Even Deeper #19-The Limitless Potential
Nov 03 '07 (Updated Nov 18 '07)
The Bottom Line The Limitless Potential is an Amazing 21-Track Remix Album Made by The Fans & For The Fans. (4.5 out of 5 stars)
Even Deeper #19: The Limitless Potential
With the release of the upcoming remix album Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D set for November 20, 2007. The album is also set to become the final release from Trent Reznor and his Nine Inch Nails outfit after working under the Interscope banner for 15 years. The album is set to be released in three different formats and with different tracklistings. The CD/DVD-rom version and digital album both will same fourteen tracks while a high-quality, triple-vinyl version will four additional tracks. One track that will appear in all three formats is a remix of the song My Violent Heart by an artist under the name Pirate Robot Midget. The track is a mix made by none other than a fan and of all the remix tracks fans have been making for a few years, this one was selected to be in an official NIN release.
The announcement of a fan remix making it into an official NIN album was greeted with enthusiasm by the NIN fanbase as for the past two years, Reznor had been releasing multi-track source files for fans to remix under the GarageBand software format. The thing started back in 2005 when Reznor released source files for The Hand That Feeds that led to an unofficial contest that spawned 500 fan remixes. Months later, Only was released with new source files that included more software formats including Apple ProTools and ACID Pro. Another unofficial contest was made on the band's MySpace page and suddenly, fan remixes became popular.
For the release of Year Zero, Reznor released several tracks from the album including the single Survivalism to be released in multi-track files for remixes. The result spawned an unofficial remix album from one of the band's fansites (9inchnails.com/) that compiled 200 remixes into a 2-disc album or 1 full-length digital album consisting of 21 fan remixes. The result is an unofficial fan remix album entitled The Limitless Potential. Featuring remixes of tracks like Only, My Violent Heart, Me, I'm Not, God Given, Vessel, and The Beginning of the End. Compiled by the people at the NIN fansite, the resulting digital album is one of the finest collection of remixes ever assembled. The best part about is that here's a remix album that is made by the fans and for the fans.
The first half of the collection starts off with a remix of Survivalism called Everything Is Zero by Lithium Dawn. The six-and-a-half minute mix slows the song's tempo down by adding slower, bass-heavy beats and voices in the background. Taking the song's industrial elements and stripping it down a bit, it's a more ominous track with a droning synthesizer for the verse and going for a metal-like vibe with the chorus with its guitars and here's a remix that matches the song's intensity without having to emphasize its tempo. Even adding a piano track and a guitar solo adds new dimension to the song without being too pretentious. Me I'm Not (Withdrawal) by Dirty Scarab (who ends up getting two tracks in this record) plays up to the song’s hypnotic, electronic vibe with loops of distorted vocals while adding a piano track and a slower but haunting beat that works to the song's paranoia. Even raising the noise level a bit with its distorted sirens.
God Given (Resistance Mix) by DJ Brut has a more upbeat drum track that is accompanied by layers of distorted noises as the track is more rhythmic than its original version. The track is easily one of the best cuts on the record as the layers of noise and funkier beats adds more dimension to the song. Survivalism (Synth Death Mix) by Matt Whitbread adds a drum sample of Led Zeppelin's When The Levee Breaks that seems to be the best thing of the mix. Even though mixing Zeppelin and NIN seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, the mix doesn't really go anywhere as it's accompanied mostly by a piano accompaniment and blurts of distorted noises. Yet, it's the Zeppelin sample that keeps it from being bad. Only (Dispyz Rmx) by Dispyz is an amazing, 7-minute remix that plays to the song's funky side by emphasizing on its rhythm and adding layers of ominous synthesizers and break-beats to play to the song's funky vibe as it's a track could've been a club hit.
Survivalism (Terminated Mix) by erasemoi is definitely a very electronic-driven track as it starts off being bass-beat driven and then goes into a more aggro-industrial vibe for the first verse. Then the chorus kicks in for more intense rhythms and beats as it's more memorable to the previous remix of Survivalism. Me, I'm Not (Attvcks Remix) by Attvcks is definitely a slow yet eerie mix that plays to the song's dark vibe. With soft, metallic, and rhythmic beats with sounds of water drops, it's one of the most haunting mixes on the record that includes blurbs of noises and a synthesizer track passing by. My Violent Heart (I Am The Pestilence) by Ewun opens with a fast-paced rhythm of beats, bass, and synthesizer crashes as the song’s speed is more sped up that includes people talking in the background. For the song's chorus the track adds blurts of bass-noises to play to the song's chaotic tone.
