What's The Deal With Saul Williams?

The beat on the second half of 'Penny for a Thought' is still one for the books (the books where they make lists of hot beats, I guess).

xpost, haha

whats annoying about it? the fact he possesses a brain?

its not a rock album btw. thats silly.

http://www.nin.com:

Big news today!

As many of you know, I've been working closely with Saul Williams on his new record. We've spent many hours together in hotel rooms, busses, backstages and studios around the world working on something we knew was great. This is the most involved I've been with any project outside NIN since Antichrist Superstar, and I've been impatiently waiting for the chance for you to hear it.
Well... guess what?
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! has arrived!
After my own recent dealings with record labels we decided to release it directly to you. Head over to www.niggytardust.com for all the details. Register now and you can download the record November 1st.
Working on this project was a real pleasure. Saul was interested in breaking boundaries / crossing genres / defying expectations and we learned a great deal from one another in the process. When asked about the sound of the record, I've had to resort to "... I really don't know HOW to describe it." That's a good thing more than ever these days.

A word on the way we've chosen to release this.
There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just released their new record and the way we've chosen to. After thinking about this way too much, I feel we've improved upon their idea in a few profound ways that benefit you, the consumer. You obviously will be the judge of this in the end. One thing that IS very different in our situation is that Saul's not the household name (yet!) that Radiohead is, and that means we need your support on this more than ever. If you like what you hear, spread the word.

I hope you enjoy the music,

TR

posted by Trent Reznor at 7:56 AM.

The album will be made available for download from the official site from 1st November 2007. Users can download a 192kbps MP3 version of the entire album for free, or pay $5 to support the artist and be given the choice of downloading 192kps MP3 version, 320kbps MP3 version or lossless FLAC version.

Niggy Tardust? Really?

yep:

http://niggytardust.com/saulwilliams/images/01-splashpage.jpg

It's a great download model. I gave them five bucks.

they do Paypal too, nice!

eh, i like saul a lot but trent rezsnore, really?

if this is anything to go by, he just made sure he wasn't in their way:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/Reznorwilliams.jpg

reznor tryna be the next catchdubs

http://catchdubs.com/images/saulwilliams.jpg

its not my place to tell saul williams who to collab with but dropping 2 records in the last 2 years where the music is masterminded by dorky white dudes & both have the word 'nigger' in the title is kinda http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/suspect5es.gif

assuming the music was 'masterminded' by the white guys is even more suspect.

aside from a couple of early tracks, my favorite saul stuff is his self-produced record

haha well I guess you can say the same thing about Nas depending on whether you trace the chain of command there to L.A. Reid or further up.

(xpost if 'masterminded' simply means providing production/beats/samples, I think that's a fair word to use)

the catchdubs record was catchdubs choosing beats for saul to do his spoken word thing over, dude acknowledged this when he said he didnt even like dipset & all that other radio bullshit but catch chose the beats

i dunno how much trent reznor has to do with the music on this new joint but hes the one sending out emails instead of saul williams so hes the face of this project so far

"hey Nastradamus, what's up, it's Storchavelli...lol...listen, those new tracks I sent you, are you gonna use those for n--...that...new album you're working on?"

Written and performed by Saul Williams
with Trent Reznor, CX Kidtronik, Thavius Beck and more.

Produced by Trent Reznor
Mixed By Alan Moulder
Mastered by Brian "Big Bass" Gardner
Engineering / programming: Atticus Ross

yeah but nas is still out there promoting his joint, its not like he's in the background while the president of universal records goes on 106 & park & sends emails asking me to buy 'nigger'

Black History Month
Convict Colony
Tr(n)igger
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Break
NiggyTardust
DNA
WTF!
Scared Money
Raw
Skin of a Drum
No One Ever Does
Banged and Blown Through
Raised to be Lowered
The Ritual

Tr(n)igger

ok now he's just playin'

i understand where dude is coming from with this flipping-stereotypes shit or whatever but i think when you crew with the dude from nine inch nails & set it up so your album is gonna be heard by like 99.9% white dudes (instead of just the usual 90%) theres some kinda responsibility to cool it with the ironic bamboozled shit

don't try to stop the musical miscenegation, ethan! sasha fere-jones's beautiful dream is coming to life!

