Saul Williams Tours, Puts Deluxe Tardust on CD/LP

(Swiped from Pitchfork Media)

Just as Saul Williams-- like Radiohead and some other people-- used the internet to give away The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, he'll also-- like Radiohead and some other people-- give the record a physical release.

On July 8, FADERLABEL will issue the Trent Reznor-produced album on CD and vinyl with five bonus tracks, including minor classic "List of Demands (Reparations)".

Williams also has tour dates this summer in Europe and a few big U.S. cities, and he plans to add even more shows soon.

The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!:
01 Black History Month
02 Convict Colony
03 Tr(n)igger
04 Sunday Bloody Sunday
05 Break
06 NiggyTardust
07 DNA
08 WTF!
09 Scared Money
10 Raw
11 Skin of a Drum
12 No One Ever Does
13 Banged and Blown Through
14 Raised to Be Lowered
15 The Ritual16 Pedagogue of Young Gods *
17 World on Wheels *
18 Can't Hide Love *
19 Gunshots by Computer *
20 List of Demands (Reparations) *

* bonus track

Saul Williams:
07-03 London, England - O2 Wireless Festival
07-04 Arvika, Sweden - Arvika Festival
07-05 Oslo, Norway - Oslo Live Festival
07-06 Turku, Finland - Klubi
07-07 Tampere, Finland - Klubi
07-08 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia
07-10 Feldkirch, Austria - Poolbar Festival
07-11 Zurich, Switzerland - La Rote Fabrik
07-12 Bruges, Belgium - Cactus Festival
07-13 Montmartin-sur-Mer, France - Chauffer Dans la Noirceur
07-16 New York, NY - S.O.B.'s
07-17 New York, NY - Virgin Union Square (in-store)
08-03 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
08-23 San Diego, CA - PETCO Park
08-30-31 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot

MP3: Saul Williams [prod. by Trent Reznor]: World on Wheels [from the forthcoming The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! LP]

Saul Williams Gives Away New Reznor-Produced LP

(swiped from Pitchfork Media)

Activist, poet, and musician Saul Williams has laid out the unique circumstances surrounding the release of his latest LP, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!.

The Trent Reznor-produced album will be issued digitally through Williams' website under the aegis of the Fader Label, with an In Rainbows-esque payment mechanism: listeners can opt to fork over a $5 "contribution" via Williams' website and get NiggyTardust! in their choice of DRM-free 192kbps or 320kbps mp3s, or the giant, uncompressed FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) format. If you're a bit light at the moment, Saul's got you, though you cheapskates will have to settle for 192kbps mp3s.

Preregistration for the album is open now, and what's more, you'll only have to wait until Halloween (October 31, duh) to get it. As Reznor tells it on the Nine Inch Nails website, "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 the consumer." Particularly the nerdy customer up in arms about a couple of kilobits per second.

Enough business; let's talk music. NiggyTardust! features guest turns by Reznor, CX Kidtronik, Thavius Beck, and others, and was mixed by Alan Moulder. As Williams tells it in the press release, though, it's really a joint effort between himself and Reznor. "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! is the lovechild of Trent and me," Williams said, and Reznor agreed, adding that this is the "most involved [he's] been with any project outside NIN since [Marilyn Manson's 1996 LP] Antichrist Superstar." Williams believes the album's overarching theme gives him more room to expand on the album's content onstage. "The NiggyTardust! concept sets me free to do more on stage with costume, etc. than one might expect from a regular Saul Williams show. It allows me to put my theater training to use. I've also thought long and hard about all the discussion surrounding racial epithets etc. and chose this title as a means of furthering the dialogue while also showing how creativity will outlive and outshine hatred of any kind." Plus, you can, like, dance to it!

Williams has a number of live appearances on the way. Those dates-- and the NiggyTardust! tracklist-- after the jump.

The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!:
01 Black History Month
02 Convict Colony
03 Tr(n)igger
04 Sunday Bloody Sunday
05 Break
06 NiggyTardust
07 DNA
08 WTF!
09 Scared Money
10 Raw
11 Skin of a Drum
12 No One Ever Does
13 Banged and Blown Through
14 Raised to be Lowered
15 The Ritual



Saul:
11-02 Pullman, WA - Washington State University
11-07 London, England - Bardens Boudoir
11-09 Zurich, Switzerland - Tonhalle
11-12 New York, NY - The Box
11-13 Storrs, CT - University of Connecticut
11-14 Bridgeport, CT - Housatonic Community College
11-17 Chicago, IL - Studio E
01-23 Laramie, WY - University of Wyoming
02-01 Fairfax, VA - George Mason University
02-15 Tacoma, WA - Pacific Lutheran University

Video: Saul Williams: List of Demands (Reparations) [from the Saul Williams LP]

Reznor Puts Another Nail in the Industry's Coffin

(Swiped from Pitchfork Media)

For the second time in a little over a week, a major player on the alt-rock scene has announced their departure from the mainstream music industry, as Trent Reznor announced today via the Nine Inch Nails website that he is no longer signed to longtime label Interscope, and may perhaps be choosing to go it alone:

"Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make the following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.

Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.

Exciting times, indeed."

Reznor very publicly clashed with Interscope over the release of the last NIN record, Year Zero, leaking pieces of the album himself and encouraging fans to download it for free. So it would be unlikely that he would sign with another major, or even any label at all-- given Reznor's large and rabid cult following, he could very easily pull a Radiohead and take matters into his own hands. (Perhaps that is what is alluded to by that "direct relationship with the audience.") Regardless, we sure hope that remix album comes out soon.

Thanks to Theninhotline.net for the heads up.

Rage singer De La Rocha wraps first solo album

(swiped from Reuters)

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Rage Against The Machine vocalist Zack De La Rocha has completed his first solo album, a project he has been working on since first leaving the band in 2000.

A source said De La Rocha plays keyboards on the album and that the sound is a hybrid of "Led Zeppelin and Dr. Dre. Some of it has the power you'd expect from him in Rage."

De La Rocha is understood to be unsigned and mulling distribution offers.

Post-Rage, De La Rocha has recorded material with DJ Shadow, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and the Roots' ?uestlove, but it is unknown if any of these tracks appear on the finished album. One song with Reznor, "We Want It All," appears on the 2004 compilation "Songs and Artists that Inspired Fahrenheit 9/11."

Rage Against The Machine reunited in late April to co-headline the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in southern California and has played a handful of gigs since. The lone shows left on the band's itinerary are in late October at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans and the Vegoose festival in Las Vegas.