The 2nd place winner of the contest is a remix of Vessel (Losing Control Remix) by Pushing Reality (who won a prize package from Faction) is really one of the album's biggest standout cuts. Playing to the song's wave of distorted noises, soft cymbal taps are played in the background as the distorted noise keep blurting out. For the song's chorus, the wave of noise becomes more powerful as it intensify the song's bleak tone with more beats starting to come around for an all-out assault in this slow but thundering mix. Survivalism (Defy Mix) by Defy is definitely a rave-like mix that starts off noisy but once it goes through the chorus, it becomes a full-on, industrial track with more metallic beats and louder guitars. The track is also more intense and rhythmic than the original proving that the song has more to offer.
The second half of the album starts off with (Can't Stop) Me, I'm Not by Halo33 is a mix that's reminiscent of trip-hop with reverb beats and a bass-like tone that definitely adds an ominous vibe to the song. Even with an echo-like synthesizer note, live drums, and a piano accompaniment in the bridge, it's really a track that is reminder of how good trip-hop used to be. Survivalism (Celebmix) by Celebutante is a more upbeat mix of the track with a grinding, metal guitar track and faster beats that features a synthesizer accompaniment in the chorus. The mix is definitely a mix of NIN's sound with a bit of new wave that is definitely something club goers will like. Only (Kobold Remix) by Kobold is a mix that is an ode to the Madchester music scene with frenetic clap-beats and a club-like synthesizer accompaniment. During the chorus, it starts to retain the song’s original, industrial-funk vibe in a soft mix.
God Given (Shattered Static Remix) by Sam Sweich is an upbeat, industrial-driven mix with metallic beats, a bass-heavy synthesizer accompaniment that feature siren-like electronic backgrounds and guitars. The track is also more rhythmic than its original version as its layers of distortion and noises play to its mix of old-school and new school industrial. Survivalism (Swamp Mix) by M J McLean is a very ominous mix that features an eerie synthesizer accompaniment and a more intense rhythm by its noise blurts and distortions. For the chorus, hammering drums arrive to convey the sense of darkness that adds more edge to the song. The second mix by Dirty Scarab for My Violent Heart (Prevention; Rejection) is the first place winner that received a package from Hot Topics. The mix is a more upbeat version with its distorted beats and fuzzy synthesizer blurts. For the song's intense chorus, it doesn't go nuts but rather accompany the track with a subtle synthesizer accompaniment. This mix is really one of the album's best cuts as it even quiets down with a piano track for the coda.
Me, I'm Not (Void Mix) by the:pawn:project adds a piano accompaniment to the mix that adds a serene quality to the song while maintaining the noise vibe of the song in its original form. During the song's noisy bridge, the mix of guitars, synthesizers, and fuzz noises become layered during the mix proving that it's not just some dumb mix with a piano added. The Beginning Of The End (CTV) by crashtv adds a echo-laden metallic drum track to the mix that adds more synthesizer blurts while maintaining its intensity that includes a synthesizer coda near the end. The final remix of Survivalism known as (The Laudanum Remix) by laudanum has an intense opener with its blistering guitars and mix of distorted noise with a shimmering background of beats. The mix is easily one of the better mixes as it complements its intensity and sense of paranoia by adding a soft bridge of just a hypnotic synthesizer in the background.
Capital G (Streetlab Mix) by Streetlab opens with blurts of synthesizer noises as it's an ode to early synth-pop with its layers of keyboards and distortions while maintaining the song's funk rhythms. The mix is easily one of the best in the album as it maintains its rhythm while adding more noise and punch to the track along with its chainsaw synthesizer accompaniment. The final track on the album is Me, I'm Not (Virus That Is Me Mix) by an Unknown Artist opens with a vibrant, siren-like synthesizer sound that is later accompanied by a metallic, mid-tempo track as the song's tempo is sped up a bit. Accompanied by layers of synthesizers that range from eerie to shimmering, it plays well to the song's paranoid tone while the vocals are also distorted and a bit high pitch to give the track something stronger than most remixes. It's also one of the most professional mixes heard and it's a fitting closer to the entire album.
While most remix albums tend to be used as promotion for an artist that ends up being disposable and featuring some lame remixes. The Limitless Potential is very different because it's an album made by fans rather than a bunch of top producers and deejays that are using expensive production tools and such. While it's not perfect which includes seven remixes of Survivalism, that can be a bit annoying. This is an album that NIN fans will definitely appreciate. Especially as an accompaniment to the upcoming Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D set for November 20, that will includes multi-track files for fans to remix from their computer. In the end, if you're a fan of NIN and wants top-quality remixes in great audio quality that isn't generic.
Go to this weblink: http://www.9inchnails.com/remixes/ and download each track or the whole thing through torrents. It's a fascinating remix album that proves to be worthy in comparison to the main NIN discography.
NIN-Year Zero era:
Halo 23-Survivalism (2007):
http://www.epinions.com/content_406725824132
Halo 24-Year Zero (2007):
http://www.epinions.com/content_344875437700
Halo 25-Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (2007):
http://www.epinions.com/content_408041787012
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