i understand where dude is coming from with this flipping-stereotypes shit or whatever but i think when you crew with the dude from nine inch nails & set it up so your album is gonna be heard by like 99.9% white dudes (instead of just the usual 90%) theres some kinda responsibility to cool it with the ironic bamboozled shit

ethan at the risk of getting ultra-flamed by you I don't think it's your place to school a black artist on how to represent himself - hate if you gotta hate, whatever, but when a white writer starts telling a black artist what his community responsibilities are...shit man I can't see you putting up with that from somebody else!

nb I don't know Saul Williams from Adam and will probably never hear his music

its not my place to tell saul williams who to collab with but dropping 2 records in the last 2 years where the music is masterminded by dorky white dudes & both have the word 'nigger' in the title is kinda

-- and what, Thursday, October 25, 2007 2:57 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ilxor Saul Williams

and wtf man you seem to have no problem being a white dude telling black artists what their community responsibilities are in every rap thread no matter how tedious or self-parodic it gets

ethan at the risk of getting ultra-flamed by you I don't think it's your place to school a black artist on how to represent himself I'm going to post something

:P

Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me (Britain) Vs Saul Williams - Amethyst Rock Star (America)

:)

By the way, Saul is pimpin' the album too, I just happened to see that nin.com page first.

http://www.saulwilliams.com forwards to the new album site.

http://niggytardust.com/saulwilliams/moreinfo :

My Dearest Friends and Fans,

It is my greatest honor to present to you The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!,
my new album produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder. The wall of sound that we've created is tagged with such graffiti that a passerby would seek out doors and ways to ENTER. Once inside a world defined by dreams come true they'd find aligned with the simplest act of sharing what we treasure. Most people aren't aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to nigger. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us 'til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun. Yet the energy they put into popularizing smut makes a star of a shiny polished gun. The ballot or the bullet for Mohawk or the mullet is a choice between new times and dying days. And the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways. The ways of middlemen proves to be just a passing trend. We need no priests to talk to God. No phone to call her. And when you click the link below, i think it fair that you should know that your purchase will make middlemen much poorer...

NiggyTardust!

love,

Saul

wow thats even stupider than i expected

I liked some of Amethyst Rock Star, but I listened to a track (the single?) from this last night and it was real ho hum, murky subpar Reznor production just like Year Zero. Maybe I'll get this with the "pay nothing" option just to check it out, that's what I did with the Radiohead and I was glad I didn't pay anything because I didn't really enjoy that album at all.

amethyst rock star was garbage

his joint on the infesticons LP was nice tho ('monkey theme')

hey, i said i liked some of it (mostly the crazy over the top dnb song from the DJ Krust album).

well his new album is pretty much a rock album. albeit one which acknowledges the existence of rhythm.
-- The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:11 (2 years ago) Link

Lex's favourite rappers ever are Saul Williams and Princess Superstar

Ban the early 2000s.

good to see he's continuing in breaking down the walls of genre with his strong anti-mainstream works like
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e7/Saw2sountrack.jpg/200px-Saw2sountrack.jpg
1. "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" (Venus Head Trap Mix) – Marilyn Manson – 3:41
2. "Sound Effects and Over Dramatics" – The Used – 3:28
3. "Forget to Remember" – Mudvayne – 3:33
4. "September" – Bloodsimple – 3:38
5. "Blood (Empty Promises)" – Papa Roach – 2:56
6. "Rev. 22:20" (Rev. 4:20 Mix) – Puscifer – 4:47
7. "Pieces" – Sevendust – 3:06
8. "Rodent" (Ken "Hiwatt" Marshall/DDT Mix) – Skinny Puppy – 5:00
9. "Burn the Witch" (Unkle Variation) – Queens of the Stone Age – 3:04
10. "Holy" – A Band Called Pain – 3:43
11. "Three Fingers" – Buckethead and Friends featuring Saul Williams – 3:00
12. "Home Invasion Robbery" – The Legion of Doom – 4:11
13. "Caliente (Dark Entries)" – Revolting Cocks – 4:28
14. "Step Up" – Opiate For The Masses – 3:24
15. "Don't Forget the Rules" (Score) – Charlie Clouser – 5:02

the guy who just made an album with Trent Reznor probably won't be devastated that you pointed out the techno-metal soundtrack he appeared on.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41H5dwMniXL._AA240_.jpg

