destroy Angels; there are no official song titles as yet. At first, no-one owned up, but the rumour soon spread that this was Trent Reznor's new project with Mariqueen Maandig. The accompanying artwork shows someone who looks very much like Mariqueen, and, well, anyway, it is her, because the duo owned up today.

A six-track EP is pencilled in for the summer and rumoured tracklistings are already floating around. It's not known whether Trent and Mariqueen are recording as a duo, or whether they're part of a larger group, but all will probably be revealed, sooner rather than later. The video shows Mariqueen operating an interesting-looking synth that I would love to have a go on, and is there a hint of heavily-treated vocals there? It's not even certain that How To Destroy Angels, seemingly named after a Coil album, will feature any, or much vocal at all, and no clues other than the video have been given as to who's doing what within the band. It's tempting to think of it being the classic "man twiddling knobs while woman sings" setup, but who's to say it won't be the other way round? Mariqueen, judging by her revived Twitter, is quite keen on knobs at the moment.

And the music? Hard to tell right now, but the 40 seconds we do have is 40 seconds of dirty, threatening synth, and I like the sound of it very much. It could be a purely instrumental thing, but I could see this heading in the sort of direction that someone like Dot Allison has taken in her harder-edged work. Despite being described as the ex-lead singer of West Indian Girl in several hundred blog posts and articles, Mariqueen was/is actually more of a vocal effects singer than a frontwoman, and this might show in her new project.

As for Trent, he seems capable of turning his hand to most things. I'm looking forward...

(Official website is http://www.howtodestroyangels.com