1. "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" - Filter & The Crystal Method – 4:28
2. "Long Hard Road Out of Hell" - Marilyn Manson & Sneaker Pimps – 4:21
3. "Satan" - Orbital & Kirk Hammett/Metallica – 3:45
4. "Kick the P.A." - Korn & The Dust Brothers – 3:21
5. "Tiny Rubberband" - Butthole Surfers & Moby – 4:12
6. "For Whom the Bell Tolls (The Irony of it All)" - Metallica & DJ Spooky – 4:39
7. "Torn Apart" - Stabbing Westward & Wink – 4:53
8. "Skin Up Pin Up" - Mansun & 808 State – 5:27
9. "One Man Army" - The Prodigy & Tom Morello/Rage Against the Machine – 4:14
10. "Spawn" - Silverchair & Vitro – 4:28
11. "T-4 Strain" - Henry Rollins & Goldie – 5:19
12. "Familiar" - Incubus & DJ Greyboy – 3:22
13. "No Remorse (I Wanna Die)" - Slayer & Atari Teenage Riot – 4:16
14. "A Plane Scraped its Belly on a Sooty Yellow Moon" - Soul Coughing & Roni Size – 5:26

once upon a time jam master jay bought some hard rock records and people joked about it on the internet forever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqg0Zl8tDuI

-- and what, Friday, October 26, 2007 4:02 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

1st rap record ever bought by BIG HOOS aka the steendriver

-- and what, Friday, October 26, 2007 4:02 PM

The section with Biggie is still kinda alright, but Christ I'd forgotten how awful that was.

the only saul williams thing i ever really liked were the very very early tracks, "elohim", "ohm" and "twice the first time" ... somehow he didn't really live up to the promise of the early tracks.

in my dreams though, this NIN + saul collaboration sounds like the best tracks from "welcome to the afterfuture"

are you kidding that remix is the shit

in my dreams though, this NIN + saul collaboration sounds like the best tracks from "welcome to the afterfuture"

-- moonship journey to baja, Friday, October 26, 2007 3:03 PM (7 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

lol

i read the sales figures on that once, something like 873 copies sold... crazy that i was one of em back in 00

STARSHIP NIGGA!!! OUTERSPACE MOTHERFUCKER!!!

4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops)

You know the old dystopian prediction that cities of the future would be these huge ramshackle constructions, piled on the buildings of years past? Well, the reason that hasn't happened is that the "new" world would rather throw out the "old" unless they're too poor not to use it. Really the only old shit you see around now is preserved up all untouchable, museum-style. Practical application of existing structures just isn't viable in this modern urban landscape of ours.

Look at the cover of Mike Ladd's Welcome to the Afterfuture. It's an awful electrical mess, superimposed onto old building walls. Ladd's music reflects the artwork with chunky, pharmaceutical beats that sneak past dim strings. It's nasty New Orleans bounce with lyrics about listening to bootlegs of the Fall. And even though it looks kinda like a Marlboro ad, it's still a dope cover.

The record starts with "5000 Miles West of the Future," violently switching up from an analog keyboard assault to a sweeping ambient flow and back again, all while jazzy horn progressions seep through the background and make like Sun Ra handwriting. Ladd's rhymes on Afterfuture are at their most conversational, especially in breaks where he casually explains, "I'm gonna steal from the foreign merchant.../ For the cinnamon peeler's wife.../ Like I was bedding down with Isis."

As the buzzing keyboard stabs fade out, "Airwave Hysteria" begins, and the rest is swapped for rising strings and faux-Hindu chants, drifting yet again into some funky, bugged-out Casio shit over which Ladd first hits his lyrical stride, MCing with self-assured flow and coming with dense rhyme content to match ("Breakbeats from Thailand down over by the Ku Klux Klan chapter in Croatia/ We've come a long way from migrating crustaceans/ Generations of relations, history of violence/ I talked along in Babylon, next time I'll try silence"). Unlike many poet-turned-MCs, Ladd manages to go off like a motherfucker, and it all ends with a classic scratch breakdown, cut open with more of those damned trilling strings of his.

"Planet 10" breaks from these jams to bust on the simple beauty of a simple song, an intricate nautilus of synth tones and deep-space vocals stretching over junkyard ambience to some kind of nappy-haired slow-grind trajectory. Fuck neo-soul, this is post-soul, only somehow better than something called that should ever be.

Nothing else here really touches these first three tracks, but the rest comes close-- the lilting rush of the mostly instrumental "Takes More than 41," and the slow-to-start "To the Moon's Contractor," a song more summery than its interstellar title might lead you to believe. "I Feel Like $100" sounds like Warp Records unfavorites Red Snapper with actual forward drive and rhythmic interest, even with its dodgy "Strawberry Fields" reference.

Amazingly, Ladd goes for delf on every cut except the Company Flow-assisted "Bladeruners," a violent fucking storm of next-level racial and sexual articulation, wide string samples criss-crossing like frozen rivers, and a plodding organic bassline. It's perhaps the closest to rap traditionalism the album ever flirts with-- something for BET to sneak in on that lazy Thursday afternoon to give you a Videodrome-style brain tumor.

"It's all confused and beautiful" are the lines Ladd chooses to open "Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops)," and it's exactly that. Besides Ladd's waxen imagery of childhood memories, the lyrics are mostly befuddling and his delivery is unconvincingly wide-eyed enough to fuel a thousand Bj�rk videos. I know good and well that Ladd's trying to make this closing track a "Strange Fruit" for a future of money, women and computers, and I'll be damned if he doesn't actually come shockingly close. It's a stunning end to the album.

For all the obvious influences ("Starship Nigga" is pretty much just Bj�rk's "Pluto" instilled with spaced-out black rage), the album still manages to sound pleasantly new, taking all the bits from the past that demand to be resurrected, and recontextualizing them into Ladd's own brainspace. Of course, this sort of thing has been done before, but I can't think of anything that's ever sounded as genuinely beautiful at the same time. It's all the wires from the liner notes covering children while they spread Christ-like onto antique brownstones. It's the genius of Ezra Pound and Greg Nice over tinny, rolling drums, and the awkwardness of my first paragraph over beautiful dimethicone symphonies. It's Mike Ladd assembling his personal afterfuture over the ramshackle remains of a distant past. Fresh!

i got the same issues w/ mike ladd that i do w/ saul williams. like, i liked you when you were yelling over alice coltrane but then when you were actually trying to do stuff with "good beats" it wasn't "good" anymore (cf majesticons)

"nappy-haired slow-grind trajectory"

http://www.dance-lyrics.com/ama/youve_come_a_long_way_baby_b00000d9vl.jpghttp://www.dance-lyrics.com/ama/youve_come_a_long_way_baby_b00000d9vl.jpg

wtf majesticons is good

majeticons is just OK compared to his early work.

i really liked the west coast rap style track on it though, something about "two white heifers on ecstasy" and bragging about his purple chuck taylor shoes

Judd and Molly

By Dom Passantino

Click here to send comments

Click here if you'd like to exchange critiques

Chapter #1- House of Pain

Judd put the gun down. It was an impressive gun, more than enough to fulfil any Leone or Peckinpah fantasy Judd entertained. But, unfortunately, it didn’t work for the Mills and Boon lifestyle that Judd wanted. 18 months he’d spent stalking Molly, and she didn’t even think to give him a second look? Did she know what he’d been through to try and get through to her? Did she understand what he felt? Did she realise how difficult it was to find her address so he could send flowers to her? Especially after she went ex-directory, commenting wryly to Judd “You go anywhere near my house, and my boyfriend will cut your cock off, you bloody f---ed-up freak”. She had a definite way with words, did Molly. Very much cut in the Ian McEwan mould. If Ian McEwan were an 18 year old girl with constant cold sores and a Hello Kitty lunchbox. But, still, despite all of the problems, Judd still loved Molly. It was all he could do, really, love her, never leave her.

Judd knew about the thunderbolt, that one moment in your life when you realise that you’ve just seen the person you wish to spend your entire life with. Judd knew all about it. However, he didn’t expect the thunderbolt to descend from the sky one rainy Monday morning, in an English literature lesson, whilst the well meaning, but hopelessly Radio 4, teacher wittered on about William Blake. Molly… Molly was… Judd didn’t know what she was. He’d spent 1the past 18 months of his life focusing on that girl non-stop, fantasising about every possible scenario involving her, allowing her to eat into every single moment of his life. She was his A.I.D.S.… and yet he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was he found so attractive, so attractive, so important about her. She wasn’t beautiful, by any stretch of the imagination. Crueller tongues in the school compared her to Patty and/or Selma. Her hair was pulled back with a bulldog clip, giving her bun the same tension as Joan Rivers’ skin. Her clothing resembled a ram-raiding attack on River Island, random bits of fashion that was already 3 days out of date. She wore see-through mules, revealing her anaemic-fairy white skin further, her toe-nails done meticulously in purple, and yet still looking neglected. No, it wasn’t really her looks that attracted him to her.

Her personality? Her personality? No, definitely not. Molly’s interests could be listed in three as Tom Stoppard, deep trance, and deep throat. The usual hobbies of the modern middle class girl, really. Her voice was the voice of a self-mutilator, full of pauses, stops and starts, and embarrassing ums and ahs, penetrated every so often with a tirade of violent anger and swearing, like Barry Fry on crack. It was this combination of traits that had seen Molly get shunned by nearly everyone in her year group. Everyone except her boyfriend, and practising Satanist, Leonard.

When word got around the school that a Satanist was studying there, most of the students wetted their sponges with hopes of 6 foot 7” Nick Cave types wandering about sacrificing goats and eating chickens. A bit of excitement, at least, a dangerous religion that wasn’t going to car-bomb anyone. They expected something interesting, intriguing, and sexy. What they didn’t expect was Leonard. Leonard, with his Savage Garden tee-shirts and his combat trousers. Leonard, with his foppish hairdo, and habit of talking through the side of his mouth. Leonard, with his face that seemed to have singled him out from birth for a career in I.T. networking. Leonard was an arsehole. There was no doubt about it. He was the very dictionary definition of “arsehole”. Judd was fully aware of Leonard’s arseholeness, and his entanglement with Molly only added to Judd’s problems.

With Molly being as Molly was, and there being no chance of Judd recovering from what was past, he was left to… what was he actually left to do? Nothing. Nothing at all. Absolutely sweet Fanny Addams, Faustino Asprilla, Francis of Assisi, f--- all. He wandered from day to day, desperately searching for something, anything, to occupy his time, anything not called Molly. Socialism, pornography, heroin- Judd felt like he was permanently living to edge Molly out of his life, and replace her with something… less damaging to his health.

He picked the gun back up again. Himself, Molly, or Leonard? Himself, Molly, or Leonard… Leonard had suddenly decided he wanted to be called “Leon”. It seemed that every single essence of Leonard’s being was specifically created by God to be as annoying, as grating to Judd as could possibly be. Every single little aspect that made up Leonard, from his Silverchair CDs, to his aromatherapy expertise, to his insistence on “ironically” flirting with his elderly teachers, to his foppishness. Fop, fop, fop. Hugh Grant with the spine removed.

Judd considered what it’d be like to kill Leonard, to slowly, carefully, yet violently ram that big black cock of death straight into Leonard’s mouth, past his perfectly white teeth, feeling the tension as Leonard bit down on the gun, Leonard’s breathing getting harder and harder, the silence punctuated just by his gasps, the last breaths he would ever take, before Judd pulled the trigger, and decorated the surrounding walls with fragments of Leonard’s skull, a Jackson Pollock of bloody and brainmatter appearing on the floor. Don’t get me wrong, Judd wasn’t a violent person. Far from it. He was a complete pussy. That explains why he kept putting the gun down.

“Come on, grow some guts man” Judd thought to himself, aware of how ridiculous those words sounded when said by, or in any relation to, him. A thin, smug, bespectacled guy with bad hair, trying to turn from Adrian Mole to Dirty Harry. Judd sighed. He went over to the CD player, and turned it on, hoping that he could absorb a predeliction for violence through soundwaves. House of Pain’s 1993 opus “Jump Around” attempted to fill that role for him. As Everlast ranted and rapped over the beat, Judd tried to work out what the hell to do.

He’d considered raping Molly, but that was too… undignified. He didn’t want to be a rapist, he refused to believe he was that far gone. Even in obsession, he liked to think that he had some ethics left. Each second spent thinking about Molly, though, was another second where his ethics seemed intrusive.

Judd thought about how Mafia dons can quite happily peddle heroin and force woman into crack-whoredom, but will go mad if someone insults the Pope. Twisted ideas of what is right and wrong, and when Judd peered through the looking glass of his lust for Molly, right and wrong seemed to melt like a Dali clockface. If not rape, maybe murder?

If he did shoot Molly, maybe he could make it look like a suicide pact! Maybe… maybe… just maybe…maybe he could shoot her, and then shoot himself… and there could be fake letters, suicide notes! Yes, he’d fake the suicide notes, and the letters would say that each of them loved each other, and that Leonard was evil and stopped their union, and everyone would feel sympathy for themselves, and in death everyone would think he was great, and the books would always say that him and Molly were in love, and everything would be good, and we could all go home happy and and Leonard would be put down and they’d be together in the afterlife and and and…

Judd put the gun under his chin, and pulled the trigger.

“Jump jump jump, everybody jump!”

"nappy-haired slow-grind trajectory"

http://frontwheeldrive.com/images/mike_ladd.gif

it's forgiven

mike has what the kids at my school (and i in my youth) would have called not "nap" but "jewfro"

"for all those killed by cops" is about coming down from staying up all night on drugs, if i remember right?

"your assignment: please include 30 pop culture references in a short story"

i look forward to seeing everyone else's mike ladd reviews written when they were 17

"for all those killed by cops" is easily one of my very favourite songs. there's a third -sticons album due sometime next year...

majesticons was the best thing mike ladd ever did.

ive a feeling the production on the new saul album is going to be a bit dated. he should have worked with el-p instead of trent if hes going for a murky rock-appealing bomb squad type of thing.

i saw mike ladd when i was like 18, there were like 20 other people there but it blew my miiiiind man

"someone" leaked a track on the pirate bay:

http://www.nin.com :

**UPDATE!
Seems like someone leaked a track...
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3858980

The beats on the Majesticons LP were great, what made it a bit-less-than-awesome is that some of it's targets were kinda too easy, even if the lyrics were often really funny. The Infesticons LP on the other hand was marred by being too artsy, what with the spoken word slam poetry stuff taking up almost half of the album. If Ladd ever does the rumoured third installment in the series, which is supposed to be a synthesis between the Infesticons and Majesticons, it should have the potential for greatness.

I'm halfway through my first listen and I'm not sure what to think just yet, except that a) no one should cover U2 and b) the chorus of the title track is actually pretty funny.

"When I say 'Niggy', you say nothin'! Niggy."
(pause)
"Niggy."
(pause)
"When I say 'Niggy', you say nothin'! Niggy."
"Nothing!"
"Shut up."

Also besides "Scared Monkey" this might as well be Year Zero Pt 2, which is not a good thing. Waaaay too much Trent input on this thing.

the cover of sunday bloody sunday... hmm.

in 2 consecutive posts Simon H. made me think "maybe I do want to hear this album" and then "ok, maybe not."

Hey, this is actually pretty g-

"Hail Mary, Mother of God / Got your whole host of angels shuffling on my iPod"

WHAT

OW (MY BRAIN)

I'm pleasantly surprised by this album.

"the cover of sunday bloody sunday..."

quite awful i thought.

half the album is quite awful in fact. a lot of the industrial/rockier elements just sound really corny.

ok ok, I might be wrong. :-)

a) no one should cover U2

RONG

counterpoint:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b351/MrClivver/SH105417s.jpg

^ on point

It's a good record
I like the music and words
Hello all you guys

It's a strange time to be an artist in the recording business. It's pretty easy to see what NOT to do these days, but less obvious to know what's right. As I find myself free from the bloated bureaucracy of major labels, finally able to do whatever I want... well, what is that? What is the "right" way to release records, treat your music and your audience with respect and attempt to make a living as well? I have a number of musician friends who are either in a similar situation or feel they soon will be, and it's a real source of anxiety and uncertainty.
I'd like to share my experience releasing Saul Williams' "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust" and what I've learned from the process. Perhaps by revealing of all our data - our "dirty laundry" - we can contribute to a better solution.

A quick history: Saul makes a great record that I produce. We can't find the right home at a major label. We decide to release it ourselves, digitally. Saul does not have limitless financial resources so we shop around for a company that can fulfill our needs. We choose Musicane because they are competent and are willing to adapt to what we want. The results are here: niggytardust.com

We offer the entire record free (as in totally free to the visitor - we pay bandwidth costs) as 192 MP3s, or for $5 you can choose higher fidelity versions and feel good about supporting the artist directly. We offer all major CCs and PayPal as payment options.
Here's what I was thinking: Fans are interested in music as soon as it's available (that's a good thing, remember) and usually that's a leak from the label's manufacturing plants. Offering the record digitally as its first appearance in the marketplace eliminates that problem. I thought if you offered the whole record free at reasonable quality - no strings attached - and offered a hassle free way to show support that clearly goes straight to the artists who made it at an unquestionably low price people would "do the right thing". I know, I know...
Well, now I DO know and you will too.

Saul's previous record was released in 2004 and has sold 33,897 copies.

As of 1/2/08,
154,449 people chose to download Saul's new record.
28,322 of those people chose to pay $5 for it, meaning:
18.3% chose to pay.

Of those paying,

3220 chose 192kbps MP3
19,764 chose 320kbps MP3
5338 chose FLAC

Keep in mind not one cent was spent on marketing this record. The only marketing was Saul and myself talking as loudly as we could to anybody that would listen.
If 33,897 people went out and bought Saul's last record 3 years ago (when more people bought CDs) and over 150K - five times as many - sought out this new record, that's great - right?
I have to assume the people knowing about this project must either be primarily Saul or NIN fans, as there was very little media coverage outside our direct influence. If that assumption is correct - that most of the people that chose to download Saul's record came from his or my own fan-base - is it good news that less than one in five feel it was worth $5? I'm not sure what I was expecting but that percentage - primarily from fans - seems disheartening.
Add to that: we spent too much (correction, I spent too much) making the record utilizing an A-list team and studio, Musicane fees, an old publishing deal, sample clearance fees, paying to give the record away (bandwidth costs), and nobody's getting rich off this project.

But...
Saul's music in in more people's iPods than ever before and people are interested in him. He'll be touring throughout the year and we will continue to get the word out however we can.

So - if you're an artist looking to utilize this method of distribution, make of these figures what you will and hopefully this info is enlightening.

Best,
TR

DLed this for free; have listened to it once and am not that fussed to again. Is it just me or does Saul's singing voice sound very Reznoresque all of a sudden?

My mates got a spare ticket to see him in Hoxton tonight so I'm going along. Don't really know what to expect from him live. I like Amethyst Rock Star, but haven't really been into much he's done since aside from the odd tune.

So, he's got a VERY compelling stage presence and seems like a nice, funny guy. Tight band also. However, they only played new songs, most of which didn't seem great.

Almost the best part was in the encore, when he did Coded Language acappella and totally killed it. Then said "I don't know what any of that means".

http://blog.amtrak.com/amtrakresidency/